Well, would you turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 21, Revelation chapter 21? We'll be reading verses 1 through 8, but I encourage you to keep your Bibles open as we'll be looking at a couple other passages as well. But our main passage tonight is Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21, beginning at verse 1. 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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 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. And he who was 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. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But 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. Thus far the reading of the word of the Lord. Well, brothers and sisters, our passage tonight gives us a beautiful glimpse of the end. It's a sneak peek at the end of history. It shows us a picture of everything paradise was supposed to become, and it shows us a glimpse of how Jesus earned that for us and all that he brings down from heaven for those who love him, for those who trust him as their savior. It shows us a picture of all that Jesus promises is really sure and really secure for those who believe the gospel. And Jesus is showing us all of this through the pen of the Apostle John so that we can hear it, believe it, and in light of this glorious reality, we can hold on just a little longer. See, our Lord wrote this book to his bride, to his church, shortly after his ascension, but it's been a couple of years at this point, and he's been gone for a while, and maybe people are starting to wonder, why hasn't he come back yet? Is he unable to come back? Is he maybe not really in control? Maybe his promises have failed, and what Jesus does, what the Father does in sending this vision to John through the Holy Spirit, in writing this book through John's pen, is to show us all that he has done in history and all that he will do at his second coming. And the point of that is that in light of that, again, we can hold on in hope. He is really in control. He is really coming back and he really earned for us everything. First Adam failed to earn us. And that means those of us who trust in Jesus have a better hope than anything this passing evil age can offer us. So, we're going to look at this in four points this evening. Four points. First, the origins of the new city. The origins of the new city. Secondly, the good news of the new city. The good news of the new city. Third, the comfort of the new city. And finally, the inheritance of the new city. So, the origins, the good news, the comfort, and the inheritance. So first, let's look at the origins of this new city. Read with me again verse 1 of our passage tonight. 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. So the imagery that we've got in this first verse that John is using, this imagery is supposed to point us back to a different passage of Scripture. Would you turn with me for a minute to Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. Genesis chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. In these verses we read, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. So the new heavens and the new earth and the city that's in them are the exact opposite of what the world was like at creation. They're the exact opposite of what the world was like at creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and in the end, John sees God bring about a new heaven and a new earth. In Genesis 1, verse 2, the earth is shapeless, it's void, it's without form, and the spirit is hovering over the face of the waters. In Revelation 21, there's no more sea in the new heaven and the new earth. The sea's gone. And later on in verse 23 of chapter 21 of Revelation, we read that the Lord is light of the city versus the darkness that's at creation. And in verse 3 of our passage and verse 22 later on in the chapter, it says that the Lord himself doesn't, the Spirit of the Lord isn't hovering over the face of the waters anymore. The Lord himself is living with his people in this city. It's a hard and solid and definitely shaped surface that the Lord can live with his people on. This new creation and new city were everything we were meant for. They are everything we were meant for and created for. But this raises the question, if this new city is the opposite of what was that creation, and if God began to create and he created, why didn't he finish this creation and build this new city during the six days he made everything else? Why did God rest instead of making this city to begin with? And the sad realization we come to is that this is a city that Adam should have built. Read with me also Genesis 1, verses 26 through 28, and then we'll also skip to Genesis 2, verse 4. So Genesis 1, 26 through 28. Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And then also jumping down to Genesis 2, verse 4. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land and there was no man to work the ground and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living creature and the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east and there he put the man whom he had formed and out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush, and the name of the third river is the Tigris which flows east of Assyria and the fourth river is the Euphrates. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. So Adam, what we can learn about Adam from these passages is that Adam was created and he was put in the garden not just so he could sit there and enjoy the scrumptious fruit but so that he could expand this garden and he could work it and keep it. He was supposed to keep it. He was supposed to cast the serpent out. He was supposed to guard it, but he was also supposed to expand it and work it. And that's why we read Genesis 2 verses 10 through 14. We didn't read it because I lost my place and kept going. We read this for a purpose. These verses tell us something about the resources Adam had at his disposal. God put Adam in the garden, but in that garden also, there were resources to build this holy city. There's good gold there. There's good gold. And that would have worked nicely to build the city in Revelation 21 that verse 18 says is made of gold, clear as glass. There's onyx there. Well, what's the fifth gate of the city made of? It's made of onyx. Adam was put in the perfect spot to build the perfect city. However, as we know, Adam failed to cast out the serpent and therefore he was cast out himself. The sad part of this is that Adam's ability and our ability to build the city died with Adam. And that's why Genesis 11 is such a horror story. Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel happens. What's the problem? The problem isn't that they're making bricks and burning them thoroughly. Bricks are perfectly biblical things to make. The issue is that they're using brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. What they're doing as they try to build this city up, this city that they have no right to build up, to try and get to God, as they're trying to do this, they're making synthetic materials. They're making materials that God has taken away from them. God gave them, God gave Adam materials to build the city in Eden, and when he cast Adam out of Eden, God took away those materials. And so now in Genesis 11, the issue is that man is trying to make materials that are substitutes for the materials God gave him. And that's why God comes down and confuses the languages. Our ability and our right to build the city died with Adam's fall. But, and this is the good news, God doesn't just leave man forever out of paradise. I learned numbers very well, and after Genesis 11 comes Genesis 12. And in Genesis 12, right after Babel, what does God do? God promises Abraham a land, And Hebrews tells us that Abraham, even though he lived intense his entire life, Abraham was looking for a city with foundations whose designer and builder was God. So this has been point one, the origins of this city. And now we move to point two, the good news of the city. The good news of this city is that God didn't just abandon his plan to have Adam build a city for him to live with his people in, he actually sent his son to be the second Adam to build the city we lost the right to build. And what we can see in our second point, point two, the good news of this city is that this text tells us something really awesome. This city is the city that second Adam clothes. This city is the city that second Adam clothes. The holy city comes down from heaven. Man couldn't build this city upwards. When man tried to build this city upwards, God came and destroyed it. But yet now, this city comes down freely, fully. God gives it to His people because of the work of His Son. And see, that's why we're reading about a city that wears clothes. When I walk downtown Escondido, I don't look at the park and say, man, that city needs a dress on. Normally, cities don't wear clothes, but this city does. When all the roads we've paved, all the trees we've planted, all the skyscrapers and schools we've put up are gone, and when first heaven and first earth and all the former things pass away, there's a city wearing clothes, and she remains. But that's because this city is a very special city. This city, in the next passage, in verses 12 through 14, we find out that this city's walls are made of people. This city is a city made of people. That's why she's wearing clothes. Her walls and gates have 12 names on them. They're people, and that's because this city is the bride that Jesus Christ redeemed for himself. And he rescued her, and he adorned her for our wedding day. And that means that this is a city not just adorned for her husband. This is also a city adorned by her husband. When the city that's wearing clothes appears, what this should remind us of is all the promises that God makes to his people in the Old Testament, that he is going to clothe his people with his righteousness. This is God fulfilling his promise in Zechariah 3. In Zechariah 3, there's the high priest standing in dirty clothes before God, and God has those robes taken off, and he puts new clean robes on. In the book of Hosea, Hosea goes to the auction block, and he sees his wife naked and used up and abandoned on the auction block, and he buys her, and he clothes her, and he brings her home. This is not just a city adorned for her husband, but also adorned by her husband. All God's promises to his church through the Old Testament and the New Testament are fulfilled in this passage. This is a city that wears clothes because the new Jerusalem that Jesus built is the church that he redeems and he clothes for himself. So brothers and sisters, I have some really encouraging news. If you're in Christ, you don't have to build or clothe this city. Christ clothes you and you are this city. We're the city that He redeems, He clothes. There are some very well meaning people out there that want to tell you that your new job is to build this city for God as some sort of upward-headed, Christianized, baptized Babel. But what our passage tonight tells us is really encouraging news. We get to rest because we are already members of this city that God has built through his son. Christ brings it down and we live with him forever in that city not because we helped him build it but because of how great a salvation we've gotten. In one sense, this is a very hard thing to take because it means that every hole I've ever dug and every wheelbarrow of dirt I've ever pushed is going to pass away as part of the former things. But in another sense, this is really wonderful news. See, this is really wonderful news because the promise is that Jesus brings down from heaven us as his city. He brings down something better than we could ever build up. He adorns us. He clothes us. And he gives us our spots freely through trusting in him, not because of any work we've done. And we get to live with him in that city forever. This is the only build back better that matters. We have a lot of people in power promising us a lot of things. But this promise is true and it will come to pass because Jesus will really bring down really better. But this brings us to our third point, the comfort of this city. Read with me again, verses 3 through 4. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 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. The comfort of this city is God himself. There will be a day when God himself lives with us visibly in front of us forever. That's comforting. And not only do we get to live with him forever, but we get to live with him in perfect knowledge of him, in perfect enjoyment of him, and in eternal happiness to the praise of his glory with him. See, we live in an age right now where there is still sorrow, death, and pain and tears. But on that day, there's going to be no more death. When he comes down to live with us in the city, he's clothed. There's going to be no more dying because of the curse that Adam earned. And there's going to be no more dying because of his name. There's going to be no more mourning. There's going to be no more reason to mourn. There's going to be no more news of missionaries being killed. There's going to be no more phone calls telling us the bad news from the doctor that either our family members have died or that they're sick, there's going to be no more crying. There's going to be no more reason to cry because there's going to be no more pain. God's promise is that he's going to obliterate tears. He's going to cancel them. He's going to see to it that those tears are thoroughly gone forever. That's what he promises. It's all going to be gone. All the former things are going to be gone and we get to reign with him forever. And this is a comfort that can't be taken away. Note this, this can't be taken from you. It's yours. It's yours in Christ. And God is seated on his throne at this point in the text. He's seated on his throne, and at that time he says, it is finished. I hereby make all things new. He makes John write it down also, because it's faithful and true. Notice this, you have it in writing. You have these promises in writing. God signed them. He put his name on them. They're yours. They can't be taken away. This is your future in Christ. The Alpha and the Omega, the God of history, the God who planned the city and then built the city and is building this city out of people through his son, says it's done. There's no revoking it. As one pastor put it, as it was God's glory that he gave the rise in the beginning to the world, and to his church, it will be his glory to finish the work begun and not to leave it imperfect. As his power and will were the first cause of all things, his pleasure and glory are the last end, and he will not lose his design, for then he would no longer be the Alpha and the Omega. So God offers this place to his people freely and fully forever. And this brings us to our last point, our last point, the inheritance of this city. Read with me again verses 6 through 7. And he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. If you're in Christ, you are offered the spring of water of life freely because it's Him. You get to drink of Him for all eternity freely. This is your inheritance in Him. And that's because Christ shares His victory with His people because Christ is the one who conquers. Christ is the one who conquers. Christ is the one who told us in John, we were going through John, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace, in the world, you will have tribulation, but take heart. I've overcome the world. Christ has overcome the world. In Revelation 3, he promises to the one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. But then in Revelation 12, in Revelation 12, John tells us how people conquer through Christ. And he says this, They have conquered the accuser of the brethren by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. For they love not their lives even to death. Those united to Christ have conquered in him and they conquer by dying. Christ has overcome and therefore we have overcome. We're united to him and that means even our deaths are his victory. And this is why in commenting on this whole book, one pastor wrote a commentary entitled it, More Than Conquerors. See, this is what Paul was talking about. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. The people who inherit this city are the people who are united to Christ the Conqueror. And they get their spot in this city because of him. Christ overcame the world. And because he has, we have. The new Jerusalem is the bride that Christ has adorned. He has clothed her for himself. He brings her down. And his people, this city, are part of his conquering because they're united to him. And this is an encouraging word for us and an encouraging word for the believers in John's day. In the midst of temptation to turn away, to doubt whether Christ really do all that he has promised at his second coming in a time when it seems like maybe God couldn't possibly be in control or else why would He not have come back already? Why else would He allow the prospering of the wicked for this time? In the midst of all of this, the Alpha and the Omega, the Lord of history, comes and reminds His people of all the things He already has done and all that He will do at His coming. And He's telling us, the glorious plan that I've always had through all history didn't change. It's not off track. It's still coming. It's still true. I'm going to bring this city down, the city I always planned, the city where I tabernacle with you. That didn't change. It didn't fail. And God is saying, the things he has said he will do are the things he's going to do. And this is encouraging to us, too, because these are the promises we hold on to, even as it gets worse for us. And it will get worse. We've just gone through the Gospel of John. How many times didn't we hear Jesus promising us in the Gospel of John that things are going to get worse for us? In this world, you will have tribulation. In chapter 12, John talks about this woman in the wilderness who's still fleeing from the dragon. Well, that's us. We're the woman in the wilderness. We're not in the city yet. The city's not down yet. And that means we're waiting for this city. And so what that means is, as we wait for the city, it might look like Satan's winning. It might look like we're crying a lot more tears than we thought possible to cry. But in light of that circumstance, in the midst of all of this, the Alpha and the Omega, the God of history, comes to his people and reminds us, he's still bringing people into this city. He's still bringing in people from every tribe and tongue and nation. and one day he's going to bring down that city from heaven and live with his people forever. It's still coming. This glory is still coming and it's real. It didn't change. It's still happening. And in light of that, we can hold on a little longer. It's going to get much worse, but he's still in control. He's still on his throne. And one day he's going to bring down his throne and live with his people permanently. But that brings us to the warning passage. In chapter 21, verse 8, we have a warning here. Verse 8, it has a warning. It says, But 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. John's listing not just the people who inherit this city, but this city's outcasts. And as we read this list, it's kind of scary because I don't know about you, but when I read that, I'm thinking, that's me. I've committed these sins. I admitted I committed these sins this morning in worship. We read the law. We confessed our sin. But what this passage here, this verse in our passage is here to do is not scare us. This verse isn't to scare us. It's to tell us that confessing Christ is worth it. It's not to scare us. It's to tell us that confessing Christ is worth it. And that's why the cowardly are on the list here. I know cowardice is bad, but it always surprised me that it was in here. I didn't think it was that bad. But the reason the cowards are here is because we're not talking about general battlefield cowardice. We're talking about something more than earthly cowardice, even though it has to do with earthly actions. See, the cowards that John is talking about here, the cowards he's addressing are the same people he was talking about in 1 John chapter 2. In 1 John chapter 2, he says, children, it's the last hour, and as you've heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come. Therefore, we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. They went out that it might become plain that they are all not of us, or they are not all of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist. He who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you, if what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life. So these cowardly, faithless, detestable liars that John is talking about are the Christ deniers. There are those who have denied Christ to avoid earthly discomfort and to avoid an early death. but what they get is second death in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. There are those who show by their denial of Christ to escape earthly danger that they are not allied with Christ, they are allied with Satan. And the irony is that even though they try to avoid earthly death by denying Christ, instead they get two deaths. It's hard to confess Christ before the world. Nobody wants to be sawn in half or stoned or killed with a sword or wander around in the wilderness wearing sheepskins. But what the Lord is reminding his people is that there's something much worse than physical death, and there's something much better that awaits those who belong to Jesus, something much better than anything this present and passing evil age can offer. And the thing is that denying Christ means not being found in his righteousness that he clothes his people with. If Christ is the one who conquers and those united to Christ and clothed by Christ are the ones who inherit this city, then denying Christ means missing out on everything you were made for because you're not found in him. However, even as we read these warnings, even as we read verse 8 of our passage and 1 John 2, these warnings, as we read them, are not to question the hold that Christ has on his people. If you're in Christ, if you have trusted Christ for your salvation, then even though you have committed every single one of these sins, either physically or in your mind, even maybe on the ride to church, this does not condemn you. This passage does not condemn you because it's not talking about you. If you're in Christ, you inherit this city, and that's it. Christ has secured your place in this city. We hold fast to our confession of our faith, not because we're so strong, but because Christ is already holding on to us. So this passage isn't telling you that you need to hold your confession in your own strength. It's a hard thing to confess Christ before the world. but if you're in Christ, he has anointed you with his Holy Spirit. And in those times when you're weak, he is strong. He's going to hold you to himself, and he will give you the courageous words to speak, even when you don't feel the bravery to do that. If you're in Christ, his promise to you is eternal life. It's life forever with him in New Jerusalem before his face, and that promise can't change because Christ has overcome, and in him you overcame. So what this passage is not saying is that we have to suffer for him in order to earn our place in this city. What this passage is saying is that we get to suffer for him because of the place he has already given us with him. That means that this chapter ends with a tale of two outcomes. There are two choices for how the last day is going to go for you. For those who side with Satan, who are not found in Christ and who make worldly gain and worldly avoidance of death their only goal in life, for those people, they're going to get two deaths. They're going to get the second death. They're going to get resurrection to a physical body to worse burning in hell. And that's why John can't call resurrection to worse hell a resurrection. Because it's not. It's death. It's a second death. But for those who are in Christ, for those who are in Christ and who look with hope to the resurrection of the dead and life in the world to come, when Christ returns and establishes his city with his people forever, for those people, chapter 20 tells us that their death isn't death. It's a first resurrection. Chapter 20 tells us that the saints who die in Christ don't die. they go through a first resurrection. See, when John looks at the death of those who die in Christ, either because of old age or for his name, those people who die in Christ don't die. Their death takes them from this present evil age. It brings them before the throne of God, and it's where they get to wait before the presence of God to come down with this city and live with him forever in glorified bodies like Christ. And so John can't look at death like that and call it death. It's a first resurrection. And that means death itself is something we don't fear. We get to be in this city, both in the first and the second resurrection, with him forever. So in Christ, your spot in this city is secure because he's the one who conquered and clothed you. And that means your death is not death. It's a first resurrection. Your death in Christ is no longer a payment for sins. It is a dying to sin and an entrance into eternal life. And that means that for those who are in Christ, there are solid joys and lasting pleasures that only Zion's children know. He is coming to give you everything you were made for and everything he has promised you. These are things that are yours in him. He is coming. And so he calls us to hold on. Amen. Would you pray with me? Lord, we do thank you for the promises of all that you have promised to give us in your Son. Lord, we thank you that we are members of your city. We pray that you would help us to live as pilgrims who look for that city which is still coming down. And we pray that you would help us to live in hope that shines a light to our neighbors and brings them in, if it is your will. Lord, we thank you for gathering us into your presence this evening. And we pray that we would go forth into this week again in hope that you will do all that you have promised. And we thank you that you will, not because we deserve it, but because of the finished work of your Son. So we pray all these things, not in our own strength, but in his name. Amen.