God Restores | Charles Zimmerman | Calvary Church

Well, this morning we conclude the

story. Actually, the series on the

story. When the real story gets

concluded, well, no, that's not that

conclusion. And I pray that it's not the

end of your kind of reading and thinking

through the story because God gave us

the story so we can read our lives into

it. It's our story. God made us part of

his story and he wants us to understand

what's happening, the priorities, the

values as we live out our chapter of the

story. Well, if you remember, there are

six acts to the story. It starts with

God creates, and we did that a number of

weeks ago. God speaks all that exists

into being, and then God is rejected.

The goodness of God's creation only

lasts a couple chapters in the Bible,

and God is rejected. People think they

have a better idea. They go their own

way. God makes promises, though. He's

not content to allow uh sin and

rebellion to be the end of the story. He

makes promises that one day he's going

to make this all right. Those promises

find their completion in Jesus where God

appears. And it's kind of interesting

that we're at that po point in the year

when we're getting ready to celebrate

Christmas where God himself steps into

history and uh completes the God appears

chapter of the story. But that's not the

end either. God then sends us as Carlos

and uh Brad spoke the last couple of

weeks. Our role now is to go with that

story as witnesses. But that's not the

sending part. It's not the end either.

God restores his original intention. So

all that God originally intended, he

will one day bring to completion. And

that's what we're going to read about

today. Now, you have to realize um God's

u restoration is not somehow that souls

escape from the world. No, God's making

everything new. God doesn't um destroy

the world and it's gone forever. God

renews the world. And that's what we're

going to read about today. So, if you

have your Bibles, your iPhone, you grab

a Bible out of the seat rack there. Uh

if you're in the seat rack, you can turn

to page 848. Few weeks ago, remember we

started on page one. Now, we're page

848. And I'm going to jump around a

little bit uh as I read. So, I'll try to

remember to tell you where I'm jumping

to. So, let's start at Revelation 21:1.

Revelation 21:1

I'll read through verse 6, then we'll

skip. Here we go. John writes, "Then I

saw a new heaven and a new earth, for

the first heaven and the first earth had

passed away, and there was no longer any

sea. I saw the holy city, the new

Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven

from God, prepared as a bride,

beautifully dressed for her husband. and

I heard a loud voice from the throne

saying, "Look, God's dwelling place is

now among the people. And he will dwell

with them. They will be his people, and

God himself will be with them and be

their God. He will wipe every tear from

their eyes. There will be no more death

or mourning or crying or pain, for the

old order of things has passed away." He

who was seated on the throne said, "I am

making everything new." Then he

said,"Write this down, for these words

are trustworthy and true." He said to

me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the

Omega, the beginning and the end. To the

thirsty, I will give water without cost

from the spring of the water of life."

Jump over to verse 9.

one of the seven angels who had the

seven bowls full of the seven last

plagues came and said to me, "Come, I

will show you the bride, the wife of the

Lamb." And he carried me away in the

spirit to a mountain great and high and

showed me the holy city, Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven from God. It

shone with the glory of God, and its

brilliance was like that of a very

precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as

crystal. Jump over to verse 22.

I did not see a temple in the city

because the Lord God Almighty and the

Lamb are its temple. The city does not

need the sun or the moon to shine on it

for the glory of God gives its light and

the lamb it is its lamb. The nations

will walk by its light and the kings of

the earth will bring their splendor into

it. Jump down to 27.

Nothing impure will enter it, nor will

anyone who does what is shameful or

deceitful, but only those whose names

are written in the Lamb's book of life."

Then Then the angel showed me the river

of the water of life, as clear as

crystal, flowing from the throne of God

and the Lamb down the middle of the

great street of the city. On each side

of the river stood the tree of life,

bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its

fruit every month. and the leaves of the

tree are for the healing of the nations.

No longer will there be any curse. The

throne of God and of the lamb will be in

the city and his servants will serve

him. They will see his face and his name

will be on their foreheads. There will

be no more night. There will be no need

for the l for the light of a lamp or the

light of the sun. For the Lord God will

give them light and they will reign

forever and ever.

Well, what we're going to do this

morning is look at four things that God

restores in Acts six. There are a few

other things, and we could spend forever

talking about them, but we're going to

look at four. And the first thing I want

you to see is that God restores the home

that we long for. Do you notice as I

read um there's a description of heaven

and a lot of commentators and preachers

over the years have spoken about heaven

and they often emphasize the place and

they make it sound like maybe Oz

remember the Wizard of Oz or Disney

World without the long lines and super

high prices. Um what what is this place

going to be? Well, it's described in

pictures, figures of speech, in simile

and metaphor because our minds can't

comprehend what it's going to be. And so

the places describe them in some

interesting ways. First of all, it says

its walls

200 ft thick

made of jasper. I don't know what that

means, but giant walls, right? the

streets are gold. Now, I don't

necessarily think that John's describing

the architectural principles of heaven.

He's trying to describe in ways that his

readers and you and I would understand

something that we can't comprehend. But,

uh, I'm fascinated

when he mentions the gates. Now, you've

heard the expression, right? The pearly

gates. I didn't read that part. I didn't

want to get stuck there. Um, I like that

part because here's what it says there.

The gates of the city, right? This this

new heavens, new earth, the gates are

made of pearl. But that's not the end of

the description. Then it says each gate

was carved from a single pearl.

Imagine the size of that oyster. Right.

Ah, now you know on Wednesday nights we

have class here and uh once each

semester we go down to the poor house on

309. Wednesday nights they have bucka

shock. That means it's a buck for an

oyster, right? And when we go, you know,

maybe a handful from the well maybe 15

20 go from class and we usually orderund

and some oysters that we all eat. I was

thinking, could you imagine one oyster

who can create a pearl that it can be an

entire gate that people walk? We don't

have to get a half oyster for a whole

class. And do you know how pearls are

formed? Um, here's how they're formed.

Either a grain of sand or an irritant

somehow slips into the oyster. Must be a

kids running around. Put a little piece

of sand in the oyster. The oyster is

irritated by that. So, the oyster then

secretes mother of pearl right around

the irritant. And as long as the oyster

feels the irritant, it keeps

secretreting until eventually you get a

pearl. This beautiful piece of jewelry

that a lot of people Well, what is it?

The irritant cause the beauty within the

pearl.

I was thinking about that this past week

and we talked Tuesday afternoon.

I wonder.

I wonder. Could it be that the gates

remind us of pearls,

irritant, foreign substance

covered in something valuable and

beautiful? Could the gates remind us of

the price that it took to get us home?

Every time you look at the gate, you

realize something foreign has been made

something beautiful because only God can

do that. But the emphasis in heaven,

right? The emphasis new heaven. It It's

not about place. Oh, maybe it's about

preparation. Um, have you ever been a

part of a wedding? Like planning a

wedding? I get pulled into this every

once in a while as as uh infrequently as

I can. Every once in a while I get

pulled in. If you've never been part of

this, I'm young. If you've never been

part of this, let me explain to you just

a small piece of the preparation that

goes into a wedding because the people

of God are described here as a bride.

Here's how it works.

The bride spends hours, weeks, months

selecting the right dress.

All right? Then she has to find the

right shoes to go with the dress. Then

the right headpiece to go with the shoes

in the dress. Then she needs the right

jewelry to go with the shoes and the

dress and the headpiece. Then she needs

the right hairdo. She needs the right

church, the right flowers, the right

music, the right bridesmaids, the right

bridesmaid's dresses, the right

groomsman, the right place for the right

rehearsal. You need the right menu, the

right place for the reception, the right

wedding cake, the right decorations for

each event. Hopefully somewhere in there

she searches for the right groom.

And then she needs the right pastor to

do the wedding. And let me just say, we

have a lot of pastors here that would

love to do your wedding. Uh, don't send

me an email. Um, all that preparation,

do you think it's coincidental

that the idea of a bride preparing for

the wedding

is how the church, how God's people are

described.

Think of the preparation or the beauty

of our earth, right? The beauty of our

world. And God's been working on this

thing for centuries now. I wonder what

those preparations are going to yield.

It's a place that's magnificent. It's a

place that's well prepared for.

And it's a place that's forever new.

It's home right now. I know your home

isn't forever new. Kim and I live in a

home. It's I guess about 20 years old.

Here's what I've discovered. Things wear

out. I hate that. Um, appliances need to

be replaced, right? Stains don't come

out. Hardwood floors get scratched. Um,

it seems you're always But heaven's not

like that. Heaven's a place that's

forever new. Nothing ever wears out. You

ever think about clothing that just when

things begin to fit you, they wear out

and get a hole in them and your wife

won't let you wear them anymore. Um, but

heaven's not like that. Heaven is

forever new. Heaven is well prepared

for. And heaven is a place

of awesome beauty. But that's not the

purpose. That that's not what what

John's emphasizing here. What's John

emphasize?

Heaven is home.

Heaven's home.

Um what's home?

Have you ever been home sick? By the

way, maybe when you were young,

elementary school, junior high school,

your your parents sent you away at camp

for a summer week so they could have a

vacation without you. Um, were you

homesick when you were at camp? Right.

Were you homesick when maybe you went in

the military?

Homesick your first semester at college,

all your friends were back home,

family's away. But what's home? Here's

what home is. Here's what John what's

John what John's describing in pictures.

Home is a home is a place where you

belong.

You're meant to be there. Home is a

place where you're accepted.

And here's the weird thing. Home is a

place where they know you and they still

accept you. Right? We live through life

kind of fearful. If people really knew

us, they'd reject us. At home, they know

you and they still accept you. It's

amazing.

Home is a place where you're loved. Home

is a place where you're accepted. Home

is a place where wounds get healed and

you're celebrated.

Home.

Heaven's home.

And that longing inside of us for this

home that we've never experienced has

been put there by God. And so we long

for this place. God restores that the

home that that we were actually built

for. But that's not all. Secondly,

home is the uh community

that we were built for. Um

I was flipping through the stations the

other night and bucket list was on.

Remember that? And after the movie,

everybody formed a bucket list. things

they have to do before they die or

things they want to get done. They made

these lists and check it off. And I was

thinking um about that a couple years

ago when I'm reading through the end of

the story here and I thought, you know

what? I'm not going to have a bucket

list. I'm going to have a kick the

bucket list. I'm going to have a list of

things I want to do after I die. So,

here's what I want to do.

When I get to the new heavens and the

new earth, I want to see a video of

Genesis 1 because people have been

fighting about this forever. I want to

know how it went down. I want to know

when it went down and how it went down.

I also I want to hear Noah's testimony.

Uh our whole family went out to sight

and sound on Friday. We all saw Noah.

There there are a few questions I have

for Noah, right? Especially somebody who

can't build anything. I mean, how in the

world he and a couple kids built this

boat, right? I I have some questions. I

I'd like to pray with Daniel, but more

than that, I want to hear Paul preach.

Here's why. Remember that guy fell

asleep and fell out the window. Was he

really boring? I don't I don't know

about you. It'll be very hopeful to me

if Paul was boring.

The guy falls asleep and falls out the

window. I want to hear Peter say

whatever comes into his mouth, right? He

just lets it go. I want to hear that.

I want to talk to some of the martyrs.

What were they thinking as they walked

to the stake that would be set on fire?

I want to talk to some people that lived

in situations that you and I

only have nightmares about and they've

remained faithful. And I've got a mom

and dad I need to do some catching up

with.

Isn't it interesting

when I ask people or when you think

what are you going to do? What do you

want to do when you get to the new

heavens and new earth? I'd be willing to

bet you think of people.

You think of community. You think of

life the way it was supposed to be in

relationship, right? That's what we

think of. We live in a world that's

broken. Our relationship with God has

been broken. We're alienated from him

and we're alienated from other people.

We want to be known, but we're afraid to

be known. We want to be loved, but we're

afraid people won't love us. But on the

other side, we will be known to the

bottom and be loved and accepted the way

it was meant to be. Community

that we were built for, home that we

long for, and community

that we were built for.

Here's another thing.

We're going to experience the design

that we were made for. Here's a maybe my

favorite verse in uh in the section I

read.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

No more death or mourning or crying or

pain

for the old order of things has passed

away.

You know, the most often used

descriptors of heaven

are what it's not. Ain't that funny?

It's a place where there are no more

tears, no more need for tissues, either

for colds or sadness. Um, no more death,

no more mourning, no more grief, no more

brokenheartedness, no more

misunderstanding. Um, you see, we were

built to live in a right relationship

with God, with ourselves, other people

in the world. But that's been messed up

ever since Genesis 3. But that all gets

corrected

in the restoration that God's bringing

community and also our design. But

what's part of that? It's going to be

full of joy, right?

If you ever uh walk down our nursery

hall,

maybe you hear you're not allowed in

there, by the way. You need a special

key to get in. But uh I remember walking

down there and and I heard this uh a

while back. A nursery worker was holding

a young child and she was saying,

"Honey, honey, honey,

I know, I know, I know

mommy will be back soon. She's over

there sleeping while Charles is

preaching. She'll be back soon."

But you know what's really tough about

life?

After you live a little while, you

realize that

some hurts aren't going to go away.

Some hurts will remain

with us for the rest of life.

But you know what we were made for? And

you know what we're going to experience?

We're going to experience one day God

saying to us,

"Honey,

honey, honey.

It's okay.

I'm here now.

No more tears. No more death. No more

mourning. No more brokenheartedness. No

more separation. No more

misunderstanding.

It's okay. I'm here

forever.

That's what we were designed for. We

were made uh to experience God's

presence and right relationship with

other people full of joy.

But there's one last thing that at least

I want to mention.

Heaven is

heaven restores the worship that we were

created for. Now, you've probably heard

uh over the years here me or somebody

else say to you, worship comes from the

old English word which means worth ship.

And here's how that works. What are you

scri ascribing ultimate worth to? What's

your number one priority? What do you

put the highest value sticker on? What's

the highest priority? That is what you

worship. So when we say come to the

worship service, we're going to worship

in this time. We're saying we're going

to re-evaluate the things that we're

putting the ultimate value on and we're

going to say, you know what, let's take

the most valuable price tag off of the

stuff that we're often living for and

let's put that most valuable price tag

where it belongs. Let's put it on God.

That's worship, right? Ascribing

ultimate value, worth to God.

Well, we were built, we were designed,

we were created

to worship God, to worship Jesus, right?

To worship Father, Son, and Spirit. And

all of the problems that we experience,

all of the problems that we read about

from Genesis 3 all the way through the

end of the Bible, all those problems

come about by putting the wrong price

tags on things. You see, we we go

through life and say, "I'm going to put

the most valuable price tag, the highest

worth. I'm going to put that on family.

No. Well, you know what? If you put the

highest price tag on family, you're

demoting God and you're not going to be

very good to your family if you make

them the highest priority. Oh, I'm going

to put the highest price tag on my job.

I'm going to put the highest price tag

on my reputation. I'm going to put the

highest price tag on money. Whatever you

put the highest price tag on, if it's

not Jesus, that very thing is going to

wind up defeating you.

So, what does God restore? He restores

Jesus to the priority place in our

lives. The highest price tag gets put on

him.

Now,

I guess I need to say,

and this is an unmistakable message of

scripture,

heaven, the new heavens, the new earth,

not for everybody.

You see, we have um just in case you're

wondering, we have locks on our windows

and doors at our house cuz I don't want

any of you just dropping by without an

invitation.

But the family has the code. We don't

have keys. We have a keypad on the

garage.

Family knows the code. You don't know

the code. And I'm not telling you.

Family knows the code. And

anybody we invite is free to come, too.

That's the message of the Bible. God

created.

He was rejected.

But rather than let that rejection be

the end of the story, he made promises

that those who turn from their sin and

turn to him can find forgiveness and

acceptance. where there was the

alienation and division and rebellion.

And how were those promises fulfilled?

They were fulfilled when God appeared.

Jesus shows up and what does he do? He

pays the debt and the price so that

those who were invited can say yes and

come. And then he sends all of us that

have RSVPd we're coming. He sends us out

with that invitation to others. And he

says, "Uh, one day I'm going to restore

things exactly as I intended.

I'm going to restore the home you were

built for.

I'm going to restore the community.

I'm going to restore the design. And I'm

going to restore worship of Jesus as it

was intended."

Well, the invitation's been issued.

Many of you have already RSVPd.

If you haven't done that yet,

you really need to do it. No better time

than leading up to Christmas where the

climax of the story happens

where God appears.

You see, one day God will restore the

original intent.

Everything he intended at the beginning

will be fulfilled perfectly at the end.

Um, I challenge you this afternoon, if

you have time, read the first couple

chapters of the Bible, Genesis. Read the

last couple chapters. You'll be amazed

at how similar they are. What God

intended, he brings to fruition.

He's issued an invitation to those who

once rejected him and turned their backs

on him. and he said, "Uh, I'd love to

have you join me in this restored new

heaven, new earth forever."

Little balls on our court.

God awaits your RSVP.

Let's pray.

Father, we give you thanks

that this story isn't a human story.

It's actually a story that uh comes

right out of your heart, right out of

your life. And so Lord, I pray that we

would read our lives in light of that

story, remembering that you're the

creator. You got this thing started. And

just like our first ancestors, we too

have turned our backs on you and

rejected you. But that's not the end of

the story. You make promises and you

appeared and you paid the debt that we

can't pay. You send us with the

invitation and you say one day

the final curtain will close and the

real celebration will begin and that

celebration will go on forever and ever.

Lord, thanks for the story. Thanks for

Jesus that makes the story a reality and

can make it a reality in our lives. We

pray in his name. Amen.