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All Things New - Part 2
Revelation 21:4-8
Skip Heitzig

Revelation 21 (NKJV™)
4 "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."
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."
6 And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
7 "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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66 Revelation - History's Last Chapter - 1996

"It's like nothing you've ever seen or experienced before." That's how John describes the emotional experience of heaven. So that we can relate, he tells us that all of the pain, sorrow, and moaning we've endured here won't be there. By the way, only those who want to go there will go there. Heaven is not a destination by default, reservations are made here and now!

The book of Revelation exalts Jesus Christ as the soon-coming Lord over the earth. Skip Heitzig explains the amazing and mysterious prophecies that form God's final word to mankind.

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Outline

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  1. Heaven is described negatively (vs 4)

  2. Heaven is occupied voluntarily (vss 5-8)

  3. Heaven is reserved presently

Apply This Stuff:

  1. Remember as a kid saying, "when I'm grown up, i won't have to go to bed early; i won't have to take orders, etc.?" Think of all the "negatives" of heaven: no crying, no mourning, no suffering, etc. How could these truths strengthen your present life and help you to "overcome?" (vs 7)

  2. Consider how the love of god allows all people to make choices to love and serve him rather than to force them to. How sure are you that you'll be in heaven? Can you demonstrate it by your lifestyle? (1 John:7-8,18-21)

Transcript

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One of my favorite stories is about a missionary named Samuel Morrison who spent 25 years of his life in Africa as a missionary. When his stay was up and he was returning back to the United States aboard an ocean liner, on the same ship was President Theodore Roosevelt. The reason he was coming back from Africa is that he had spent three weeks on a hunting trip. The ship eventually makes New York Harbor. As it pulls up, there are crowds of people, bands playing, balloons flying, banners waving, press photographers snapping, all to welcome the president home. Now the missionary Samuel Morrison goes off of the ship completely unnoticed. Nobody's there to pick him up. In fact, he can't even get a taxi cab because of all the commotion. And he starts getting a little upset and he says to the Lord, look God, the president, with all due respect, has been killing animals for three weeks. And the crowds welcome him home. I come home after 25 years of serving You---nobody notices I'm home. He said it was as if a voice spoke to him in his heart and the Lord said, My child, you're not home yet.

I grew up in Southern California, which is the place I've always called home because I was raised there. And to walk through the door of my house it's a great feeling. I remember walking through the door of my home many different times growing up. Whenever there was a problem, whenever kids wanted to beat me up, whenever I got bad grades in school. I could walk through the door of my house and breathe a sigh of relief because home is the place of acceptance, warmth, comfort. And still to this very day when I walk through the door of that house I can sigh. I'm home. Mom is still there and she always wants to cook a meal---first thing. Let me make you something to eat. However, it's not the same and year by year it gets less that sentimental kind of a feeling, since my brother died and since my father died a few years back. It's still home but it changes and I know that it will continue to change and it will be less and less that sentimental home. It won't last forever. Even my home here won't last forever because I'm not home yet. And you're not home yet in that very sense. As of yet, you are unable to take that final sigh until you get home. Where is home? Jesus' house is home. As He said to the thief on the cross, today you will be with Me in paradise---with Me. That's the place Jesus has always wanted to take you to. Jesus prayed to His Father in John 17, Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am that they may behold My glory which You have given Me.

When that happens, that's when life is really gonna get good. Really gonna get good. Not that life is all bad here. There are some awesome experiences that we have in this life right now. There's a lot of fun we have right now serving the Lord with each other in fellowship. God's creation here is beautiful. But it's still scarred and marred by sin. And in comparison---well there is no comparison. Down here we're talking crummy in comparison to up there---we're talking glory. Two worlds apart. There were two women who were dying, it is said, in the same town on the same evening, one an atheist, one a Christian. Both had different things to say as they were on their last few breaths. The atheist was looking around at all that she owned, all of her friends, and she was weeping and with sad words she said, I'm leaving home! I'm leaving home! The Christian on the other side of town as she was dying smiled and said, I'm going home! I'm going home!

What will it be like? Verse 5 is God summing it up for us: "Behold, I make all things new." Whatever it will be like, it's gonna be different. New. All things new. Different than now, different even than the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. In the millennium, God will renovate the earth, give it a makeover. I think it could use one about now. It will be a renovated earth and we'll live there for a thousand years but in the eternal state of chapter 21, it's not a renovated earth, it's a recreated heaven and earth. It's a brand new one. The former things have passed away. A brand new environment: a new heaven, a new earth, a New Jerusalem coming out of heaven to the earth, a new presence of God. Everything will be brand new. At this point, time is no more. It is eternal. We're in an eternal state in chapter 21. Time is measureable. We're now in that immeasurable, perpetual, eternal state. And do you know the Bible says that God has set in the heart of men eternity? He's put eternity in the hearts of men. We all long to have age abiding eternal life. And you'll have it one day even as your Father is eternal and Jesus is eternal, your home will be eternal and you will live eternally if you know Jesus Christ, in heaven.

We want to look at chapter 21 verses 4 through 8. We sort of read it all last week but we wanted to do it in sections. And today we look at verses 4 through 8. Let's look at them: "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. Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

We've been able to peek ahead into heaven, into eternity. We have seen a new heaven and earth, a New Jerusalem, a new presence of God in verses 1 through 3. And now we continue on and, for this week's study, by way of outline, what John does is talk about heaven and it's described negatively. Heaven is described negatively for us in that first verse, verse 4. It is occupied voluntarily. That is, He won't force you to go to heaven. And thirdly, it is reserved presently---here and now. You can get a ticket now. and you can know now that you're going to go to heaven when you die. Look with me at verse 4. Heaven is described negatively. "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." Isn't it interesting that rather than telling us what heaven is like, he tells us, this is what it's not like? He begins by saying, there will be no sea and we grappled with that horrible verse last week. But as I read on I think, it's ok because of all the other stuff that won't be there: death, crying, sorrow. But I find it interesting that of all the ways to describe heaven, it's described in the negative. Why? Simply because heaven will be unlike anything we know now. and the greatest way to make an impact that he could tell us what it's gonna be like is to tell us what it's not gonna be like because that's our frame of reference. Let's begin with what we know: sorrow, pain, death. And say it's not like that. It's like telling a person do you know what this is and what that is and what this is? Yeah, yeah. Well, it's not gonna be like that at all. Because if we can relate to what these experiences are and have them removed, it makes a great impact, rather than describing heaven in the positive. It's inconceivable because God said to Isaiah the prophet, I make a new heaven and a new earth, Isaiah 65, and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. It's gonna be so different that we won't even remember this one. It won't even come to mind. That's how wild it's gonna get.

When Paul was caught up into the third heaven and he saw and heard the glories of heaven, he came back and he said, I heard inexpressible words, unlawful for a man to utter. Or you could translate it, things so astounding they can't even be told. I can't even describe what it's like. There's no way to understand it. And so the little girl kinda had it right when she was taking a walk in the country with her grandfather away from the street lights, away from the noise of cars, just looking up at the stars of heaven and that velvet backdrop. She said, grandpa, if heaven looks this good on the wrong side, what will it look like on the right side? How do you describe a beautiful sunset to someone blind? How do you describe beautiful music to someone who is deaf? How do you talk about how great a meal was to someone who doesn't have taste buds or olfactory senses? How do you describe the eternal state to somebody who's earthbound only? By saying what it's not gonna be like. And so his description is this: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more crying. How many tears have been shed by us? I remember vividly my first day of kindergarten---like it was yesterday. You know why I remember it? It was traumatic. For some reason, I can't really explain it; I didn't want to be there. That's sort of marked my whole life in school, I think. But at least I didn't cry every day. I remember kids I met that day. I remember my teacher and just so vividly. I cried all day long. There are other memorable occasions in my life filled with tears. The day of my brother's death. The day of my father's funeral. Life is painted with tears---with sorrow. There are tears of loneliness, tears of misfortune, tears of poverty, tears of sympathy, tears of remorse, at this point all gone forever. He'll wipe away every tear. Now I don't think that means we're going to get to heaven crying, wailing, mourning, and God's gonna walk around to every person with His supernatural handkerchief wiping them away. I think the point is this: there's nothing to cry about. There will be no more tears. Why? Because the tears are part of what it says in verse 4, former things that have passed away. We cry right now for a number of different reasons, either by gain or by loss. We're never satisfied this side of heaven completely. We're never meant to be. God set eternity in our hearts. There's a story of two teardrops that were floating down the river and one said to the other who are you? The teardrop said I'm a teardrop from a girl who loved a man and lost him and who are you? The other teardrop said I'm a teardrop of the girl who got him. That sort of describes a lot of this life, doesn't it? Whether you lose it or you get it, it's still not enough. And it won't be. No more tears. Wiping away every tear. No crying.

In our bodies, God has created us with little glands and ducts right here in the corner of the eye by the bridge of the nose called lachrymal glands. They secrete tears. Tears that lubricate the eyes, that wash away micro-organisms because of the enzymes. But they're also tied to the emotional parts of our brain. And they work profusely, especially when we are sad. We cry. We express emotion through this washing process, these tears. In ancient Athens, as you would approach the Parthenon, where the great Acropolis is today, was an altar to tears. No sacrifices were made there. No offerings were taken there. It was simply a place where you could have a good cry, where you could wail out your woes. The ancient Greeks knew that there was a place to shed tears and that place is here on earth. Well I don't think your new body when you're resurrected is gonna have any lachrymal glands. It's a whole new environment. We read there's no sea. It's not a water-based environment. All things are made new.

Eric Clapton wrote a song called "Tears in Heaven". It became very famous the last few years. He wrote it because his son, Connor, fell to his death from a high rise in New York City and in grief he wrote these words: time can bring you down, time can bend your knee, time can break the heart, have you begging please, beyond the door there's peace I'm sure, and I know there will be no more tears in heaven. Think of what that means to somebody chronically ill, in pain, suffering those last few moments, who is a believer in Jesus Christ, who loves God. Think of what that means: no more tears. Like the man who was comforting his wife as she was dying and they were talking about their life and the past, reminiscing, and tears were filling up and lining her cheeks and she was in pain and as the tears were coming down, her husband said thank God those are the last. No more tears. No crying.

Look what else: no more death. No more death. The greatest of all mortal curses, the last enemy Paul said is death, 1 Corinthians 15. No more death. We did a little research this week and found out the death rate in the world is 9 per 1,000 annually. So if you take the present population of the earth at 5 billion 776 million 740 thousand roughly that's just under 52 million people a year pass into eternity. That's a million a week. Now more are being born than are dying but that is the death rate: a million people a week. Hard to imagine life without death. But there will be no more death. Listen to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15: when this corruptible, this body, this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the thing that is written: death is swallowed up in victory.

Look over at chapter 20 just a moment, verse 14: "Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire." Death will die. There will be no more death. You'll never have to go to a cemetery again. You'll never have to be at a funeral again. Death will be no more. There will be eternal life. There are about five outfits in America involved in cryonic suspension, freezing the body. One of them is called Alcor Life Foundation and they have already done this to 16 people. They've been treated and about 260 have paid in advance to get it done. The idea is they will freeze your body at minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit. Usually those who have an incurable disease are cryonically frozen, suspended, so that when science discovers the cure to the disease, they'll thaw you out and apply the cure. And people are putting in their money to freeze the whole body is $100,000 in advance. To freeze just the head, I don't quite get that one, for those who want to get ahead in life, I suppose, $35,000, just the head alone. So you know you're saving up, you think can't get the $100,000 but I've got enough for the head. But there'll be no death in heaven.

Not only will everything become new, everything will stay new. I think that means that the laws of entropy will be repealed, the second law of thermodynamics, entropy, that everything's decaying and wearing out, is absent, it's gone. It is new and it is forever new. What else? It says no sorrow. You ever get moody? Depressed? Clouds hang over your life? You know everybody does. It's the common experience of men and women throughout history, to have ups and downs, to even come into times of depression. That's why we love psalms so much---the book of Psalms. David wrote it and he is up and down and up and down all in a couple verses. I praise God! I love Him! I think I want to die! All in the same psalm. And we read it and we go, wow, I can relate to this guy! This is in the Bible? Psalm 6, listen to this, I am weary with my groaning, all night I make my bed swim, I drench my couch with my tears, my eye wastes away because of grief. We can relate to that now. There'll be a time when you can't relate at all to that. No moodiness, no depression, no anxiety hanging over your life. When Dwight L. Moody, the evangelist from Chicago, was on his deathbed and his family was gathered around him, he was coming in and out of a coma-like sleep. And towards the end, he said earth recedes and heaven opens before me. If this is death, it is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me and I must go. And then he went into a sleep and he came out and they said, we think you're dreaming. He said I'm not dreaming and his last words are: this is my triumph, this is my coronation day---it is glorious.

And then on the list it says there will be no more pain. Every bathroom cabinet in the world has a little thing called aspirin. It's the most widely-used drug on earth. It is something that is said to block the pain signals. There are some people that live with chronic pain. From the time they get up until the time they go to bed, their life is perpetual groaning because of pain. That makes me think that if you are not a Christian, to grow old without Christ has gotta be the most miserable thing I could think of on this earth because you get old and all you have is to look back to something, nothing to look forward to. You're without Christ, without hope, Paul said, in this world. And so you look back and you reminisce but even some of the past is so painful. What a horrible existence. But if you're a believer, think about it. Good or bad in the past, you've only just begun to live. That's why Paul wrote, I consider the suffering of this present time not even worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. Think of it: no hospitals, no funerals, no broken homes, no broken hearts, no rehabilitation centers, no cancer treatments, no Alzheimer's disease, no wheelchairs ever again. No more pain.

That is why then Charles Spurgeon, when he trained young ministers said, whenever you talk about heaven, let your face light up with glory. When you speak about hell, your normal face will do, he said. I wish you could sometimes see faces from this vantage point. But when you speak about heaven, let your face light up with heavenly glory. So heaven is described negatively. This is what won't be there. Secondly, heaven is occupied voluntarily. Look at the end of verse 5: "He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." And He said to me, "It is done!" This is it. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End." That's how the book opened. "I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts." He won't force it on you. But if you're thirsty, you can drink. "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."


The end of verse 5, it is almost as if John loses his concentration for just a moment. It's like he's so overwhelmed with this---a new heaven, a new earth, New Jerusalem, new presence of God---everything that we've known in terms of sorrow, pain, death, mourning is gone. It's like he's stunned and he drops his quill. He's just like---wow. And then God on the throne has to say John? Get your pen, man! Write! You're not done yet. I have some faithful and true words to tell you. You gotta chapter and a half left to go, buddy. Hang in there. Write these things down. And then he describes two classes of people in the future. The occupants of heaven and the non-occupants of heaven. Those who were included and those who were cast out. who's gonna be in heaven? What are the criteria for going there? I heard about a little kid who was just bugging his mom so much one day that she finally in rage said, young man, how do you expect to get into heaven? He said well, I think I'll run in and run out and run in and run out and slam the door each time and they'll finally say either stay in or stay out and I'll just stay in. Well actually that's not how you get in. Notice how these occupants of eternity are described. They're described two ways. First of all, in verse 6, "him who thirsts." To get into heaven you have to be thirsty. That is, you have to see your need to drink from God's well. That's a metaphor obviously. Jesus said to the woman at the well of Samaria who was drawing water, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst. The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. And then Jesus said to the Jews in the temple in Jerusalem in John 7, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Who's going to heaven? Those dissatisfied with their present life apart from Jesus Christ who are thirsty enough and they have a parched enough soul to want to get living water, spiritual drink. Remember David said as a deer pants after the streams of water, so pants my soul after you O God. It's a person who pants after God. A person who is thirsty.

The second description is in verse 7: "He who overcomes". Now who's that? Well everybody would love to say it's me. There are some people who think heaven is by default. You don't really have to believe and do anything; you just go there if you don't do a lot of bad stuff. Well it's promised to the overcomer. It's the same phraseology that John saw in the seven letters to the seven churches. Jesus said to each one, he who overcomes, he who overcomes and the promise was given. What does it mean to overcome? Overcome what? Well listen to this description that John writes in his little epistle a couple books before Revelation. 1 John 5: everyone born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that is overcome the world, even our faith. So when you're born again, born of God by faith, you overcome. Somebody will say great---that's me! I believe in God! Listen to John's next verse: who is that who overcomes the world? He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. It's faith in Christ alone and His provision alone that is the overcomer. He's the Son of God and the Savior. Then the outcasts are given in verse 8 and a list is given. Notice there's no partying in hell. Ever heard people say that? I'd rather go to hell, dude, all my friends are there! Could be. Is that any reason to go? Yeah, man, we're gonna party hearty in hell! No you won't. They'll be a terrible fellowship of this group that is listed in verse 8.

You know, every now and then there is a tabloid that has "Life After Death Experience" or "Alien Encounter" and then I died and when I died I saw this bright light and warm feeling and what they don't publish is all of the other life after death experiences that are very negative. And there are more negative ones than positive ones. It's been set out in a book by Dr. Morris Rollings, a cardiologist. Even Jerry Lewis, the comedian, who had a heart attack and had heart surgery, had a near-death experience and he said technically, I was dead for 17 seconds. Believe me, Judy Garland isn't there. It isn't beautiful. It is bleak. It is bleak. Now there's a list here of people. It's not just here are the believers, the overcomers, those who thirst, and the non-believers. Notice there's a list that identifies the character of those who are there so that people will know who they are. First of all, the cowardly. I think this refers to a person who's unwilling to make a stand for Jesus Christ. They don't endure and that's one of the translations: those who don't endure. Remember Jesus said that there was a group of people like the seed that was sown on rocky soil that endure for awhile but, when tribulation arises, because of the Word, they're gone. They don't endure. There was never that saving faith. They may have raised a hand, they may have shed a tear, they may have felt a heartbeat at an altar call, but they never made a commitment to stand for Jesus Christ. They're described here as the cowardly. Jesus said if you abide, if you continue, in Me then you are My disciples indeed.

Now this ought to put to rest any notion that there's a second chance after death. There's not. The chances are here and now. Also on the list, unbelieving. That is they lack saving faith that is demonstrated by their life. Notice also sexually immoral. Now again these are traits of people who make it a lifestyle. This is their habit. This is their pattern of life. They have not repented of these things. It's not that a person has to be perfect to get to heaven that's never, ever done any one of these things; you'll see that in a minute. This is the lifestyle description of these people. The sexually immoral. The word is pornos. We get the term pornography. Technically, it refers to fornication, having sex with somebody before you're married to them. but it has become a word in the Bible that covers a gamut of any sexual immorality be it adultery, fornication, homosexuality, sodomy, incest, are all under that biblical banner of sexual immorality or pornos. Then sorcerers are mentioned. Interesting word. Pharmacia. We get the word pharmacy from that term. Pharmacy. And it means the using of drugs usually associated with the worship of another god. Spiritism. Then idolaters, those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything else other than God. Liars. Isn't that interesting? Liars. That would certainly include those who say they're Christians but don't live a lifestyle of a believing person. They say Lord, Lord, and Jesus said they'll say that to Me in that and I'll say depart from Me. Ah, but Lord we did this and said this. A liar then is somebody who makes a profession with their mouth but it's not a real profession---it's a lie. Jesus said why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and you do not do the things which I say?

As you look at verse 8, you might get a little worried because you think well, that kinda describes me before I was saved. I've done some of those things, you might say. I can fit in some of these categories. But the point and the difference is now you're in Christ. If you've given Him your life, if you've repented of your sins, if you're born again. You're in Christ. Let me show you the difference. Turn back with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9: "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." You go, oh... I've committed some of those. Notice the next verse: "And such were some of you." He doesn't say and such are some of you. He's speaking to a group of believers: "And such were some of you." That's past tense. "But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." It's been said that there are three things that will surprise us in heaven: the people you expect to be there who aren't, the people you don't expect to be there who are, and the greatest wonder of all, that we ourselves are there. But why are we there? Because we're in Christ and His blood has washed away all of those sins and that is not our lifestyle anymore. It's not a lifestyle in rebellion against God. That's not our pattern and our habit. We're in Christ.

Finally then in Revelation 21, we see that heaven is reserved presently. It's reserved presently. It is occupied voluntarily, it's not by default, it's not by force, and heaven is reserved here and now presently. Verse 5 I think is the key to that: "Behold, I make all things new." That's in the present tense. It could be translated, behold, I am continually making all things new. In other words, that description is God's continual occupation. God is in the business of making all things new. He does it in salvation and He will do it in creation later on. If any man is in Christ, Paul said, 2 Corinthians 5, he is a? New creation. All things have passed away. Everything is become new. That's God's business. He takes a soul, a life, a thirsty, parched person who says I need Christ, and says, alright, come to Me. I'll just remake you. I'll give you a brand new start, a brand new life. I'll make you a new creation. When He does that, then you're on the way to a new heaven and a new earth. But this is God's continued occupation. Now since heaven is occupied voluntarily and reserved presently, let me ask you a question. Are you going there? Are you sure that you're going there? And I think it's time, if you haven't thought about it in the past enough, to think about it right now. Are you sure you're going there? What makes you so sure? Well I'm not a bad person. I mean, there are others that are worse. Well there are others that are better. There are a lot of people better than me. I'm not going to heaven because I'm good and I'm not going to heaven because I preach sermons. Jesus said unless a man is born again, he will never see the kingdom of God and He said that to a religious dude---Nicodemus. A Pharisee of the Jewish religion. He was the closest, they thought, to God. And Jesus said Nicodemus, unless you are born again, you will never get to heaven. He didn't say Nicodemus, I think you ought to be born again. It'd be nice if you were. You have the option. He said you must be. You must be. No one will ever get to heaven unless they are. You know, that term born again has become such a cliché. It's sort of a synonym for an American almost. Yeah, the born again! Or some people will say I'm a Christian but I'm not one of the born again ones. There ain't no other! According to Jesus Christ. If you are born again, you are a Christian. If you're a Christian, you're born again. It doesn't matter what flavor you are, chocolate, vanilla twist, strawberry, what denomination, you must be born again. Another translation of that is that you have to be born from above just like you were born physically; you have to be born spiritually. A change of mind; a change of heart; a change of lifestyle.

Behold I make all things new. God can make you new today. You say what do I have to do? Well Jesus said you have to come to Him. As many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God. To those that believe in, rely on, adhere to His name. And when you do that, when you turn to Jesus Christ, when there's that new change of heart, you'll become a new creation. And when you become a new creation now in Jesus Christ, then you have a reservation, a spot, in the new heaven, the new earth that will last forever. And then you'll be able to sigh one day and go, I'm home. A man wrote a letter to a pastor. The minister said he was going to speak on heaven next Sunday night. He had a radio broadcast in Los Angeles. During the week, he got a letter from a man who was sick and the man said, next Sunday, pastor, you're gonna talk about heaven. I'm interested in that land because I have a clear title deed to a bit of property for over 50 years there. I didn't buy it. It was given to me without money, without price, but the donor purchased it for me at tremendous sacrifice. I'm not holding for speculation since the title is not transferrable. It's not a vacant lot, either. For more than a half a century I've been sending materials up there out of which the greatest architect and builder of the universe has been building a home for me which will never need to be remodeled nor repaired because it will suit me perfectly, individually, and never grow old. Termites can never undermine its foundations for they rest on the Rock of Ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks or bolts will ever be placed upon its doors for no vicious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling now stands. And it's almost completed, almost ready for me to enter in and abide in peace eternally without fear of being ejected. There is a valley of deep shadow between the place where I live in California and that to which I shall journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home in that city of gold without passing through this dark valley of shadows but I am not afraid because the best friend I ever had went through that same valley long ago and drove away all of its gloom. He has stuck by me through thick and thin since we first became acquainted 50 years ago. And I hold His promise in printed form never to forsake or to leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of shadows and I shall not lose my way when He is with me. I hope to hear your sermon on heaven next Sunday from my home in Los Angeles but I have no assurance that I'll be able to do so. You see, my ticket to heaven has no date marked for the journey, no return coupon, no permit for baggage. Yes I am all ready to go and I may not be there while you're talking next Sunday evening but I shall meet you there someday.

Isn't that great? I'm going home and I might beat you there before your sermon. That man did pass away and he was able to say I'm home. Now I'm home. Now I see. It's a real place and that's why we've taken such a time to go through it these last few weeks. Some people accuse Christians of being so heavenly minded they're no earthly good. I think if you want to be any earthly good at all, you'll be heavenly minded. Because you'll realize this stuff is so temporary.




Additional Messages in this Series

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6/9/1996
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Good News from a Bad Place
Revelation 1:1-8
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6/16/1996
completed
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Catapulted into the Future
Revelation 1:9-20
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6/23/1996
completed
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When Love Grows Cold
Revelation 2:1-7
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6/30/1996
completed
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Postcard to Those in Pain
Revelation 2:8-11
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7/7/1996
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The Curse of Compromise
Revelation 2:12-17
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7/14/1996
completed
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Corruption without Discernment
Revelation 2:18-29
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7/21/1996
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Church of the Living Dead
Revelation 3:1-6
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7/28/1996
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Body Building - God's Way
Revelation 3:7-13
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The human body has become the obsession of our modern culture. Much like the ancient Greeks, people are madly trying to fit the contemporary ideal of what is an acceptable shape and size. The church is metaphorically called the "Body of Christ" and His desire is to see it built up spiritually. The church of Philadelphia is a good model of a healthy, faithful church. Their example provides for us a template to follow in building up the Body - God's Way!
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8/19/1996
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Taking Your Spiritual Temperature
Revelation 3:14-22
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Ever since we were kids our moms stuck thermometers in our mouths whenever she suspected that we were sick. If our body temperature of 98.6 had climbed up just a few notches, it was always a good indication that an unhealthy condition was present. There is also a spiritual temperature that reveals the condition of our souls, and when the thermometer reads Lukewarm it indicates that something is wrong; it indicates the presence of danger. Let's see how Jesus, the Great Physician, treats his patient with this malady.
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8/25/1996
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Peeking into the Portals of Heaven
Revelation 4
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9/1/1996
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History's Greatest Real Estate Deal
Revelation 5:1-7
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9/8/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 1
Revelation 5:8-10
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In heaven there won’t be just three services in the morning and one at night with a midweek tacked on. There will be no need to be sensitive to time so we can go to lunch. Words will not have to be printed nor projected. Worship leaders will have no need prompting people to sing. It will be an all-consuming experience that will involve our total cooperation and enthusiasm.
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9/15/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 2
Revelation 5:11-14
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9/29/1996
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Four Riders with Bad News
Revelation 6:1-8
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10/6/1996
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The Cries of Heaven and Earth
Revelation 6:9-17
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10/13/1996
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A Blessed Interruption in a Tough Time
Revelation 7
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10/20/1996
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Trumpets of Doom
Revelation 8
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10/27/1996
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When All Hell Breaks Loose
Revelation 9:1-12
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11/3/1996
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Angels of Mass Destruction
Revelation 9:13-21
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11/10/1996
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A Big Angel with a Little Book
Revelation 10
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11/17/1996
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Two Powerful Preachers
Revelation 11:1-14
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11/24/1996
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Light at the End of the Tunnel
Revelation 11:15-19
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12/1/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 1
Revelation 12:1-6
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12/8/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 2
Revelation 12:7-17
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There aren't many people who like to fight. Confrontation is something most would like to avoid. But in the spiritual realm it's unavoidable. The question isn't, "Will I engage in spiritual warfare?" Rather, the question is, "How well will I fight?" As we saw last week, the war in the heavens makes its way to the theater of the earth. Let's see what else it entails.
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12/15/1996
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The Coming Global Leader
Revelation 13:1-10
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12/22/1996
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Evil's Right-Hand-Man
Revelation 13:11-18
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12/29/1996
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The Lamb Who Shepherds His People
Revelation 14:1-5
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After all that john has seen in his apocalyptic vision, seeing the docility of a lamb standing with his overcoming sheep is a welcomed sight. Although the dragon pursues god's people relentlessly, although the beasts are bent on ruling the earth, the ultimate winner will be the lamb and his followers.
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1/5/1997
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Angels Set The Record Straight
Revelation 14:6-13
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1/12/1997
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It's Harvest Time!
Revelation 14:14-20
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One of the most common ways to make a living in ancient times was to "work the land." The early rains of October/November and the soft latter rains produced the wheat and barley harvest later on. Also, when vintage season began, almost the whole village could be found in the fields harvesting the crop. Such images would also provide a poignant way of depicting the final judgment of the earth, as in this section.
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1/17/1997
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Getting Ready for the Grand Finale
Revelation 15:1-8
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1/26/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 1
Revelation 16:1-11
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We now come to the "seven last plagues" of God in the Great Tribulation that is coming upon planet earth. These judgments come in the form of "bowls" being poured out swiftly and completely-the judgment will be swift and thorough. Yet through all the mercy as Well as wrath of this awesome era, people will persist in having a hardened heart. Open your heart 'right now to these truths.
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2/2/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 2
Revelation 16:12-21
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What will the end of the world be like? What are the final events just before Jesus returns and takes over to set up His millennial reign? That's what this section tells us. There will be increased warfare activity in the Middle East, massive deception, and unheard of destructive cataclysms on earth. In the midst of foretelling these events, Jesus has a word of encouragement.
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2/9/1997
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The Coming World Religion
Revelation 17
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It was Karl Marx who stated, no doubt cynically, that religion was the opiate of the masses. The fact is, he was right-it is! People are driven to worship something or someone. This desire will be exploited to the hilt in the Tribulation period and will be under the umbrella of the world dictator-the Antichrist. What are its roots and how does it end?
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2/16/1997
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Get out of Babylon!
Revelation 18
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Someone once said, "Money can't buy you friends but your enemies treat you a little better." Though meant to be tongue-in­cheek, that won't happen when the entire world economy collapses. God's shakedown of the earth will include everything that the Antichrist's kingdom will embody, from the sacred to the secular.
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3/2/1997
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Marriage Made in Heaven
Revelation 19:1-10
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3/9/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 1
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of our capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "One far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." It is that event which we will be studying in the next two weeks. This is what all Christians of all ages have looked forward to - His return and reign of His creation.
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3/16/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 2
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of the capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "one far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." it is that event, that Christians of all ages have looked forward to-his return and reign of his creation. We will conclude our study of the return of Jesus Christ, today.
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4/6/1997
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Paradise Regained
Revelation 20:1-3
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4/13/1997
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The Devil's Last Stand
Revelation 20:1-10
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A typical question is, "Will evil ever get its reward?" What ever happened to ethics and justice? Well, we see here that God will not turn His back on this issue. He will deal with the source of all evil (the devil himself) and then judge those who revel in it. This section gives tremendous hope to anyone concerned about injustice in our world.
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4/20/1997
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Life, Death, and Resurrection
Revelation 20:5-6; 20:11-15
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5/4/1997
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All Things New - Part 1
Revelation 21:1-3
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5/18/1997
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The City of the Future
Revelation 21:9-22:5
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There is no architect or builder like God himself. Even the patriarch Abraham "was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (Heb. 11:10) he didn't find it in his lifetime. "You won't find you're "happily ever after" here either, but the New Jerusalem will be God's answer for man's longing to live in a perpetually peaceful stare.
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5/25/1997
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He's Coming - Now What!?
Revelation 22:6-21
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There are 43 additional messages in this series.
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