About this sermon
1. A vision of the new dwelling established by God in Christ (v. 1).
2. The “already / not yet” aspects of the new covenant order in Christ (vv. 2-4).
Sermon transcript
standing for the reading of God’s word. My sermon text this morning taken from the very last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 21 verses 1 through 4. You’ll find that beginning on page 1233 in the back of your pew Bible. I’m going to begin reading at chapter 20 verse 11 and read through chapter 21 verse 8 to fill out the context a bit. But our focus will be especially on chapter 21 verses 1 through 4. This is the Word of our God. Let’s hear it with attentiveness and reverence. Beginning at Revelation 20, verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.
Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. May God add his blessing to this reading of his holy word. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we once again ask that by your spirit, you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word. We ask that you would grant us the grace to hear and receive your word with faith and love and to put it into practice in our lives. And we ask that you would once again set a guard over my lips that I might speak only that which is faithful to your word. We pray these things heavenly Father in Jesus name and all of God’s people said, amen.
You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is Foundations of Faith, The Life Everlasting. We’re gonna take this in several parts. Again, our passage, Revelation 21, one through four, and if you are following along in the sermon outline, there’s a number of words, quite a number of words that the children can be looking for or listening for in my sermon today. Well, dear ones, this Lord’s Day morning, we begin our consideration of the very last affirmation of the final credo, the final I believe section of the Apostles’ Creed. And that affirmation is in these words, I believe in the life everlasting. I believe in the life everlasting. Well, what does the creed mean by the life everlasting? I imagine that many folks interpret that to say, well, I believe in heaven. And certainly, as we will see, that’s part of what it means.
But there’s more to it than just that. More important than what the creed says, what does God’s word, the Bible, upon which the creed is based, what does the Bible mean when it speaks of eternal or everlasting life? We’re familiar with that kind of language in scripture. As you know, probably the best known verse of the Bible is what? John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish or shall not perish but have what everlasting life. Beloved, as we study the scriptures and as we trace the progressive revelation of God as it is unfolded within redemptive history, we learn that eternal or everlasting life is life in communion and fellowship with Almighty God. It is life on a higher level than mere natural or animal life, the natural biological life that we human beings share with the animals of the lower creation.
Eternal life is life that is life indeed. It is spiritual life. Life in covenantal union and communion with the sovereign triune creator God made possible by the work of the sovereign spirit of God. Because it is life in fellowship with God, it is eternal. Why? Because God himself is eternal. It is a type of life that does not have to wait for the future consummation, however. It actually begins in its initial installment in this present age. Even now, you and I can experience and taste the blessing of life everlasting. We begin to experience eternal life when we are regenerated, when we are born again by the Holy Spirit and saved by God’s sovereign grace through God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is a life whose ultimate goal and ultimate manifestation is yet to come.
It will come to us and be experienced by us in its ultimate sense when Jesus returns in glory at the end of this age and ushers in the ultimate final consummate new heavens and new earth wherein righteousness dwells. So from the ultimate perspective, the life everlasting is the glorified resurrection life that we believers will experience in the new heavens and the new earth throughout eternity. What a glorious, joyous hope our Christian hope is. And the ultimate blessing of this life everlasting is the blessing of God’s covenant of grace, the ultimate goal of God’s covenant of grace. And what is that goal? Well, namely that God in Christ will reestablish his dwelling place among redeemed men and women. God will dwell among us in the new creation forever. As it says in verse three of our passage for today, it says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, children, what does behold mean?
It means pay attention, this is important. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. And so, friends, to enjoy the gift of life everlasting is to enjoy God himself as your dwelling place, to enjoy God in perfect, unbroken covenant union, communion, and friendship forever. The covenantal dwelling of God with man is one of those central themes of the Bible. In fact, arguably, it is the central theme of the Word of God. It’s a theme that ties the whole of the scriptures together in unity and harmony. In fact, it begins at the very beginning of the Bible. The ultimate goal of God’s plan of redemption was to restore redeemed humanity after its fall to His dwelling place, or rather to reestablish His dwelling place among redeemed men and women.
Think about the Garden of Eden, the very beginning. Now I know that the Garden of Eden is often presented as just a garden and that Adam, that his job was just to tend and to be a farmer basically and to do landscaping and to tend the garden. Well certainly the Bible presents Eden and I believe that Eden was a real geographical place, a real place, a real garden. That’s how we are to understand it and certainly Adam did engage in farming and landscaping activities and all of that in the Garden of Eden. But there are indications in the Scriptures that Eden was more than just a garden. It was a garden temple. It was the dwelling place of God. That’s why we learn, we read of imagery of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden had perfect covenant communion and fellowship with their creator God. But of course, you know what happened. When the serpent tempted Adam and Eve, they fell into sin. And Adam being the covenant head and representative of the human race, when he sinned, we sinned in him. And what happened to Adam and Eve after they were judged for having fallen for the serpent’s temptation? What did God do? He kicked them out of the garden. He sent them east of Eden. He thrust them out of his dwelling place. But ever since that time, God has been at work in redemptive history, reestablishing His dwelling place among man. We see that symbolized, for example, in the tabernacle and the temple. You might wonder, as you read through the Old Testament, why so many chapters and so many verses, so much ink is spilled describing the furnishings and the structure of the tabernacle and later on the temple.
Well, the reason for that, brothers and sisters, or one of the reasons for that, is that the temple was the dwelling place of God in the tabernacle, which was a a mobile temple, if you will, and then later on in Solomon’s temple, which was a permanent fixed temple. the tabernacle and temple were symbols and types of God reestablishing his gracious, covenantal, kingly dwelling among his redeemed people. And of course, Jesus himself is the ultimate dwelling place of God among men. For Jesus is the word made flesh who came to do what? According to John 1.14, Christ came as the divine logos incarnate to tabernacle, to make his dwelling place among us. And friends, today we consider a passage, again from this last book of God’s Word, the book of Revelation, which promises that one day God in Christ will dwell with redeemed humanity permanently in consummated glory.
Now in terms of the context of our passage for today, St. John the Apostle had just finished predicting the final judgment in the previous section, the Great White Throne Judgment scene that we read in chapter 20, verses 11 through 15. That passage tells us that those whose names are not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. They will be ultimately exiled, permanently exiled, banished forever from God’s favorable presence, from God’s dwelling place. But as we see in today’s passage, those who by grace are among the saved, those who belong to the new Jerusalem, to the Lamb’s bride, to Christ’s elect church, those whose names have been written in the Lamb’s book of life will enjoy God’s dwelling place forever in the new heavens. and the new earth, and the ultimate promise is, as it says in verse three, God says, the dwelling place of God is with man.
He will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God, and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. What do we have in our passage for this morning? Well, this brings me to my first main point. If you’re following along in the sermon outline, we see here as we focus on verse one of chapter 21, a vision of the new order that has been established by God in Christ. What we have here in this apocalyptic language of the book of Revelation, we have a vision of the new order established by God in Christ. It says this in verse one, John, as he is writing under the inspiration of the Spirit, as he sees this prophetic vision, he says, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
For the first heaven and the first earth, that would be this present age, this present cosmic order, the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And then he makes an interesting comment that we’ll focus on in a little while. He says, and the sea was no more. One Bible commentator introduces this section with the following words. He says, the destruction of the last enemy death and the last judgment will finally lead to the renewal of the entire created order, heaven and earth, to be the perfect home in which the lamb will live forever with his bride, the people whom he has redeemed out of all the nations through his atoning death. However, friends, as we will see, this new heaven and new earth language that John uses here in this passage under the inspiration of the Spirit, this language is rich and it has implications not just for our future, but even for this present life as well.
And so what we need to do now is consider the Old Testament source for this new heaven and new earth language that John uses here in this passage. Now, I know that the book of Revelation is a challenging book. And many folks think that, well, wow, I could never understand the book of Revelation. But Revelation has been rightly described as the most biblical of all of the Bible’s books because Revelation has numerous either quotations from or allusions to the Old Testament prophetic books. And so the best way or the only way you can understand Revelation, and it was written to be understood, is to understand the Old Testament scriptures, especially the prophets. John assumes in writing this, again under the Spirit’s inspiration, he assumes a certain level of knowledge of the Old Testament prophets. And John is using this imagery here that is adopted from the passage I read earlier in the service, Isaiah 65, verses 17 through 25.
So let’s turn back, keep your finger in Revelation 21, but let’s turn back for a few minutes and consider the Old Testament background passage to our passage in Revelation today, Isaiah 65. verses 17 through 25. Now in this Isaiah passage, the new heavens and the new earth, which are introduced to us in verse 17 of that passage, are identified with the new Jerusalem that is spoken of in verse 18. Both of which God says he will create. The language of creation is prominent in this passage. Let me just read these two verses again. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy.” I think we’re to understand because of the close connection of these two verses that the new heavens and the new earth and Jerusalem the significance of Jerusalem are intended as two different ways of speaking about the same reality.
I create Jerusalem to be a joy and her people to be a gladness. Here God uses cosmic language, the language of a new heavens and a new earth, to describe the creation of a new or renewed people of God living under a new order. Meaning, as we will see, the new covenant order that will be introduced in the Messianic Age. Friends, this is an Old Testament prediction of the new covenant order that God would create through the coming of the promised Messiah, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so that raises the question, the question of whether this imagery, this language of new heaven and new earth in Revelation refers exclusively to a future reality, namely the eternal state, or whether it refers exclusively to a present reality, namely the new covenant order of this present messianic age, or is it speaking of both realities?
Now most Bible commentators today, under the influence of dispensationalism in many cases, most Bible commentators today interpret this kind of new heavens and new earth language in an exclusively futurist way. They say, that’s only speaking about events that are yet in our future. A minority of commentators advocate for an exclusively preterist interpretation, which says that all of these things have already been fulfilled with the coming of Christ, and preterism in its full-blown sense is the belief that all of the Bible prophecies have basically been fulfilled by the establishment of the New Covenant order, which was confirmed by the destruction of the Old Testament temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. I have a lot of problems with that view. I think it’s actually a heretical view because it denies the future return of Christ and the future bodily resurrection of the dead.
But nevertheless, I would suggest to you, brothers and sisters, that there is a sense in which there’s truth in both of those views. And let me clarify. Let’s look at this passage in Isaiah 65, which serves as the background to our passage for today. Let’s look at the details of this Isaiah passage a little more in depth. Let’s look at Isaiah 65, verse 20. As Isaiah, under the Spirit’s inspiration, is describing this new heavens and new earth, he says this. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days. For the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.” Let me ask you, brothers and sisters, will there be death in the eternal state, in the consummated new heavens and new earth?
Will there be sinners in the new heavens, in the new earth in its consummated form? And the answer obviously to both of those questions is no. Look again at verses 21 and 22. It says, they shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. Now let me ask you this again, looking at the details of this Isaiah passage, this new heavens and new earth prediction here in Isaiah. In the ultimate eternal new heavens and new earth, shall we expect that houses will need to be built and vineyards will need to be planted in the eternal state?
No, of course not. Again, let’s skip down to verse 25. It says in that passage, the wolf and the lamb shall graze together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord. From the details of this verse, this passage, are we to expect that the various species of animals that now exist in our present cosmic order will exist in the final new heavens and new earth? I know that many folks often ask the question, will I get to see my pets in heaven? Will Fido be there in the new heavens and the new earth? And those are interesting speculative questions. The answer I think is, I don’t know, but should we expect that to be the case because of this kind of language used here in the prophet Isaiah?
Now friends, the point that I’m making here in these questions I’m not at all suggesting from these questions that we should interpret this prophetic imagery in an overly literalistic way. In fact, I think we’re not intended to interpret this in a woodenly literalistic way. This is prophetic language and thus highly figurative language. In fact, the biblical prophets often seem to use the realities that we are familiar with in our present age in a figurative or metaphorical way to describe the glories of the age to come. And so eternal life is typologically or figuratively spoken of as great longevity, for example. But my point here, friends, is that Isaiah is using the cosmic terms new heavens and new earth to describe a new spiritual order, an order that was to be brought about by the coming of the promised Messiah and the establishment of his messianic kingdom, all of which was fulfilled in an initial sense when our Lord Jesus came to this earth in his first advent.
But scripture indicates that this new order will be perfected and consummated when our Lord Jesus Christ returns at the end of this age in glory and ushers in his eternal kingdom, the ultimate and final and consummated new heavens and new earth wherein righteousness dwells. Now since this Isaiah passage is the Old Testament background of the New Heaven and New Earth text from Revelation that we’re considering this morning, and since the Isaiah passage did not refer exclusively to the eternal state, it makes sense to conclude that the Apostle John is not using this New Heaven and New Earth language to refer exclusively to the eternal state, although that’s part of what he is referring to. In other words, let me make it simple. Are the new heavens and the new earth here? In one sense, yes.
If Christ has made you a new creation in himself, if you are a new creation in Christ, the new heavens and the new earth is a present reality in your life. And the new heavens and the new earth is a present reality on a spiritual level in the church, the elect church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But what about John’s statement as we’re considering chapter 21, verse 1? What about John’s statement, and the sea was no more? He says, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. Now some folks might say, well, that’s a bummer. I love the water, I’m a beach bum. I hope there’s water in the heavens. I hope there’s water in the eternal state.
Is this saying that there won’t be water in the eternal state? Again, that’s a speculative question. But the point here, again, this is symbolic language. It’s important to understand that in the ancient world, the sea was often used to represent the forces of chaos, the forces of chaos which threatened the world order. In the first creation, God brought order out of chaos by sovereignly setting boundaries to the sea. Let’s go back briefly to Genesis 1. I’m sure a familiar passage to you folks, Genesis chapter one, verse two. After declaring the original beginning, the creation ex nihilo in chapter one, verse one, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, it goes on to say in verse two, the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of what? The face of the deep.
Did these chaos waters, so to speak, threaten the Creator God, as in ancient pagan mythology, where even the gods could be overcome by the chaos waters? No. It says the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, just like an eagle hovers over its young. The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, and the Spirit of God brought order out of that chaos, as we read in verses 9 and 10, where it says, And it was so. God called the dry land earth and the waters that were gathered together, he called seas. And God saw that it was good. The original seas were good, but the chaos waters that John is speaking of here in chapter 21 represent the forces of chaos, the chaotic forces that had been unleashed by human sin.
But those forces have been subdued by Christ’s saving work and they will ultimately be banished forever in the consummated new creation. And all of that brings me to my next point of application here, beloved. Consider next the already not yet aspects of the new covenant order in Christ. That’s what this is all getting at. The already not yet aspects of the new covenant order in Christ. We read verses two and three, it says the following. He says, and I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem. Notice just like Isaiah connects the new heavens and the new earth with God’s creation of a renewed Jerusalem. John the apostle does the same. He speaks of the new heavens and the new earth in verse one, and then he speaks of the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Where else in the scriptures have you heard of a bride, of God’s bride, and what does God’s bride represent? It represents the people of God, the body of Christ. We, brothers and sisters, we are the bride of Christ. And so this is speaking about a renewed people of God. When it comes to God’s plan working itself out in history, the word of God indicates that there is an already not yet dynamic in God’s plan. Now at this point you might be saying, Pastor, you’ve really lost me here. Can you kinda simplify this? Well let me try to simplify it in this way. Have you ever had someone approach you on the street, perhaps a street preacher, an evangelist approach you and say, brother, sister, are you saved? It’s interesting, I actually had an experience like that this past week as I was jogging.
I was out jogging on our street. There were some road work being done on our street this last week. And I’m jogging down our street and there’s a work truck parked to my right. And the gentleman in the truck was crying out to me. He says, hey, come here. I’m like, oh, did I do something wrong? And I approached the truck. He said, yes, sir. and he hands me a gospel tract, and he said, you know, very friendly guy, he said, you know, this is not about religion, this is about a relationship with Jesus, and I know he was trying to ask me, are you saved? And I, because I wanted to get on with my jog, I took the tract, I thanked him, and I said, I’m a Christian, Christ is my Savior, and he said, praise the Lord, brother.
Well, anyways, maybe you’ve had an experience similar to that. Someone asks you, are you saved? What’s the correct answer to that question? What is the biblical answer to the question, are you saved? Well, when it comes to the gift of salvation, we learn in the scriptures that our salvation involves definitive aspects, progressive aspects, and consummative aspects. Oh, pastor, there you go again with that fancy language. What are you saying? Well, think about it this way. The correct biblical answer to the question, are you saved? If you’re a believer, if Christ is your Lord and Savior, the correct answer is, yes, I have been saved. Yes, I am being saved. And yes, I will be saved. Yes, I have been saved when God called me through the gospel and by the Spirit to faith in Christ.
He forgave my sins. He justified me. He adopted me as his child. And we, brothers and sisters, we enjoy that aspect of salvation here and now. But not only are we saved now, we are also being saved through progressive sanctification as the Spirit continues to work in us and we grow in the knowledge and love of Christ. But we will be saved in the ultimate consummate sense when we go home to be with the Lord and ultimately at the final resurrection of the dead when Jesus returns in glory and raises us from the dead to live with him in the ultimate new heavens and new earth forever. This is what is meant by the already, not yet dynamic. Are you already saved? Are you saved? Well, yes, I’m already saved in one sense, but not yet saved in another sense.
The same could be applied to the new heavens and the new earth. In principle, the new heavens and the new earth are already present. They’re already here. How are they here? They are here in the hearts and lives of Christ’s followers. They are here in the true visible church as God’s people gather around the gospel word and sacraments and worship God in spirit and in truth. But in its final fullness, the ultimate new heavens and new earth are not yet a reality and will not arrive until Jesus returns. You say, well, wait a minute, pastor, what do you mean the new heavens and the new earth are already here? Well, again, let’s briefly, and then we’ll close up our time in the word, but let’s compare scripture with scripture. Let me have you turn to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17.
And this should be a familiar passage to many of you. The Apostle Paul writes, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, talking about spiritual and saving union with Christ, anyone knows Christ is their Lord and Savior. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, a new creation. You have been created anew, brother, sister in Christ. The reality of the new heavens and new earth exists in spiritual seed form in you right now and among the people of God in the body of Christ, the church. And so again, Paul uses this same kind of cosmic new creation language to describe those who have been brought to new spiritual life through union with Christ. The new heavens and new earth is already a present reality as well in the elect church, which is described again in our passage in verse 2 as the holy city, New Jerusalem.
And we don’t have time to dive into all of the biblical passages that support this contention, but oftentimes in the scriptures, God’s people, God’s covenant people, called the church under the new covenant, God’s people are often described as the holy city, as a new Jerusalem, and as the temple of God. We see that, for example, and we don’t have time to look at it, but you could look it up in your own time, Galatians 4, 21 through 26, or Hebrews 12, verses 18 through 24, and so forth. And so the new heavens and new earth is already a present reality also in the sense that God already dwells among and comforts his redeemed people. We read this in verses 3 and 4. It says, And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
This is the consummation and the ultimate fulfillment of the new covenant, that God will reestablish His gracious covenantal permanent presence among his redeemed children. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. And what will the result of that be? What will God do? Verse four, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. When we think of verse four, you might say, well, Pastor, look, the new heavens and the new earth, if they’re present spiritually, the comfort of the new heavens and the new earth is certainly not present because we as God’s people, we still suffer in this present age.
We still face sickness. We still face death. So while this promise will not be perfectly or completely fulfilled until Jesus returns in glory, when there will certainly be no more pain, no more crying, no more tears, no more death, no more sorrow. Nevertheless, God does comfort his people even now. He comforts us, his people, in our affliction. How does he do that? He does it primarily through his word, through the gospel promises. He does so through his gospel, through his spirit, and through the ministry of his church as we brothers and sisters come alongside each other, as we support one another, pray for one another, lift one another up to the throne of grace in prayer, and seek to support and minister to one another’s needs. That is Christ comforting us and giving us a foretaste of the ultimate comfort of the new heavens and the new earth.
But brothers and sisters in Christ, the new heaven and the new earth, while in a sense, in an initial sense, it is here already, it has not yet come in its final form. The new heavens and the new earth has yet to come in its perfect, consummated, cosmic, glorious form. And that will happen when? That will happen when Jesus our Lord returns physically, bodily returns in the clouds of glory and the new creation and brings in the new creation, judges the humanity and ushers in the ultimate new creation on a cosmic universal scale. At that time, faith will give way to sight. The covenant of grace will be consummated in its final fullness, and our joy in Christ will be made complete. I want you to think about, as we close our time in the Word today, I know time is getting along here, but as we close our time, brothers and sisters, I want you to think about this.
Now, some would say, this is, you know, you’re just preaching all about heaven and future glory. You know, you’re too heavenly-minded to be of any earthly good. Think about this, brothers and sisters. If you really embrace and grasp the truth that you are headed for everlasting glory with the infinitely glorious Creator God who not only created you but loved you with an everlasting love, chose you in Christ from before the foundation of the world, sent His Son Jesus to die the shameful, painful death of the cross, to redeem you, and poured His Spirit upon you, drawing you with the cords of love unto faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you really believe, that God has saved you, and forgiven you, and has sealed you with the Spirit unto the day of redemption, and that one day you will see your Lord face to face, and that every tear will be wiped away, and that your joy, joy beyond even the beginnings of imagining, will commence.
If you really believe that, it has the power to utterly transform the way you live your life in the here and now. Because you are a child of God. Christian, you are a child of God. You’ve been redeemed. You’ve been loved. So live like it. Live your life in light of that. Live your life in light of the truth that you are headed for this final new creation, this life everlasting. Do you know that you are headed for this life, the life everlasting? If not, have soul dealings with Jesus this day. Jesus in the gospel calls you to repent, to recognize your sin, and to trust him and him alone for your salvation. The Bible says that Jesus died for sinners just like you and me. His death is of infinite value. He rose from the dead.
He conquered sin and death and hell. And He calls you, dear listener, each and every one of you, to turn away from trusting yourself, to trust Him and Him alone. Receive and rest upon Christ alone as your Savior. And then, He will forgive you by His grace. He will forgive you and seal you unto the day of eternity. And you can look forward to the life everlasting. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for your amazing grace to us in Christ. And we thank you that the new creation has begun spiritually speaking, that it has begun in us through the powerful working of your Spirit in bringing us to faith in Christ and dwelling in us and among us as your people. We pray, Heavenly Father, that as we have this foretaste in the gospel of the ultimate new heavens and new earth, that you would grant us patience, that you would grant us the perseverance, that you would keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, may we endure trusting in him and him alone.
In your name we pray and all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s close our time today by rising and we’ll sing together hymn 464, Jerusalem the Golden, 464.
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