As we've gone through the book of Revelation, there are different periods in history. There's this period in history where a covenant is made with Israel and a promise is made that through the seed of Abraham will come the Messiah. This is the age of anticipation. It's the age of the old covenant. And we see then that's followed by Jesus coming to the earth and doing the work that was promised, the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. how he died on the cross as our substitute and was buried and rose on the third day, ascended into heaven, and then the Holy Spirit birthed the church at Pentecost, and there is the church age. And so there is that age, sometimes called the age of grace. And then Christ, had promised that he would come for his own, he comes for the church. And in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16, the church meets the Lord. There is the judgment of believers' works, the bimacy judgment. The bride makes herself ready. And it's interesting that even though there is suffering and loss, wood, hay, and stubble, all those things that were done that were not generated by the Spirit, everyone will receive their reward. So it is going to be a very joyful wedding ceremony, the marriage supper of the Lamb. Yes, there will be those people who are going to see that there were a lot of opportunities missed, but nevertheless, it's all glory to God. You were rescued by Jesus and Jesus is there to be with you for all eternity. And then Jesus who came for his own will return with his own. And then we've had the period of the thousand year reign on the earth. But not all enemies are yet put under his feet because there's still the unregenerate people during the millennium. Some even in a perfect world with perfect government and the perfect king, still have sin reigning in their hearts. And this period in the millennium is a testimony of the depravity of the human heart. We see after, at the end of the millennium, where Satan is loosed for a season, that there is sort of a cleaning up and a quick judgment. And we see a new heavens and a new earth after the white throne judgment. And then we have, in Revelation chapters 21 and 22, this unopposed utopia. This is the reign of Christ without any opposition. No more sin, no more Satan. And redeemed human beings will be delegated authority, ruling on the new earth, and forever deepening their relationship with the Lord and with each other. This is wonderful. You think about how Jesus in his first coming was a carpenter. Carpenters are really good, not just creating things, but repairing things. And we see the repair work that goes on in the recreation of the earth and the heavens. He's going to fix us. He's going to fix the universe itself. But I want us to think as we plunge into this chapter, what makes heaven heaven? People have their own ideas about heaven. without the propositional truth of scripture, we can only imagine. But we have the scriptures. So we have some clues. We don't have a lot of the details, but we have enough to have an eternal hope of what's to come. J.C. Ryle, a 19th century British theologian, said, I pity the man who never thinks about heaven. We could also say, I pity the man who never thinks accurately about heaven. It's our inaccurate thinking that motivates us to think so little about heaven. You remember Mark Twain, he used to ridicule the people who had faith in heaven. He didn't take it seriously because he just thought people would be playing harps on clouds. But that's not anything like what the Bible says about the age to come. So let's look to the scriptures and see what the scriptures say. What makes heaven heaven? The presence of the Lord. And so there are various stages as we're going to learn. What happens when you die? What happens when you are with the Lord but you're absent from your body? The presence of the Lord makes heaven heaven. So all the ages in the future, everything that happens, really we can call heaven because this is where the Lord is. Jesus said it this way in John 17 three, this is eternal life that you may know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. It's knowing him. And even now we have a little heaven in our hearts, don't we? Because we're knowing him. and the Spirit is giving a revelation of the Word of God to us, and our hearts are full. We're so grateful. Revelation chapter 21, beginning with verse one. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell among them and they shall be his people and God himself will be among them and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain the first things have passed away. And he who sits on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. And he said, right, for these words are faithful and true. Then he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things. And I will be his God and he will be my son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And I think that's all we'll do because I want to show you that this is in the Old Testament. This is sort of an introduction to what's to come in the eternal state where Christ is reigning in the new Jerusalem. But in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 65, for behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. In verse 17. And then in Isaiah chapter 66, verse 22, we have a reference to this new creation, this new heavens and new earth. For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before me, declares the Lord, so your offspring and your name will endure. Would you join me in prayer? Oh Father, we know this is your word. You gave your word to the prophets. You gave your word to the apostles. We have your word in our hand. We don't understand all that is to be known, of course, but Lord, we ask that your Holy Spirit would teach us, lead us into the truth, inspire our thoughts, correct our thinking, We pray, too, if there's someone here who doesn't know you, that you would show them their condition, their need for Christ, and that they would flee the wrath to come, that they would put their trust in the saving work of Jesus, and recognize that he is the way into this glorious future called heaven. And we ask these things in his name, amen. Well, yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the moon landing with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. I don't know if you are aware, but a few years after that, in 1971, Apollo 15 went to the moon. And one astronaut's name was Jim Irwin, and he also walked on the moon. And he commented, saying, it was one thing for man to walk upon the moon. but it's a far greater thing that God walked upon the earth. After his excursion to the moon, he spent the rest of his days on the earth preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of God's son while he was on the earth. He rightfully saw the need to put the space program, as wonderful as it was, in perspective. And so in the book, More Than Earthlings and Astronauts' Thoughts for Christ-Centered Living, he wrote, and I quote, being on the moon had a profound spiritual impact upon my life. Before I entered space with the Apollo 15 mission in July of 1971, I was a lukewarm Christian, to say the least. I was even a silent Christian, but I feel the Lord sent me to the moon so I could return to the earth and share his son, Jesus Christ. The entire space achievement is put into proper perspective when one realizes that God walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon. I believe that God walked on the earth 2,000 years ago in the person of Jesus Christ. I have totally yielded my life to the Lord's service to tell people everywhere about the life-changing message of Jesus Christ." And indeed, the good news is that God, the creator, the sustainer of the universe, became man and he walked on the earth. He came to rescue from the horrible curse incurred by sin those whom the Father gave him who would believe on him. But the passage that we've read shows us that there's far more to this rescue and a greater scope than we can imagine. He's not just going to save sinners. He's going to save the planet. He's going to save the universe. This is why all creation groans and waits for the manifestation of the sons of God, Paul writes in the letter to the Romans. He's going to fulfill the plan that was laid out in Genesis chapter 2. You know, Genesis chapter 2 really is a blueprint of heaven. It's the garden of Eden, Eden, paradise. And so when mankind fell, that was paradise lost. That's where Milton gets his title. But what we see in Revelation chapter 21 is paradise restored. It's the restoration of creation. And it's truly a far greater thing than man walking upon the moon, is that God has chosen not just to come and visit for 30 years and pay for the sins of mankind, but he is going to return to dwell for eternity with man. Revelation 21 three, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell among them and they shall be his people and God himself will be among them. You know, this is prophesied in the name Emmanuel. What does Emmanuel mean? It's not us with God, it's God with us. Think about that. And I'm not talking about a self-centered gospel here. I'm talking about the fact that God so loved the world that he had a plan to redeem the human beings who had sinned against him, going to the cross, taking the punishment, the wrath that their sins deserved, and releasing them so they could be adopted, placed as sons to reign with him for eternity. Randy Alcorn said it well in his book about heaven. He said, we've often heard people say, this world is not my home. That's true, but it's half truth. We should qualify it by saying, this world, the earth as it now is under the curse, is not our home. But we should also say, this world, the earth as it once was before sin and the curse, was our home. And we should add this world, the earth as it one day will be delivered from sin and the curse will be our home. You get it? So we read in this portion of scripture how the old world, the old order of things will go out of existence and there will be a renewing of the earth. Peter will speak about that in his epistles about the purging of the earth with fire. So I'm going to outline this passage for you, and we're going to describe the new heavens and the new earth just in the first eight verses. In verse one, we see that the new earth is planned as a new creation. It's been in God's thought right from the beginning. This is paradise restored. In verse two, the new earth is provided with a new capital. That's the new Jerusalem, and we'll learn more about the details of that city next week. Verses three and four, the new earth is prepared for a new community. And then we read in verses five and eight that it's protected by a new constitution. And it's not sort of the written constitution of the United States of America. It is the word of God. The word of God is the constitution for the future age. And that protects the kingdom. I want to point out that this talk about heaven is not a cosmic wish projection, like Sigmund Freud would say, that it's not just fantasy, it's not wishful thinking, but every human being has a heart wish for eternity. You know, the writer Solomon of Ecclesiastes, in Ecclesiastes 3.11 says, he's also set eternity in their hearts. The verse goes on to say, so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. A rather unusual saying, but Solomon describes life under the sun. S-U-N, natural light. The natural man cannot understand eternity. He has a longing for it, but he's unable to understand it. He doesn't know how to get peace with God, apart from God revealing something that's not under the S-U-N, but something that's under the S-O-N. the revelation of Jesus Christ, who is the way and the truth and the life. He is the eternal life. And that's hidden from man because of sin, the depravity of man's heart. So even though he's got the longing for eternity, and every culture has that desire for the afterlife and knows there's got to be something more. There's a hunger for meaning. And yet at the same time, there's a desperate need for the revelation. of who God is and his plan of salvation. It doesn't come naturally, does it? It's by the spirit. So we're gonna look at our heavenly expectations. Everyone has heavenly expectations, but we have these expectations realized in the scriptures. First of all, we see that heavenly expectations involve a reception. When you die, if you are in Christ and no longer in your sins, you are immediately brought into God's presence. What did we say heaven is? Heaven is where God dwells. And so even though this is not the heaven that we're going to be speaking about in Revelation 21 and 22, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Paul wrote this in his second letter to the Corinthians. He says, we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home or present with the Lord. This is what Jesus referred to when he said in John chapter 14, verse three in the upper room, he said, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may be also. We know that this reception is immediate. Jesus said to the thief on the cross, in Luke 23, verse 43, he said to him, truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise. And that was the paradise section of Abraham's bosom that was described by Jesus in Luke chapter 16. It's that intermediate place before we get to the real heaven. In Philippians chapter one, verse 23, Paul also affirms that there's an immediate consciousness. When you die, there's an immediate recognition of what's to come. And Paul writes in Philippians 1.23, I'm hard-pressed from both directions. He's saying, concerning his own life, he says, I'm betwixt two options here. And I consider, is it better for me to depart, to be with Christ, or do I stay and be of value to the church? Now, if it was soul sleep, of course, it's a no-brainer. You stay and you do as much good as you can with the church. But he's giving this confident thing that God knows what he's doing. He's calling him to be in his presence. We see the same thing with the stoning of Stephen. When Stephen is stoned in Acts chapter seven, what does he see as he's dying? Jesus standing, ready to receive him in Acts chapter seven. So at death, there's immediate access to the presence of the Lord, but it's an intermediate state. It's not really the heaven that's spoken of in Revelation 21 and 22. When most people speak of heaven, they're speaking of that intermediate state, being received by their loved ones and being around the throne. We see that those that are in heaven, in Revelation chapter six, verse nine, you remember those that were martyred? They were considered souls. They had not yet received their resurrection body. So when we are in that intermediate state, we're in our spirit body, not yet having our physical bodies that come with the resurrection. When the lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God. The heaven that we go to when we die is a place without suffering, but it's not a place where we will live forever. Our eternal home is to be dwelling with the Lord where he is. And believe me, if he's coming to the earth, I don't want to be left behind in heaven, do you? You want to be with him where he's tabernacling. Since heaven by definition is God's dwelling place, the fact that he will come down to dwell with us on the earth will make the new earth synonymous with heaven. Not only does the Bible tell us that our heavenly expectation should involve being received by Christ immediately in that intermediate state, but it's also a hope for the resurrection of our bodies. When eternity is in our hearts, it's not that we'll be a non-body for eternity future or that we'll be, as the Platonists believe, just some disembodied spirit. but we have physical bodies. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead with a resurrection body, we will have a resurrection body. And we will have a body that's fitted for the new environment of the new heavens and the new earth. And as those involved in the space program know, you need to have a space suit when you are in space or you'll be cooked. or frozen, I don't know which is the first to come, but it's not good news. But we have a new heaven and new earth suit when we are raised with Christ. Philippians chapter three, Paul writes about this in verse 20. He says, for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. And if he can subject all things to himself, don't you think he can make you look beautiful? Can't he give you a new earth suit and a new heaven suit? Yes, he can. Romans 8 23. Paul writes, he says, and not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. You see, the work of our Redeemer is not complete until we get our bodies redeemed. He's come not just to redeem our spirits and our souls, but to redeem our bodies. And so there is the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he's the firstfruits of that which is to come. And then when he returns, we know that those that are dead in Christ will be raised, and we're raised to reign with him. And Paul writes about this in 1 Corinthians 15. Now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep, in verse 20 and in verse 48, as is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy. And as is the heavenly, so also are those that are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, our earth suit, we also will bear the image of the heavenly, our heaven suit. So we are expecting a resurrection as well as a reception. And thirdly, we're expecting to have a reign with Christ. And we looked at that last week examined the millennial reign of Christ. And this is why in this life we're here for his purposes. We are now in training for reigning, that even our trials, they're just light afflictions. They seem heavy at the time, but compared to the glory to come, our sufferings here are just like gone. That's dignifying the trial. And we have this wonderful prospect of reigning with Christ. 2 Timothy 2, verse 12 says, if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. Revelation 5, verse 10, you have made them, that is, Christ has made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth. And we learned last week that they will reign with him for a thousand years. And some take that as a symbolic number, but the more I study the Bible, the more I realize that words mean what they mean. And as we study the prophetic kingdom that's in Chronicles, how long is it before the King of Kings comes? 1,000 years, right from David. I mean, the timing is always so perfect. Sometimes we can't comprehend it, and so we'll sort of abstract it and symbolize it. But when something's in the scriptures, take it seriously, folks. Don't play with it. We also expect this kingdom will be one where we reign in righteousness, no more sin, no more sorrow. 2 Peter 3.13, but according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells in this eternal state. You know, we have never known an earth without sin, It's before your time. Before Adam's fall, there was a world without sin, suffering and shame and pain and death, but we all long for one. And Jesus promises that there is one to come. When the son of man comes in Matthew 19, 28, there'll be a regeneration and there'll be the kingdom age of righteousness. So we see that this new creation has been planned by the father. It's planned as a new creation. Notice that this chapter starts with the same expression that we've seen in the NASB eight times, then I saw. It speaks of a sequence of an unfolding vision. Then I saw a new heaven and new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there was no longer any sea. All things are made new. This is the eternal state. Not only new in respect to time, like the most recent, but it's new in kind. It's a new kind of earth. It's purged by fire and regenerated. You know, Satan defiled both spheres. He defiled the earth with the fall, and he became the god of this age in 2 Corinthians 4, 4. And then he's the prince of the power of the air. So the heavenlies have been affected by the fall. So there is a new heavens and a new earth. The old has passed away, 2 Peter 3.7, but by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for what? Fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. We actually had that event tucked away in a verse last week. Do you remember? In Revelation 20.11, he says, then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it. from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. In other words, it's gone. The old has what? Passed away and all things have become new. We have a foretaste of that as new creations. If anyone be in Christ, they are new creation and old things have passed away and behold, all things have become new. Take that to heart. So he's provided us with a new capital city. First of all, I want you to see it exists. My wife and I, we have a little conflict. She's a country girl, I'm a city guy. We kind of go back and forth with that. But you know, there's the beauty of the country and the beauty of the city right here in the New Jerusalem. And the city exists. Jacques Ellul, that French sociologist, wrote a wonderful book called The Meaning of the City. And he takes the whole development of the theme of the city in the Bible as a sociologist. And he sees that God has a plan for people coming together that man's city after the fall is all a counterfeit for fellowship. The real city, the city of God, is human beings having fellowship, sharing together one life, one love, one faith, one hope, one baptism. We're in Christ Jesus and we have relationships. So he says, and I saw a holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It's prepared for us. Where does it come from? So we've got all these things going on. It's hardly a boring place. There's commerce, there's industry, there's art, there's music, there's creativity, all of this. Everything that you're made for. You ever have a good day at work? Some of you maybe. We have a day, wow, that was a good day. We got a lot done today. Isn't there a great feeling of satisfaction? You're gonna have that every day. Every day in the eternal future is gonna be one where you just say, that was so fulfilling. Can we do that again? What do we know about this city? It's prepared for us, and it is a holy city. It's holy. It's made by God. It's coming down from heaven. Remember, Abraham sought a city whose builder and maker was God. And this is what was in his heart right from the beginning, this eternal future. So it's prepared by God for us. It's also prepared for the people. Who are the people in the city? Revelation chapter three, verse 12, going back a bit. He who overcomes, these are the believers. If you believe in the Lord, you are an overcomer. Truly believing with saving faith. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God. the new Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven from my God and my new name. And this speaks of identification. It's not just wearing a sweatshirt saying, I love the new Jerusalem. Not like that. No, it means that you are identified with the king who's on the throne. You're identified with the God who created this city. You're identified and you're totally an in Christ one in the city. The Lord Jesus will write the name of the city of God on you. It's in your heart. You should sing Psalm 84, the highway to your city runs through my heart. You should sing about the city. There is a city in Celestial City. John Bunyan wrote about this eternal state when he talked about in the Pilgrim's Progress, the Celestial City. It's when people are together and they're functioning as a body, they're functioning as a community, so the people of God are identified with Christ. What's the character of the city? Well, we see the characteristic of the city is that it's all holy. Won't that be different? It's not Times Square. It's not downtown Boston. It's not Lowell, it's a city of God that's holy, the New Jerusalem. What also do we notice? It's made ready as a bride. You know, a bride is adorned on the wedding day. And I've had the privilege over these last 44 years to officiate weddings, maybe 45 now. And it's, amazing just to watch the face of the groom as he sees the bride. And the bride is dressed in a way that stands out. Everybody comes maybe in their best wedding clothes, but the bride is dressed like no other. And she is distinguished from all the other guests because of her adornment. And this is what we see. And by this time in God's economy, I believe that the bride is incorporating all the saints, not just the church, but Israel. And we've talked about the tribulational saints. But when we come to the eternal state, all those who've been gathered to the Lord are in this relationship of oneness, adorned for her husband. So holy, that means perfect, shining purity. And then as a bride is beautiful. So we see the city is wearing that which distinguishes her as a delight to her husband. We see also this new creation is prepared for a new community. We call this church, New Life Community Church. Because this is what it means to be a Christian, is that we receive new life in Christ Jesus. And the church is not a building, the church is not an institution. Church is not something we do. Church is not something we go to. The church is the community of called out ones. Ekklesia is the Greek word. Called out of darkness, called out of our idolatries, unto Christ. We're his, and we have his life. And so right now, as a little embassy in a foreign country of this age, we have new life people. And I don't mean just people who go to this church, but every Christian is a new life person, and they should be connecting with a new life community somewhere. But when the new Jerusalem comes, we see that it's prepared for this. We kind of delight, oh, we've got a ministry center to go to. Can you imagine you've got something perfectly prepared for community in heaven? It's the fulfillment of restoration. In verse three, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men. I can understand why it's a loud voice. Whoever's saying this is some excited. He says, this is amazing. The tabernacle of God is among men. God, who created the universe, has chosen to dwell in this planet, this tiny little infinitesimal planet. In this particular solar system, there's just one tiny little solar system of just billions, I suppose. It boggles the mind. So he says, this is amazing. Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men. and he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. So those promises that were given in the old covenant now goes to everybody. You'll be my people. It's not going to be, well, the Jews are my people, or the church age people are my people, but all who are redeemed are his people, and God himself will be among them. What are the features of the new community? and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. There are no more tears. You know, the scriptures tell us that Jesus gives us this picture of God bottling the tears that we cry. So the tears that he basically took from us when he became our substitute on the cross, it's going to be fully realized there'll be no tears in this heaven. No death. Remember, even though Jesus died to defeat death and him that has power over death, that is the devil, in Hebrews chapter two, verse 14 and 15, we know that death is still with us. And even after the millennium, there's going to be death until the end. But then the last enemy is destroyed, and there is this new age, the real new age, by the way. Tell all your new age friends. If they want to know what the new age is really about, have them check out Revelation 21 and 22. And let's compare notes, huh? In this one, you're not God. In this one, God is God. And so there's no more tears, no more death, because Jesus took the death. on the cross, and so no more mourning or crying or pain. Jesus took all of our sicknesses on the cross. By his stripes, we are healed. In a sense, there is healing in the atonement, but the realization of that is not fully until this age. Is there, no more ambulances, no more hospitals. No more mosquitoes. That's very down to earth, Maria. Thank you for that. I can appreciate that. I'm sure we all can. And no more crying, no more pain, no more depression, no more bouts with any allergies, any sicknesses. The first things, the old order of things, have passed away. And best of all, there's no separation. That's the real healing that's in the atonement. No separation between God and man. This new creation is protected by a new constitution. And as I said, the constitution, by the way, we should really value the United States Constitution. I'm just so concerned for our country that it doesn't really appreciate the principles, the principles of our founding fathers. But this constitution is a perfect constitution. It's the word of God forever settled in heaven. And we're living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And this constitution guarantees some things. This is what guarantees us, these liberties. are guaranteed in the Constitution. You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Revelation 21.5, and he who sits on the throne said, behold, I'm making all things new. And he said, write, for these words are faithful and true. Often when I get to this point, I think, why do we have this every now and then of the Lord telling, or the angel, or whoever's speaking, telling John to write? I can imagine, if I'm seeing all these things, I'm like, David, right, right, right, right, right, right. It's so amazing, you just stop doing. I can't take it all in. So he says, write this down. These words are faithful and true. So we're guaranteed that all things will be new. No reruns, no old times. It's all fresh, all new. There's guaranteed rest. Revelation 21.6, he said to me, it is done. What does that sound like? It sounds like what Jesus said on the cross. It is finished. So he finished the payment on the cross. He finished the work on the cross. But in this particular age, it is done. You're going to see the effects of everything that he did on the cross being done. Satan defeated. Where is he at this particular point? Is he just bound for a season? No, he's cast into the lake of fire. Where is sin reigning? Nowhere in this age. It is done. And because it is done, you can rest. And rest doesn't mean that you're sort of in a state of non-activity. It just means that you're at peace. You're at rest. He says, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. I am the entire alphabet of truth. Remember, alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Omega is the last letter. He's saying, I am the full and perfect articulation of truth. And if you have me, you've got what you need, the beginning and the end. And what do we have? Because of him, rest. Jesus says, come unto me, all you who labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And he gives it. and he gives satisfaction and it's guaranteed, verse six. I will give the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. Oh boy, this is so amazing. I come to give the one who thirsts Who's the one who thirsts? We've talked about the person who's the overcomer is the one who believes, right? Who is the one who thirsts? The one who believes. This is a sign that you're a Christian. If you're a Christian, you really will thirst. You will thirst for life. You will thirst for the water of life. You will not have a day where you're not thirsty. You're just wanting more of Jesus. That's a sign of life. I will give. It's a grace thing. I will give it. We don't have to work for it. We don't have to labor for it. We don't have to be like the woman at the well going out at noon because of shame so that we won't be discovered by other people and draw from the well. No, it's going to be a river of life that flows. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. That reminds me of Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone who thirsteth, come to the waters. He who has no money, come ye buy and eat. Wherefore you do your labor for that which satisfies not. It's a free gift, and it satisfies. We are also guaranteed adoption. Now the word adoption means son placement. It means that we're placed as those who qualify to receive the inheritance. And as I said last week, this is not just a male thing or female thing. It's a legal qualification that every believer in Christ is qualified to receive the inheritance, to be in the presence of the Lord as not just an associate, Not as a servant, but as a son, as a heir. And when you're an heir, it means everything that he has is yours. Do you ever need anything more? And you don't need to settle for anything less. Verse seven, he overcomes, will inherit these things. And I will be his God, and he will be my son. By the way, if there's someone here today and you're just thirsting for what I'm talking about, that's because God is calling you. You know that God is calling somebody when they're thirsting for these things. So just follow through, and don't dawdle or sit in the fence, but just give yourself to Christ today. Just say, Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are, that you've done what you said you've done on the cross, and that you're gonna do what you say you're gonna do. It's as simple as that. Believe. To as many as believe, receive him. He gives the right to become the children of God. We're also guaranteed safety. By the way, I want to say about the adoption is that he's speaking to individuals here, that it's not just to the group. You know, there's such a mess in our society today, qualifying people by groups and race and all sorts of just compartmentalizing people as sort of different people groups instead of recognizing that God deals with the individual soul. God is not racist. He doesn't look upon the color of the skin. He looks upon the heart. And so we look upon the heart. And so he's calling individuals to be sons. It's as if he's talking to individuals here. And he's talking to you. Notice in verse eight, he guarantees safety. He says, but for the cowardly, and the unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers. The word for sorcerers is the same word for pharmacy. It's drugs and witchcraft. It refers to the occult and idolaters and all liars. Their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Now, we saw all those who were included in the New Jerusalem, those from every tribe and tongue who believed on the Lord Jesus. We see those that came out of the Old Testament age, even before the time of Abraham, those who believed right from the beginning, who trusted the saving work of Christ, Adam receiving the gift that he was given of the covering for his sin, right from the beginning, all of them together. Every little dispensation, the Old Testament age of anticipation, those that came to Christ during his visitation on the earth, and those who believe the gospel as it was preached in the church age, they're all there. The tribulation saints and even those that believe on the Lord Jesus during the millennium period, they're all included in the New Jerusalem. But there are those who are excluded, and that's what we read here. Just as believers have a final and eternal destination, so unbelievers will have a final and eternal destination. And what are the features of those who do not believe the gospel? Now, this is insightful. Cowardly. Sometimes we think of a coward as a person. And some people say, well, the gospel is just for weak people. Listen. Those who follow Jesus Christ have a courage that comes from God. And they're able to stand against those people who ridicule. And they are going to pay the price. And if you are following Jesus, it's going to cost you something. And you're going to have to sometimes speak when you're intimidated. You've got to stand up to that. And what I'm saying here is that cowardly behavior is really due to unbelief. Where does courage come from? Belief. What gives us the ability to stand in a conversation with somebody who's ridiculing us for being a Christian? It's faith. Faith in Christ. And so cowardliness comes from a lack of faith. And that's what the next qualification is, unbelieving. These people are not just cowardly, unwilling to own Jesus Christ in the midst of a fallen world, not willing to bear the reproach of Christ. If real persecution were to break out, I wonder how many would really stand for Christ. We would find out who the real Christians are. There are opportunities that we have daily to stand with Christ. And what characterizes an unbelieving person is that they're not willing to stand for Christ. And so we see this word unbelieving as the source of cowardice. And we see also that there's the Vileness, the abominable. That word abominable means behavior that's vile. Someone who gives themselves over to their sinful desires. Wickedness. It's interesting, I heard someone say that they went to a church where they never heard them ever speak about sin or wickedness. I said, get out of that church. You need to hear the truth about the human condition. And I'm talking about there's no righteousness in ourselves, but apart from the righteousness of Christ, we're all wicked. And so there's either being in a right relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, and given righteousness that's imputed to you, as a legal credit and working out through you by the Holy Spirit in impartation, but you see that all else is wickedness and abominable. And so murders, Jesus spoke about murderers not just being those that actually commit a violent act that kills another person, but stemming from anger in the heart. and then immoral people, those that are violating the law of God, all liars. Now, this is not speaking about people who've ever sinned, because otherwise there would be nobody in heaven. But this speaks of when a person is born again, there will be evidence of Christ's presence in their life with change of direction. There have been cowardice in the church, yes. Can you think of somebody who was a coward of one of the disciples? Peter, denied Jesus three times. But he repented, and he believed, and he became a bold witness. We can go through the whole list and you'll find that there are those who have had their lies, Peter said, at the, As he was warming himself by the fire, I know not the man. Was he telling the truth when he was asked about Jesus? No, he was lying. But God was gracious. The Lord said, Satan would sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, Peter, that when you are converted, you will strengthen your brothers. So the question I ask as we are about to break bread is do you know him? Because if you know him, you know heaven. He is what makes heaven heaven. I'm gonna ask that we pray right now. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes. The gospel has a loving invitation. As we read the last chapters of the book of Revelation, we hear the spirit and the bride say, come. Invites us to enter into what we don't deserve of the free gift of salvation. And if you're here today and you've never said yes to Christ, Turn from your sins. Ask for forgiveness for your sins. And thank God that he sent his son to pay for your sins on the cross. Just say in your heart, Lord Jesus, I'm trusting you to be my Lord, my Savior. Come into my life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. I'm trusting you for my salvation. If that's your heart cry on the authority of God's word, If you confess with your mouth and you believe in your heart that God's raised Jesus from the dead, confessing him as Lord, you shall be saved. Amen.