Introduction:
Heaven: Where Jesus Makes All Things New. (Rev 21-1-22:5)
- The new HEAVEN and EARTH . (Rev 21:1)
- The new JERUSALEM. (Rev 21:2)
- The new way of LIFE. (Rev 21:3-5)
- The new DEMOGRAPHIC. (Rev 21:6-8)
- The new NEIGHBORHOOD. (Rev 21:9-22:5)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:04-01:07
Open up your Bibles with me please to Revelation 21.
01:10-01:16
While you're turning there, we had a very productive missions meeting last Thursday.
01:17-01:41
And I asked the people there on the missions team, I said, "Who wants to get up and help talk about the big mission trip?" And September went around, and, "I'm not going to be there Sunday, I'm not going to be there Sunday, I'm not going to be there Sunday, I'm not going to be there Sunday." "Well, it's that time of year, camping, weddings, grad parties, whatever, whatever, whatever." And I said, "Well, you know I'm preaching on heaven on Sunday, and you're not going to be there.
01:42-01:47
So someday you're going to die, and you're going to show up, and you're not going to know what to expect.
01:48-01:52
And you're going to have nobody to blame but yourself." So I guess I'm doing the missions announcement too.
01:53-02:03
However, September 14th, we are conducting a Bible conference over in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
02:03-02:22
Our missionary over there has 20-some churches up in the mountain jungle region, three children's homes, and a lot of their ministers don't get formal training, and they've asked us to come over again, as we did back in 2015, to go over and hold a Bible conference to minister to the ministers.
02:22-02:24
I'm so excited about that.
02:24-02:34
To think we can impact people who are going to go off to their respective villages and carry the truth of God's Word to the people whom they minister.
02:35-02:38
We do have a couple slots available.
02:39-02:40
This is a teaching trip.
02:40-02:52
The 15th, we're traveling the 14th, 15th for resting, and then the 16th through the 20th is the conference, then the following week is going to be church visitation of prayer and things like that.
02:53-02:56
So we have... I'd like two more teachers to go.
02:57-03:02
And I would like you, if you would please, to commit that to prayer.
03:03-03:04
Who would pray for that?
03:06-03:07
Show of hands, who would pray for that?
03:08-03:10
Thank you. Thank you, please.
03:11-03:18
This is a very serious thing, an incredible opportunity, and we're asking that you keep that in prayer.
03:19-03:22
If you would like information, possibly discuss going.
03:23-03:26
If you would be the right fit for the trip, I'd love to talk with you about that.
03:26-03:27
Just come and see me.
03:29-03:31
Putting everything together for this trip.
03:31-03:32
September 14th.
03:35-03:36
Alright, Revelation 21.
03:38-03:43
Today, we are talking about heaven.
03:46-03:57
But Jesus, right now, right this minute, Jesus is preparing a place for you.
03:59-04:00
Wouldn't you like to know what it's like?
04:01-04:02
I mean, imagine.
04:03-04:09
Imagine if I said to you, "I'm going to book you a month-long vacation.
04:10-04:12
All expenses paid. I'm just going to give you the tickets.
04:12-04:16
You're going to get on the plane, you're going to have a month-long vacation on me.
04:16-04:17
Wouldn't that be nice of me?
04:17-04:20
I'm not really going to do that, but we're just pretending here this morning.
04:20-04:22
But you're going on a month-long vacation.
04:24-04:28
And you say, well, what's it like?
04:28-04:29
Don't worry about it.
04:29-04:30
Don't worry about it.
04:30-04:31
You'll find out when you get there.
04:32-04:32
You're like, no, no, no.
04:33-04:36
I want to know-- let me just tell you this.
04:36-04:37
You're going to like it, OK?
04:37-04:38
You're going to like it.
04:39-04:45
You would say, no, no, if I'm going to be there for a month, You want some more information about it, more than just you're going to like it.
04:45-04:47
Wouldn't you want more information?
04:47-04:52
Wouldn't you want to know, if you're spending an entire month there, what it's going to be like?
04:54-05:01
Well, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you are going to be in heaven for eternity.
05:03-05:06
Wouldn't you like to know what it's like?
05:08-05:15
The passage we're looking at today He describes eternal heaven called the new heaven and the new earth.
05:16-05:18
What's it like? What's heaven like?
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The Bible uses a word to describe heaven.
05:25-05:30
The Bible actually uses the greatest word to describe heaven.
05:30-05:31
It's the greatest word.
05:34-05:36
In our language, it's just three letters.
05:46-05:58
The one who was seated on the throne, Jesus Christ said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And that's how heaven is described.
06:01-06:02
Everything is new.
06:03-06:08
And I love that, because that is a concept that we get even here on the earth, don't we?
06:09-06:17
Because we love, we love getting something new, don't we?
06:20-06:36
New shoes, new jeans, a new cell phone, a new car, and I mean, I mean a pre-owned, affordable Alex paid with cash.
06:38-06:39
New to me. You know what I mean.
06:39-06:40
Okay, thank you, Alex. Thank you.
06:40-06:42
A new-to-me car?
06:45-06:46
A new computer?
06:47-06:48
A new fishing rod?
06:48-06:50
A new home?
06:51-06:53
A new puppy?
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Don't we love getting new things?
06:58-07:05
Well, the Bible says in heaven, everything is always new!
07:07-07:15
This passage we're looking at today, I'm going to be honest with you, I could spend three months talking about all of these concepts, and we're not going to do that.
07:17-07:19
Today, church, I simply want us to do this.
07:19-07:29
We're going to go through this chunk, and we're simply going to bask in the beauty of the description of heaven.
07:29-07:30
Are you ready for this?
07:32-07:37
Heaven, on your outline, Jesus makes all things, say it.
07:38-07:40
What's Jesus making? All things what?
07:41-07:42
All things new.
07:42-07:45
Number one, write this down first of all, the new heaven and earth.
07:48-08:02
John says, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more." The next vision that John sees, again, new heaven, new earth.
08:02-08:03
Why a new heaven and a new earth?
08:04-08:11
Because the first heaven and the first earth, the one that you're standing on right now, we saw last week was vaporized by God's glory.
08:14-08:22
This word for new here could also be translated fresh, meaning it's not the same old thing.
08:22-08:31
You're not going to be walking around heaven a million years from now going, eh, this is a lot like it was on the earth, just kind of the same.
08:31-08:31
No, no, no, no, no.
08:32-08:41
It's new and it's fresh, and every day you're just going to be like, "Oh, wow! This place is awesome!" That's heaven.
08:42-08:43
He says there's no sea.
08:45-08:48
That's different. Radically different than what we're used to.
08:48-08:51
I mean, there will be a river, we'll talk about that in a couple minutes.
08:52-08:54
But there's no sea in heaven. Why?
08:56-08:57
Well, the Bible doesn't say.
08:58-09:03
But I believe there's no sea in heaven because it's not needed.
09:04-09:16
The sea on the earth - our sea sustains all the life on the earth, and in heaven we're not going to need regular H2O water to sustain our lives.
09:16-09:17
I believe that's why there's no sea.
09:19-09:21
The Bible says there's no sea in heaven.
09:21-09:23
Number two, jot this down. Let's talk about the New Jerusalem.
09:24-09:44
Verse 2, "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." The next thing John sees is the capital city of the new heaven and the new earth.
09:44-09:49
Now this city already exists. It's coming down from heaven.
09:50-09:54
And it's the place that Jesus is preparing right now.
09:55-10:02
Back in John 14, Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you, and then I'm going to come again, take you to be with Me." Remember that? John 14.
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This is the place that Jesus is preparing for you.
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You're like, "Prepared how?" I love this.
10:12-10:14
Did you see it in the text?
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Prepared as a bribe.
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prepared as a bride.
10:22-10:23
Have you ever seen a bride?
10:24-10:26
Show of hands, how many people have seen a bride?
10:27-10:29
Okay. Have you ever seen a bride?
10:30-10:33
I mean, I've been to a few weddings.
10:36-10:51
And the preparation and care that goes into preparing the bride, So much time, so much money, so much care.
10:52-10:55
We've got to get the hair and the makeup and the nails.
10:56-10:57
We go tanning.
10:59-11:03
So much is put in to the preparation of the bride.
11:04-11:20
And look, I have done a lot of weddings in the last 20-some years, and I can tell you this, Every single bride is breathtakingly beautiful because she has put so much effort into preparing herself.
11:23-11:29
And this is how Jesus is preparing a place for you.
11:30-11:35
He's not just throwing up some handrails and paneling and drywall and good enough.
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He is preparing this place for you The way a bride prepares for a wedding.
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Isn't that awesome?
11:42-11:43
That's the new Jerusalem.
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We're going to talk more about that in a minute.
11:47-11:48
The new way of life.
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Look at verse 3.
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"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
12:00-12:06
He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, God Himself will be with them as their God.
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God has always dwelt among His people, right?
12:14-12:19
In the Old Testament it was in the temple, the tabernacle, that's where God's presence existed.
12:19-12:25
In the New Testament, John 1.14 says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
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John tells us that God's unique presence was in the person of Jesus Christ.
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Today, God's unique presence is in the heart of every believer of Jesus Christ.
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Have you ever wished that you were alive when Jesus was on the earth?
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I think that's true.
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I'm not going to ask you to raise your hands.
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Because I think that's true of every true Christian.
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That's my opinion.
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I think every true Christian has something in them that says, "Man, there's a part of me that wishes I lived when Jesus walked the earth, so I could have seen Him, so I could have heard Him, so I could have talked to Him." And...
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Well, in heaven, you're going to get that.
13:17-13:23
You know, on earth sometimes God seems distant.
13:24-13:25
I mean, he's not.
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But doesn't it feel that way sometimes?
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We go through trials.
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We've been hurt.
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We need comforted.
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We felt betrayed or disappointed or let down or tired.
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And we're like, "God, where are You?
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God, I needed You, and where are You?" Who else besides me has felt like that?
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And that's the point here, is never again will God ever seem distant.
14:01-14:12
In heaven, He is always personally present in a way unlike anyone has ever known.
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And therefore, he says, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." No more sorrow.
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No more depression.
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No more discouragement.
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No more pain.
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No cancer.
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No diabetes.
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No COPD.
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No organ failure.
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No wheelchairs.
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No mental health issues of any kind.
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Sorrow, pain, crying, death.
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Every bit of pain and heartache and discouragement.
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Never again.
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is eternally behind you.
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Eternally!
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Verse 5, "And he who is seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' Also he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.
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Everything is made and stays..." New. New. We can't fathom that. We live in a world of the second law of thermodynamics. You know, entropy. Everything is decaying, wearing out, becoming more and more disorganized and tattered, and that's the world we live in.
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But in heaven, apparently it goes the other way. Everything's just always It's always getting better because it's always being made what?
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New! Everything's new!
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And you're like, "Really, Pastor Jeff? Really?
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Do you really think that's how it is?" Jesus said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." You better believe this is real.
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That's the new way of life.
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Let's look at the new demographic.
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"And He said to me, 'It is done.'" I'm just going to pause here for a second. I love that.
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Because you can trace that in the Bible.
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Remember when Jesus was hanging on the cross, John 19, 30?
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Do you remember when He cried out, "It is finished"?
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When it came to your salvation being paid in full, He says, "It's done!" When He was pouring out judgment upon the earth, Revelation 16-17, He said, "It is done." And now when we get to this point, He says, "I am making all things new." It's done.
17:22-17:24
He finishes what he begins.
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He goes on, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
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To the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
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The one who conquers will have this heritage.
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I will be his God, and he will be my son.
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What?
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As for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
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This is the new demographic.
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A whole new demographic in heaven.
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First of all, verses 6 and 7 tells us who's going to be in heaven.
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Every single person in heaven - every single person without exception is described using these two phrases right there in the text.
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First of all, the one who thirsts.
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That's true about every single person in heaven is they recognize their spiritual need and they genuinely thirsted for God.
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So let me ask you, how thirsty are you for God?
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If church is just kind of your hobby, is just kind of, "Eh, if you're like, how much longer is He going to talk?" I'm not really thirsty for these things of God.
18:58-19:03
Heaven is described as - the people in heaven, the citizens of heaven are described as those who are thirsty.
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People are like, "I need to know God. I need His presence in my life.
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I need His Word in my heart. I'm so thirsty for God." That's who's in heaven.
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The good news about being thirsty for God is Jesus promised to quench that thirst.
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See, God doesn't just want you longing.
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He wants you longing so that He can satisfy you.
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But nothing else satisfies, only He does.
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And Jesus promised to quench every spiritual need.
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John 4.14, John 7.37, Jesus said that the water He gives, the water He offers, truly satisfies.
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So that's one phrase used to describe the citizen of heaven - the thirsty.
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And then the second is "He who overcomes." That's simply one who has saving faith in Jesus Christ.
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That's the person that drinks from the water that Christ offers.
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Christians are described as overcomers.
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This is the victory that overcomes the world - our faith.
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In other words, heaven.
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Heaven is for the one who knows they need Christ, and who has received Christ, and who loves Christ.
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But it's also clear in this passage, "who will not enter this paradise." You saw the list in verse 8.
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Just to sum it up, it's people who love their sin more than they love Jesus.
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That's really what that list is about.
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And I'm not going to go through and break all these down, maybe some other time.
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One word in particular, maybe it struck you as interesting, because it certainly did me, as he gives a list of the kinds of sinners who will not be in heaven, the first on the list, did you see that?
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"Ask for the cowardly." Somebody might read that and think, "Oh no, I'm going to have to set up a counseling appointment with Pastor Jeff because I'm scared of spiders.
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And maybe that means I'm disqualified from heaven.
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Or I'm scared of sharks or cats or ladders." There are some things that I'm scared of, but that's not at all what this is talking about.
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This is talking about people who lack the courage to follow Jesus Christ.
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Do you think following Jesus Christ is easy?
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If you do, you're not doing it.
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Do you think it's easy to trust God?
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Do you think it's easy to say no to sin?
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Do you think it's easy to say yes to serving Christ when it inconveniences us and our agenda?
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See, the cowardly describes the people who, "No, no, no, I don't have what it takes.
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I don't have that kind of courage to, by faith, follow Jesus Christ." That's the cowardly.
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And all of these items on these lists Describe people who have never repented, they've never come to Christ, these are all evidences of being unsaved.
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So like, why is this in here?
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Like, didn't we deal with this?
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Well, the Holy Spirit knew that throughout church history people would be reading this revelation, and this is our gentle reminder.
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that if you don't love Christ, don't get too excited reading this.
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If you're sitting here and you're not a follower of Christ, you have no interest in following Christ, you'd rather hold on to your sin, you're like, "Maybe I am the coward that doesn't want to follow Christ." Well, you're not going to see this place that's being described.
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So, don't get too excited.
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But that's the new demographic.
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And finally, let's talk about the new neighborhood.
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The rest of this passage, and again, we're going to go through this quickly, because John isn't really explaining things as much as he's describing things.
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But John sees this capital city, this Jerusalem, and then he describes a way of life, and it's almost like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, I want to hear more about that city." Well, that's the rest of this passage.
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He describes this city. He describes this New Jerusalem.
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I broke it down into five aspects.
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This isn't on your island. You've got to write this in yourself, okay?
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You can do that, right?
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Five aspects described for us.
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First of all, this is all under number five, the new neighborhood.
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The first thing he describes is the structure.
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Verse 9, "Then came one of the seven angels, who had the seven bulls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, 'Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.'" So John describes the capital city.
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He's going to give us the layout of this new neighborhood.
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Interestingly, if you go back to chapter 17 and verse 1, an angel said to John, "Come, I'm going to show you the prostitute." And here, He says, "Come, I'm going to show you the Bride." Quite a difference, isn't it?
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Earlier it was, "Come, I want to show you man's greatest city, Babylon, and the forever destruction she is facing." Now it's, "I want to show you God's greatest city, New Jerusalem, and the eternal awesomeness that is in this place." The city here is called "The Bride" because of who lives in the city.
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The wedding has been completed.
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Look at verse 10.
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"And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem." Again, coming down out of heaven from God.
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having the glory of God, its radiance, like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal." Now this jasper is not the jasper of our day, it's actually a transliteration of a Greek word that describes a translucent stone.
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Actually, the word that we would use to describe this stone in our day is a diamond.
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He said it's like a giant diamond in appearance.
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Verse 12, "It had a great high wall with twelve gates; and at the gates twelve angels; and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed.
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On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
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And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
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So at each gate was a ministering angel at the post, and each gate was named after one of the tribes of Israel.
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We saw the wall has twelve foundation stones, and on the foundation stones are the names of the twelve apostles." Here's the point.
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This New Jerusalem will forever commemorate God's first covenant with Israel and God's new covenant with the church.
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That's the structure. Let's look at the dimensions.
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"The one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold." He had like this golden yardstick.
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"To measure the city and its gates and walls.
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The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width, and he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia.
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Its length and width and height are equal." Meaning it's a cube.
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"He also measured its wall, 144 cubits." That's probably thick.
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Okay.
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144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement.
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Meaning, and this is important, meaning with these dimensions, he's saying this isn't like some angelic unit of measurement that we need to try to translate and figure out how big is this place?
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He says, these are also human measurements.
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So we can rightly understand how big this city is.
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How big is this city?
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Well, each wall is about 1,380 miles long.
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And the city again is shaped like a cube.
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The walls are 72 yards thick.
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Literal measurements.
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You're like, "How big is that?" Here's how big it is.
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You took New Jerusalem right now and dropped it on North America.
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It would go from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean to Colorado.
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That's how enormous - oh, and that high too, by the way.
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That's how enormous this city is.
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And that's why the angel gives us the measurements so we know how big this city is.
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So that's the structure and the dimensions.
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Thirdly, underneath the new neighborhood, Let's talk about the beauty.
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Let's talk about the beauty.
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Verse 18 says, "The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass.
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Foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel.
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The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth cornelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelve amethysts.
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And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.
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Like, what is all of this?
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I'll sum it up this way.
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John is saying this place is absolutely stunning to look at.
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Now, what's up with all these stones?
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Well, it's hard to identify all the stones because the names of things change over time.
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So doing the homework and trying to understand what types of stones these were in the time that John saw this and described it, I'm going to give you the colors of the stones.
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And the point is, just try to imagine what John sees.
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But these are the stones that he sees on the walls.
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The jasper is a diamond, the sapphire is blue, the agate is a sky blue color, sometimes with stripes on it.
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The emerald is green, the onyx was a red and white striped stone, the carnelian were shades of reds, the chrysalite were golds and yellows, the beryl was green, yellow or blue, the topaz was yellow-green, The Chrysoprase was a gold-tinted green stone.
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The Jacinthe was a blue or violet-colored stone.
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The Amethyst was a purple stone.
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Again, the point is, this place was absolutely beautiful.
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But I'll tell you what really fascinates me.
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Each of the gates was made out of a giant pearl.
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You know why that's so fascinating to me?
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Because pearls are different than every other precious gem in this world.
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You know why?
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Because pearls are the only precious gem that's created by a living organism.
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Right?
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And I think there's huge significance in that.
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Because how is a pearl made?
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A pearl is made when an oyster has a grain of something come in and harm it.
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It's afflicted, it's in pain, and the answer to that harm is to create something beautiful.
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That's how pearls are made.
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And looking at this description with the gates being made out of pearl, you see it's the way God took suffering and He made something beautiful.
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is the suffering of Jesus Christ that caused God to make something beautiful.
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So access to God's home is because of the cross of Jesus Christ.
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The pearl symbolizes eternally.
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Eternally.
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You will not ever walk in or out of this city without thinking, Great suffering brought this beautiful thing about.
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Like a pearl.
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So that's the structure, the dimensions, the beauty.
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Let's talk about the glory.
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Let's talk about the glory of heaven.
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Look at verse 22.
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It says, "And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb.
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The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
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By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day." And there will be no night there.
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"They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, or anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." This is the glory.
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Now first of all, there's no temple.
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We've seen throughout Revelation, we see it in the book of Hebrews, that right now currently in heaven, there is a temple.
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But when all things are made new, there will be no temple.
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It's not going to be like, "Hey, who wants to go to church?" See, in heaven, it's like, "We're in church all the time!" God is so going to permeate the new heavens and the new earth in every way.
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It's not like we have to go and worship Him.
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Our life will be worship.
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and worship will be our life.
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There's no sun or moon.
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God Himself is going to be the light.
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Now think about this.
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We think about the streets of gold, but He tells us twice here that this gold is transparent as glass, and it looks like a diamond.
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So what do you think this place looks like when the glorious light of God is shining and reflecting through all of this transparent gold and this diamond appearance.
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What do you think that's going to look like?
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I have an idea.
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Interesting phrase. He talks about the kings of the earth.
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What's this about?
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The kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.
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What does that mean?
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Now, there are a lot of ideas about what that phrase means, but really the best understanding is the same vein of Revelation 4.10.
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Remember when we saw the elders casting their crowns?
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Like giving any glory they have, they're like, "No, it belongs to Jesus, it belongs to Jesus, it belongs to Jesus." I believe this is more of that.
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That in heaven, for all the things we will do for eternity, none of us will ever get to the point that we're like, "Yeah, God, I am pretty awesome, huh?" No. It's going to be eternally.
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All glory and power and praise and majesty goes to the one seated on the throne.
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He says the gates will never shut.
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The gates will never shut.
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You know, ancient cities, they'd have to shut their gates at night to keep the criminals out.
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There's no need to do that in heaven.
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Because there's perfect security.
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You're like, "Well, then why are there gates?
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Why are there gates?
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Heaven doesn't sound like a great neighborhood if they've got to put gates around the city." Well, don't see the gates as ways of keeping people out, because that's certainly not the case.
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You need to see these gates as an invitation for God's people to come in.
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You need to see these gates not as locking people out points, but as access points.
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That God's saying, "I'm inviting you into My home." Then finally, let's talk about the life of the new neighborhood.
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Here we go from chapter 21, closes outside the city, now we are going inside the city.
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Let's talk about life.
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It says, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, through the middle of the street of the city.
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Also, on either side of the river, the tree of life, is twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.
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The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
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There's no sea, but there is a river, and it flows from God to man." I love this.
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Also, in the New Jerusalem is the tree of life.
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of life. What this means is God's story with man has come full circle.
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Remember, the Garden of Eden, when man sinned, we were shut out of the Garden of Eden so that we would not have access to the Tree of Life.
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And a lot's happened between that point and this point.
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because of Jesus Christ, because of His death, because of His resurrection, because of His conquering that we've been studying in Revelation.
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The tree that we forfeited in the garden is now going to be accessible to us for eternity.
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And it's perpetually yielding different kinds of fruit on a regular basis.
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Like, are we going to have to eat in heaven?
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I don't think we're going to have to.
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I think we get to.
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I don't think we do it to keep ourselves alive.
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I think we do it because we'll enjoy it.
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This tree has leaves for healing.
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Did you see that in verse 2?
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Well, hang on a second.
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If we're not getting sick in heaven, why do we need healing?
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Well, that's really not the best translation of the word.
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The Greek word is "therapeia," which is better translated, "health-giving." So again, we're eating, not because we have to, because we'll enjoy it.
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Verse 3, "No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God, and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him.
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"They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more.
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They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever." The curse is gone.
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Perfect fellowship, seeing His face marked by and for Jesus Christ, walking in His light for eternity, and reigning with Jesus Christ.
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You're like, "All right, Pastor Jeff, what's the application of this sermon?" And it's just simply this.
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A place so beautiful, so perfect, so eternal.
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We want to do whatever it took to get there.
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And that, my friends, is the good news.
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Because Jesus Christ died and He rose from the dead so that all who receive Him and love Him can dwell in this place with Him for all of eternity.
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See, this description of heaven is just one more awesome testament a love that God has for you.
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A love that we will be celebrating literally forever.
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Let's pray.
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Father in Heaven, I suppose I could go on and keep talking about Heaven, but I'm afraid some people might try to get there today.
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God, we thank You for this glorious description that You've given us.
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You've given us so much content here, but...
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I don't think it can even barely describe how awesome it's going to be.
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It's just...
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It's going to be more glorious than we can imagine.
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God, we thank You, especially as we live in a day with jokes and movies and TV shows and songs and all this stuff that goes around talking about heaven.
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I think it just gives us a weird and misguided view of what it's really like.
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So God, I thank You that You've given us such a clear description in Your Word.
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What it looks like, what life will be like when we are forever in Your presence.
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Father, keep our eyes and our hearts on the reality that we are citizens of Heaven.
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Might that affect the choices that we make today?
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Thank You, Father.
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In Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 21:1-22:5
GROUP
1 - What aspect of heaven, according to John’s description, are you most looking forward to? Why?
2 - What aspect of heaven, according to John’s description, was “new information” to you?
3 - In this description of heaven, why are John and us reminded 3 times (Rev 21:8, 27, 22:1) of who and what will NOT be in heaven?
4 - In the list of “unrepentant sinners” excluded from heaven, the first kind named is the “cowardly” (Rev 21:8). What type of sin is this referring to? How is someone “sinfully a coward”?
BREAKOUT
Pray for one another, and thank God for this place being prepared for you!