Five Marks of the New Heaven and New Earth - 57

You're probably familiar with the story that's recorded in 1 Kings chapter 10, where the Queen of Sheba heard of the wisdom of Solomon and the wealth of Solomon, and was so intrigued that she made a long journey to come to see for herself. And we're told, in 1 Kings chapter 10, she came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels that bore spices, very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart.

So Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her. And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her than she said to the king, It was a true report, which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However, I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes, and indeed the half was not told me. Folks, if one king could come to another earthly king and be so awestruck by what they heard and what they saw, what will it be like for you and me to be in the presence of the King of Kings? Knowing what we've heard, knowing what we've seen with the eye of faith, we won't say only the half has been told.

We'll say I've only heard a fraction of what is here. Now, I've been helped by a man by the name of Grant Osborne who wrote a commentary in the book of Revelation, and in that same vein that I just made reference to with the Queen of Sheba and Solomon, listen to what he says as he introduces his commentary in chapter 21. He said, The glories of the home Christ has prepared for us and the blessedness of the life Christ has promised us are almost incomprehensible to our fallen minds. The contemplation of our eternal state fills us with wonder and awe and leaves us overwhelmed with amazement and gratitude as we read the verbal description that seems entirely inadequate to convey the full reality of all that God has prepared for those who love Him.

Listen to this imagery. He says, As we stand at the edge of the shore of a vast ocean of blessing that God has provided as our eternal inheritance, let us wade out as far as we can in our mental understanding, knowing that we can only grasp a tiny part of all God has laid up for His own dear children in the new heaven and the new earth. Our eternal destiny will be something in which the reality we experience will far surpass the expectations that were raised by the promises that are given. Heaven will not fall short of our expectations.

Instead, it will infinitely surpass them. We've come to Revelation chapter 21 in our study and, my oh my, what we're told that awaits us in glory. We're told, John says, let me say this about John. John was faithful to record the visions that he was privileged to receive. With some exceptions, he has, to the best of his ability, described what he has seen and what he has heard without commentary.

A few times he has said, this is that. But for the most part, we just have the vision that he was privileged to see and hear and as he's described it. And we're left to try and interpret scripture with scripture to see what exactly this means. How do we understand this? How do we interpret this?

We're helped tonight because we can easily be distracted. We can read things and our minds run to a conclusion that is that we've been predisposed to settle upon and then we miss the truth that's here for us. So I want to ask you tonight to, again, sit here with an open mind, try and set aside preconceived notions and ideas and interpretations you've had, because we're going to see some things that at first we say, well, I know what that means. And then when we begin to read and understand what God has said in his word to help us understand rightly, we're going to say, whoa, wait a minute here.

I always thought this, but it must mean that. So we're going to see a little bit of that tonight. John begins again with a vision. Now I saw, verse one of Chapter 21, a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no more sea. I want to structure this message, I've structured this message around characterizations of the new heaven and the new earth.

If you like the word characterization or what will mark the new heaven and the new earth, that word will work as well. But number one, as we think about what will characterize the new heaven and the new earth that John is describing for us, number one, it will be a complete transformation, a complete transformation. The old will be made a new. And as I showed you last week, this isn't an eradication of the old and God making a brand new heaven and a brand new heaven and earth. This is a transformation. Instead of making all things new, the Bible teaches He will make all things new.

You see the difference? Instead of making all things, or instead of making all new things, He will make all things new. Remember last week we looked at Matthew 19, 28, where Jesus said, In the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, well, what could that be referring to? His second coming in the regeneration. And He's using regeneration as an analogy or an illustration to describe what is going to take place. Regeneration, a man being born again, being born anew.

Well, the old person doesn't completely disappear. He's not eradicated, but we're made new if any man be in Christ. He is a new creation.

Old things pass away. Behold, all things become new. So not a completely brand new person, but a person who has now been renewed, regenerated, made new by the power of God's Spirit.

So that's just a brief summary of last week as we looked at that. But what will characterize this new heaven and a new earth? A complete transformation. Number two, what will characterize the new heaven and the new earth? Well, we find it here in the words, Also, there was no more sea. There was no more sea. And from those words, I'm taking this characterization of the new heaven and the new earth. It will be characterized by the absence of sin. And you say, whoa, wait a minute here.

Well, think with me. When we see reference to the sea in the Book of Revelation, it can be a it can be understood literally or it can be understood symbolically. And how do we know the difference? Well, unless John tells us this is that we're left to interpret it in context. So think with me about why John would say, Also, there was no more earth in relationship to these initial words that are describing a new heaven and a new earth. Why would he say that? Why would he say, oh, and by the way, there will be no more sea. I used to think that, read that and say, well, he's talking about literal. He's talking about physical.

There will be no seas. But the more I've studied, the more I've come to the conclusion that that is not the way we're to understand this. Not to understand it literally, but to understand it symbolically.

So follow the reasoning with me, if you would. Think with me about the original creation. And again, remember what God has said he's going to do. He's going to transform. He's going to make all things new. What took place at the original translation? The original creation, an entire day. The third day of creation was devoted to the creation of the oceans, the dry land and the plants. Another whole day, the fifth day of creation, was devoted to filling the ocean with life and the air with birds. And when God looked upon what he created, he pronounced it very good.

There was nothing bad about the oceans or anything that he made in the oceans. The sea is a large part of the revelation of the glory of God in creation. The glory of God is revealed in creation. And we cannot dismiss this part of creation as a part of the revelation of the glory of God. To me, and I hope you following my reasoning, it seems unlikely that such a tremendous revelation of the glory of God in the original creation would be done away with in the new creation.

The oceans were part of the original unfallen earth, and it would seem they would be part of the new unfallen earth as well. We would not expect God would abandon an entire category of his creative work in recreating the heavens and the earth. Furthermore, the physical oceans are presented as a good thing in the book of Revelation, out of which the worship of God arises. Listen to Revelation 5. This is Revelation 5, 11 and 13. John says, And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders, and the numbers of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. So verse 13 of Revelation 5 says the sea and all that is in it is a source of the worship of God.

Nothing wrong here, nothing sinful here, nothing evil here that would cause God to eradicate, remove it, and not for it to be a part of the new heaven and the new earth. When we understand the Old Testament making reference to the sea with symbolic meaning, we read in Isaiah 57 verse 20, listen, But the wicked are like, what are the wicked like? The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

And what he's saying there is sin always produces turmoil, whether in the life of an individual, a family, a society or a nation. Revelation 13. Well, let me read the last verse or so of chapter 12, chapter 12 verse 17. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Then John says, Then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.

Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion, the dragon gave him his power, his throne and great authority. So there's a description that associates sin and evil with the sea. Now, Revelation chapter 74 verses 12 through 14 describes God's salvation as breaking the head of the sea monster, of crushing Leviathan, the great mythical sea monster that represents idolatrous opposition to God. James Hamilton, another commentator, writes, quote, that for the Israelites, the sea was the great dark unknown from which evil comes. So the sea is the source of chaos and destruction. The sea is the realm of evil and rebellion against God. So I'm forced to rethink why John is adding this phrase to his description of the new heaven and the new earth.

And there was no more sea. I've come to the conclusion that that needs to be understood symbolically. Sin is representative of sin and chaos and all the consequences that flow out of that. And God is saying the new heaven and the new earth, it's going to be characterized by no sin. There will be no sin there.

The absence of sin. Let's move on. Verse two says, Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Let's stop there.

We didn't hear anything more. All you knew is what I just read. John sees the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

And then you have an understanding that you move on into Chapter 21 into verse nine and on. You have a city being described. A city with walls, a city with gates, dimensions of a city.

Two million cubic feet is the description of this city. And you're inclined to think a very large city coming out of heaven from heaven down a new. Well, he says, I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. So we're left to wonder, OK, what's going on here? How do I understand this? And again, what is our what is one of our fundamental hermeneutical tools in our toolbox to rightly interpret scripture? Number one, context. Number two, let scripture interpret scripture. So we move on and we begin to read.

Notice with me. Verse nine and verse 10, let me help you understand the structure here, John is in verses one through eight is kind of giving us a summary of the new heaven and the new earth. And then when he gets to verse nine, he's going to revisit this description and he's going to give more detail.

All right. So when we get to verse nine, we're not surprised that we're going to get a whole lot more detail about what this holy city, the New Jerusalem is. Notice what he says in verse nine. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the lamb's wife.

Do not miss that. I will show you the bride, the lamb's wife, unless we still don't understand. Notice verse 10.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain. And showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. What is this holy city? What is this New Jerusalem? It's not a city as we think of city. It's the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He says that. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the lamb's wife. Who is the bride?

Who is the lamb's wife? It is the church. So the third thing that characterizes the new heaven and the new earth is a prepared people for a prepared place.

Notice again, back to verse two, that I, John, sold the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. I think it's pretty crystal clear. You're going to say, Well, OK, then what's all this business of gates and walls and dimensions? And we'll get there.

We'll get there. But don't let that throw you. Don't let that mislead you.

Don't let that deceive you. Because the language of scripture is very clear here. The holy city, the New Jerusalem, is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, John is going to spend the rest of his time here in these next few verses giving us characterizations of this new, this church, this bride, this one that has been prepared.

And let's consider some of these descriptive words, some of these characterizations and what are they? I want you to see number one, that the first mark, the first characterization of this new church is holiness. Then I, John, saw what? The holy city, the holy city of all the words that John could use to describe the church, the bride of Christ. What he what he fastens upon is holiness, holiness. Now, you ask people about the church and what they think the church ought to be about.

And well, you'll get more answers than you can get your mind around. Well, some people say, well, the church ought to be relevant. The church ought to be a place where you're entertained. The church ought to be a place where you feel a sense of belonging and so on and so forth. Well, instead of asking people what they think the church ought to be, we ought to ask what does Jesus say ought to characterize first and foremost his church. And it ought to be holiness. That ought to be what we value.

That ought to be what we're pursuing. That ought to be what characterizes the church of the living God, holiness. We are a set apart people. The church should not look like the world. The church ought to be different.

We're set apart. We've been made holy unless we diminish that emphasis. Let me remind you that the writer of Hebrews says without holiness, no one will see the Lord. So holiness is not peripheral.

Holiness is at the core of what the church ought to be. And I find it interesting that when God in his grace comes to a man who's lost and undone, lost in his trespasses and sins, dead in his trespasses and sins, and regenerates that man or that woman, immediately God goes to work in transforming that person. God begins to work a holiness in that person.

Immediately, the Spirit of God comes and what transpires? Well, when a man who's lost, he loves sin. Now he hates sin. He abhors sin. He wants to be free of sin.

That characterizes holiness. The things of God were tasteless to him. He had no thought of them. They meant nothing to them.

They had no value to him. But now that he's a regenerated man, the Spirit of God is within him. The divine nature has been imparted to him. Now he has a love for the things of God. He loves righteousness. He's hungering and thirsting after righteousness.

You see. So holiness is the first thing that characterizes the church that's coming down out of heaven from God. Notice secondly, that I want to draw your attention to, not holiness, but community. Community. He says, again in verse 3, I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.

God himself will be with them and be their God. Community. That we've been brought into fellowship, not only with God, but we've been brought into fellowship with one another. We are a community of believers. We are a covenant community. We covenant together to pursue, to obey, to yield ourselves to this God, to live for his glory in this dark and sinful world.

Community. It's troubling to me when I hear people diminish the gathering of the saints. Carter and I spent two and a half days last week over in Black Mountain at the Cove with Dr. Owen Lutzer. It was a pastor's renewal retreat.

And he's 82 years old, but just as sharp as a tack. And he was speaking about various and sundry things. But he said, he says, I'm troubled when I hear people say, well, I just don't see any need to belong to a local church. I believe in the invisible church. And Dr. Lutzer says, I just don't see that.

You have to think about it now. I just don't see that. He said more about that, but that's what I remember, kind of his humor. Well, let's think about this emphasis that I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming out of heaven from God. We're told repeatedly in the Old Testament that Jerusalem was God's chosen city. I'll only cite one verse. I could cite a dozen or so, but this is 2 Kings 21 7, quote, In Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever?

So said God. And sadly, Jerusalem failed to worship and glorify God as she should have. And we have this recorded in Isaiah Chapter one, verse 21 through 23. It says of Jerusalem. How is the faithful city has become a harlot? It was full of judgment, righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. The silvers become dross, the wine mixed with water. The princes are rebellious and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves gifts and follows after rewards. They judge not the fatherless. Neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Jerusalem failed to worship God and glorify God as she should have.

And what was her crowning failure? Jesus said, I came unto my unto my own, but my own received me not. But as many as received him, he gave the power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on his name. But my point is, their crowning failure was the rejection and the crucifixion of her Messiah, Jesus Christ. And as a result, Jerusalem was rejected by God.

Dr. John McKnight was with us. He preached from Matthew Chapter 23, verse 37 and 38. And I'll read what the part of the verses that he preached from, and then I will read what didn't get expounded. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest that which are sent upon thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not.

That's what was expounded. But this is the rest of verse 38. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. And we know that this city and house was destroyed by God in A.D. 70.

All right. Now, just as God rejected old Israel and created a new Israel with the New Covenant, so God rejected old Jerusalem and has made a new Jerusalem under the New Covenant. You say, be a better support that with scripture. And I'm glad you're thinking that, because listen to Galatians Chapter 4, verse 21 through 26.

Paul says, Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which genereth to bondage, which is Hagar, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. Clearly, the old covenant concept of Jerusalem has passed away with the old covenant. And the Jerusalem, which is above, has replaced it. The Jerusalem, which is above, is the new Jerusalem. And the author of the book of Hebrews speaks of this new Jerusalem in Hebrews 12, verse 22 and 24. He says to the believers, but ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. It is this heavenly Jerusalem that exists right now in heaven that is said to come down from God out of heaven in Revelation 21, verse 2. This is the Jerusalem Paul was speaking of in Galatians 4, 26. This is the Jerusalem spoken of in Hebrews chapter 12, in verse 22. And we are concerned about what's going on in Israel.

It's right for us to be concerned. But God would have us to be concerned about the new Jerusalem. And while the old Jerusalem failed to worship Jesus Christ, the new Jerusalem will certainly worship Christ. And it is this new Jerusalem made up of all the saved that God will own as His holy city and the city where He will put His name forever. God hasn't forgotten His promise.

His promises are fulfilled in Christ. And listen to Isaiah 65, verse 17 through 19. God says, For behold, I create new heavens.

Now, think about what I'm reading here. This is Isaiah and how closely it mirrors what we're reading in Revelation 21. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.

But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem, a rejoicing, and her people a joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying. This is the Jerusalem which is above, that will come down from heaven and will be the city of the new earth. Therefore, when God said He would put His name in Jerusalem forever, this is the Jerusalem He's speaking of. It's fulfilled in the new covenant. It's fulfilled in the people of God who make up the new covenant. I know that's a bit weighty and theological, but it's critical that we understand this. Now, we're talking about what is characterizing this new heaven and new earth. Holiness, community.

Number three, it's characterized by sovereign grace. And you say, okay, wait a minute here. Where are you getting that? Let me show you where I got that. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Out of heaven from God. If you're part of this New Jerusalem, you're part of this company, it's all to the glory of God.

You didn't come upon this on your own. This is the manifestation of sovereign grace. I talk to people about different things. I talk to some people about assurance. And they think that those of us who believe what we believe, that we're a bit arrogant, we're a bit prideful.

When we say, I'm one of the elect of God. I know where I'm going. There's no question in my mind. Well, how can you be so sure? Because I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. He's able to keep me. I'm not keeping myself. And if I'm saved by sovereign grace, I will be kept by sovereign grace. You can't keep yourself. You can't any more secure your own regeneration than you have any credit in your physical birth.

I don't understand why people can't think logically. I remember hearing a man who was a district superintendent of a denomination coming to the church and preaching from John chapter 3 about Nicodemus, and somehow he turned that around that we had a responsibility to be born again. I'm like, wait a minute. And that's when I was initially wrestling with the doctrines of grace. And I thought to myself, that was some interesting hermeneutical gymnastics you just went through there to draw those conclusions. Big appeal to be born again. Like we can generate that.

We can produce that. No, regeneration is a work of the Spirit of God. It's sovereign. And he goes on to say, the wind blows where it wishes and you see the effects thereof, but you don't know where it came from. You don't know where it's going. Such is the work of the Spirit. You can't control the Spirit. You have no control over, and there's a lot of people that are deceived.

Well, yeah, I've heard the call to repent of my sins and trust Christ, but you know what? I've got a plan for my own life. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And you know, at a later time, as if you have the access to flip a switch. That is deception, right? Today's the day of salvation.

Now is the accepted time. There's no guarantee that you're going to be of a mind and God's going to preserve your life. That's being very, very, very presumptuous. So, God in his glory will be the center of this new heaven and new earth. There'll be nobody there that can boast. There'll be nobody there who can take credit.

There will be nobody sharing in God's glory. This is all a work of sovereign grace. Amen?

Amen. How else is this church, this new Jerusalem, this holy city, how else is it characterized? What's characterized by intimacy with God? Intimacy with God. Then I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Is there language that conveys intimacy any more than the relationship between a husband and a wife?

This is the language that's being used. That in that day when sin will be removed, we will know an intimacy with God that we've barely been able to approach in this life. Intimacy with God. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. When you talk to people about heaven and what excites them about heaven and what they're looking forward to about heaven, people who aren't very committed to the theology that I'm talking about here run to the descriptive words in verse four, the talk about he'll wipe away every tear, no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, no more pain for the former things that passed away.

And I don't want to dismiss that, but I want you to understand that that's only secondary. Heaven will be heaven because we're in the presence of majesty and glory. That's what will make heaven heaven. Now, I'm not taking away from what else is being described here, but don't miss this. The whole purpose of the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary was to reconcile us to God, to bring us to God.

Don't miss that. And if that's the heart of the work of Christ on the cross, then it shouldn't surprise us that it reaches its apex. We see this beautiful consummation being described for us in the new city, the new Jerusalem, the holy city. God will be with us. He'll tabernacle with us. He will dwell among us. He will be our God.

It's hard to get our minds around. When Jesus was on this earth, he veiled his glory. There were times, a few times, that there was just the curtain was pulled back and they just caught a glimpse of his glory.

And what was the effect of it? Well, what happened to Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration? They were smitten. They were on their face on the ground in the presence of just a glimpse of glory. I think that must have what happened when Peter was in the boat and this large catch of fish. And you would think Peter, a fisherman, would have been consumed with the fish and that would be occupying his mind.

But no, he fell to his knees and said, Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. He got a glimpse that he was in the presence of not just the man Jesus, but the God man. What will it be like to be in the full display of the glory of God, the majesty of God, the Shekinah glory of God, and not be consumed by it, to bask in the presence of it? It will be the only time you and I have ever been in the presence of uncreated light. Any light you and I have experienced in this life is created light.

But in that day, that light will come from the source of God himself. So you see why we have to be reconstituted? Sin has to be removed. We have to be confirmed in holiness for us to be able to live there in the presence of God. Otherwise, we would be consumed.

So what a constitution that awaits us. So what characterizes this holy city, this New Jerusalem? That is the church, the redeemed church, the glorified church that's coming from God out of heaven.

Holiness, community, sovereign grace, intimacy with God. And number five, a new and glorious life, a new and glorious life. And what will that life be like? And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

I don't even know how to, I don't even know how to add to that. It's just overwhelming. Sin, which is at the heart and the source of all these things, our experience there will be void of what? No tears, no death, no sorrow, no crying, no pain. All gone, all part of the curse, all a part of this fallen world that we have to experience as we make our journey and our pilgrimage to God. Are you like Abraham tonight? Are you looking for a city whose maker and builder is God?

When you think of city, don't think of buildings, think of people. Think of the church, the redeemed church. That is what we're to think about here in Revelation 21. Abraham was looking for a city whose maker and builder is God. Jesus is the what? The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He's the author, he's the finisher of our faith.

He's the architect. And that helps us to understand what God is doing in this life. When he redeems somebody, what's he doing?

He goes to work to begin to prepare them for heavenly habitation. We have this language over in Ephesians chapter 5 where God is washing us with the word. He's preparing us to be a bride without spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing because Christ is worthy of such a bride. So when God is beginning to work in you and to purge you of sin and to make you holy, don't lose sight of the end of that. Repentance is hard. Mortifying sin is hard. It's not joyful, but it's part of the process of God making us, preparing us for glory. So yield to it, shoulder into it with an eye toward the end here. God is going to finish, perfect that which he's begun.

He's committed to it. Those things that plague you, the sins you struggle with, God is going to eradicate it all. And as I said to you a week or two ago, to be so constituted in that day that you and I will not be able to sin.

We talk about paradise lost and paradise restored, and yet I think that needs to be qualified. Paradise lost in Genesis chapter 3, paradise restored in Revelation 21 and 22, but God's not only, he's not just restoring us back to the way it was for Adam in the garden. As wonderful as it was for him, God walked with him in the cool of the day, Adam and Eve communed with God, fellowshiped with God in a perfect environment, and yet in that state, what could they still do? They could sin, or they could choose not to sin, and they chose to sin. What happens when sin has come upon us when we're born into this world?

How are we constituted? We're constituted that all we can do is sin. We can't do anything but sin.

But once God regenerates a man, once a man's been born again, once God imparts divine life to a man, breathes life into him, he now has the capacity, he's returned back to a similar state that Adam was in, he can still sin, but he now has the capacity not to sin. But in that final state, when we are confirmed in holiness, we'll be constituted, we will not be able to sin. I can't even, I don't know if you can get your mind around what that's going to be like. No thought of disobedience, no thought of rebellion, no sense of God, this is not right, no, we'll be filled with joy and happiness, and there'll be, I can't even, are you with me?

Trying to get your mind around what that's going to be like? No wonder Paul could say, eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them who love him. Well, that's as far as we're going to go tonight, as my friend says, he likes to preach through books because when he gets to the end of his time, he says, I just unplug, and next Sunday I plug back in, right where I left off.

Let's pray. Father, we bow to thank you for your grace, for this incredible description of what awaits the people of God. And Father, I pray that you would create a longing in the heart of anyone who's here, who is a stranger to this, who has no thought, has never heard such a thing, has never come under the convicting power of the Spirit of God, has never known a God who's holy and glorious, who demands righteousness that no man can produce. Father, work in that heart, in those hearts, and Father, for those of us who do know you, would you fan the flames of our affection, would you cause our hearts to rise in glorious hope and anticipation of what awaits us as we make our way through this life, and may we be even as pilgrim was as he was making his way to the celestial city, and he would say, higher up and further in. Higher up and further in, Lord, that should be our desire.

We want to go higher up. We want to move in closer communion with you, and we want to draw nigh to you, knowing that as we do, you will draw nigh to us. Thank you that we have tasted, we have tasted of the glory of the age to come. We know a little bit about it. We've had our appetite wet, and yet, oh, what awaits us. Thank you for what your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, secured for his people on Calvary. And we say with Paul, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in heavenly places in Christ. Amen.