The Christian Handbook - From Heaven or Hell to Eternal Peace or Punishment

Anyway, I want to get right into the message today. So let's pray

and ask God to guide us as we get into his word today. God,

we thank you for tonight. We thank you for your word. God.

We just pray that you are bringing clarity to everything you once said tonight.

God, that our hearts are open to receive it from you. God,

that they as we go through the easy things, we get to rejoice

and celebrate as we go through the heart things. God, you bring comfort

that only the Holy Spirit provides. And so God, I just thank you

for this night and your word and pray that it is falls on good soil

tonight, God, that it lands on our hearts and we receive it with

joy. And everybody said amen. Okay. We have been in a series

called the Christian Handbook Fundamentals of the Faith. We were talking about what Christians

believe and what Christians do because our belief, for our belief feeds into our

action, It affects our behaviors, it drives it. And last week we

got to talk about King Jesus returning. King Jesus is returning, and we

got to talk about what that looks like, and we got to talk about

what he is returning to do and who went back and read the Book of

Revelation after last Sunday? Anybody, nobody? You guys really should It's great,

don't be scared of it. We should definitely dive into it reading the

Book of Revelation. I actually we were having a great conversation at the barbecue.

I've been listening to this this like seminary courses, and the Bible says

that all scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, correcting, rebuke and

training and righteous. Right, Well, all scripture includes revelation, so we

shouldn't stay away from it. We should read it because it's part of scripture

that we were given for our benefit. Right, So we should read it,

even if it's got awesome and confusing stuff in there. Sometimes we'll learn

it together. But yeah, So we talked about Jesus returning last week,

and I had a point last week that I wanted to bring up again.

And that point was this, the beginning of the end starts with Jesus return.

The beginning of the end starts with Jesus return. And that's just Jesus

return is what like kind of I don't know, kicks it off like a

football game. It's the kickoff, and Jesus is going to return in a

way that no one's gonna miss. Everyone's gonna know, like lightning across the

sky of Jesus will return. Everybody is going to know. But what I

want to do this week, so I want to take this point to like

the next level or to the next step by saying this, the beginning of

forever starts with Jesus final judgment. Okay, so we just talked about last

week that the beginning of the end starts with Jesus return. But this week,

the beginning of forever starts with Jesus final judgment. That it's his final

judgment on the living and the dead that kicks off eternity. It's what believers

are eagerly awaiting. It's what the scoffers refuse to acknowledge. They don't believe,

they don't believe it. It's what the ungodly could not care less about,

the return of Jesus. But it's also what every single person in all

of existence, throughout all history is going to experience. Every single person,

everyone, regardless of they're dead or alive, will stand before the judgment throne

of God, every single person. Not only that, but in that moment,

everyone will know what the truth is without a doubt. We will all

know. Let's look at Roman's fourteen. You, then, why do you

judge your brother or sister, okay, speaking to believers, or why do

you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.

It is written, as surely as I live, says the Lord.

Every knee will bow before me, every tongue will acknowledge God. So then

each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Every single person

is going to stand before the judgment seat of God. We know this because

we talked about it a month a lot, that we all will be judge,

every single knee will bow before God, and every tongue will acknowledge God.

And it actually says it very similarly in Philippians too, And I like

to read both of these together. So lets look at Philippians two, verses

nine through eleven. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place, exalted who

Jesus. God exalted him Jesus to the highest place, and gave him the

name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus. Every knee

should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue

acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, every

single knee will bow, every single tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.

The name of Jesus is above every other name. Think of any name.

Jesus's name is above that one, think of any type of power. Jesus

name is above that, above every other name. And it's in this moment

of his final judgment that everyone will be made to kneel before him and confess

with our mouths what is absolutely true, and that is Jesus Christ's Lord,

single person. And when that moment comes, whether you agree with the statement

or not doesn't actually matter. It doesn't matter if we believe that that statement

or we agree with that statement, because he is Lord. Well I don't

believe that, doesn't matter what you believe because he is Does that make sense?

It doesn't matter what someone believes in that moment, because the truth will

be revealed to all that he is God, he is Lord. And I

wrote this down as kind of like a thought. Truth is truth, whether

we believe it or not. Truth is truth, no matter what we feel

about it. Truth is truth. So in the end, when every knee

will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory

of God the Father, that's truth, regardless if we believe it or not.

Where the heck am I in my notes? Somewhere in here, we'll

find it now, So we talk about He's going to make you kneel,

every tongue is going to confess. So it doesn't matter if you believe,

because that's going to happen. But what does matter if you believe is what

happens after his final judgment. Okay, So it's really important. That's when

it's going to matter about whether or not you believe. And that's what we're

talking about today, that after Jesus executes his final judgment on all people,

he will set everything and everyone in motion towards their final and eternal state,

their final and eternal state. So today we're talking about and this is the

message title if you're taking notes from Heaven or Hell to eternal peace or punishment.

Okay, we in all fairness, I was low key freaking out a

little bit because I've talked to people and I've preached a little bit, and

I was like, yeah, we when we die either go to heaven or

health for eternity forever. You get to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus for

believers, and you spend eternity and health for punishment for your sins for those

who are unbelievers. And then as I was studying this, I was like,

oh my gosh, if I've been lying to everybody, because even we're

going to get into this, even heaven and hell pass away when when Christ

makes all things new. So Loki was freaking out about preaching this message.

You're welcome to be on the ride with me. It's going to be great.

But all people should want to know what happens in eternity. Why because

forever's a long time. Everyone should want to know what happens in the attorney

for our eternity. The longest part of our existence is not our life on

this earth. That is not the longest part of our existence. That is

but a breath of our existence. It was LACREI who put in a song.

He says, you're gonna live forever, whether you want to or not.

Some of us are gonna end up Polly, some of us go end

up hot forever. It's a long time, and we all are going to

live eternally, right, So where now, that's why it's so important that

we talk about this. Why we need to understand eternity and let that urgency

push us towards action. Why, because our belief drives our action. Right,

what Christians believe drives what Christians do. We will spend far longer in

eternity. In the eternity that the Lord has prepared for us. That's why

we need to study it and know it and settle it in our hearts.

And just as a reminder, and I'll probably say this a couple of times,

but there is a heaven in hell now, because we've talked about that

last week. There's places that people go that is different, that will be

different than when God makes all things new, because He will make all things

new. So let's talk about that now. Part Let's look at Luke sixteen.

I'm gonna do two verses that should be really familiar because we talked about

him last week. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried

him to Abraham's side. So let's talking about when the story, when Lazarus

died, the rich man also died and was buried in Hades where he was

in moment. He looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his

side, Lazarus the beggar. So he called to him, Father, Abraham,

have pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his

finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this

fire. Those who are nonbelievers are non Christians. When they die, the

goat too hell to experience punishment for their sin, the wrath of God.

This is all kind of like a recap. If you're here, yes,

excuse me, last week, this will sound very familiar. But I want

to point out here they will be in agony in this fire. That's the

now for nonbelievers, right, So I don't want to say that where when

people die now, they wait for second judgment. That's not what's happening there

right now, in an agony in fire. But those who believe in Jesus

as God and trust him for their salvation. It's like in the Luke twenty

three. Let's look at Luke twenty three. One of the criminals who hung

there hurled insults at him, insults at Jesus. Aren't you the Messiah se

yourself and us? But the other criminal rebuked him. Don't you fear God,

he says, since you are under the same sentence. We are punished

justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has

done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come

into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, Truly, I tell you today,

you will be with me in Paradise. Today you will be with me in

Paradise. The believers who die now get to be with Jesus in paradise.

They get to be in Heaven with him, because for the believer to be

away from the body is to be at home with the Lord. So people

who die now either go to Heaven or Hell based upon their belief. But

when Jesus has finished his final judgment, he will make all things new.

And I like to say this way, that heaven and Hell just get intensified.

Okay, Heaven and Hell. And then when he makes all things new,

it's either more heaven or more Hell. And that's kind of what we're

going to be breaking down and talking about today. This intensification of what heaven

and hell are believers who are already excuse me, believers who have already died

get to experience more grace and more peace, and unbelievers who have already died

get to experience more wrath and more punishment. So let's finally get into what

is this new heaven and new Earth, the one that Peter says we're looking

forward to in Second Peter chapter three, And also what does that mean for

hell? So if you have your Bibles, turn to Revelation chapter twenty one,

because that's gonna be our main text we're working in today. If you

don't have a Bible, don't own one, or just forgot when I want

to use it today, we have them on the back table back there.

Please take those. Those are our gift because we want everyone to have access

to the Bible. So we're gonna be in Revelation twenty one, verse one,

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.

So it starts with then I saw. So this is John's reminding us

that he's being shown a vision in all of this. That's what revelation is

is John seeing this vision that was given from Jesus to the messenger to John,

and he saw a new heaven and a new earth. Because if you

read all the chapters before chapter twenty one, the first heaven and the first

earth were destroyed, which I would recommend go back and read it. But

this new heaven and new earth was actually Proph's site all the way back in

Isaiah sixty five. So I want to go back to Isaiah sixty five and

read verse seventeen. See I will create new heavens and a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

So God made this promise way back then, Okay, of I mean most

of his plan he told us ahead of the time it was coming. That's

most of what the Bible is Like, Hey, I mean we're going to

get into it. He's coming back. He already told us. So He's

given us the plan ahead of time, and now we get to with that

information, we get to make decisions. Right. So even back in Isaiah,

he's giving a prophecy about this new heavens and new earth. And I

love that it says the old the former things, they won't even come to

mind, like they're so far from your mind. They're just gone. You

won't even think about him anymore. You won't remember them, they're so far

from your mind. But let's go back to our text and keep reading.

In Revelation twenty one, because it ends with something a little weird, says

for the first Heaven and the first Earth that passed away and there was no

longer any sea. Well what does that mean? And I think I was

reading this past week, and I think there's a couple of things that it

could mean. It could just mean because the old the old Heaven and old

Earth were passed away, or the former was passed away, that it was

also destroyed. The seas were gone. But it also could be a symbolism

for the sea that the beast came from came out of in Revelation thirteen,

because we also see it. The beast in Revelation thirteen is also punished as

well. But I'll let you guys go back and continue to read more about

that because we just don't have time today. But either way, the sea

is no more. Okay, let's go to the next verse here. In

verse two, I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down

out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her

husband. I saw the Holy City. Johnsy's the new Jerusalem. That's what

he's seeing, the new Jerusalem. And it's descending down to earth from heaven.

And this is the new Jerusalem that was also prophesied in Isaiah sixty five

if you keep a reading, because Jesus is making all things new, and

that includes the Holy City of Jerusalem. And that is the Holy City where

the Jews would travel to to worship God. Not only that, that's where

the temple was. They would travel the temple. That's where they would offer

their sacrifices for their forgiveness of their sins and other forms of worshiping the Lord.

But it's not just the point of this is not just that the city

gets a facelift. Now, there's something much greater at play here. There

is a much bigger deal. Why why is it such a big deal that

new Jerusalem will come down to earth? And let's keep reading in verses three

and four, 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. Now that sounds awesome. That sounds awesome.

This is the rattest part about this. And it's a big deal that New

Jerusalem will descend down to earth because that means that this, That means that

this welcome to my brain. God will dwell among his people for eternity.

That's what that means. That God will dwell among his people for eternity.

Why because he promised it. And God always comes through and his promises.

God makes his dwelling and dwelling places where you live. He's going to make

the place he lives among his people. That's us, the believers, those

who've been called out of the darkness into the light. We are the ones

who He's going to dwell among. And he will be our God. And

since Adam and Eve got cast out of the garden of Eden, ever since

then, man has said to do all kinds of stuff just to be able

to experience God. In very limited ways. There's all these things that we

got, all these I would call him hoops to jump through, but that

I don't want to seem. I don't know what the word is like,

you're not not reverent. But there's lots of things that we had to do

to experience God in very limited ways. But when God's dwelling places among his

people, there's no more separation between us, no more. There's to use

the example of the old Tabernacle, the veil has been torn, right,

the veil is torns. We have access to God through Jesus. Well,

now we get to step further into that because it's fully realized. It's kind

of like God's our neighbor sort of, because he lives among us. We

get to be with the Lord forever. Okay, let's look back at verse

four. This is the awesome stuff. He will wipe every tear from their

eyes. He's talking about. There is His people, which is us.

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the

old order of things has passed away. All of the bad stuff from life

is gone. Only righteous stuff remains. Only righteousness remains, only perfection.

God himself will wipe the tears from our eyes. There's no more sadness,

no more death, no more pain. Think about that for a second.

Everything in our life, everything on this planet is marred by sin right now.

And it was that scripture that says that like with like growing pains,

it's like moaning with growing pains. The world is waiting for this to be

renewed, just like us. We're waiting. We know that something is wrong

in the world because it doesn't feel right, and if something is wrong,

that means there must be some right way out there. And that's what God's

preparing do to make all things new. It's awesome. No more of that

stuff. Why because that's the old way that things are done, the old

order, and that's gone. But the new order of things will be like

this. There is no sin in the New Heaven and Earth, only righteousness.

We're talking about eternity here, right, We're talking about the eternal future

is and in that eternal future, there is no sin in the New Heaven

and Earth, only righteousness. That's amazing. None of the worst parts of

life that we experience now are there. Death, sadness, and pain.

That's what life is like with sin. But when all things are made new.

There's no more sin. Can I get an amen? This is what

we get. This is what we get to look forward to. We're believers,

we believe this. We get to look forward to this. It's amazing.

But we're talking about this eternal future for people. It's either eternal peace,

which we just saw, or its eternal punishment. This eternal peace right

here, this perfect future is for those who have put faith in Jesus for

salvation. And this is what He's going to finish when he makes all things

new wen eternal peace with God. Okay, let's keep moving. Let's look

at verse five in our text, He who's seated on the throne, said,

I am making everything new. See I wasn't lying. He's making everything

new. Then he said write this down, for these words are trustworthy and

true. Who's seated on the throne as God. God is on the throne,

He's the one in charge, God, the Father. He's making everything

new. And anytime God tells you to write something down, because of trustworthy

and true, it's probably a good idea to write down and listen, should

always write it down. So let's look at what he told John to write

down in verses six, and seven. He said to me, it is

done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

Alpha and Omega. Those are the first and last letter of the Greek

alphabet. That's why it's almost always appeared with the beginning in the end right

starts with it, starts with him, and ends with him. To the

thirsty, I will give water without costs from the spring of the water of

life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be

their God, and they will be my children. That's we told John to

write down. And this is after the final judgment of everyone. God makes

all things new, and John write this down. It is done. But

I want to talk about that part there that says the water of life.

What is that? To the thirsty? I will give water without cost from

the spring of the water of life. And what did Jesus tell the woman

of the well and John four? I don't remember, let's go read it

John four and the verses ten through fourteen. Jesus answered her, if you

knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink,

you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

I love to sir. The woman said, you have nothing to draw with,

and the well is deep. She's like going straight up, like practical

about it, Like what are you talking about? You can't even get anything.

You don't have anything to draw the water out. Where can you get

this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us

this well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his

livestock. Jesus answered, everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the

water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to

what he's talking about forever. Jesus wasn't keeping secrets. Once the lid came

off and the mystery, like when we read through all the Ephesians and started

preaching through that the mystery of the Gospels out, He's not keeping secrets.

He's telling you exactly what eternity is here. This is the free water from

God, from the spring of the water of life. This water leads to

eternal life. The only way to eternal life is through belief in Jesus.

He is the living water. You believe in the name of Jesus, and

you have access to that water where you will never thirsty again. And he's

not just talking about I'm thirsty. Is something much deeper, right, It's

way deeper than I'm just thirsty to take a drink. Let's get back to

the Revelations text to the thirsty. I will give water without costs from the

spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this,

and I will be their God and they will be my children. So

when I was reading through this, I would stopping this word victorious because I

thought that was interesting because I'm like, well, what does that mean?

Those who are victorious will inherit all this? Okay, so all the awesome

stuff. What does it mean to be victorious? So I dug into the

word that they use in the Greek for this. Do we have a slide

for that? I think I sent it to you. Yes, who wants

to try to say that? Nika? Oh close enough for rock and roll?

Right, But this word, what it means is of Christians that hold

fast to their faith even unto death, against the power of their foes and

their temptations and persecutions. That's the word when we read victorious in the NIV

version. When we read the word victorious, that's the Greek root word that's

used, and this is the definition of that. So I want to take

this definition back to the verse number seven, which I think we have next.

Yeah, those who are victorious, right will inherit all of this.

So if we read it as those who hold fast their faith until the end

will inherit all the promises of God, those who hold fast to the end

will inherit all this, that we would be victorious in our ability to hold

fast to our faith in Jesus. We then those are the ones who will

inherit all the promises that He will be our God and they will be his

children. This incredible, beautiful and eternal future is for those who hold their

faith in Jesus to the end. You hold on and cling to Jesus.

And now in this text it's going to shift into the eternal future for non

Christians. Okay, so we're talking about a lot of the awesome, exciting

stuff and the happy stuff, but now we're gonna talk about the heavy reality

of those who are nonbelievers. Verse eight. But the cowardly, which I

would say is the opposite of victorious, the unbelieving, the vile, the

murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolators,

and all liars. They will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

This is the second death. These are some of the heavy verses in

scripture that we need to read. We need to read these and understand.

I mean, look at this list. Cowardly, unbelieving, vile, murderers,

sexually immoral, those magic arts, idolaters, and all liars. These

are people who do not follow God. These are the marks of people.

The people who are these things are not those who have turned and put faith

in Jesus. Why because when we are given a new heart and new desires,

we will be different. Because we believe something that affects our actions.

Our actions do not determine our our salvation. Right, we're not saved by

the things we do. But those who are saved will do certain things as

evidence of their faith. As much as there's a tree, an apple tree

with leaves and apples on, do the leaves and apples make the tree alive?

No, they don't make the tree alive. Their evidence of the tree

is alive. That's what our acts, our holy actions, are are walking

in alignment with God's plans and commands. That is our leaves and apples.

That's our proof that we are alive. These right here are the proof that

they that these people are not spiritual alive, the spiritually dead. They're the

unbelievers. And I think you could probably lump all of this stuff into unbelieving.

But the big idea for us to remember in this I put like this,

the eternal future for the unbeliever is the lake of fire. Okay,

we've talked about those who die now go to Hell to receive punishment for the

sins. Well, the eternal or a more intense version of that, is

this lake of burning sulfur. This lake of fire. Those who don't believe

this is their destination, the second death. And if we look one chapter

back in Revelation, we get to see a little bit more about this lake

of burning sulfur because it talks about it. So let's look at chapter twenty,

verses fourteen and fifteen. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake

of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name

was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of

fire. Even death in Hades or hell were thrown into the lake of fire.

They're destroyed too. And this is the lake of fire reserved for those

whose name is not in the Book of Life. Whose names are in the

Book of Life, those who believe, those who believe in Jesus, those

who have trusted in Jesus and put faith in Jesus for their salvation Christians,

that's who's in the Book of Life. So if you put faith in Jesus,

your name is in the Book of Life. No lake of fire.

Amen. But one thing that I want to point out here and is that

there's someone else's name who's not in the Book of Life, who is also

thrown at the lake of fire. Satan is thrown into the lake of fire.

For fraternity too. He is thrown into the lake of fire, unbelievers,

Satan. If you keep reading revelations, the Beast from the Sea,

and false prophets, they're all sent to the same place. Let's look a

few verses early or several verses earlier in revelation, and the devil who deceived

them was thrown into lake of burning sulfur. He's down there too, where

the beast and the false prophet had been thrown, they will be tormented day

and night, forever and ever. So now we're talking about the eternal side

of this right, tormented day and night forever and ever. Forever's a long

time. This is what the eternal future is for everyone who has not turned

or repented of their unbelief and believed in Jesus Christ as God's won and only

son. And I think that Hollywood has done a fantastic job of screwing up

everybody's view of what hell is really like and what eternal what the eternity is

for nonbelievers. I mean, it's great what heaven looks like too. They're

not great at that either. But that's why we need to read our Bible.

We need to read our Bible because this is where we get truth.

This is where God has defined what he has chosen to define. People think

Hell is like a party place some people, I'm not saying all people,

or my favorite is like a waste land looking version of Earth. That's a

good one. I've seen all the movies. Two guys something. It's a

place where nonbelievers go, that so that Satan and demons can punish you for

your sin, where Satan's like sitting on a throne, like ruling over it.

But all of those are wrong. Hell, or even more specifically,

this lake of fire, it also isn't the complete absence of God either.

And if you were like me and you grew up thinking or maybe even being

taught like Heaven is where God is and Hell is where Satan is. God

rules heaven, Satan rules Hell, and that God has nothing to do with

Hell. But I want to look at Revelations fourteen. A third angel followed

them and said in a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and its

image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they too

will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured poured full strength

into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in

the presence of the Holy Angels and of the Lamb. Wait a minute,

sometimes we just read right on past stuff and don't don't stop and think,

like, what does the implication of that? What does that mean? What

does that mean? This tormenting with burning sulfur is going to be done in

the presence of the Holy angels and the lamb, who's the spotless lamb that

takes away the sins of the world. Jesus in the presence of that's who

witnesses this tormenting that's happening to those who are drinking the wine of God's fury

in the burning sulfur, which is again some really metal lyrics. So hell

now and the eternal Lake of fire isn't a place that God isn't And I

like to say it this way. It is the absence of his grace,

but the presence of his wrath. And I think, I mean, there

was a part of me that was like, man, I'm really excited to

preach this because I learned a lot and it as I'm studying, and it's

helping correct a lot of things that I thought I had figured out as I've

been growing up and reading the Bible for however long I've been reading the Bible.

But to know that, no, no, no, it's the absence

of his grace, but the presence of his wrath, that's what's happening.

It's not Satan punishing you with his pitchfork and his little horns were in a

red suit. No, no, it's God's pouring out of his wrath on

sin forever and ever, tormenting, tormenting day and night. That before the

Holy Angels and the Lamb, they're witnessing this tormenting. This's happening, and

Satan is right next to all unbelievers being tormented. Those who die now either

go to heaven or hell. Then after final judgment, Heaven and Hell are

just intensified and eternal. It's either, I say, either more Heaven forever

with God in the new Heaven, new Earth, and New Jerusalem, or

it's more Hell forever next to Satan being tormented in the lake of burning sulfur

and fire, and all the believers in here say thank you Jesus for forgiveness

and salvation because we need it. So Revelation is going to continue to talk

about this new creation or the New Jerusalem, and it talks about how incredibly

beautiful it is. We don't have time to read at all. I really

wish we did, but I do want to talk about some of the highlights.

We see. The Holy City being referenced as the bride of the Lamb

or the Bride of Christ. But elsewhere in scripture says that the church is

the bride of Christ, right, and Christ died for people die for a

city. But most commentaries I was reading had said that the city. Calling

the city the bride is probably the same way that you would call people who

go to school. That's the school, just the collection of people. But

Revelation is giving us this beautiful picture of how incredibly radiant this new Jerusalem city

is. So let's look a little bit further. In chapter twenty one,

at verse eleven, it's shone with the glory of God, which already I

don't think we know how to fathom that, like, because we've only seen

glimpses of the glory of God. But the new city, it's shone with

the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious

jewel, like Jasper, or like a Jasper clear as crystal. It's just

a beautiful city. And I think John is trying to describe what he's seeing

using things he already knows. He's trying to describe this stuff using things he's

seen, trying to describe the indescribable. You guys, ever seen something You're

like, you're never gonna believe what I saw, And you try to explain

it here like, but it wasn't like this like that. You're just like,

it's kind of like this, kind of like that, but you don't

have the words six to describe it because you've never seen anything like it.

I think that's what it is. This is what John's trying to do.

And this is also where we get some of the pictures of heaven that if

you grew up in church being taught about heaven, you might have heard these

before, like things like the streets of Gold. But if you want to

know what the new Earth looks like, I think it looks like this.

The new eternal Earth is more beautiful than we can imagine. It's more beautiful

than we can imagine. What is the eternity for believers? This new eternal

Earth that is more beautiful than our brains can even fathom. It's so beautiful

that we can't even imagine it. What do we have to compare it to.

I think John's doing his best. John's doing his best in revelation,

but it just isn't going to fully describe how amazingly beautiful it is. And

let's skip forward a couple more verses and go to verse eighteen. Revelation twenty

one. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold,

as pure as glass. That's pretty pure. The foundations of the city

walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper,

the second sapphire, the third agate or a gate, depending on how

you want to say that. The fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the

sixth ruby, the seventh somebody helped me out crystallite. I like it.

The eighth burrel. I should have looked these up. I'm like, they're

all pretty. I just know that much. The ninth topaz I know that

one. The tenth turquoise, the eleventh to sinth, and the twelfth amethyst.

The twelve gates, this part blows my mind. The twelve gates were

twelve pearls. Each gate made of a single pearl. It's a gate.

How big are those pearls? How big was that clam? Or oyster?

What are they in? Oysters? Clams? I don't know. I don't

know. My wif would be so mad because she loves eating all of the

seafood, and I'm like, that's a note for me. Dog. The

great street of the city was of gold as pure as transparent glass. Dang,

this is this is pretty beautiful. I've never seen anything that scratches the

surface of something that's being described here. Of how beautiful this is, that

whole transparent glass thing, which I think is gonna make sense in a minute.

But like, my brain doesn't even able to do with that. What

is it? What is gold that's as transparent or is as pure as transparent

glass? What is that? But it gets even better, even better,

let's look at verse twenty two. I did not see a temple in the

city. Okay, this is going to mean a whole lot more to someone

who's Jewish than it does someone who's a gentile or just hang in there.

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 it light

and the Lamb is its lamp. Well, now the transparent like glass makes

a little bit more sense because the glory of God is shining. There's no

need for the sun or moon that God's glory lights it up. That's amazing.

But I want to get back to this temple thing. The temple was

where the Jews went to worship, to worship the Lord in Jerusalem, and

there is no more temple in the new Jerusalem. Why because God is the

temple. We get to worship him right in front of him. I look

up because I'm assuming he's taller than me, because everyone's taller than me.

Listen, I never got adopt to get under anything. So we get to

worship the Lord with nothing in between us. We get to see him face

to face, and we get to worship him. There's no temple because he

isn't and it still blows my mind. There's no need for a sun or

moon. There's no need because He is the one who lights it up.

And if we skip ahead a few more verses, which I'm even though we're

skipping it today, you guys have homework. Read read it. Just read

at least the last two chapters twenty one and twenty two. Just read those

at home. It'd be great for you. It's amazing. Let's go to

verse twenty seven. Nothing impure will ever 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. Who's heard the Lamb's Book of Life before I

grew up? And we're through that that term around all the time. This

is where, this is where it comes from. This is what's referring to.

This amazingly beautiful city made of precious stones and gold, pure like transparent

glass, incredible cannon and fathom. It where God's glory is a source of

light so much that there's no need for the sun or moon. A city

whose gates are never shut because there's no night. What does that mean?

That's if you read ahead. I'm just putting stuff in there that we would

have read if we read through it all. There's there's no knight. The

reason they shut the gates in a city at night was for protection, to

keep bad things out. Well, that means we don't even need protection this

amazing city. Those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life,

those are the only ones who get to enter. Those are the only ones

who get to enter this city. That is, those who Jesus has saved,

those who have believed in and put faith in Jesus for salvation, the

ones who have been given the right to be called children of God. This

is this awesome city where all the brothers and sisters in Christ get to enter.

Why because we all call God the Father, our father. All the

brothers and sisters who have been given the right to be called children of God.

It's the ones who God has promised to make his dwelling among and be

their God Christians. That's us. That is us. And if ever there

was a time to cheer and thanksgiving to the Lord's right now. It's amazing,

Sorry, pretty awesome. Right, there's more. Let's look at the

first few verses of chapter twenty two. Then the angel showed me the river

of the water of life, as clear as crystal. It's like drink and

feed you water, just kidding, flowing from the Throne of God and of

the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city, which

the last time I was mentioned mentioned it was made of gold transparent glass.

Here on each side of the river stood the Tree of Life, bearing twelve

crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the

tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will be there,

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. They will not need 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. Where was the last time you

saw the tree of life mentioned Genesis right, Garden of Eden? When was

the last time you saw anything mentioned where there was no curse? Or where

do you see the curse enter into into humanity? In Genesis? Right,

Garden of Eden didn't have a curse. It's in the Garden of Eden when

God created everything good, before Adam and Eve fell, is before everything was

broken by sin. God will finish what he started, and he's going to

fix everything. Or to say it another way, God is returning everything back

to its intended state. Say it with me. Good. God is returning

everything back to its intended state, which is good. His goal is to

bring things back to to the way He made them in the beginning, which

was good. The eternal future for God's children, for those who look to

the sun and believe, is all this perfection. We've been reading the perfection

that we saw a glimpse of in the garden before Adam and Eve screwed it

up. Thanks Adam and Eve. That's the perfection that we have to look

forward to. And also, I love and I kind of like hand wrote

this in my notes, but a sort of store us back to a perfect

relationship with him, which, if you ask me, is way cooler than

all the shiny stuff that's being mentioned, even more than the no tears,

no sickness, no sin, no pain, no shame, none of that.

What's more like, what's the greater reward, is being face to face

with the creator of everything. I don't can remember who said it, but

they said, if you could have all the benefits of heaven everything we've just

been talking about, all the bens of benefits of heaven, but Jesus wasn't

there, would you be okay? My first answer is no, I wouldn't

be okay. But you stop and thinking, you're, like, man,

that sounds kind of cool. If we could live on that earth. You

really got to wrestle with that in your heart, saying no, no,

I don't care about the gift as much as the gift giver. We stare

at his hand a lot. Because God gives us so much, we need

to move our eyes off his hand and move it up the arm into his

face. He's the prize, He is the reward. God is the reward.

Getting to be with him for eternity with nothing in between us. It's

amazing. Can I have the band come up here, please? And for

this last kind of part of the message, I want to read the last

nine verses of the entire Bible. It was the last time you did that.

Jesus is going to remind us of some things. He's also going to

warn us of some things. So let's look at Revelation chapter twenty two and

we'll read start in verse twelve. Look, I am coming soon. Who's

coming soon? Jesus? He's telling us. He's reminding us, I'm coming

soon. My reward is with me. He's bringing the reward with him.

And I will give to each person according to what they have done. So

we can understand that in a couple different ways. Okay, for belief and

unbelief. He's going to give to each person according what they've done. And

also we can think about or even just think about just the believer's side.

Okay, well, maybe we should do right on earth because he has rewards

with him. Not that we do it for the reward, but he's promising

one verse thirteen. I am the Alpha and the Omega. We already talked

about that the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed

are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the

Tree of life and may go through the gates of the city. Well,

we know we just read that those whose names written in the Book of Life

get into the city. So what does washer robes mean? Put faith in

Jesus, because he's the only one who makes you clean. He is how

we are washed clean, white as snow Verse fifteen. Outside are the dogs,

those who have practiced, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral,

the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

That's who's not in the city. This is talking about judgment. Verse sixteen.

Ey, Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the

churches. So this says again, if you read the beginning of Revelations,

it talks about Jesus gave a message to his angels or to his messengers to

give to John. And here's this message. I am the root and the

offspring of David and the bright morning star. This is Jesus reminding us of

very important verbiage, some very important terms, because if you start reading through

the Old Testament and some of these prophecies, Jesus saying, I'm fulfilling those

prophecies. This is who I am. The root of the offspring of David.

The king comes in the line of David is promised by God through prophecy.

He says, I'm that root of the offspring of David. The bright

and morning star. Jesus saying, I'm that bright and morning star. The

spirit and the bride say, come, who's the bride we are? And

let the one who hears say come. Let the one who is thirsty come,

and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of

life. That's amazing. Can you go back one more? Thank you?

Let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who wishes take

the free gift of the water of life. We desire him, and we

get him. Verse eighteen. I warn everyone who hears the words of the

prophecy of this scroll. If anyone adds anything to them. God will add

to that person the plague subscribe in the scroll. That's a wild ride when

you read about all the plagues. And if anyone takes words away from this

scroll, away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that

person any share in the Tree of Life and in the Holy City, which

are described in this scroll. So don't take away from the words of this

prophecy. He who testifies to these things, who is that? That's Jesus.

He says, yes, I am coming soon. Amen. This is

our response, right that Jesus says, yes, I'm coming soon. In

our response, Amen, Come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus

be with God's people. Amen. So what do believers say, Amen,

Come Lord Jesus. That's what believers say. We eagerly await Jesus return.

Why because we just read about the amazing future we have for eternity. But

most importantly, it's because we want him to come because we could be face

to face with him when all things are restored back to the way he intended.

We get to be face to face with Jesus. Okay, we've gone.

I feel all over the place today so far in the message. Did

you guys remember what we're talking about. What's the main thing we're talking about?

Talking about the eternal future for humanity. That those who die now are

either in heaven or hell, but the heaven and hell that we know now

will also pass away into something new, and that's something new will be eternal,

it will be forever. The children of God will get to experience eternal

peace with God and the new Earth. A men, that's amazing. Those

who are not the children of God experience the eternal wrath of God in the

lake of fire. But my hope is that as we've kind of gone through

this, as much as sometimes it's like, I don't know, we have

a little aversion to going through revelation. My hope is that us going through

some of this has brought a clearer picture to what eternity actually looks like.

Not the Hollywood version, not the version we were taught when we were kids,

or we remember as kids, or the nightmares that we may have had

from movies, but the biblical version of eternity. What God says about eternity,

because that's what's true. But my question is, what do we do

with this information? What do we do with all this, Pastors and preachers

are supposed to give application, and I want us to do one thing.

I canna make it really easy, just kidding, this is not easy.

Live your life with forever in view. I want you to live your life

with forever in view, because forever is what actually matters. Scripture tells us

to set our minds on things above, on the eternal, not the temporal.

Not the things that are temporary are going to end. Set our minds

on the things that are forever. So my question is, what is your

approach to the everyday things of life? When you think of your relationships,

do you consider eternity? My brother Lank says this all the time. It's

like, let's keep it funky. I'm gonna be honest. And my wife's

not here so I can say this. She's dropping our son off at Bible

Camp. She's not Skiven church. Their drop off time is just terrible if

we I don't think that me and my wife would get in nearly as many

arguments or fights if I would have eternity in view a little bit more often.

What do I be mad about? What do I have to be frustrated

about? Godliness with contentment is great gain. I don't need anything else.

The Lord has provided eat. My eternity is set, and the only things

I get frustrated about are my kingdom issues, not God's kingdom issues. When

my kingdom gets messed up, I'm just tired. I don't want to do

that today. I don't want to take out the garbage, mostly around the

housework because I hate doing it. But I don't want to do those things,

or bedtime routine with the boys. It just keeps getting longer and longer.

I just gonna be like, go to bed boys, love you doesn't

work that way. If I right, that's our time to read the Bible

together. I do love it. If we if I had eternity in view,

it would realign some things. We're just reading it this morning at our

little men's breakfast. Reading the Bible talk about righteousness and peace going hand in

hand. From from what was it? Psalm one? Psalm eighty five.

Timo was reading it was great Salm eighty five. Righteousness, being in right

standing with God is intimate with peace. You want peace, be righteous,

have eternity in view. What about your job? Do you have eternity in

view when it comes to your job? Maybe How many people do you have

around you or that you interact with in contact every single day at your job

and they don't know Jesus. We just talked about what eternity is. For

those who don't believe, don't make it weird. Just tell them about Jesus.

They need to know eternity in view. You see them every day.

They are captive audience. They can't get away. It's great. What else

do you have? How about our finances, our time, that's a big

one for me, Our schedules, our calendars. Do we have eternity?

It's our whole life, our whole life. Are we living our whole life

with forever in view? Are we concerned about eternity? We need to live

our lives with eternity in view. And trust me, this beats me just

as much as it feels like it's beating you up. I don't know.

Maybe you're like, oh, this is a great I love it. I

feel like I'm punching myself in the face as I'm saying this. But I

think it's our job as preachers and teachers to teach the Bible and what it

says. I don't think I know that's what we're supposed to do, but

to refocus our hearts and our minds on Jesus and everything that He commanded of

us. It's only by the grace of God that we have come to faith

in Jesus, and it's only by the grace of God that He keeps us.

So I said, we just lean into that strength that God provides to

be and do all that He is commanded and called us to amen. It's

message is a little long. Let's stand at our feet and get it over

with. We're gonna I'm gonna pray for us before we sing a song.

But as always I want to mention some of the stuff we have here.

If you came prepared to give, you can use the offering envelopes in the

offering box in the way out. But also we have connect cards and this

is a way for us to get to know you. Please do that because

we'd love to meet you and hang out. But also on the back has

a need prayer area. If you have any prayer requests, write them on

there are we have our whole elder team, our leaders, and then we'll

send it out to our like all of our community groups too, for everyone

to pray over. So if you'd want to be a private prayer request,

please write that on there and we'll keep it just the elders. But we

love to pray over those because we do pray over them every single week.

But also we're going to be standing on the sides as elders, So if

you want prayer now, please come get it. We would love to pray

with you about anything. Maybe you know you're feeling a little Holy Spirit conviction

from today. Let us pray that you have the courage to be walking in

obedience to what God's calling you, or to be brave and step out and

do the thing that He's like, be obedient like sometimes it's a little scary,

or maybe you are like I don't know if I'm saved anymore. We

would love to talk to you about that. We want you to have full

confidence that Jesus saves and that you are safe in his hands than anyone who

the Lord holds in his hands can never be taken out. So if you've

put faith in him, you trust in him for salvation. He promises that

those God says all who look to the sun and believe, will get in

eternal life. All who call in the name of the Lord will be saved.

So if you're calling the name of the Lord for salvation, you are

saved. There. Maybe it just made you feel better, but I'd still

love to pray with you, so we'll be on the side for that.

There's something else I'm supposed to say, right, Okay, I'm gonna pray

and then will worship God. We thank you for tonight, Yeah, we

thank you that you put everything in scripture that we need to know as it

pertains that our future for eternity to salvation, how you would have us be

as your children, God, I just pray that you give us a hunger

and thirst for righteousness to be in right standing with you to do what you

called us to do. As your children. You set the standard for how

we are to be and God, as those who have turned and put faith

in You, I pray that you give us the ability to walk in obedience

God. I pray that we do live our lives with eternity and view,

that we consider those around us, knowing what the eternal future is for believers

and nonbelievers, knowing that that we step out and we just share the good

news of Jesus Christ, that we implore people to be reconciled to God.

And the way to do that is by putting faith in You, Jesus,

in the everyday things of life. God, let us keep eternity in view,

that the things that don't have eternal significance or that aren't kingdom issues,

they don't bother us. God, and when they do, because we're not

perfect. I pray that you bring people alongside to remind us, remind us

to keep eternity in view, to take our minds off of the things that

are temporary and put them on the things that are eternal. And God,

I pray that our hearts are open to receive. How you would challenge us

in that that every fiber of our being is captivated by You. That we

love the Lord, our God with our whole heart, with all of our

mind, our strength, everything, We love You above everything. So God,

would just thank you for your word. We thank you for the challenge,

and we accept it, and we just pray and ask you to help

us walk in it. It's gott. We thank you for all this in

the name of Jesus. Amen.