God Makes All Things New

Alright. Amen. John brought a friend this morning. So, a cousin, I think actually. Praise the Lord.

Okay, we're going to be reading from Revelation chapter 21 this morning. Revelation 21 if you want to find it. We'll be reading from there in just a couple of minutes. Again, the message this morning is titled, God makes all things new and I turn my mic off and forgot to turn it on. There we go.

Thank you, David. God makes all things new. Revelation chapter 21. Over the past few weeks and some of my devotionals and and my sermons, I have alluded to the ongoing moral and spiritual decline in our society. Unfortunately, it is impossible to ignore as those that are pushing this anti God, immoral decline are getting louder and louder and louder and pushing it harder and harder.

Satan is working hard. He believes to overthrow the church of God but he will fail. Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Satan is working very hard to build his kingdom on this Earth but he will fail. One day, Jesus will return and he will conquer all of his foes including Satan.

But it at the moment, it is a bit discouraging sometimes and disheartening to see the direction in which our society is going. Nothing seems solid. God, his creative order, his word are blasphemed on every quarter. It says, in Psalm 11, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? That's the way David felt when he wrote those words.

He was expressing how he felt. It seemed like the foundations were falling out from under and of course, as the world turns their back on God and says they want to have nothing to do with their creator and with his law and with his word. And with his son, they are taking the foundation out from under their very own civilization and society. And it does sometimes seem very discouraging and daunting to to hear and see what is going on and feel like we are somewhat powerless to do anything about it. If the foundations be destroyed, what do the righteous do?

That is verse three. In verse four, the very next verse, the very next sentence, David says this, the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes are open. And he knows.

The question is not, what will the righteous do? The question is, what God will do? And God has told us in his word. What? He will do.

The Lord has told us that he is still on his throne as he declares. He is still in charge. God has promised that he will be with us to the end. And through it all. He has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

God will not forsake the righteous and he will not fail to judge the wicked. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. I want to remind you this morning that this world is not our home. We're just passing through.

God has prepared a better place for you and for me who know Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. It is our home and the place of our eternal reward. I'm going to just hold on Pedro. I'm going skip for just a moment because I want to there's the verse I just read and I want to show that one. John fourteen one through three, Jesus said to his disciples, let not your heart be troubled.

Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. And receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also.

God is preparing a place. Jesus went back to heaven to prepare a place for us that is so much better than what we have here on earth. God is in control. God is taking care of you and God has a place prepared for every child of God that is beyond belief. It is wonderful.

We call it heaven. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for this day and for all that you've done for us, for this place that you have prepared for us. Lord, I pray as we look into your word and to learn just a little bit about it. Just the tip of the iceberg today.

I pray that we would be reminded of your love. Reminded of your care. Reminded of your promises. Reminded of the rewards that are awaiting us in Christ Jesus. In a place that you have made for us.

Though undeserving we are. You died for us. You rose again. You went back to prepare a place for those who believe and trust in you. And one day, it will be our final home.

And we will be so happy. When we see it. And when we see you. Lord, I pray that you would turn our eyes from the sadness of the world, the troubles around us, to heaven and Jesus Christ today, as we're reminded of this beautiful place that you have prepared for us. In Jesus name.

Amen. Before we go on. Always problematic with my lapel mic. Alright. Alright.

We'll pull this up a little bit, David. So okay. When I when I was in college, I went with a group every Sunday to a nursing home. For three years, I went with a small group of kids from the college and we would go door to door and we would sing songs and I had just learned to play guitar and there were like three or four songs that I knew and so every room we went to, we sang those three or four songs. We got them down fairly well.

And the people love them. Of course, all of those songs were about heaven. One of em, the other one was what a friend we have in Jesus but but I want to sing for you one of those songs this morning. A mansion over the hilltop and as I told them and I tell others when I play guitar, I'm not an entertainer. I'm a minister and if you know the song, please sing with me, alright?

I'm satisfied with just a cottage below a little silver and a little gold but in that city where the ransom will shine I want a gold one that silver line. I've got a mansion just over the hilltop in that bright land where we'll never grow old. And someday we will never more wander but walk on streets that are purest gold deserted deserted or or lonely I'm not I'm just a pilgrim in search of a city I want a mansion a harp and a crown I've got a mansion just over the hilltop in that bright land where we'll never grow old and someday we will never more wonder but walk on streets that are purest Amen. Thank you for singing with me. Alright.

Pedro, let me take that thing back from you. Alright. Appreciate it. Revelation 21. Revelation 21.

John has a vision from heaven in which he describes the place that Jesus has prepared for us. We're going to just take a few minutes to look at that wonderful home. We're going to read beginning with the first 10 verses, Revelation 21 verses one through 10. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold the tabernacle of God is with men. He will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things are all passed away.

He that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new and he said unto me, write for these words are true and faithful and he said unto me, it is done. I am alpha and omega. The beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things.

And I will be his God and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues and talked with me saying, come hither. I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife, and he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and he showed me that great city. The holy Jerusalem.

Descending out of heaven. From God. And he goes on in this passage to describe it and we'll get to some of the details here as the description of that city that Jesus has prepared for us. But before we do that, I want to cover a couple things here that are vital to our study and that is number one, there is a new heaven and a new earth. All of this that we know now, all of this material this this earth, this globe, the heavens, all of that that is touched and tainted by sin.

God will do away with and then he is going to make a new heaven and a new earth that is untouched, untouched by sin and Satan. A new heaven and a new earth. It tells us in verse one here, I saw a new heaven and new earth for the First heaven and earth were what? Were passed away. Daniel two in the Old Testament verse 35 says this, then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, the gold, broken in pieces together.

Those materials there he's talking about was material that made up this big, huge statue that represented the kingdoms of men. And at the end time, he said, this statue made up of all these materials, he says, will become like the chaff of the summer threshing floor and the wind carried them away. That no place was found for them. In other words, this kingdoms of men, this old world, the system that was fraught by sin and run by Satan. It is all going to be whisked away by God.

It will crumble into dust and the wind will what? Carry it away and it will be no more. And continuing on, the stone that smote the image which represents Jesus Christ became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. In second Peter three, read a couple verses from there. Second Peter three verse Verse seven says, but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved under fire against the day of judgement, and perdition of ungodly men.

Verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought ye to be? In all holy conversation and godliness. Peter said, all of this you see now with your eyes, one day, it's going to what?

It's going all burn up. The Bible tells us that all things consist by the power of God. He holds them all together and one day, he will lose them and they will burn up with a fervent heat and this old world tainted by sin. And Satan will be no more. The former things that tells us in verse four will all what?

Will all pass away. And God will create a new heaven and a new earth. Heaven meaning space. When you look up at the sky, what you see is called the heavens. You see the clouds, you see the blue sky in the day, you see the moon, you see the stars at night, That's what we call.

It's calling here heavens And the earth, the soil, the world, the globe, the place God made for us to what? For us to live and dwell. Why why did God make the earth? He made the earth because we needed the earth. We need a place.

We needed a place to live for him to put a garden, for things to grow, for air, and water, and all of these things which we need. God made this Earth for us. He even made those heavens for us to look up and see and enjoy and appreciate the handiwork of our God. But all of this Earth and those heavens, they're going away and God's going to make a new heaven and a new earth untouched by sin. In the Old Testament, Isaiah sixty five seventeen and six thousand six twenty two read, for behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mine.

For as the new heavens and the earth, new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. So, all the way back in Isaiah, God was saying the same thing he's saying here at the end of Revelation, the same thing he said in second Peter, this world is passing away. You can't take it with you. You better make sure you know the Lord because that's the only way you're getting into the new heavens and the new earth one day that he is making for us. Second Peter three thirteen says, nevertheless, we according to his promise look for new for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth not sin but what?

But righteousness. Paradise regained. Paradise regained. The tabernacle of God, it says in verse three, the tabernacle of God is with whom? With man.

What is the tabernacle? Tabernacle is a dwelling place. In the Garden of Eden, God and man dwelt in the same what? In the same place. They fellowship together.

They dwell together but sin separated man from God. Jesus Christ came and died on the cross to take the punishment for our sin so that through faith in him, we might be what? Reunited and the veil in the temple was torn in two. By God, from the top to the bottom. As Jesus made the way for us to come boldly before the throne of grace, to once more have a relationship and fellowship restored that was destroyed by sin but one day, we will actually dwell together in harmony, in perfect harmony with God.

The final tabernacle, this new heaven and new earth that he is going to create and there will be no separation between God and man there. Let's look at the conditions. Verse four, what are the new conditions? And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death.

Neither sorrow nor crying. Neither shall shall there be any more pain. For the former things are passed away. First Corinthians 15 I'm going to read this verses 54 through 57. I think I have, yeah, there's the reference for you.

First Corinthians fifteen fifty four through 57 say this, Speaking of the rapture, when God takes us to be with him, it says, so when this corruptible, that's what we we live in a corruptible world with corruptible bodies today. Mortal, for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, this mortal shall have put on immortality. Then, shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is thy sting?

Oh grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ came and he died on the cross and he rose again from the dead and he went back to heaven to prepare a place for us. We can be assured that there is victory over sin and death and hell.

Jesus Christ has won the victory for us. And by receiving him as Lord and savior, we have become the children of God and so one day, the children will go to live with who? The father. In heaven, the place he has prepared. Where there will be no sickness.

Praise God. No sickness. The last couple years, our world has been turned upside down because of a sickness and it won't be the last one. Sickness is a terrible thing. Sickness is the result of sin but in the new heaven and new earth, there won't be any sin and there won't be any what?

Sickness and there won't be any death because Jesus conquered death on the cross and because death will be done away. We will live forever in our new bodies like unto his own. There will be no more pain, no more pain in heaven. Some of you sitting here this morning as you sit in those wonderful plush pews. Are in pain.

Your back hurts. Your hips hurt. Your legs hurt. I I blew out a disc in my back a few years ago. People always complained about having back pain.

Oh, I can't sit for too long. My back hurts and you know, and I kind of brushed it off. Well, yeah, it's pain. I have pain. Well, if you haven't messed up a disc in your back, you don't know what back pain is.

It's not just a pain in the back. It's a pain in the back and it's a pain in the hip and it's a pain in the legs and it hurts. It hurts. One day, we'll be in heaven and there'll be no more what? No more pain.

It'll be gone. There'll be no more sorrow. He'll wipe away all tears from our eyes and will never sorrow particularly for loss ever again. There'll be no more war nor strife in heaven. We'll all live in perfect what?

In perfect harmony. You know, the world cries for that all the time. Peace, peace, peace, peace. We want to have peace and what do they do? Well, they start wars with each other.

Nations start wars with each other. Families start war with each other. Sometimes, brothers and sisters start war with each other. Congregations start war with each other. It is the human condition.

The only one who can save us from that condition is Jesus Christ and we get to the place that he has prepared for us. No more war, no more strife. Not in the new Jerusalem. All of that will be in the what? Past and it will have passed away with all heaven and the old earth.

No more regrets or failures. In this life, we have regrets and we have failures. But in the new Jerusalem, those things will all be former. They'll be passed away. We will remember not the regrets.

We will enjoy the blessings. No regrets or failures. No more hunger nor thirst. There'll be a a river of water to drink from. There will be trees of life to eat from.

But will never suffer. No one will suffer from hunger in heaven. No one will suffer from parched throat. In heaven. No more sins to be confessed.

No more battles to be fought. If you're a child of God, you truly want to do that which is pleasing to your savior. You do and yet sometimes you don't because of this old sin nature that we drag around but one day, that cord will be cut and that sin nature will be done away with and there'll be no more sin, No more sins to confess. No more struggle in heaven. Paul puts it this way in Romans seven, oh wretched man that I am.

Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul says, there is deliverance. There is power to overcome today and there is promise in heaven that we will overcome forever. And there will be no more struggle.

Praise our Lord Jesus Christ. New conditions. The holy city will have residence and who are the residents of that holy city? Well, God himself will be there with us. Father, son, and holy spirit.

It's his city. But also the redeemed of mankind will be there In verse 27, if you'll skip to the end of the chapter real quick and there shall in no wise enter into it, anything that defileth. Neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie. Those things were all cast out as he speaks of in verse eight. But in the verse 27 again, they which are written in the what?

In the lamb's book of life. There shown to no wise enter into anything that defileth either whatsoever work of abomination or make the lie but they which are written in the lamb's book of life. The redeemed of mankind, the redeemed in Christ Jesus. Those who are the children of God through faith in his son, who have been redeemed by his blood, have been born again into his family by his spirit. We will live forever.

Whose names are written in the book of life. How do you get your name written in the book of life? Well, that's pretty simple actually. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have what? Everlasting life.

Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ today as the Lord and savior of your life. And your name will be written in the what? In the book of life. And this will be your home. These are the residents.

Those that have overcome overcome In verse seven, he that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son. Overcome what? Overcome the world. Overcome sin and Satan and how do we overcome sin and Satan through faith in who? In Jesus Christ, that's how we overcome the world.

We are more than overcomers through him that loved us, through Jesus Christ who gave himself for us. Those who have drunk freely of the water of life and in his strength have overcome the world. Look, if you would at at at verse six and he said unto me, it is done. I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life what?

Freely. If you will come to Jesus Christ, he will give you of the fountain of water of of the water of life freely. He is that water of life. And if you'll come to him in faith he will give you eternal life in him. It is a free gift to all to come in faith and repentance to Jesus Christ.

And in his strength, we will overcome and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, our Lord and then the strength of our God and we will one day see a new heaven and a new earth. We will be the residents thereof. In Jesus Christ. It is a city we're told. Look again in verse 10 if you would.

And carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and he showed me that great city the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. The holy Jerusalem. Holy mean that which is set apart from all other cities. It is special. It is unique.

It is God's city. It is the holy city in which there is nothing that defiles. It is set apart. It is the city of peace. That's what the name Jerusalem means.

It means the city of peace. There is a Jerusalem in this world in which we live. A Jerusalem that Jesus Christ will one day return to rule and reign for a thousand years. Before this final, new Jerusalem comes to dwell on this new Earth. That city of Jerusalem was named by David, the city of Peace.

It is also called the City Of David. It is also called the Holy City. For one day, Jesus will rule there. In this new Jerusalem, not the old Jerusalem but the what? The new Jerusalem, part of the new heaven and the new Earth.

It will indeed be a city of peace because there will be no strife there. There will be no strife there and that in the old Jerusalem that exist here today is their strife? Yes. There's a ton of it but in the new Jerusalem, there will be no strife. We will all be in perfect harmony with our God.

God and man will dwell in peace together forever there. The ultimate and last tabernacle where God will dwell with men forever. It will come down out of heaven. It will come down out of heaven to Earth as John sees in his vision. It is the place that Jesus, I believe, has prepared for who?

Has prepared for, I believe, when John 14, when Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you, I believe he's talking about this city. This city wherein we will dwell with him. Forever and ever. Verse 11, having the glory of God in her light was like in the stone most precious. Even jasper sung clear as crystal.

Think a diamond. Had a wall great and high and had 12 gates and at the gates, 12 angels and names written thereon which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. On the East three gates, on the North three gates, on the South three gates, and on the West three gates. In the wall of the city had 12 foundations and in them, the names of the 12 apostles of the lamb and he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city and the gates thereof and the wall thereof and the city lieth four square. The length is as large as the breadth and and he measured the city with the reed 12,000 furlongs, the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.

And he measured the wall thereof and hundred and forty and four cubits according to the measure of a man that is of the angel and the building of the wall of it was of jasper and the city was pure gold like under clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth an emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardis, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprasus, the seventh jacinth, and the twelfth an amethyst. The 12 gates were 12 pearls. Every several gate was of one pearl, The street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent.

Glass. And I saw no temple therein for the Lord God almighty and the lamb are the temple of it. The city had no need of sun neither the moon to shine in it. For the glory of God did lighten it and the lamb is the light thereof. The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.

The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day. For there is no night there. In other words, they will never be shut. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. No reason for him to be shut because there are no what?

There are no enemies. This is God's description of this beautiful city that is ours in Christ Jesus. Transparent with a bright light shining out of the middle of that city that that lights everything up. As you see it come down from heaven, it's like this this beautiful diamond bright and shining, unmistakable coming down from heaven to earth. It is a cube, 1,500 miles in length, one, five hundred miles in breath, one, five hundred miles in height.

That's pretty big. It's construction, it's walls made of many precious stones bearing the names of the apostles in the foundation thereof. Its gates made of each of one humongous pearl. On it the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. Its streets made of pure gold.

There won't be any potholes like the one out here that keeps getting bigger and bigger. I hope you didn't hit it this morning. The pleasantries will include a river of life and a tree of life. Chapter 22 verse one and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the lamb and in the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. There'll be no want in heaven.

Be no hunger, no thirst, and there be no lack for light because the light of that city is who? Jesus Christ and it will fill every quarter and every corner and there will be no night. Jesus indeed is the light of the world. Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. I am come, a light into the world that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness and in that city, there will be no one, no darkness, no sin, nothing to make us afraid, but the light of Jesus Christ, our savior. My question this morning, will you be there? He said, I go to prepare a place for you but only those who choose to believe in him. In my father's house are many mansions were not so would have told you but he said, let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe what?

Also in me. If you believe in him, if you put your faith and trust of him, if you've been born again by the blood of the lamb, there is a place. Waiting you. A wonderful place. A place with no sin, no sorrow, no struggle, reserved for them that love him.

In first Peter one three, it says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and that faded not away reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. I don't know exactly what it's going to be like Heaven is beyond description but God wanted us to have at least a hint of the beautiful place he has prepared. So, he gave it to John in a vision Described it in terms that we can understand. So that we can know. That everything that troubles us here, one day, will be passed away.

And the things that are a blessing well, those things, our savior, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Those we will have forever. But have you drunk from the fountain of the water of life through faith in Christ? Have you received him? For the forgiveness of your sins, salvation, and eternal life.

If you haven't, you can today. This can become your home. You will have something wonderful to look forward to. So, in a moment, when we sing a hymn of invitation, I would plead with you. Come, I'll meet you down here.

I'll share with you from God's word how you might be saved today and know it. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you. For the wonderful description of this wonderful place you're preparing for us. I pray Lord that we would not get too attached to the things of this world.

This world's passing away. But that we who are your children become more attached to you every each and every day. For we're going to spend eternity with you. And I pray Lord if there's one here today that has never trusted Christ as savior or they're even a bit unsure. Lord, as we sing this hymn of invitation, they would come.

That they would make sure today. There are only two paths. The narrow way that leads to life. The broad way that leads to destruction. Lord, I pray that each and every person here would make sure today.

They've chosen the narrow way. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.