Transcript

Sermon Transcript: The New Heaven and New Earth

7/25/2021 Jeff Schwarzentraub 50 min read

- Lord Jesus, thank you so much for today. Thanks for the privilege of worshiping you and praying to you and Lord for your living and active word, that when it's preached faithfully and accurately, that you speak to us. So Lord, I'm asking you, as I ask you every Sunday, help me be faithful in presenting your word to your people Lord, so that we can hear you and be what you want us to be. And now, for all of those who are gathered, who desire to hear the word of the Lord, who will believe what God says from his word and will by faith put into practice what He shows you will you very loudly agree with me this morning by saying the word amen, amen.

When we enter a new season, expectations are very important. It doesn't matter what that new season is. It could be that you're getting married and there's expectations going into marriage for what that's going to be like. It could be that you're having your first child and there's expectations. If you're single and you've been set up on a date there's expectations as to what it's going to be, even when it comes to classes, if you're going to a new school or you've transitioned into a new grade or you're going into college, perhaps there's an orientation process to let you know, here's some of the things that you can expect. And it's important to know what to expect when we enter those things. Because the closer our expectations are to reality, the greater experience that we're going to have, because there's nothing more frustrating than unmet expectations. When you have expectations, things are going to look a certain way and then they don't realize themselves in that way, oftentimes there's frustration.

And when it comes to the word of God, and when it comes to his millennial reign in his eternal state, we have expectations as to what that's going to be like. What's it going to be like when we're ruling and reigning with Jesus? What's it going to be like in the coming kingdom of God? What's it going to be like in the eternal state? How should I expect to be prepared? Isn't it great news to know that God's going to tell us some of those very things. There are expectations that God wants us to have about what He's going to deliver so that our expectations align with what He tells us that He's going to do. And so today I want to highlight five expectations that you can have about the millennial reign of Christ that is coming soon, that we're going to all of us who are believers are going to get to experience together.

So I'm gonna encourage you, open your Bible app to the book of Revelation chapter 21. In Revelation chapter 21, and as you're turning there, I just want to bring you up to speed a little bit. We've covered a ton of in this ground in this series and as we finished chapter 20, we really talked about some of the things that are going to take place really on that first day of the millennium. We talked about how Satan is going to be bound on the first day of the millennium, how we're going to judge. There's going to be that sheep and goat judgment that's going to take place. We talked about the beheaded martyrs that from the time of the resurrection and rapture of the saints until Christ brings us back with his church, that in that interim period, during the day of the Lord's wrath, that those who are going to be beheaded or lose their life are going to be resurrected.

And today we're going to look at two more. It's the new heaven and new earth and New Jerusalem. Now, as we enter into this section of scripture, I want you to understand that different people interpreted this different ways. And some of you may too and that's okay. There's nothing to split the church over. Some will take Revelation chapter 21 and 22 and call it the eternal state that this is heaven that we're reading about. This is what it's like after all sin and death has done away with. I was taught that way upon further review. I'm going to say that chapters 21 and 22 really highlights for us the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ and what that's going to look like. And I'll try to do my best to articulate why I believe that there are several reasons for that. Either way, the way I presented this message is, regardless of whether you see this as the eternal state or as the millennial reign of Christ in his coming kingdom, there are certain truths that you can expect as to what things are going to look like. And that's what we're going to talk about today.

We're talking about five expectations that we can have from God's word as to what the millennial reign looks like. Because if we're not truly expecting what God has, we're not going to yearn for it on this side of heaven. And we're going to be surprised when we get there and God wants neither of those things to happen. So read with me in Revelation chapter 21, starting in verse one, I'll read a few verses, then we'll unpack them together. Notice what he says. He says, "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 with them and they shall be his people and God himself will be among them."

Now here's the first thing that you can expect. The first thing you can expect is this, God's presence in a new universe. God's presence in a new universe. Notice this, he says, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there is no longer any sea. Now, why would there have to be a new heaven and a new earth? If you think about the day of the Lord's wrath, as we've been talking about all the things and all the devastation that's been poured out on the planet, it's hard to imagine the millennial reign of Christ without some reconstruction as to what's going on, because there's been so much devastation. God doesn't destroy the earth, but God prunes the earth and prepares it for what is to come.

And if you take a look in the book of Job, chapter 15, in verse 15, you can write that verse down. Here's why God does what He does. He says "Behold, He puts no trust in his holy ones and the heavens are not pure in his sight." Now you might say, well, why aren't the heavens pure in his sight? Isaiah 24 in verse five highlights it. "The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant."

Here's the problem with the universe that we live in now. There's sin, we learned all the way back in Genesis three, that sin entered into the world. It not only entered into the universe, but it entered into our life. So everything that we see in our universe is post fall, post flood. Even the beauty of the mountains here in Colorado, even the gorgeous oceans that we can go to the beaches of that's all fallen, that's all been marred because of sin.

What's coming is going to be greater than anything that you've ever seen. God is going to create a new heaven and a new earth. In Isaiah chapter 65 and 66. We read a little bit about this and Isaiah chapter 65, starting in verse, let's see, 65 verse 17 I believe. It says, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind." God before the millennium is going to create on day one of the millennium he's going to recreate.

Now, when He created the heavens and the earth we learned about in Genesis, that God took six days and He created everything out of nothing. God is not going to create out of nothing this time. Here's what God's going to do. He's going to make everything new. It means that old is obsolete and should be replaced. I grew up in the 1970s, you know, it was new in the 1970s. In my house, we had a yellow refrigerator and green shag carpet. And that was considered new. Other people I knew had green refrigerators, they were multi-colored. There was a different fashion sense. I've yet to walk into a house in decades and seen people have green shag carpet and colored refrigerator; stainless steel, and different kinds of things now tend to be the trend. Everything needs to be new.

When we get to verse five and we see God say behold, I am making everything new. He's talking about a quality of something that needs to be restored. In first Corinthians 15, we learned that when we get our glorified bodies, we're not getting a different body than we have right now. You'll have the body you have, but it'll be recreated if you're a believer for the millennial reign of Christ. It will be recreated in a way where your body will be recognizable in some ways, but it'll be unrecognizable because there'll be a massive upgrade. I mean, a massive upgrade. I mean, better than if you took every kind of pill, cream, worked out every day, I mean, massive upgrade and your new body will continue to be made new. It doesn't age. It doesn't get old. You won't wake up someday and say, why am I sore? I didn't do anything yesterday. And everybody over 40 laughed, I mean.

Everything's going to be new. The quality of what we see is going to be new. There's going to be new flowers and there's gonna be new trees and there's gonna be new landscape. And it's all going to be new. And people are going to walk around. Have you seen that? Why? I think I've been there. You've never seen this, it's totally new. It's new. Have you eaten that kind of food before? I've never eaten. It's all new. Everything's new, the quality is new. Jesus is infinite and he's going to be creating that which is new. It's going to be unbelievable this new heaven and this new earth because the one that we know and that we see has been marred by sin. The heavens and the earth have both been marred by sin. We see in the book of Revelation is God's wrath has been poured out, we see that, you know, the sun, the moon is darkened and, sorry the sun is darkened and the moon turns to blood and stars fall from the heavens. I mean, the universe is going to need an upgrade for us to be able to enter the millennium the way that God wants.

And this is nothing new. Jesus said in Luke chapter 21 verse 33, the heavens and the earth will pass away, right? He told us that, but what did He say? But my word will never pass away. What he's telling us is true. There will be a new heaven and a new earth and qualitatively it'll be better than anything we've ever seen. And He notices what He says at the end of verse one, he says, there's no longer any sea. I mean, I don't know exactly what the world's going to look like but two thirds of our world right now is made up of water. 60 plus percent of our body's made up by water. Different organs are more water than other organs. I mean, you can go for 40 days without food. You can't go more than three days without water. We need water, we need water. Apparently there's no water. There's no water, but there is a type of water. A water we know nothing about called the water of life. If you skip ahead to Revelation 22 verse one, "He showed me a river of not water, He showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and of the lamb." Apparently there's a new drink on the market. It's called the water of life. It was the one Jesus began to foreshadow with the woman at the well and told her if she knew who He was, she would have asked for living water and He would have given her something to drink that was a spring that was welling up into eternal life. Apparently in the new heaven and the new earth, we get to drink living water. Apparently that nourishes us in a way that the substances we have to drink here on earth cannot do.

Notice what he says next in verse two of Revelation 21, he said, "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." I mean, how many times have you heard a loud voice in this book? Man, heaven's loud, right? "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell with him." He will dwell with them. Not only is there going to be a new universe, God's presence is going to be with us. And the fact that you didn't burst into applause and standing ovation and cheer, it tells me that we get the gospel wrong sometimes. See, we think the gospel's over here, that it's something that we pray about and it's something that we hope for. And maybe when we get to heaven it'll be really good.

Let me tell you what the gospel is. The gospel is a person. The gospel is Jesus Christ. The mystery of the gospel is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And one day that Christ that's in you will be with you. He's going to be with you forever and ever amen. So for people that say, I want to go to heaven, but I'm not really, I don't really care if Jesus is there. Let me tell you this, not only will you not go to heaven, but Jesus will be there. Jesus is the only reason to go to heaven. Jesus's the only reason we want to be in his kingdom. Jesus's the only reason we want to be in the millennial reign. And we say silly things, because we've never been there. Like I can't wait to meet the apostle Paul, you'll meet him. Can't wait to meet Peter. How about this? I can't wait to meet Jesus.

- [Congregation] Yeah.

- Right? I mean, and it's great because those of us who know Christ, even ones that have passed on, we'll recognize them. We'll get to see them. It'll be special, but it won't be as special as seeing Jesus. And sometimes we look more forward to our grandmother or grandfather that has passed away or an uncle or an aunt or even a child and can't wait to meet them and that's great and there's nothing wrong with that. But our heart should yearn to see the person, the God-man Jesus Christ because He's the one that saved you and brought you there in the first place, amen.

- [Congregation] Amen,

- I mean, we live in a dispensation where Jesus is absent physically. He's absent physically. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. In John chapter one in verse 14 says, "And the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." During Jesus Christ first advent, He was here. Fully God, fully man into flesh. People got to touch him and see him and speak with him and hear from him and be ministered to by him. And sometimes we say that would have been the best dispensation to be wouldn't that been awesome?

What's even better is that Christ is in us so that everywhere we go, He is. But won't it be great when we're in the next dispensation where not only is Christ in us, but He's with us and everywhere we go there He is. But we also get to be with him and speak with him and touch him and hold hands with them and look them in the eye and have conversation with them. Wouldn't that be awesome? I mean, what you can expect is God's presence. You can expect this new universe.

And notice how we're going to see it. Verse two tells us, he saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. What is the bride? The bride is all the Old Testament saints, you'll see that later and all the New Testament saints who have been yearning to be with Christ in his millennial kingdom. And how are we going to be? We're going to be in a city. We're going to be a city. What's the city called? New Jerusalem, not the Jerusalem now, but it's interesting because God's always had a special heart for Jerusalem. Even when we talk about David, what do we say? David's a man after God's own heart. And we tend to think that's only because he was a good guy that pursued God and was faithful with Goliath and all these things. But he still fell and didn't do some great things either. But why was David a man after God's own heart? 'Cause what did he do? He brought the presence of God where? To Jerusalem.

Where's God always wanted to dwell? Jerusalem. What's one of the cities you know, is going to exist in the millennium? New Jerusalem. And how's New Jerusalem going to come? It's going to come from heaven to earth. And how do you know it's a city? Because the Bible says it's a city. It hearkens us back to John chapter 14 verses one, two and three, where Jesus is talking to his disciples on the night that He's betrayed. And as He's talking to them, trying to comfort them because He's told them he's going to be crucified. He said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many dwelling places or rooms, if it were not so I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. 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." So think about this. God created the heavens and the earth in how many days? Six. Everything we see and don't see was created in six literal days. Jesus tells his disciples on the night He was betrayed, hey, don't worry, I'm going to die and rise from the dead, and when I leave, I'm going to go prepare a place for you.

So for 2000 years, the same God has been working on your dwelling place in heaven. How awesome is that dwelling place going to be? I mean, you think about this. I mean, we watch shows on HGTV. You know, property brothers take two to three months and we pay them some things and people walk in on reveal day like, oh wow, that's the property brothers y'all. Jesus has been working for over 2000 years on our dwelling place. What is that going to be like if the same God that created everything, both visible and invisible in six days did that? What's it going to be like when we see the New Jerusalem, our holy city, where we are going to dwell with him forever? It's going to blow you away. There will be nobody here that says, I can't believe they use that color. I mean, you're not going to say that, I promise you. It's going to be unbelievable. And it's what we've been searching for. And it's what we've been looking for. It's why we're always looking for upgrades. It's why we're always wanting to make things better, make things new, there's something in our hearts that we know we yearn for that. Abraham yearned for that.

And Hebrews chapter 11 verse 10, it says "For he was looking for the city, which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God." Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 22 contrasting Mount Sinai to this heavenly city says, "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of angels." God has prepared a city, a place for his bride. We are his bride. If you've trusted and repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ, you are the bride of Christ. And how's He going to present the bride?

Now the marriage would have already happened. It would already been consummated at the second coming of Christ at the rapture and the resurrection. We're going to be with Christ forever, but there's going to be a presentation where He brings his bride from heaven to earth. And we're going to be in that city, coming from heaven down to earth on day one of the millennium to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years and it's going to be awesome. And notice how he describes it. He describes this bride as being adorned for her husband.

Now I've had a chance to be a groomsman in several weddings. I've officiated a lot of weddings. I've been the groom in one wedding. Every wedding I've gone to, at least me, I would guess, I would hazard a guess that the bride has spent more than 15 minutes getting ready that day. Do you know why? Because she is trying to adorn herself for her husband. For many young ladies, young brides that are getting married, they spend time with all their friends. They do their hair, they do their makeup. There's a dress that gets purchased for that one specific day. And I have it on good authority that some people take a lot of time to find a one specific dress even if it's only going to be worn for a few hours, right? I learned that so. Because why? Because they're preparing and a lot of young girls, even my girls who are eight and 14 have thought about their wedding day, what it's going to be like. And you start thinking about it and dreaming about it, why? Because you want to adorn yourself for your husband. And grooms know 'cause I officiate. So I'm always standing right next to the groom. And, you know, even the grooms that are the most, like I'm not going to cry or do this. They all get choked up and some of them start losing it the moment they see their bride.  I'll never forget what Kim looked like that day in the church we were in with her dad on her arm, coming down the isle the way that they came because I was singing, wow. I don't know what I lied to her to believe that I get this, but this is good. I mean, she really wants to be here.

How are we coming? We're going to be adorned for Christ. Now who's going to make us ready? God the father and God the son are going to make us ready. We've already learned in Revelation 19. We've been given white garments that are pure and right, God has forgiven all of our sin. We're going to be presented with great joy before the father who is in heaven. And we are going to be coming down as his bride. And Jesus is going to be welcoming us back to planet earth at that time and it's going to be unbelievable. It's something that we can yearn for. That's the new city, that's the New Jerusalem. That's going to be the capital city. That's going to be our hometown. That's going to be where we're going to come back and forth and reside and you'll see that here in just a little bit. So not only can we look forward to God's presence and we can look forward to a new universe.

Here's what else you can expect. You can expect God's compassion and your satisfaction. You can expect God's compassion and your satisfaction. Notice verse four, it says, "And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death and no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away." Now who's he talking about? I believe he's talking about the New Jerusalem. That's still the context here. It's all the Old Testament, New Testament saints. He's not talking about the whole world. He's talking about us. They'll still be dying in the millennium because we talked about the 144,000 sealed Jews that are going to come to know the Lord and presumably other Jews and other Gentiles that are going to survive the sheep and goat judgment, that will enter into the millennium and unglorified bodies that will repopulate the planet. That's not who he's talking about here. People like that will die.

Now, Isaiah chapter 65 and 66 says that if you live less than a hundred years, it's going to feel like a tragedy because the millennium is going to have life unlike anything we've ever seen in this new heaven and new earth. But he's talking to us who are saints, who are born again, who are with God and what will he say? His compassion is going to be incredible. Think about this. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, every tear from their eyes. Now you might say, well, I'm not crying. I want you to think about your life. I want you to think about every tear that you've ever shed. Psalm chapter 56 tells us what God does with your tears. For those of you that have suffered, for those of you who that have cried, for those of you ask the question, where's God now, how come this is so painful? Here's what the Psalmist says. "You have taken account of my wanderings, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?"

God keeps every one of your tears. They've never been wasted on God. There's never been a time where God's seen you suffer or seen you cry that He said, "Hey, suck it up. You know, don't worry about that. That's not a big deal, why are you crying?" No, every single time that you've cried, every single time that you've had pain, God's like, yeah, I'm going to personally be there and I personally I'm going wipe away every tear from your eye. Now, isn't it cool that this isn't a delegated service? Jesus is going to have his angels do it. He's not going to have other saints do it. Jesus Christ is going to personally stand in front of you and go through your life, and every single tear you've ever shed about every single painful thing, He's going to just wipe it away so that I know. I was there you don't need to experience that anymore. Is that awesome?

- [Congregation] Amen.

- I mean, some of you have experienced some of the most pain you've ever had in your life this year. I mean, can we just get real for a second? Some of you have lost children who have died. Some of you have gone through painful divorces. Some of you have been mistreated by your parents. Some of you have been shunned by your children. Some of you have never gotten the job that you want. Some of you, no matter how hard you try people tell you how worthless you are. Some of you cry externally and some of you cry internally because you don't want to show the pain.

Here's what Jesus will say. I'm going to walk you through all that, I'm gonna let you know it's okay. Can you just think about the areas in your life where you've experienced the deepest pain? Because even when we forgive other people and even when we can release some of that pain, the memory doesn't go away. One day it will. As Jesus wipes those tears from your eyes say, I was there. I was there, it was painful. I saw it. I was walking through it with you and I love you.

You wanna experience his compassion? I mean, it's great on this side of heaven, when somebody comes alongside and cares enough to demonstrate compassion at a time that we heard, we can't get enough of it. But how about the king of kings and Lord of Lords that knows everything and every motivation and every heartfelt thing and every woulda, coulda, shoulda, and not only the things that where people hurt you, but the things that you did wrong, that you look back on your life and say, I wish I could live that one over again guys and say, I get it, I get it. It's okay, I took care of that at the cross. You're mine, I love you. Isn't that awesome news? He's going to wipe our tears away.

And guess what? For us, there'll be no longer any death. There won't be death. We won't have to worry about aging. We won't have to worry about getting older. We won't have to worry about dying and worse yet we won't have to better yet. We won't have to worry about how we're going to die. You want to think about it, you can't die. It's impossible. That's good news. And there will no longer be any deaths And there will no longer be any mourning, that's lamenting. There's not going to be anything in heaven that's bad. Here, you're not going to worry about somebody that hurt you or you didn't get enough money or you didn't have this, or you didn't have that and how come this is like this? And I thought heaven was going to be better. And that the millennial reign was going to be great. I mean, there's still some problems. There's no problems for you. It's all wiped away. Isn't that good news? There's no longer mourning, no crying. I mean, isn't great in the millennial kingdom, among the saints? Among those who know Jesus? You know, you're never going to see, you're never gonna see Christians cry. No crying, no crying at all.

And I love this one, no pain for the past things that passed away. No emotional pain, no physical pain, no spiritual pain, no relational pain, there's no pain. This week you're going to have pain, in a millennial kingdom, no pain for you. People will be like, "Are you having any pains?" "Like, I don't know what that is. What are you talking about?" Pain, this is great. Like every day is new. Every day's better. It just keeps getting better and better and better. That's what God says. And notice what he says here. And he who sits on the throne said behold I am making all things new. How many things are going to get upgraded? Say it with me louder. How many things get an upgrade?

- [Congregation] All.

- I mean, you might say well, I love this tree in my backyard, it's my favorite tree, it's getting an upgrade, right? Your dwelling place is getting an upgrade. Your body is getting an upgrade. God says behold, I am making all things new. New means quality of life. If we can get bored in a decade with how things look, God is not going to allow us to live a thousand years with him and have things get old. He's always going to be making things better. Just pause me for a second.

Think about the best day you ever had. Maybe its your wedding day, maybe it's a day you graduated from school and it was when you had your first child, maybe it was a vacation you had with your family, where everybody was together. Maybe you got a promotion. I mean, you start combining all those days. Imagine like all those days combined into one day, every day and it just keeps getting better.

Because Jesus has infinite worth and infinite holiness and infinite love and infinite compassion and infinite faith. He has all these infinite qualities like mercy and you get to experience them more and more every single day. So every day you wake up, you're going to have your best day ever. And the next day people will say, how's today. It's even better. It's better than yesterday and the day after that it'll be even better. It gets better and better and better because God is making all things new. The quality of life just keeps getting better and better and better.

And notice what he says, right? For these words are faithful and true. I'm telling you the truth. You can bank on this. This is an expectation that you can have. And then he said to me, it is done. Now, it is done is not the same words that Jesus said on the cross. On the cross, Jesus uses a Greek word to tell a story to mean it is finished, paid in full, He's using a different Greek verb to talk about what's going to be, it is done. It's going to be, I'm making this reality. Here we go, we're about ready to start this thing. I'm doing what I said I was going to do, it's done.

Now,  how can Jesus say that? Because I am the alpha and omega He says, the beginning and the end. The alpha and omega. Alpha the first letter of the Greek alphabet, omega the last letter, the A to Z, I'm all that. I'm the beginning and the end. I'm the one that created it all and the one that's restoring all. That's who I am. And what is He going to do? Not only is He going to give us great compassion, but let me tell you this. You're going to be totally satisfied, totally satisfied.

You know that even on your best day, there's a restlessness inside of you, that you want more of whatever you have. I mean, even if you have the best vacation in your life, when it comes down to the last day, you think that I wish I had one more week. You know, even if you get a raise, you can say to yourself, I wish I had a little more money. You know, even if your marriage is going well, I'm like, ah, I wish we could just have a little more intimacy and love going back and forth. And even if your kids are rockstars I wish we had a closer relationship. I mean, there are things in our life where we crave more. It's part of our sinful human condition.

In heaven, you're totally satisfied all the time. Like a hundred, there's no boredom in heaven. You're not going to sit around and be bored and just say, what are we going to do? Like I'm so bored. It's going to be totally satisfied. Notice what it says. It says, "I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without costs." We looked at that in revelation 22 verse one. I'm going to give you life. This nourishing drink that will bring you life without cost you're going to be totally satisfied. Everything that you need in the millennial kingdom and the eternal state you're going to have. And if it doesn't satisfy you, you won't miss it. Like you are going to be totally satisfied all the time.

Now I'm not aware of every music selection that's going to take place in the millennial reign and in the eternal state but I can promise you a song that's never going to get played, is by Mick Jagger and the rolling stones. I can't get no satisfaction is not being played in the millennial kingdom because everybody's going to be totally satisfied all the time. I mean, emotionally, you're going to be satisfied. Relationally you're going to be satisfied. Physically you're going to be satisfied. Your worship is going to be totally satisfying. All the time you're totally satisfied. The food you eat, the things you do, you're going to say, oh, it was awesome. You ever go to a restaurant where you're totally satisfied your favorite restaurant, your favorite dish, you have it. You finish like, that was awesome. Every meal is going to be like that. And it's going to get new and better 'cause you'll think. Well, the last time I did it was good, but this time it's even better. I'm even more satisfied than I was the last time we ate here. Again, everything's better. Everything's satisfying.

Why do you think the devil lies to you and tells you that God is not very good because he knows how infinitely good our awesome God is. And you're going to get to spend time in his presence in a whole new universe. You're going to get to experience his compassion and you're going to be completely satisfied.

Let me give you a third one. Here's an expectation you can have, God's faithfulness to his word. You can have an expectation that God will be faithful to his word. Jesus said as we read earlier in Luke 21:33, "The heavens and the earth will pass away but my word will never pass away." This book, Genesis chapter one, one through Revelation 22:21 will never, ever pass away. Not in the millennial reign of Christ and not in the eternal state. Every part of this book is completely true. I mean, even the parts of this book that you don't understand, they'll be there. Even those things in your life. Like, yeah, I don't know that I want to believe what God has to say about that. I kind of want to do it my way. How come He gets to decide? How come He gets to decide that He's the one that created everything in six days. How come He's the one that created one race? How come He's the one that created two genders? How come He's the one that loves the church? How come He's the one that ordained marriage between a man and a woman? How come He's the one that says that's the only right way to do it?

I'm telling you friends, everything Jesus says is true now and true later, nothing in this book is going to change, it's eternal. You cannot shortchange this book without consequences. That's why for those of us who know the Lord, there's a great reward what's coming. Notice what He says in verse seven. He who overcomes, that's those of us who believe will inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be my what? Son. It's not just that you get to go to heaven and be part of this community of a billion or more people. Here's what Jesus says, when you come, you don't come as one of many, you come as my own child. I see you as my own kid. If you're male, He'll say you're my son. If you're female, He'll say you're my daughter. And if you were the only one here, I'm going to treat you as my only son.

Now God the father, his only begotten son is Jesus Christ. We don't replace him. But the way that Jesus sees us and treats us is as his own kids, why? Because we've been adopted through the gospel. I mean, even in Luke chapter 15, where you see the two prodigal sons, one stays close to his dad who doesn't know him. One wanders off that doesn't know him. And the younger son after squandering, his inheritance comes back. And when he comes back he starts to make his excuses. All he wants to do is come back and be a slave. But when the father sees him, the father runs at him, hugs him, loves him, says, quick, put a ring on his finger. Show me belongs to me, put sandals on his feet. He's not a slave, put the best robe on him 'cause he's royalty and let's kill a calf and celebrate 'Cause this son of mine was lost and now he's alive. So he goes to the older brother he's like, yeah, this brother of yours, you know, he, all of my son wanted to do was be a slave. And when he came back home, you're no slave, you're my child.

Friends, God has adopted you. He loves you as his own children. He loves you as his own children. You can expect that God is going to treat you as his own kids, your family. You're not slaves. When the Bible talks about we're slaves to the Lord, Jesus Christ, that's not talking about our relationship quality. It's talking about how we rightly position ourselves in humility before God and we're choosing to be slaves as He is our king and Lord. But relationally, the way God sees us as his sons and daughters is the most high God. That's who we are. That's what we get. You can expect that, but check this out. This is super important. And it's another reason why I think he's talking about the millennium here because if he was talking about the eternal state, there won't be this group of people in the eternal state, but for the cowardly and the unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all the liars their part will be in the lake of fire, the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Now let's talk about this group of people, who are they? They're cowardly. They're cowardly. Now, it's okay to have healthy fears. I would have healthy fear if you took me bungee jumping off some cliff today, that'd be a healthy fear. I'd have a healthy fear if you threw me in the middle of high traffic while traffic is going 70 miles an hour, and it's okay to be fearful. It's talking about this. When talking about being cowardly, it's talking about being fearful to go all in with Jesus. Being ashamed of him and his words. It's viewing the gospel as something yeah, it's true, but I'm not going all in on the gospel. I'm not going to be all there with the gospel. Let me tell you what the gospel is. The gospel is not a prayer that you pray. It's not a set of rules that you keep. The gospel is the Lord Jesus Christ and who He is and you want all of him in your life. That's the gospel.

If you don't want Jesus, you're not saved. If you want Jesus by a free gift, he'll give you and his entire self to you and then dwell you and live with you forever. The cowardly are people that say, I know it's true. I just don't want Jesus. I just want to go to a church that tells me how to be religious, and hopes I got fire insurance and hope that I can go to heaven. It's not fire insurance. It's having Jesus Christ as Lord of your life on the inside. The cowardly don't have them. The unbelieving he says next, that's the lack of faith. That's I know it's true, but I'm not going to believe it. Or I don't want to believe it. Or I want to live my life in my own way, or I want nothing to do with Christ and his church. How about abominable people? That's detestable people. Detestable will be the people that engage in behaviors that all of us would look at simultaneously and say, that's despicable, that's horrible, that's wrong.

How about murderers? Some of you are taking a breath and saying, true finally. But Jesus said, if you call your brother an idiot, you've committed murder in your heart. If you've just thought an evil thought about somebody else, you're a murderer. How about immoral people? You know, we make our own definitions as to what immorality looks like. God sets the bar way higher than we said it. Some of us talk about homosexuality. That's totally immoral, but then we as singles will shack up and live together and we'll do it for the sake of, oh, we're just saving money. No, you're living immoral and you're living apart from Christ.

I mean, God sets a standard of morality that's way higher than we can accomplish on our own. And the only way we can accomplish his moral standard is through Christ. The only way we can be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect is through Christ. How about sorcerers? People that engage in the cult of witchcraft and, what are those little things you read in fortune cookies? Astronomy, astrology, I don't even know. There's a palm reader down the street on hand and every time we drive by at one of my kids is like, "Dad, I'm going to pray right now." We'll pray out loud in our car, shut them down. And we pray with them. People will engage in that.

How about this one? This is really interesting and made its way. And how about liars? Liars, you ever told a lie? Raise your hand if you ever told a lie. Raise your hand if you didn't 'cause you just joined. I mean, little white lies, not big ones, just little ones. Lies you've told others, how about this? How about lies you tell yourself? Never lie to yourself. Liars don't get it. I mean, none of these people enter the kingdom. You say, but that's what I want. Yeah, as long as it's what you were, because at some point in time, any single person that lies can be saved and saved to the full by repenting and turning to Christ and asking Jesus Christ to come in and be their Lord and save them. And when you do, there's a turn to Christ.

Here's my question. Have you ever turned your life over completely to Jesus? Has Jesus come into your life? Is He the Lord of your life? Now being the Lord of your life doesn't mean you'll never sin again. Doesn't mean you'll never lie again. But when you do, Christ will be in you knocking on your heart saying that was wrong. We don't do that. That's not who we are. We live like this now. There's going to be a turn to be more like Christ. There's going to be a desire to be more like Christ. So I'm not asking you, did you pray a prayer? Did you walk in aisle? Did you talk to an elder? Did you fill out a form? Did you go to a Billy Graham crusade? Did you get all excited? Did you feel God near you? Because the answer for all of us in some way is we've all encountered God in some way, because He's always desiring to be in relationship with us.

But just because we felt God or been near God doesn't mean that we're a Christian. There must be a time where you've turned from yourself and turned to Christ and let Jesus Christ be Lord. Because why? Because if you don't do that, here's what your future is. The Bible makes it crystal clear. It says this, you will be in the lake of fire. You will be the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. You will go to hell. You will be there eternally. You will be there by yourself. You will be punished and every evil and wicked thing that's there, you'll endure. And all the goodness of God will be absent from you.

That's true. Now who goes there? All this group of people. That's us apart from the gospel, which is Jesus Christ, that would desire that none would perish, but that all will come to the knowledge of him. And I shared this last week and want to be crystal clear on this too. God did not create hell or the lake of fire for you. Matthew 25:41 says that God created hell for the devil and his angels. God never formed in fashion a human being and said, yeah, Anna Lach you're going there, sorry. No, no, no. The Bible says that God's desires that all would come to the knowledge of him. His desire would be that every single human being would know him. Romans 1:20 says that all men will be without excuse. If you end up in the lake of fire, here's why you're in the lake of fire because you didn't want Jesus Christ and you lived your entire life seeking someone other than him. It's sobering, isn't it?

And I love you enough as your pastor, whether you're visiting or here all the time to tell you the truth so that it will never be a surprise to you. For those of you who rejected Christ, that when you get what you earn, that it's not a surprise. You can be expecting that you're going to spend eternity there, but I'm gonna tell you with my whole heart, if I could persuade you, if I could flick a switch, if I could make it happen, I would tell you that your greatest need that you have in your life is trusting the Lord Jesus Christ to come in, to forgive all your sins, to be born again in a new so that you can experience the grace that He has for you. So you can be as overcomer so that you can be as son and daughter and so that you can rule and reign with him in the coming kingdom, amen. Amen.

God is faithful to his word. When you hear people talk about there is no hell or there's this new idea. There's anihilationism. You just kind of burn real quick and it's over. It's garbage. It's garbage. Eternal hell is just as long as eternal life. Eternal punishment is just as long as eternal reward. You can trick yourself into saying, I'm not going to believe the Bible, but I'm telling you on the authority of God's word. When you die, you will depart and either be with Christ or you will depart and go to hell. And there is a chasm and you can't cross and go one way or another. That's just a fact.

I've officiated enough funerals and I've heard enough stories. Even the people that I don't know that I've done funerals for where obvious, this person didn't know Christ. They'd never repented. They'd never trusted him. They'd never went to church. They didn't want anything to do with him. They rejected him and yet at a funeral, we'll stand up and give what's called a eulogy, which is two Greek words smashed together meaning good words. And we'll say all these really nice things about him. Even though they're already in hell. And as a pastor, I've had to learn how to accommodate what happens because I can't come to the pulpit and say, guys, just to let you know, Joe's in hell and he's never coming back, but you better repent so you don't go there too. But I do say things kind of like that. And I'll say something like, you know, here's the truth. Here's one thing we can know for sure. If Joe were here, here's what he'd tell you today. Heaven and hell are real places. And the only way to experience heaven is by trusting in Jesus Christ. Do you know that? Because Joe would want you to know that today. Pastor Jeff wants you to know that today.

So excited about what took place at our church this week with having 150 kids trust Jesus. So awesome. And that was like 150, that sounds too round of a number. Like well it was 152 but we kind of did some modification. We talked to each kid it's really 150. And then I heard there was some girl that was in our service she goes, "I go to big church with pastor Jeff, and he was preaching from Revelation 20 last week and it scared me 'cause I didn't know Jesus. So I got saved last Sunday. So it's 151 since last Sunday, okay?

And what we're talking about here's eternity. What we're talking about is the New Jerusalem being crowded. What we're talking about is more people ruling and reigning with Christ. What we're talking about is making hell less populated and making heaven more populated. And that's important because it's what's going to matter ultimately. But see what else we're going to see. I mean, this is awesome. What you can expect is God's majesty and beauty put on full display. God's majesty and beauty put on full display. I'll read through a lot of this pretty quickly.

It says, "Then I saw one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues. And he came and spoke with me saying, come here and I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb." Another reason I think he's talking about the millennium. It seems strange that you would have the angel that was pouring out the bowl judgments in that 30 days after the 70th week. That would still be talking to them a thousand years later. But it's not totally, you know, has to go that way, but notice what he says, come here, I'll show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God."

So John, with his angel is going to get a front row seat to the bride coming down the aisle. And here's the aisle from heaven straight down to Jerusalem. That's what it is. Heaven to Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem, the Jerusalem where God desires to dwell, the Jerusalem that is still. We're going to hear about the Jerusalem today. Jerusalem will always have a part in what's going on because Jerusalem is God's heart. So David's a man after God's own heart because he wanted to move the presence of God at Jerusalem. God loves Jerusalem, but there's a New Jerusalem coming. And this New Jerusalem coming down in the aisle goes from heaven all the way down to earth. And what is he going to say? Having the glory of God. Now, we've seen brides that look radiant, but none of them have the glory of God. This bride has the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone as a stone of crystal clear jasper, a lot of scholars say that's like a diamond. And when you see the dimensions of this city, this whole thing's made out of a diamond.

Many guys when they propose, when they put a ring on their fiance's finger, oftentimes the stone of choice is a diamond. And for those of us that don't go to jewelry stores very often. The jeweler will be very happy to tell you about the different foresees and the cut and the clarity and will convince you that you need to spend more money to make the diamond bigger, sharper, greater with better color, that sparkles and how your fiance will love you more if you give her that. Heaven's diamond is perfect. This is perfect, the whole city's cut out that. Let me read. It had a great high wall with 12 gates and at the gates, 12 angels and names were written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. So the 12 tribes, all their names are written on there. This is why there's Old Testament saints too that take place at the rapture that are coming back.  And the bride of Christ is not just New Testament saints. It's all the saints who have yearned for his coming. Make note that there's 12 angels and angel at each gate. We'll talk about that in a minute.

There were three gates on the east and there were three gates on the north and there were three gates on the south. And guess how many gates there were on the west? Three. And the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones and on them were 12 names of the 12 apostles of the lamb. So the 12 apostles get their name. Now we know Judas Iscariot was one of the 12. My guess is that he's not going to be listed on a foundation stone of the great city. Could it be Matthias that they, you know, rolled for that became the next apostle? Would it be the apostle Paul? We can argue one day we'll know exactly who it is, but there's 12 foundation stones. These foundation stones could be stacked on top of another. This could look like a cube or a pyramid. We'll talk about that in a minute. And notice what happened, the one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its wall. The city is laid out as a square and its link is as great as the width and he measured the city with a rod 1500 miles. It's length and width and height are equal. Now because numbers mean something to me, let's be crystal clear specific. He's talking about 1200 stadia. Stadia was about 607 or 608 feet. If you do the math, this is right around 1,380 miles that he's talking about. I mean, to be exact. Some commentators will say 1400 miles, some will say 1500 miles like New American Standard. If you want to be exact, it's probably more like 1,380. You want to be really exact, it's 1200 stadia. That's exactly how big it is. Length and width, it's laid out as a square. So for sure we know this, the foundation is a square.

Now, different scholars take this different ways and you can wrestle with this because I've spent time thinking about this all week and it's pretty incredible when you think about it. Some would say, okay, this is a cube. 'Cause its length, height and width are the same, but a pyramid's length, height and width are the same as well, right? So is this really 1,380 miles long? If it is the city's about the same size as two thirds of the United States. If it is, it means it flies so high in the air. You couldn't see the top of it from the highest mountain. I mean, there's no way you could. And I'm comfortable with saying, can God do that? I would say, yeah, of course He can. He can build whatever He wants. But is that what He's saying? Some scholars based upon his Ezekiel chapters 40 through 48, specifically chapter 45, that talk about how this new holy allotment is going to be laid out suggest and I think this is plausible or deserves at least consideration that when he talks about the great city, laid out as a square and its length is as great as its width we know that for fact, that the base of this, the length and width is the same. He measured the city with a rod 1500 miles or 1,380 feet and then he says its length and width and height are equal. He doesn't say its length was that long and its height was that long. He says that, could he be talking about a cube? Could he be talking about the area of this Jerusalem is that big? If he's doing that, then you would calculate this to be about 11 miles wide and 11 miles long and about 11 miles high. And you might say, well, that doesn't sound that big. It would dwarf any city downtown skyscraper that you've ever seen. 11 miles by 11 miles here in Denver, Colorado. It would cover BRAVE church all the way through the north part of Coors Field, all the way through Mile High Stadium and all the way the west. I mean, it'd be humongous. And you imagine going up 11 miles. I mean, we fly at a butt 30,000 feet that's six miles. I mean, there's over twice as high. I mean, there's going to be different dimensions in the millennium and in the coming kingdom. I mean, it's unbelievable. And if you do some math, which I'm not great at, but I read a lot of people and you have two billion people in this city that's still like 37,500 feet per person leaving some square footage for other people. Not all about you that's a little bit bigger than the house that I live in right now. So in case you're worried about space, there's going to be plenty of space and it's a dwelling place because you're going to see that this is not just a city where you're going to sit, but you're gonna have responsibility before God.

Now you consider the text and you decide what you think. I tend to lean more towards the smaller one only because it would fit directly where Jerusalem is right now and be massive for the whole world to see what it looks like. Could it be that it's two thirds of the United States and that, yes, I'm comfortable either way, but I think it's plausible to take it the way that I'm taking him. And it says and he measured the wall 72 yards, according to human measurements which are also angelic measurements, which means the angels are measuring the wall, using human measurements, 72 yards thick. It's almost three fourths of a football field, thick that wall to get into the city. How awesome is that?

Now listen to the beauty of this wall. I'm just gonna read, "The material of this wall was jasper and the city was pure gold like clear glass. The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the 10th chrysoprase, the 11th jason and the 12th amethyst and the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each one of the gates was a single pearl and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. Each gate was one pearl. I mean each gates like one pearl, the size of Cherry Hills Village or bigger. I mean, is that a big pearl or what ladies? I mean, it's a big pearl it's made out of one. I mean, it's amazing. And studying the colors and the different types of jewels is talking about. We have diamonds that are the outside. We have a city that's pure gold. You have blue, you have blue stripes of color. You have green, red and white, ruby red, golden, sea green, yellow green, green, violet, and purple. What are you going to see when this diamond like city comes coming out of the sky, pure gold, everything in it is pure gold with all of these colors, adoring it and the light of Jesus Christ spewing from it everywhere? It's going to look like a rainbow. It's going to be the most brilliant thing you've ever seen. There won't be one person that's oh, I want to pick that stone. They don't have my birthstone in there. I mean, that's not going to happen. It's going to be brilliant.

And God's majesty and his glory is going to be put on full display for the whole world to see, as they see the bride coming down out of heaven, adorned for her husband. It's cool for me to think that with Jesus being the light of the world, lighting up that whole thing with all those colors coming out, that it might look like a rainbow descending. Because I think all the way back in Genesis, when God gave us a sign, he gave us a rainbow as a covenant to his promise. That sign's been hijacked by a group of people that don't understand who Jesus is but one day he's going to bring his sign back and he's going to be faithful to it, amen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- I mean, that's awesome. It's God's covenant promise that He's going to do this. And what we see here is just the incredible majesty and brilliance and beauty of the Lord and you can expect that. I mean, it's going to be unbelievable, this renovation, this new city. And then finally, you're going to see this. You can expect God's holiness and exclusivity. You can expect God's holiness and exclusivity. Notice what he says. "I saw no temple in it." He's talking about the New Jerusalem. There's a temple in the millennium, outside of the New Jerusalem. "But I saw no temple in it because in New Jerusalem, which is where we're housed, I saw no temple in it for the Lord, God, the almighty and the lamb are its temple."

How are we going to worship? With Jesus here with us. Now, we're right in saying on Sunday at BRAVE church, God is here with us. God inhabits the praises of his people. God loves us when his word is proclaimed. He's here we experience him spiritually. We're going to experience his presence spiritually and physically in the New Jerusalem. It's going to be on believable. You won't need to ask somebody and wake up on a Sunday morning and say, where are you guys going to church today? I'm at church. I'm with Jesus, I'm glorifying him. What else does he say? And the city, he doesn't say the universe. He says, the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it for the glory of God has illuminated it and its lamp is the lamb. We're going to recreate the heavens in the earth so there it will be sun, there will be moon there will be stars and we, all those things, but in the New Jerusalem, you won't need those because Jesus Christ himself is the light. So light is coming from this brilliant city everywhere. I mean, it's going to be like all the time. There's no room darkening shades at all. So how am I going to sleep? I'm glad you asked because verse 24 and 25 began to tell us, notice verse 24, "The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it." Now, think about this. Most people have a false view of heaven and whatever it is, that's not biblical is false, but most people have this view of heaven of saying this, like most people think you're gonna be floating on a cloud and gonna be playing a.

- [Congregation] Harps.

- You've heard this, right? And I think about like, if it's a thousand years or the eternal state, I don't know how long I'd enjoy floating on a cloud. I mean, it might be fun for a little while. I've never floated on the cloud, I'd be kind of cool. But I mean, there's gotta be a shelf life to that. And the harp is great. I mean, at weddings, the Christmas Eve service, we have the harp, it sounds good. I have no desire to own one or play one or learn to play one that doesn't sound like heaven to me, that sounds like hell. So why do we get this idea we're going to float on clouds and play harps. I mean, you all heard this. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says we're going to be given responsibility. Nobody's going to be sitting in New Jerusalem, watching reruns on ESPN or old movies that they used to like or snoring or laying around, that's not what it is. Notice what he says is going to happen. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

Who are the kings? We are. We're gonna rule and reign with Christ in the heavenly city because they have gates that we can come and go from to the places in the world that we've been designated to serve. That's why there's angels guarding each of the 12 gates because you'll see here in a minute that no one, no mortal, 'cause we're going to be immortal in the kingdom. No one who is immortal, the 144,000 and the extra Jews and the other Gentiles that endured the day of the Lord's wrath that are repopulating the earth. They're not going to be allowed in New Jerusalem. Only glorified saints will be allowed in New Jerusalem. And what are we going to do? We're going to come and go. We're going to be ruling and reigning with Christ. We're going to be given responsibilities. That's why when you read Matthew chapter 25, verses 14 to 30 or Luke 1911 through 27, about the parable of the talents or the parable of the minors, how we've been given responsibilities, were put in charge of many things, we're put in charge of cities. You're going to have responsibility in the coming millennial kingdom to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. You're not going to plop down in New Jerusalem and sit there and be like, I'm so bored. When are we gonna do something fun? All we're going to do is sit around and worship. No, no, no. You're going to be kings and queens ruling with Jesus. And you're going to go out around the world to help rule and reign. Jesus is going to rule with an iron rod from Jerusalem and we are going to be his servants who are going to keep the order for what God wants in New Jerusalem and around world. People will still come to Jerusalem to worship, but they won't be able to get into the holy city. Only glorified saints will be allowed in the holy city at that time. You're going to have responsibility, and notice this in the daytime verse 25, "For there will be no night, it's gates will never be closed." Don't need to close the gates, we got angels guarding them. Nobody that's mortal will be allowed in.

And guess what? There'll be no darkness in New Jerusalem because Jesus Christ will light it up. No room darkening shades. Yeah, but I want to take a nap. There's no nap. There's no place you're immortal now. It hints at the fact you won't sleep. Now how many of you like me think sleep's important. Anybody have kids? Sleep's important, right? Not in New Jerusalem. Don't need to sleep. Can't sleep. Couldn't be able to sleep. Why? Because there's two dad gum bright because Jesus Christ in all of his glory through these translucent gold and diamond walls with all of these levels and all these different things is there with us. And when you come back from your duty and you enter New Jerusalem, you'll see it from a distance and your heart will start palpitating and you'll say, can't wait to come. Can't wait to tell Jesus what's going on in this part of the universe. Can't wait to tell him what's happening here. Can't wait to do this 'cause I'm ruling and I'm reigning with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can expect that. It's awesome. It says this, "And they will bring their glory and honor of the nations to it." That's what we're going to do.

But read this, not only are we going to see God's holiness and rule and reign with him and his perfection and nobody's going to be allowed in it, but we're also going to see his exclusivity because of his holiness notice what it says. "And nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination, which is detestable living and lying shall ever come into it but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." We've been talking about the book of life, is the only time it talks about the Lamb's book of life right here. Like the only admittance into this city is knowing Jesus Christ now. It's the only way you're getting in. That's the only way it's going to happen.

And it's interesting here the reason, another reason I think this is millennium because in heaven nobody's gonna be practicing abomination or lying. No one's gonna be doing any of those things. We don't need to talk about that anymore, that's over. But in the millennial reign, those who are mortals, they'll still be lying, they'll still be saying, we'll deal with it. We'll we'll judge it. We'll take care of it. We'll make it right. That's how Jesus is going to rule in this millennial reign, but make no mistake about it. They can't enter. Now you can say whatever you want to say about Jesus Christ. The gospel is not a set of rules. The gospel is not a thing that you have to do. The gospel is not praying a prayer right, a certain way. The gospel is the Lord Jesus Christ and him being the king of kings and Lord of Lords over your own heart.

Here's my question to you, is Jesus Christ the Lord of your life? I mean, think about this because the Bible says, examine yourself to make sure you're in the faith because nothing would be more tragic than to go to a church that preaches the gospel and the gospel is Jesus Christ in all of his fullness and you falsely think that because you've gone to church or felt God or think that you loved God or loved God's people are saved. That doesn't make you saved, saved means that you've trusted Jesus Christ and him alone for the forgiveness of your sin. Have you done that? You may not remember the exact day, the exact moment but if you can't pinpoint kind of a timeframe. Yeah, I used to live like this, but now I don't live that way anymore, then make today your day. Don't get hung up on that. Well, pastor Jeff says I need to know the date. I don't know the date. Well then make today the date and then write the date down in your Bible. That today's the day that Jesus Christ became the Lord of my life and I wanted him, not just religion, I wanted the fullness and work of Jesus living on the inside of my life.

And so wherever you are, wherever you're listening whatever part of the auditorium you're in or whatever campus you're on. I want you to take the time just to pause and to ask the holy spirit to show you, do I belong to Christ? Is Jesus really in my heart? Can I expect to receive all the good or should I expect to be in hell? Because if you're expecting hell, I want to tell you on the authority of God's word, that's not his plan for your life. That's not what He wants for you. He's given you a way to be saved and He wants you to be saved today and today if you hear the Lord's voice, don't harden your heart. It means if you're feeling your heart kind of go off and like maybe that's me or I'm getting nervous, or I need to get out of this building or I need it. That's God telling you, I love you so much that I want you to come to me. And I want you to experience all the blessings that I have for you here and in the future coming kingdom. So everybody's close your eyes and bow your heads just for a minute here. I just want to pray and seek the Lord. Lord in this holy moment, we ask you to do a work. Your spirit says that you search all things. Holy spirit convict each one of us of sin, righteousness and judgment and show us right now in our heart, do we belong to you? Lord we're either saying a resounding 100% yes or even if we're 99 and 9/10 sure we're saying no. And if you're saying no then here's how I want you to pray today. Lord Jesus I believe you're God and I know I'm a sinner. Lord I want to turn from my sin and I want all of you to come into my life and be my Lord. Jesus I want you come into my life and be my savior. Lord for those of us that know you just encourage us with all the expectations and blessings that are coming and Lord do a work in and through our hearts. Lord for what you've done here today, we give you all the glory honor and praise, in Jesus name, amen.