(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music music Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. It's great to see everybody here tonight. We can go ahead and find our seats. We'll go ahead and get started. Once we've found our seats, go ahead and find a hymnal. And tonight, we'll start in song number 134. Song number 134, My Anchor Holds. Song number 134. Everybody sing it out with zeal in the first. Song 134. My anchor's safe and sure, that can evermore endure. And it holds, my anchor holds. My anchor's safe and sure, that can evermore endure. And it holds, my anchor's safe and sure, that can evermore endure. For my anchor holds, my anchor holds. Mighty tides about me sweep, perils lurk within the deep. Angry clouds or shade the sky, and the tempest rises high. Still I stand the tempest shock, for my anchor grips the rock. And it holds, my anchor holds. Blow your wildest candle gale, on my bark so small and frail. By His grace I shall not fail, for my anchor holds. My anchor holds. I can feel the anchor fast, as I'm reaching sudden blast. And the cable though unseen, bears the heavy strain between. Though the storm has safely died, till the turning of the tide. And it holds, my anchor holds. Blow your wildest candle gale, on my bark so small and frail. By His grace I shall not fail, for my anchor holds. My anchor holds. Troubles almost quell the soul. Griefs like billows o'er me roll, tempers seek to blur astray. Storms obscure the light of day. But in Christ I can be bold. I've an anchor that shall hold. And it holds, my anchor holds. Blow your wildest candle gale, on my bark so small and frail. By His grace I shall not fail, for my anchor holds. My anchor holds. Great job everybody. Let's all open up the service with a word of prayer. Lord, we love you and we so thank you again for Steadfast Baptist Church giving us the opportunity to gather together and sing unto you Lord. We just ask that you fill the service with your spirit and bless this church in Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, for our next song, let's go to song number 120. Song number 120, Jesus' Savior, pilot me. Song number 120. Alright, sing it out together on the first. Jesus' Savior, pilot me. As a mother stills her child. Thou canst touch the ocean wild. Poestrous waves obey Thy will. When Thou sayest to them, Be still, wondrous sovereign of the sea. Jesus' Savior, pilot me. When at last I near the shore, and the fearful breakers roar. Twixt me and the peaceful rest. Then while leaning on Thy breast, may I hear Thee say to me, Fear not, I will pilot Thee. Good evening. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you did not already get a bullets in and you'd like one, please just lift your hand up nice and high on the front. Bible memory passage, Proverbs 31. If you completed the entire passage and quoted it word perfect to a non-family member, we do have prizes and we've already been handing them out. You can see me, Brother Oz, or Brother Jason, and we can try to help you get that. On the inside, we have our service and soul winning times, and I do want to make an announcement about that. So I've been kind of thinking about changing some of our service times, and I've decided that I am going to actually make an official change starting on May 5th. And basically what we're going to do is we're going to take our Spanish service that we've been having at 4.30 p.m. and we're going to move it to 9 a.m. in the morning. And then we're going to take our English evening service and we're going to move it to 4.30. So really, our Spanish service has been doing very well. I feel like we've been having a really good participation from our internal church. The services are going well. The preaching is going well. In fact, they get a lot of views online in their services as well. A lot of people are watching their services. They've definitely had some visitors. When it comes to timeline, I don't know that really changing their time is going to make a huge difference for prospective visitors. In my mind, it might make it a little easier just because Sunday morning is kind of your typical once a week time for most people. So I hope that it actually might encourage some visitors to come to the Spanish service. Plus, it will give the Spanish service a little bit more time. So they are kind of running into and bumping into our evening service and this will actually afford them to have a little bit longer service time. Hopefully, it may encourage visitors to want to come more likely maybe because it's just a Sunday morning opportunity. Additionally, it should allow us for our English services to run a little bit more efficiently. I know that obviously some people are kind of showing up and there's this little awkwardness between that transition. But this will actually just make it a little bit easier for people to come in and then it will get us out a lot sooner so that maybe it doesn't disrupt dinner as much. Just because obviously 5.30 is about like perfect prime dinner time and so hopefully with this service change, we'll be getting out around 5.30, 5.40, somewhere in that range. And that's a little bit easier for people to then maybe go have dinner or get home a little bit sooner on a Sunday night. So I think that it's going to be a positive change. I also am hoping that maybe it will encourage some people to stay and go soul winning and then just go to the evening service. So maybe it just makes it a little bit smoother, easier for people to kind of want to stay towards the evening service. So we've ordered new cards that are going to have the service times. We're going to update our outdoor signage to that. And I believe anything online should be updated. We're going to wait until exactly when we need to update that. But we've already ordered all the material and have those things. We sent out an email today to all of our Spanish service leaders just kind of identifying this transition as well as our schedule. So if you are one of those preachers or leaders, make sure to check out that email and just respond because we're just wanting to double check that that schedule is still going to be accommodating for you guys. But I'm really excited about the change. I think it's going to be a really good, positive change. And I think it'll make getting home on Sunday nights just to that much better for us. Also down below, we have our church stats. Please make sure you're sending that in on the right. We have the list of expecting ladies. Please make sure you're praying for them. We have a prayer list down below. We'll go over that in just a minute. On the back, upcoming events, we have the preaching classes Saturday. There is a homeschool field trip on the 29th. The signup sheet deadline is tonight. So please, please make sure we already had a lot of people sign up. So we're going to have a fun time out there. But of course, we want anybody that hasn't signed up that is interested, please do so. You need to have a child that's at least five years or older that is being homeschooled. And please make sure to be there early. All the details are really just kind of down there below. Lunch will be provided. Everything's going to be provided. So if you do have a child that fits the criteria, the whole family is welcome to attend and everything will be provided for. So just make sure you do sign up, though, because we have to pay for and arrange everything well in advance. And that's why we want to make sure we have really accurate numbers. Down below is the note about a baby shower on the 4th for the Hernandez family and their baby boy, Micaiah. And also, you can RSVP to Miss Milstead. Nursing's only preferred. If you'd like to bring a dessert or dish to share, please do. And of course, the Shreveport, Louisiana, Sloanie marathon is just such a great marathon. And thanks so much to so many people who participated. A lot of people came out there and drove out there. And thanks to anybody who just prayed for us while we were out there because it really went about as perfect as it possibly could go. The weather was great. Everything went smoothly and the soul winning went really well. And so it was it was a blast. If we go back, I do want to mention our prayer list and we'll and we'll say a quick word of prayer for our church family. We've been continuing to pray for Brother Hall, for his leg, for the names grandmother, for her vision, health and salvation. We've been praying for the Carlson's mother, Rebecca. Also, we've been praying for the Miller's friend, Miss Tamara, for cancer. We've been praying for Alex's job. We've been praying for Elijah's health, Miss Lori's health. And then also, if you just pray for the Nichols for their family situation, that's pretty much all I have as far as the prayer requests here. We'll just say a quick word of prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for Steadfast Baptist Church and thank you so much for all of these ladies who are expecting. I pray that you just please be with them during their pregnancies. Please help them with their delivery. I pray that you would help their children's development for everything to go smoothly. Please just give them as much peace and comfort as they can. I pray that you would also please help our church family that's struggling with these illnesses and with cancer and with disease. I pray, if possible, by a miracle, you would just give them perfect health, give them full recovery. I pray that no matter what, you just give them peace and comfort right now during their time of tribulation. And I pray that you would continue to bless our church family that's in need of a job or peace or favor. I pray that you could just be with them and strengthen them. And I pray that you would continue to encourage our church to make soul winning a priority and to continue to preach the gospel. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We'll go ahead and sing our psalm of the week. Psalm 119. Psalm 119. All right. That was Psalm 119. Psalm 119. We're going to sing it out together. Psalm 119. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto mine. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto mine. Unto my half. I have sworn and I will preform it. That I will keep thy righteous judgments. I am afflicted. Very much waken me. O Lord according unto thy word. The wicked have laid a snip for me. Yet I am not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heir to forever. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto mine. Except I beseech thee the freewill offerings of my mouth O Lord. And teach me thy judgments. My soul is continually in my hand. And yet do I not forget thy law. The wicked have laid a snip for me. Yet I am not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heir to forever. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto mine. Half. For they are the rejoicing of mine. For thy heart I have inclined mine. All to fear for. Thy statutes await even unto the end. I hate vain thoughts but thy law do I love. The wicked have laid a snip for me. Yet I am not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heir to forever. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto mine. Half. Thank you for joining everybody now as the offering plates are being passed around. Go ahead and turn in your Bible to the book of Revelation chapter 21. That's Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21 the word of God reads and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said behold I make all things new and he said unto me right for these words are true and faithful and he said unto me it is done. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murders and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues and talked with me saying come hither I will show thee the bride the lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God having the glory of God and her light was like unto a stone most precious even like a jasper stone clear as crystal. And had a wall great and high and had twelve gates and at the gates twelve angels and names were written thereon which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east three gates on the north three gates on the south three gates and on the west three gates and the wall of the city had twelve foundations and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city and the gates thereof and the wall thereof and the city lieth foursquare and the length is as large as the breath and he measured the city with the reed twelve thousand furlongs the length and the breath and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof and hundred and forty and four cubits according to the measure of a man that is of the angel and the building of the wall of it was of jasper and the city was pure gold like unto clear glass and the foundations of the wall of the city are garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third a chalcedony, the fourth an emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth aetopas, the tenth chrysoprasus, the eleventh adjacent, the twelfth anamethyst, and the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Every several gate was of one pearl and the street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent glass and I saw no temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it and there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for Revelation chapter number 21, Lord, I pray that you bless past Shelley, Lord, fill in with your Holy Spirit, help us to learn from this chapter the truth that you'd have us to learn, Lord, and I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Here in verse one of chapter 21, we're falling on the heels of a lot of people being thrown into the lake of fire. So we basically had the great white throne judgment, we had all the wicked thrown into the lake of fire. And immediately following this, the Bible says in verse one, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. So there's some kind of reconfiguration of the universe in the sense that there's a new heaven, a new earth, and it makes sense that most likely everyone, including even the saved, were at the great white throne judgment. So somehow we're at the great white throne judgment, God is then creating a new heaven and a new earth. It says in verse one as well that the first earth was passed away, and there was no more sea. Now, because of the way Revelation is written, you can't always necessarily know exactly what these things are describing, because it seems to be a little bit poetic, using a lot of metaphors, using a lot of different symbolism. So there's definitely a lot of different ideas as far as how to interpret chapter 21 and even the verses that we're talking about. And from my perspective, it really doesn't matter entirely what your idea is on these things, because we're probably not going to get it dialed in, and we're probably not going to know exactly. We look through a glass darkly, and there's a lot of things in life that you just don't really know until you experience it. You know, you don't really know what it's like to be a parent until you have kids. You don't really know what it's like to be married until you get married. You don't really know what birth looks like until after you've seen it, okay? So there's like some things that you're just not really, you know, you're kind of looking through a glass darkly in a sense. So I don't think it's necessarily super profitable to get hung up on exactly all the intricacies of how all these things work. Now, I find it fascinating, it's kind of fun to talk about and to theorize, but at the end of the day when it comes to doctrine, you know, we don't really want to base our doctrine on a lot of these verses because they could be interpreted a lot of different ways, and there's a lot of different ways to look at them. When it says here in verse one that the first earth was passed away, this ranges in all kinds of interpretations. Some people say that the earth literally is destroyed or dissolved or just completely gone. Just somehow, maybe it just completely disappears. Other people would interpret this as just simply that the earth is referring to kind of the surface of the earth, and so what we know as the earth today, that no longer exists and it looks completely different. Well, that would totally jive with the idea when it says that there was no more sea. Just imagine if all of a sudden the earth was completely, you know, all the mountains and stuff had been shifted down and all of the seas were completely filled in with dirt, it would look a lot different. It would be completely different in the sense that you would say like the former earth is passed away, like this isn't even the same thing, and in fact you might not even recognize any part of it, like you wouldn't know which part was what. You wouldn't know if you were like in Texas or not or, you know, anything. You would just kind of be like this is a new location, this is like a new habitation, I'm not really used to it. So, I think there's a lot of different ways that could be interpreted. I kind of lean towards, it's most likely that God is just kind of redesigning the current earth, that it's not necessarily just going away completely or being destroyed completely, but rather it's just being transformed. Now, in verse 1 it says that there's no more sea, and that just makes me a happy person. I'm sorry, I just don't really like the oceans that much or, you know, what's going on. This is my first thought, and maybe this is the wrong thought, but I was thinking no more seafood, okay? And just, you know, we don't need that anymore, no I'm just kidding. I'm probably offending somebody that loves shrimp or something like that, but you know, it's like hey, I like steak. You know, I'm hoping that steak stays somehow, but I, you know, that may not happen either, of course. A lot of people believe we're going to go back to a vegetarian diet, and that makes me sad, but I can hope, okay? But there is no more sea, and I find that really interesting. It seems like the earth is going to be a lot more habitable than it is in its current state, and so that's kind of just an interesting observation the Bible brings up. Verse 2 it says this, And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. So what's kind of interesting is that the tabernacle of God is descending and is going to dwell with men. So in some way, no longer is there going to be this distant God or God up in heaven that can't be seen or experienced, but rather, we will dwell with God specifically. And what's interesting about this to me is kind of how there's a little bit of an evolution in my mind of God and man, in the sense that in the Old Testament, God's kind of pictured as being this God that's behind a second veil. And then once we have Jesus Christ, he tears that veil, so then there's just the sanctuary, there's just the tabernacle. But then, when you get into this section, you know, the Bible says there's not even going to be a temple anymore, and so it's almost like God's revealing himself in stages where he's no longer hidden behind the curtain, he can be seen and understood through Jesus Christ, and then eventually there will be no hiding or masking of God, but rather he'll be manifest to all, and we'll actually be able to dwell with him and see him and have like a full relationship with him, and so it's kind of interesting how these stages kind of change and evolve over time. Also, you know, when you think about the word tabernacle, I kind of mentioned this in a sermon on Sunday, the word tabernacle just simply means dwelling place. So another thing that's interesting is instead of God living in the third heaven, he's going to live with men. So he is kind of transforming the earth to where he can live among us, and this is interesting because right now, if God were to live among us, and he wasn't masking himself or he wasn't hiding himself in any way, what the Bible says is if anybody ever looked upon him, especially his face, they would just immediately die. And so I think one aspect that we have to kind of understand is that in order to have a restitution to where we can experience God to his fullest and actually have a close relationship with him and look at his face, we have to change because according to the Bible, in our sinful state and in our mortal state, we can't handle his holiness and righteousness and his brilliance and his glory, and so we have to be made like unto his son. That's why we have to be clothed upon with a new body so that we can then experience God. So it's like God's going through all these different stages to prepare the opportunity for men to dwell with him and to have a relationship with him that's unique to what's been in the past. So at the time of Adam and Eve sinning, here's the problem. God can't allow sin to be dwelling with him and sinful flesh can't be hanging out with God because he would literally destroy them. So the only way for man to have a relationship with God the Father is for them to be transformed and for their sins to be taken away. Now, of course, God could have sent Jesus Christ right at the beginning of the Garden of Eden and he could have taken away Adam and Eve's sins. He could have died as a sacrifice then and then it would have just been Adam and Eve and Jesus and the Trinity, right? But God wanted more people, so then he allowed what? Mankind to reproduce and to be fruitful and to multiply and to have lots of children. And then, of course, God doesn't want a bunch of robots to worship and serve him forever. He wants people that actually chose him, so he gave us the opportunity to have free will. And through free will, we're going to actually have a group of people that have chosen to believe in Jesus Christ and by faith have trusted in God and those are the people that are going to be saved. And once God has gotten a full harvest of souls, of men, then at that time he's going to destroy all of the wicked, get rid of all of the chaff, get rid of all of the garbage and all the trash and we're going to be refined like fire, as the Bible says, come out and be purified and basically God's going to have a group of people that are going to live harmoniously with him without sin. Because this is what the atheists and a lot of people would say and I remember talking at a college and I was communicating with someone that seemed like they were smoking marijuana, but he was asking me these questions like, well, why does God allow all of this evil in the world? You know, like why is there all these bad things happening in the world? Couldn't God just come down here and just put an end to all of the sin? He's like, couldn't, you know, people are arguing about Jesus, right? You've got the Muslims who think he's just a prophet and you've got the Jews who reject him completely and think that he's a wicked blasphemer and the son of Pantera. You know, that's what the Talmud at least says about him. And then you have the Christians who actually believe he's the son of God. Then you have a handful of cults who would say that he's not, he's just a god and all this other stuff. He's like, couldn't Jesus just come down from heaven and just settle it for all of us? And it's like, yes he could. But here's the thing, the moment that Jesus Christ and God come down and put an end to all of this, something's going to happen. All of the wicked are going to be slain and thrown into the lake of fire, okay? And those of us who are saved would be redeemed. But the reason why God is not doing that and why he's not coming down right now or why he hasn't come down in the past is because he still wants more people to get saved. That's the number, that's the only reason. And again, at the point that we stop preaching the gospel, if every Christian stops preaching the gospel, well then there's no reason for God to delay anymore. And you can kind of see this in different manifestations in the Old Testament. I mean, why did God destroy the entire earth with a flood? Well, because there's no one there to redeem at that point basically. The saved are saved and the people that are not going to get saved are not going to get saved. So it's like, alright, we're going to take Noah and his family and just start over again. Or you look at Sodom and Gomorrah, why was no one spared there? There was no one to get saved there. And you're like, but there was tons of people. Yeah, but they were all Sodomites. And Sodomites can't get saved, sorry. You know, I know that you think that you can minister to them, but Abraham and God didn't. Why are you better than Abraham and God and his angels? I mean, the angels couldn't minister to them, Lot couldn't get them saved, Abraham wasn't going to get them saved, God didn't get them saved. And you know, Abraham, he was not mad about God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, he just didn't want Lot to be destroyed. He wasn't like, oh man, you're going to destroy those people? I really like them. I mean, they make all kinds of cool movies, and you know, they're in Hollywood, and no, he was just like, just what about Lot though? You know, he cared about Lot. And that's kind of God's attitude towards the world. He cares about Lot. And he cares about lots of different individuals. And you know, it's kind of funny how Abraham cares about Lot, because Lot is not a great person. And you know, we kind of represent Lot in some ways too. It's just like, we don't really deserve salvation, and we're not necessarily that great. But you know what, God chose to love us and redeem us anyways, because salvation's by faith. And so the reason why we've been waiting for all this stuff to happen is because God, once He shows up and comes on earth, it's over. You know, once Jesus Christ comes back, and once God's finally on this earth, you know, the only way for God to have a sinless earth where everybody can see Him and experience Him, there has to be literally no sin on the planet. And if there's no sin on the planet, that means all the sinners are gone. And if all the sinners are gone, that means there's no one left to get saved anymore. So that's what you have to understand, and that's why the Bible kind of talks about the end of the world being like a harvest, because once you harvest the crop, it's over. It's the end, it's done, and then that's what's going to be into the next phase of, you know, eternity, whatever's going to happen. Obviously, I don't know how that works. No one really knows how that's going to work, or what that looks like, or what we're going to be doing exactly. All we know is we're going to be ruling and reigning the earth with God, and it's going to be a completely different planet. It's going to be a completely different world. There's no more sea. Do you realize that the vast majority of our planet is covered in water? Like, the vast majority of our planet is literally ocean, and it's saying that won't even exist anymore. Imagine all the things that could possibly be done on the earth when there's no sin, there's no ocean, you've got God, you have this heavenly Jerusalem. I mean, it's going to be an incredible experience. I don't know what all we're going to do, but it's going to be great. The problem is, for a lot of people today, is they're not saved and they're not going. They're not going to be there. I've heard a lot of preachers preach on Revelation 21, and they'll say, yeah, everybody who didn't, you know, that just loved and didn't really hear a clear presentation of the gospel, they're still going. They just don't get, like, the upper echelon privileges or something. That is not what the Bible says. It says if you're not written in the Lamb's Book of Life, you are thrown in the lake of fire. That already happened in chapter 20. The only people that are going into this chapter are those that are saved, those that have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And, of course, it was probably a pretty traumatic experience. I don't know how the Great White Throne of Judgment works, okay? You know, we'll figure it out all together at the same time, okay? But I don't know if we literally watch everybody's trial at the same time, one at a time, or we don't get to see any of it, but I'm assuming that we're going to at least recognize or identify people being thrown in the lake of fire and what does the Bible say in verse 4? And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. That verse has to mean something. I believe that that verse is coming from the concept of us having been sad about what just happened. Because, you know, if you think about it, we really haven't changed, like, timeline here. This is all kind of happening right away. Like, all of this is just happening. We have the Battle of Gog and Magog. God rains fire down from heaven. And then, again, my opinion is that we enter immediately into the millennial, I'm sorry, into the Great White Throne of Judgment. And then, immediately following the Great White Throne of Judgment, we have the new heaven and the new earth that's going to be populated with those that are saved. Most likely, again, this is just my theorizing, most likely I think that we're probably just all caught up into probably the third heaven for the Great White Throne of Judgment. And it would make sense that after everybody's been thrown in the lake of fire that's going to go into the lake of fire, we're possibly descending down in New Jerusalem to the new heaven and to the new earth. That's just a personal idea. Maybe it's different. Maybe we're somehow back on the earth and we're watching the city come down. I don't know. But it does seem like it's likely that we're just coming down with it. Because here's the thing. I don't think that the Bride of Christ is just a physical building or a physical city. I believe it's the people. And what makes a city is the people. And the people are the Bride of Christ. Because if you look at Revelation chapter 19, look at verse 7 again. And let us be glad to rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. So the Bible tells us that the Bride of Christ is clothed in white raiment. Well in that chapter it also describes the saints, those who are saved, those who are the ones beheaded for the cause of Christ are arrayed in white raiment. Also, nowhere in Revelation chapter 21 do we see the city arrayed in white linen. The city is gold. The city is somehow, and not just gold, it looks like gold, but it's somehow a transparent glass gold. Whatever that means. And again, you say, Pastor Shelley, I want to know exactly what these things are. You're going to have to wait to find out, because I have no idea either. These are incredible things, and of course John is just telling us in the best way that he can articulate it. That doesn't even mean, you can't even take these words as overly literal, it's just how he's kind of describing them. It's just the words he knows how to use to describe these kind of events. We don't know exactly what they really are or how they even really work, because gold is not transparent. So if we're taking the actual substance of gold, and then we're talking about something that's transparent glass, neither of those two things are congruent with our current reality. So perhaps it's not really gold, but it just looks like gold, and that gold is somehow transparent glass simultaneously. Or perhaps God has done something too gold to make it transparent glass, but you're not going to have that today. You don't have such a thing as transparent glass gold, or a lot of the different things that are being described. So we don't really know how they're going to necessarily work. But again, I think, and I'm just putting it out there potentially, that when the New Jerusalem is descending, that it's already inhabited. And that would make sense, that if it's already inhabited, when we're describing it as the Lamb's Bride, that's because we're still talking about the people that are in the New Jerusalem, that's descending out of heaven. Plus it would make sense that people weren't hanging out on the earth when it was getting reconstructed. There might have been some turmoil there potentially. If it passed away, then that would even be more likely that we weren't there, the saved were just there at the Great White Throne Judgment. And then again, another indicator would be in verse 4, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. That to me makes me believe that we were experiencing, seeing, and witnessing the Great White Throne Judgment. Because again, if I'm just hanging out on the earth, I'm not going to be just crying for no reason. And in fact, most men don't cry very easily. But you know, if you're seeing just millions and billions of people, including lots of people you love, thrown in the lake of fire for all of eternity and are going to be destroyed for all of eternity, and they have no hope, no rest day nor night, that could cause a lot of people to cry. I feel like I would most likely cry in that situation to see that particular event. But what does the Bible say? God shall wipe away all their tears. It says in this verse also, And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. This is a verse that I've thought about so many times, and I have no idea how it works. It doesn't make sense. But that's okay that it doesn't make sense. Because if it made sense, then it wouldn't make sense. Okay, so you think about that one for a little while, right? Okay, but keep your finger here and go to Isaiah 25 for a moment. Go to Isaiah 25. Because here's the reality about pain. Pain is a necessary evil for us to survive and exist. Because what happens is if there's something hot that would literally burn your flesh and hurt you, when you touch it, it hurts. And that's to tell you, don't touch that. Right? Because if fire didn't hurt, you know what people would do? They would burn their hands off all the time. If they didn't experience pain, they would just slam the car door on their hand and not even realize what's going on. People would accidentally start cutting, they would be cutting something and not looking and just like cutting their finger off and not even realizing anything's happening because it doesn't hurt. You know, pain in some ways is a necessary evil to the experiences that we have. You know what's even weirder about pain? This is a thing for me. If you set a bowl of Indian food in front of me and said eat, I would be experiencing a level of pain and discomfort eating that, okay? Just because I wouldn't enjoy it. But let's just take a food you do like. Just take a food that you really enjoy, okay? And I said, alright, have this. Let's just pick your kids for a moment. Let's just pick whatever their favorite dish is. And they eat it. But you know what happens? They like it, but then, okay, we're going to eat it tomorrow. And then we're going to eat it tomorrow. And then we're going to eat it tomorrow. You know what eventually happens? I don't want to eat that anymore. And in fact, eating that would somehow bring some level of discomfort and some dissatisfaction from having just the same thing over and over and over again. And sometimes it can even become a drudgery to eat something that you're just not that into. So it's like how does that even work in the new heaven and the new earth that there's literally no more pain? Because how does this even work? Because pain is relative. You know, pain to us is different than pain to people in a third world country. I mean, you know, sometimes it's a pain to have to like walk across the house just to fill up your water cup at night when your wife tells you as soon as you get in bed, okay? You're like, man, that's a pain, okay? But people that live in Africa, they have to walk like five miles to the watering hole to get a bucket of water. Like if they had to walk ten feet to just go fill up their cup at night, they would be excited. They would be ecstatic. They would think that was the coolest thing ever. So it's like somehow pain, discomfort, just all of these things are just so relative. So what I'm trying to say in a sense is like just thinking about food, you know, again, if someone set a bowl of Indian food in front of me, I would find it painful to have to eat. But if you put it in front of someone that hasn't eaten for days that likes Indian food, they would think it's the best thing they've ever had in their life. So like everything is relative. Everything is just like somehow, you know, based on the relative nature of what's better, what's good. You could have, you know, if you really like quality food or you've had quality food, like imagine, this is easy for some people, you've had good Texas brisket. And then you have to go back and try like the not so good Texas brisket. There's almost like a level of pain there, like some kind of dissatisfaction with that. And so I'm just thinking like how can every meal in heaven just always be the best meal that I've always had? Because everything's just technically relative in a sense. You say, how does this make sense? I'm saying it doesn't make sense that there's no more pain, that there's never sorrow. Because wouldn't it be possible if it's like, hey, you've had filet and you're like, I love filet. And then you have filet the next day and then the next day and the next day. Then just one day you're just kind of like, man, I was hoping for something else. I was hoping to, you know. So there's like almost a level of sorrow or there's a level of dissatisfaction. It's like the fact that there's literally never sorrow ever again and never pain again is unimaginable to me. What we're talking about. Somehow the Bible says there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death. I mean, what is that like? It's completely different folks. That's the point I want to make. The point that I'm trying to make is that this place is going to be so much different than your wildest imagination can even dream up. And in Isaiah 25, you know, it also said the former things are passed away. In a sense, we won't even remember what this was like. We won't recognize, and I think that that is a necessary component to what we're talking about. But look at verse number 8 for a moment. The Bible says this. He will swallow up death and victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth for the Lord has spoken it. Going back to Revelation 21. This is the point that I want to make. Every Mother's Day, I think about the fact that my mom died before she ever got to see any of her grandchildren. And I'm just going to be honest with you, it brings me a little bit of sorrow. When I think about other loved ones, when I think about other people, you know, it brings a little bit of sorrow to my heart. When I think about just anything that I can remember that's kind of negative, just anything I can remember that's negative, what does it do? It can bring sorrow to your heart. So, if there is no sorrow, then something has to be also a part of that. You could never remember anything in the past. Because if I could constantly remember every person that didn't go with me into the new heaven and the new earth, I would probably be sad about that from time to time, right? I mean, we're going to miss them or think about those experiences. So in some way, God is going to make it to where literally, it's just, you're not even going to remember this anymore. Now, I actually, since I made that point, go back to Isaiah for a second, go to Isaiah 65. I want to show you a verse on that point. But it says that the former things are passed away, and in fact, it's almost like we're not even going to remember them in any sense. You won't even know. I think this is a really, really important point to think about. Look at Isaiah 65, and let me find the exact verse I want to show you here. I think it's towards the back end of this chapter. Look at verse 17. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered. Notice this phrase, nor come into mind. Wow. You won't even know what Texas is. That's crazy. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. That's crazy. But then think about this. How many people are living for today and now? Like, how many things are we doing right now that will not go into eternity? And what the Bible is saying, the Bible is trying to tell you and trying to give you an allusion to is the reality. You won't even remember it ever again. And this is really not that hard to understand because 99.9% of everything that's already happened in your life, you've already forgotten and you'll never remember again. And, you know, there's certain parts of your life that are already at 100%. Like when you were one, and when you were two, and when you were three. Now, you know, sometimes when you start getting to three, four, sometimes people can dream up some memory that they had. I question how reliable that is, okay? But even at those ages, you're still at best remembering maybe one event, and it's vague. You're only remembering a few aspects of that. It's probably even been warped a little bit over time. I remember my dad would always say, he remembered the house that they grew up in when he was a little boy, and in his mind, it was like giant. And then when they went and visited, he was like, he was almost thinking like this isn't real because it was so much smaller and not the house he'd remembered in his mind. And it's like sometimes we just don't even realize how much our memory gets wiped of the things from the past, but truly the vast majority of everything you've ever done, said, thought, you've already forgotten. You already don't know what happened. So it's not super difficult to then understand, hey, when you get into this, when we go into this experience, you're going to literally forget. But think about it even this way. We're going to have gone through more future crazy events, like the end times crazy stuff like Babylon and all this stuff. Then you're going to be going through a thousand years of millennial reign. Then it's going to be the battle of Gog and Magog. Then it's going to be the great white throne judgment. Then we're now in the new heaven and another. What are the chances you're going to remember today? We're talking at least a thousand years forward in the future. You can't even remember what you ate two months ago, and you're going to remember what happened a thousand years ago. It's going to be way different. You're not going to hardly remember. You won't even remember what happened in those thousand years. But that's what's so silly about our lives, is we just so get focused on what's happening right now. Like what clothes you're wearing today, and what food you're going to eat today, and what house you live in today, and what part of the world you live in today. It doesn't even matter at all. Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher. All is vanity. Like what was the end of Ecclesiastes about? Hey, fear God and keep His commandments. And boy, when we talk about these subjects, it really comes to light for me, of just like how all this other stuff is just vain, and just junk, and just doesn't mean anything. It's meaningless. It's meaningless. What people are living for today. And all of it's going to be gone, and forgotten, and won't even come into the mind. That's what the Bible says. Go back to Revelation 21. The new heaven and the new earth, the former things are passed away. Look at verse 5. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. Again, this is important, because if what the Bible is saying is true, it would radically change your perspective on life. Like if I recognize, like hey, this life is just a vapor, and all of it's vanity, and it doesn't really matter that much, because what really matters is eternity, and the new heavens, and the new earth, and being with God, then I'm going to live way different, than if I'm someone that doesn't really believe in the Bible, and just says this is my one life, YOLO, I just want to maximize my pleasure and fun right now. Like those two mindsets are going to completely be at odds with how you make decisions in this life. And what is God trying to say? God is trying to emphasize in verse number 5, for these words are true and faithful. And you say, well how am I going to believe that? You know you believe that? By faith. You know why there's people in the book of Hebrews chapter number 11? Because they had great faith. And what was their great faith? They didn't live for this life, they lived for the next. And they saw the city that they were hoping for was that new Jerusalem, that new heavenly city, that's the city they were living for. That was the city they were journeying towards. That was the city that they were building. Not this city, not this world, not this house, not this life, not these things, that one that's going to never be taken away, that one that's going to be had for all of eternity, that one where there's not moth or rust, nothing's going to corrupt whatsoever. Whereas in this house, you could build a pretty nice house today, but you know in 200 years it'll be almost just destroyed if you don't keep working on it. I mean, what's going to last more than a few hundred years in this world, in this life? I mean, almost nothing can last that amount of time. Yes, some structures and some buildings, but again, most of those structures and buildings have been remodeled and resurfaced and reworked. I mean, things that haven't been touched for 200 years are just going to basically go back to dust again. You know, maybe some of the pyramids have lasted a while, and they're kind of a marvel because of their longevity, but I don't think any of y'all live in a pyramid, you know? And even that, it's going away, folks. And I think God is just trying to wake you up and say, hey, these words are true and fake. This is really going to happen. And you know who's going to be living it up in the new heaven and the new earth? The people that have the greatest faith. The people that have the greatest faith, because the people that don't believe what we're saying or don't really have a lot of confidence in this aren't going to really live for that. It's the people that have the great confidence and the great faith in the new heavens and the new earth. Look, you put your faith in Jesus to be saved. Why don't you put your faith in the new heaven and the new earth, too? In that life, instead of investing in this life and constantly worrying. I mean, Lot, you know, yeah, he's going to heaven. He's saved. He's in heaven. He's going to go to the new heaven and the new earth. But you know what? He didn't really live for that life. He kind of lived for this one. And you know what's sad? He didn't get either. He lived for this world, and he didn't even get that. That got taken away from him, and it was destroyed. So it's like, hey, I have no promise. I have no guarantee that if I try to live the best life I can here, I'll even get that. But I do have a promise and a guarantee that if I live for that world and that life, that that can't be taken away from me. And you know, of course, some people, I don't think everybody's going to be Lot. I'm sure some people, hey, if you try really hard to have a lot of fun here, you probably can do it. Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. You know what? There's a lot of Christians that love this present world. But you know what? God is trying to ring in their ears tonight. God is trying to ring in their hearts tonight, for these words are true and faithful. Hey, I'm going to make everything new, quit worrying about this world so much, and get focused on the things of God. Why don't you have some faith in God? You know, Jesus, when he was on this earth and talking to his disciples, he was asking this question, when he comes back, will he find faith on the earth? That's a question you have to ask. And you know, with churches today and the way the world's going, sometimes you have to ask this question, is Jesus going to find faith on the earth? And you know what? I would love to see revival. But you know what? Revival starts with you. It starts with you getting faithful. It starts with you taking the things of God seriously. It starts with you going out there and sharing your faith and encouraging other people and being a bright and shining light in such a dark world. That is what's going to actually motivate people. You know, we can't just sit here and pray and hope that other people get motivated. You have to get motivated. You have to take the things of God seriously and recognize, hey, all this stuff is going away. I want to live for Jesus and I want to live for the things of the new heaven and the new earth. Verse 6, he says this, And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. So he's saying, all of the things that I've written are true and faithful. And I want people to go to the new heaven and the new earth. Well, who has that opportunity? Well, as it says in verse number 6, And I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. You know what? It's offered to everyone freely. Anybody that wants to be saved, anybody that wants that water of life, it's offered to every single one of them absolutely free. They can just take it. And, of course, the only people that are going to be saved, the only people in the new heaven and the new earth are the people that overcame. That's what he says in verse 7. The one that overcomes is going to inherit all things. And you know what? God will be his, you will be his son, and he will be your God. There's only one God, and he will be your God if you overcome. What does it mean to overcome? Well, go to 1 John chapter number 5. Let's just define a few things for this point, because this is an important point leading up to the next verse that we're going to get to. But in 1 John chapter number 5, it's really famous, it's really clear on explaining what overcoming means. Look at verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. The word even means specifically. Specifically, our faith is what overcomes the world. Does it say specifically repending of your sins? Specifically baptism? Specifically turning over a new leaf? Specifically being willing to give up sin? No, it says, even our faith. Specifically faith is what saves. Faith is what overcomes. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is what gives us eternal life. That's what causes someone to overcome. And of course, the devil wants you to believe in works. He wants you to believe in anything other than faith, because that takes you into the lake of fire with him. But the Bible makes it clear that salvation is just as easy as believing in Jesus Christ. Verse 5, who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God, is believing that Jesus is the Son of God and putting your faith and trust in him that gives you salvation. It gives you victory. You've overcome. Notice you've overcome the world. That tells me something. Oh yeah, the Bible says, the whole world lieth in wickedness. And you know what? And you know what? The whole world is full of false doctrine and wrong ways to go to heaven, because there's only one way to heaven, and that's through faith in Jesus Christ. That's it. Go to Romans chapter 7, because this is also an important point. When we talk about the person who's overcome, there's a certain characteristic about that individual that's unique. And the Bible talks about when you're saved, when you've overcome, that you're born again. Now, what's born again? Your flesh isn't born again. Your spirit is born again. And what the Bible talks about is that new birth is also called a new man. So you have your old flesh that's always been with you, and then you have the new man, which has been born again of God. Now, you still have a controversy, you have an internal fight every day between this new man and this old man, and the apostle Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 7, but he makes a really interesting statement, and this is really interesting in verse 20. Now, if I do that, I would not, meaning he's doing something he doesn't want to, meaning he's sinning. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Notice that the apostle Paul is saying, when I sin, somehow he didn't sin. What does that mean? What it means is when he sins, that old man sinned, but the new man didn't. The new man never sinned. And he says in verse 21, I find that a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Meaning, hey, when I wake up in the morning and I want to do something good, I notice there's something else with me. It's that old man. And that old man doesn't want to do the right thing. Verse 22, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The apostle Paul is talking about the inward struggle of the desire to do right, but yet there's another desire to do wrong. And this is such an important doctrine because most churches are screwed up on this in all kinds of different ways. Did the apostle Paul say, I want to do right, but the devil is making me do wrong? Nope. He didn't bring up the devil. He didn't bring up demons. You know, the devil and demons get blamed for every bad thing in a lot of these Pentecostal and Charismaniac churches, but notice who his enemy was. It was himself. It was his old man. And honestly, the devil's probably not your worst enemy. You know who's your worst enemy? You are. You are your own worst enemy. You are, there's a person inside of you that's the old man and he's bad. He never has good thoughts. He's lazy. He's selfish. He's a jerk. He gets depressed easily. He gets mad easily. He gets angry easily. Just every bad thing you can possibly think of. He loves doing it. He's a narcissist. He's crazy. He loves sinning. He's wicked at heart, okay? He's deceitful. He's deceitful in the heart too. He'll lie to you and tell you like, no, I want something good for you, but he's lying. He's a liar, okay? He loves pleasure and fun and no responsibility. He loves to disobey. He loves to go against authority. He loves to break commandments. He loves to lie. He loves to steal. He loves to have lust. He loves to disobey mom and dad. He hates church. He hates reading the Bible. And it's you. It's in there. And what the Bible says, you have to constantly die daily. You have to deny the flesh. You have to crucify the flesh daily, and you have to try and walk in the Spirit. That is the internal struggle. You know, of course the devil's out there and the devil brings his temptations and there's other influences in our lives, but the biggest problem that we all have is our old man. Is that old man. But the good thing is, is your new man never wants to sin ever. He never wants to sin. He never can sin and he never will sin. Now that's super important. And the true you, the real you, is not a bad person. It's a great person. You've been born again and you desire the things of God. But that new you may be kind of puny. He may not work out much. He may not be very mature. And that's why it's important to try to read your Bible and to walk in the Spirit because it's like you're helping that new guy grow up a little bit and get stronger a little bit and then it becomes easier to deny the flesh and to walk in the Spirit more. But let's think about it this way. I think that the apostle Paul's pretty mature Christian in Romans chapter number seven. He's already written six other chapters of the Bible and it's some of the greatest preaching I've ever heard in my entire life. I mean think about it. You don't think the apostle Paul at the time that he gets to chapter seven in Romans he's a mature Christian yet? The guy's already probably more mature than all of us ever will be. And you know what he said? I'm carnal! These stupid liars that get up and say like I don't even desire to sin anymore. Liar. What a liar. And you know what? That stupid lie just ruins so many people's lives. Because they think there's something wrong with them because every other person in the world is like that's not me. And then they try to tell them like you're not saved then. If you really turn from those sins brother then you won't want to do them anymore. Liar. It's not true. It's not true and it never will be true. You know when you'll stop wanting to sin? When you die. That's when you'll stop wanting to sin. Is when you shed that old man. That's the only time you'll ever not want to sin again. Because if you read the Bible in fact some of the greatest people in the Bible they sinned the most when they were the oldest. I mean look at Solomon. Solomon isn't sinning a ton when he was young or a middle aged man. It's when he got old that boy did that guy sin hard. You know when you look at the young prophet he's doing the right thing. The old prophet comes to the young prophet and he lies to him. I mean you see Saul is great and humble in the eyes of the Lord when he's young. But boy when Saul's an old man he's terrible. He's wicked. He's killing people. He's inquiring of a witch. David the man after God's own heart. He killed Goliath. What a strong young man. What a man of God. But in his old age weak, filled with sin, not right with God. His family's a train wreck. Let me tell you something. There's a lot of young people in this room don't think that you're just magically going to be a great Christian for the rest of your life. Don't think you've already arrived or something. You have to deny the flesh today. And you have to deny the flesh tomorrow. And you have to keep denying the flesh the rest of your days. And you know what? In some ways it might even get harder as time goes on. Not easier. Because let's be real. You have more responsibilities than you've ever had today than you did yesterday. I mean, if you said like what was your responsibilities like 10 years ago, you're like it was nothing. What was your responsibilities a few years ago was nothing. I mean, I guarantee you have so much more going on in your life than you've ever had in your life before. That reminds me of someone like Solomon. Hey, one wife is a lot. A thousand? Wow, bro. I can see why you got away from God. I mean, how do you keep up with that? You can't. You know, the Bible says to be not righteous over much. You know, sometimes we have to make sure and be careful that we're not drifting away from the things of God living too much for this world and just thinking, well, I've been in church for a while, so I'm good. No, you might get really bad. There's plenty of people that got really bad in their old age. Don't think that you're right. I mean, let's be honest, a lot of old IFB churches, I bet they were probably doing better in the past and they've kind of gone downhill because maybe they're coasting too much. Maybe they're not reading their Bible as much. They haven't been going soul winning as much. They're not really firing up people with the right doctrines. You need to be careful about that old man because he's deceitful. He doesn't like the things of God. He never will like the things of God. But the good thing is the real you, you love the Bible. Go back to 1 John 3. This is an important point that we're making to get into the next verse. 1 John 3, look at verse number 9. The Bible says this, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. So the Bible's crystal clear. The new person can't sin whatsoever, but that old man, boy, does he love sin. Those are really important doctrines when we go back. Go back to Revelation chapter 21 now. Go back to Revelation chapter 21 to understand this verse. And the next verse we're going to talk about is probably one of the most popular verses that all of us use. It's a verse that almost everyone in this room uses when we go out soul winning. But we need to understand the context of it when we arrive at this verse. What is the context of this verse? Well, in verses number 6 and 7, it was talking about, hey, people getting the water of life freely. It's talking about the person that's overcome, that's become God's son, and that God is their God. And then we're contrasting that because did you notice in verse 8 it says this word, but. But. Why is there a but there? Because there was something before it. What was the before it? People that are saved and are the sons of God. What's the but? People that are not getting the water of life freely. People that are not the son of God. People that do not have God as their God. What are these people? The fearful, but the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. That is an absolute truth. Of course, when I'm explaining to someone at the door what this verse means, I just say that it means everyone deserves hell because that's kind of the essence. But if we were to try to really understand the true context, it would take too long to explain to them at the door. So obviously we're not really doing that. But the reality is, you know why I'm not going to hell? Because the real me is not a liar. I'm not a liar. By the way, my old man, I am a liar. Just like the apostle Paul said, it's no longer I that sinneth, but sin that dwelleth in me. That's why I can truly go to heaven is because I've never sinned, because I have the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Just as if I'd never sinned. That's what justification is. I'm justified, okay? And it's really important to understand that the people that are in this verse were never justified, were never saved, were never given the righteousness of Jesus Christ because you can't lose it once you have it, okay? But I want to go to a few more places because this is important. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Then why are people going to hell? People are going to hell because they're a sinner. That's why people go to hell. People go to hell to be punished for their sins. That is why someone goes to hell. And that's why it mentioned all kinds of sins. And it wasn't just murder, even lying. It's important when we recognize and tell people, because they think like, well, I should go to heaven. I've never killed anybody. Yeah, but have you ever lied before? And again, I usually even say this when I go out sowing because it's just easy for people to talk about how bad you are, is I just tell them, hey, if I told you I've never lied before, would you believe me? And you know what? They always say no. But I have had it on rare occasion. You're like, have you ever lied before? And they're like, well, not really. You're like, you stupid liar. I'm like, just shut up and tell me you're a liar already, okay? But I have 100% success rate that when I ask them if they would believe that I've never lied before, they're just like, no. Yeah, you've definitely lied. It's just like, what's with my face? But it's really easy to convince other people that you've lied before because we know that we've all lied. And that harsh reality is we would all deserve hell if those sins are not forgiven. Our sins must be forgiven for us to go to heaven. 1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 17. The Bible says, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. I'm not in my sins because I've been saved. That's why the apostle Paul says it's no longer I that do it. But everyone that's not saved is still in their sins. I'm not in my sins because I've been born again, okay? I've been crucified with Christ and I've been born again spiritually. Go to John chapter number eight. Go to John chapter eight. I wanna show you another verse on this. All liars will go to hell, period. There's not even a caveat to that. It's just all liars. The reality is my new man never lied. So my old man's gonna perish and my new man is gonna be in heaven and the old man doesn't exist anymore, okay? Once I die physically, he's gone forever. He'll never see him ever again, okay? But the new man is gonna go and inherit and be in the new heavens and the new earth. But those who have never been saved, never been redeemed, well, they're still stuck with that old man. They're still stuck in that old body. They haven't been given a new body. This is the thing. At the time of the rapture, they've been given a new body. And that guy's never sinned and never will sin. It's incapable of sinning. You'll have no desire for it. John chapter number eight, look at verse 24. What about the Jews that didn't believe in Jesus? Well, Jesus made it clear to them. He said in verse 24, I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins. For if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. That's what you don't wanna do. You don't wanna die in your sins. Here's the thing. If I die, I won't die in my sins because my sins have already been forgiven. I've already been saved. I've already been redeemed. My sins already been passed as far as the east is from the west. I've been passed from death unto life. I can't come into condemnation. You know what? He's already given me eternal life and I've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. I can't go to hell. It's impossible because I don't have any sins to take me to hell because they've already been nailed to the cross because they've already been washed in the blood of the lamb because I've already been redeemed. I've already been saved and that's why I can know I'm on my way to heaven. Well, what good thing did you do? Nothing. I just simply trusted in Jesus Christ and Jesus even offered that to the Jews. But what was the warning? If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Every Muslim is dying in their sins and going to hell. Every Catholic that doesn't believe in faith alone and Jesus Christ is going to die in their sins and go to hell. Every single atheist and agnostic and Hindu and Chinese traditionalist and whatever else you want to put in there that doesn't believe in Jesus Christ and faith alone is going to die in their sins and go to hell. So the Bible says. Go back to Revelation 21. Such a sharp contrast. We're talking about the new heaven and the new earth where there's no sorrow, no pain, no more remembrance, and then the other people, constant torment, constant pain, constant regret. It's the exact opposite. It's extreme. And they're experiencing the second death which was described for us in chapter 20 verse 14. And death, now we're cast in the lake of fire. This is the second death. The second death is not going to hell. The second death is going to the lake of fire. That is the second death. The first death is going to hell. The second death is going to the lake of fire. When the Bible says for the wages of sin is death, that means going to hell, the first death. The second death is way later when you get thrown in with hell into the lake of fire. That's the second death. Now, of course, technically speaking, Jesus referred to the lake of fire as hell anyways because it's one and the same, in a sense. It's just like trash. If I throw something in the trash and then I throw the trash in the dumpster, I can still say it's in the trash, right? But we're talking about the difference between hell and the lake of fire. There is a little bit of nuance there. But generally speaking, it's still just the trash, folks. And it's still just hell. But in this context, we're just trying to be really specific that the second death is technically the lake of fire. Verse 9, And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked to me, saying, Come hither. I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, on the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof, and the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth, and he measured the city with the reed. Twelve thousand furlongs, the length and the breadth, and the height of it, are equal. This is very interesting. You have a lot of ties to Old and New Testament. You have the twelve tribes of Israel, then you have the twelve apostles of the Lamb, kind of showing the cohesion of the Old and New coming together, and one unified message. You have a new temple, which has been pretty much an Old Testament only doctrine in a sense. We've only really had the temple of the Old Testament. If you look at Ezekiel, the last chapter, in the last few verses, it talks about building this temple, and having those three gates named after the twelve tribes of Israel on each side. And so you can kind of see a parallel to this specific construction as well. Now this size is unimaginable. Twelve thousand furlongs. A furlong is an eighth of a mile. So if you divide that, basically into miles, it's fifteen hundred miles. Now that's basically driving from here to Fresno, California. That's what about fifteen hundred miles is. And that's not even what we're talking about in height. It's kind of undescribable how this even works. Because really, it's so big that the Earth is not that much bigger. It's like a big box on top of the Earth that doesn't really even make sense. So I don't really understand it. I don't think I ever will understand it until I see it. But I believe it. Now it doesn't give us the dimensions of the Earth. If we assume the Earth stays the exact same size, the Earth's radius is about thirty-nine hundred and fifty miles. So if you think about it, it's almost half of the radius of the Earth ends one of these lengths, breaths, and heights of this particular square. When we talk about the wall that's surrounding it, it says in verse eighteen, And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like in the clear gas. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third a chalcedony, the fourth an emerald. I'm sorry, I wanted to read verse seventeen, and I skipped it. Look at verse seventeen. And he measured the wall there of a hundred and forty and four cubits according to the measure of a man that is of the angel. That's approximately two hundred and sixteen feet. So I don't understand how the height of this is fifteen hundred miles, but the wall is only two hundred and sixteen feet, which is still an incredible wall. I mean, Trump could only dream of building this kind of a wall, okay folks? But you know, it's almost right, about a fifteen hundred mile wall from Mexico to the United States, two hundred and sixteen feet, it would work probably, okay? So if you want to get inspiration from the Bible, Trump, go for it, okay? Two hundred and sixteen feet, about fifteen hundred miles, we'll be good, okay? But, you know, I don't understand all this, because frankly speaking, it seems like the world's only inhabited by saved people, so I don't know what the point of the walls are, necessarily. But it does say in this chapter that it's always open, so okay, maybe it's symbolic, perhaps it's just to reminisce about certain things, I don't know. But this structure is really incredible, okay? It says in verse twenty, the fifth, a sardonyx, the sixth, sardius, the seventh, chrysolite, the eighth, beryl, the ninth, topaz, the tenth, a chrysoprasis, the eleventh, adjacent, the twelfth, and amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, every several gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were, transparent glass. Now, you know, there's a lot of theories out there. It seems, in my opinion, that it's kind of describing a foundation that literally has twelve layers. Maybe they're stacked one on top of another, or perhaps they're not even necessarily stacked on top, maybe they're just in kind of a, some kind of a checkerboard style diagram, where you just kind of have twelve all different colors. I don't know. I heard, when I was younger, a lot of preachers would say that this is actually a multi-level city. And so the twelve foundations are not necessarily all stacked on one another, but actually they're separated, like you would think of an apartment complex or a mall. And again, not like anything you've ever seen before, because obviously, when we're talking about 1,500 miles in height, you could have plenty of height space. If they were equally distant, and that's what was true, which I don't know if that's true or not, that would be about 125 miles of height in between each layer, which would be plenty. And it would also, if this is true, like, they're all being described as kind of like a transparent glass, it would almost seem like you're looking up and you're seeing people walk on air, in a sense, because you can just see them walking on these interesting foundations. I have no idea if that's true. Maybe it's not. I have no idea what 1,500 miles in height even means or how that could even work. It sounds cool, though, okay? All I know is it sounds cool. Somebody said that this doesn't even land on the earth. It's like floating. I don't know. That sounds weird, but you can believe whatever you want because we're probably all wrong, and we'll figure it out when we get there, okay? But one thing is that you want to be safe so you can even see what this thing's going to be like. Verse 21, And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Every several gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. However that works. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. So there's nothing to go and worship in. God is the temple in some sense. The Lamb is the temple, which, again, that's why I was trying to say there's kind of like this unique thing where God was in the innermost part of the temple, a second veil. Then that was ripped away. Then he's just in the temple, but then now there's not even a temple, you know? So he's kind of exposing himself more and more gradually to the point where he's just now in the open. And the Bible says in verse 23, And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. You know, again, they're emanating light because there's a thing, God is light. That's what the Bible says, like God is light. And if, you know, again, no matter what construction you build, even if you had floors that are transparent glass, well, if you have a light source, which is God, and it's emanating through this entire construction, if it's all transparent glass, then it could still be lit up literally 24-7, no matter what you kind of design this thing. Plus, it would even emanate out of its own shadow, probably, and light, you know, to other parts and sections of the world in some sense, however that works. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it, and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there, and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it, and there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Who knows what's going to happen after this? You know, obviously this is kind of a conclusatory book. You know, Revelation is describing things that are going to happen thousands and thousands of years in the future. But that doesn't mean that it's over. And who knows what will be happening on this new earth? Who knows what other creations or creatures or things we're going to experience? But there's some things that are definitely different forever. There'll be no more death, no more sorrow, no more pain, and no more remembrance of former things. We won't remember this world. We'll be focused on this. We'll be focused on what's happening then. You won't be thinking about your wife. You won't be thinking about your kids. You won't be thinking about your house. You won't be thinking about bills. You won't be thinking about your job. You won't be thinking about your clothes. You won't be thinking about your car that breaks down all the time. You won't be thinking about sports. You won't be thinking about any of the stuff that's going on. I mean you won't be thinking about all of the stuff that's happening. And you know what? You're going to be, every single decision that you make then is going to be based on all the decisions you made now. Like your status, where you're at, what house you have there. Everything is decided now. That's crazy. It's because what most people are doing is they're just living for today. And that's just no faith. There's no faith. What's faith is putting, you know, your eyes and your heart on the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly city. And again, we don't know what it really looks like. We don't know all the different things that are going on. It's probably indescribable, honestly. You know, a lot of people like movies over the books because they can finally kind of see it. Because no matter how many words you have, you know, a picture's worth a thousand words. And we don't even have a thousand words describing the new heaven and the new earth. And I'm telling you what, like, obviously God gives us some great information here and he gives us some indication of what's happening. But even most of these stones, I have no idea what a crystal process even is. Okay? I know you probably have a great idea. And when you go on the internet and you try to look up some of these rare rocks and stones, there's, like, 20 different options. So I don't even know many times. Some of these rocks have multiple colors and shades that they can even possibly be. So I think it's just, it's unimaginable, folks. But, you know, why it's important that we don't know exactly what's going on is so that we can have faith in it. Because if we were actually there and seeing it and experiencing it, then we wouldn't have to have so much faith. But getting just a glimpse and just a little tiny description, and it sounds great, you know, we should then put our faith and our hope and our trust and these words are true and faithful. This is what we're supposed to be living for. This is what we're supposed to be building. And a lot of people, you know, it's Wednesday night, hey, I'm probably preaching to the choir to some of you, but, you know, your old man is sitting in there like, when is a stupid sermon going to be over? Shut up, okay, I don't care about you, your old man, okay? We're crucifying him a little bit. But you know what, tomorrow morning, crucify him again. And crucify him again on Friday and crucify him again on Saturday, and on Sunday, crucify him twice and come to church and read your Bible and go soul winning and live for the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem, which is the only thing that's really going to matter. Let's go to some prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for giving us just a glimmer of information here, just a glimpse of what it's going to be like. We understand it's impossible to fully wrap our minds around eternity and all of these wonderful things you've prepared for us, but I pray that you could help motivate our inward man to walk in the spirit, to try and crucify our flesh tomorrow, to live for the future and to live for eternity and live for the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you would also help us to motivate others in our lives to have faith and not walk by sight. And I pray that you would help us to just lose an appetite for this world, that as much as possible you could just dull our carnal nature and that you could just help us to live for the things of God. And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Song number 118, near to the heart of God. Song number 118. There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God, a place where sin cannot molest near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, hold us to wait before Thee near to the heart of God. There is a place of comfort sweet near to the heart of God, a place where we our Savior meet near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, hold us to wait before Thee near to the heart of God. There is a place of full release near to the heart of God, a place where all is joy and peace near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, hold us to wait before Thee near to the heart of God. Great singing everybody. You are all dismissed. .