Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] People who need to hear the gospel and just get a little love every now and then. We have a summer packed with stuff that you can get involved in. If you are new to our church and you'd like to kind of get your hands into the mix, there's lots of things coming up. You can find out about all of them on the hub, but we have a very, very exciting and busy summer plan. Hopefully you'll get involved in that. One thing that we're starting right at the end of this month is called church at Bridgeway. Now, for all of our folks that are maybe a little not unfamiliar or maybe not as familiar with village church east, we have a ministry at this retirement home, convalescent home in Bensonville, and it's called Bridgeway. It's a wonderful community of believers and they gather. I meet with them every month on a Tuesday. We do a Bible study. We have a wonderful community there. A lot of them are online. Hello, Bridgeway. All you folks that are online with us today. And I wanted to let you know that we're starting church there.
[00:01:01] This new ministry is something that is going to be on a Thursday afternoon. We're going to, not everybody's free on a Thursday afternoon, but they are in need of having just a worship time together. And so we are able to put together a worship time for them on Thursday afternoon, later in the afternoon, and we're going to go over there and we're going to just basically do what we do here and do some music for them. We're going to do fellowship together with them. We're going to provide them with a message. I'm going to be there as often as I can to do a message for them. But when I'm not there, they're going to streamline the service from the week before, and they're going to watch that. But they're going to be doing church every single Sunday at Bridgeway Community. And if you would like to start praying for them first and foremost, that would be wonderful because they would like to expand their ability to impact their community. And so we would love to see new folks come out, be part of this, join that church, and for that church over there to grow. And we're going to do everything we can to make that happen. So I'm going over there as often as I can. We're going to put a team together to go help them serve and get the fellowship going and songs and all of those things. And we are going to be basically doing church at Bridgeway. If you would like to get involved in that. Diane is leading that ministry. Where are you, Diane? There she is, right there with her hand up. So this is Diane. She'll also be at the table afterwards handing out gifts for our moms. Chocolate covered strawberries. And if you would like to, or if you're a lady, all ladies get a chocolate covered strawberry today. But if you would like to ask her about it, that's where she will be. And you can get some information about church at Bridgeway. We are excited about providing a church service to these wonderful folks that just are desperate to worship the Lord just like we are. And we are anxious to be able to join hands with them and help them do that. So church at Bridgeway. Be praying about it. If you'd like to ask about becoming a part of the team, going over there every Thursday, see Diane, and she'll be able to let you know what the schedule is like. All right, that starts on June. The first Thursday in June, whatever that Thursday is.
[00:03:17] All right. All right. First and foremost, next to the fact that we're here to worship Jesus, we're here to honor our moms. So happy Mother's Day, all you moms. We are excited for you. I just want to take a moment and say how much you are appreciated.
[00:03:34] We bless and celebrate our moms. This is completely biblical. Proverbs 31, you probably know some of these verses, talks about this amazing mom figure that God gives us in our lives. Proverbs 31 25 says this strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the future. We have these verses, I think, up there, Callie, she laughs at the future. I love that.
[00:03:59] Her demeanor is absolutely optimistic. She opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. And so, moms, I want to echo the verses that we just read and say, you are appreciated. You are honored. For Beth and I, we have grown up or served in different churches where we have some ladies that didn't have children of their own for one reason or another. And they have been wonderful moms to our children. And a lot of you ladies have this wonderful, like, built in ability to just serve in a very unique way to kids. And I just want to say thank you. I find it very interesting that no matter how much time a dad puts his life into his son's life, spends time going to the football games, paying for the football, paying for all of the lessons, the baseball and all of that. And the minute you get a home run or the minute you get a touchdown and the camera goes into the face of the kid that makes the touchdown, the first thing they say is, hi, mom, not the dad.
[00:05:15] Mother's Day is a gamut of emotion. Some of us don't have our moms around anymore. Some of us are missing those that we have come to appreciate and love so much. But we do thank God for our moms. Remember our moms who left us. Bless the moms who are still with us. And we intentionally redeem the time that we have because our moms are a blessing given to us directly from God. And so I'd like to pray for our moms today online.
[00:05:41] If you would like to join me. I'd like to ask God to bless you. Let's pray.
[00:05:45] Father, I'm grateful for our moms.
[00:05:48] I'm grateful that you have given us these wonderful examples of sacrifice and love through our lives. You have blessed us with these figureheads, and they don't always do everything perfect, but they are consistent examples of what it means to love unconditionally. And so I just pray, Father, that you would bless the moms that are still on the job today. Some have small little children and have not slept for years. Some have had. Some have older children. And all of us have a mom that we love and appreciate. And so for all the moms that have blessed our lives, may you watch over them. May you give them wonderful blessings today. Help them to know that they are honored and that they have graced our lives in ways that we are not able to thank them for. For their picture of sacrifice and their portrait of love. May you encourage them and may you give them super strength in Jesus name to keep doing what you've called them to do. Thank you, Father, for that blessing in our lives and ask that you would use this day to let them know they are greatly appreciated. In Jesus name. Amen.
[00:07:03] All right, I would like for you to name a song for me. You ready for this? I'm going to give you the lyrics and you tell me what the name of the song is. Right. And if you get it, like, right off, like you're one of those super smart people and you're like, I know it right away. Don't blurt it out. Let everybody kind of catch up. All right, I'm going to give you a couple of different lines. Here we go. Imagine there's no countries.
[00:07:26] It isn't hard to do nothing to kill or die for, and no religion to you already got it, don't you imagine all the people living life in peace. Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger a brotherhood of man. You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
[00:07:49] I feel like you have to play it now.
[00:07:52] I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as Juan? Who is it?
[00:07:58] John Lennon. That's right. The song is imagine. And you may not know this, but Lennon composed the song in one session, sitting at his grand piano, his white grand piano at his estate in England on May 1971.
[00:08:16] It was a first smash hit that Lennon wrote, that shot by himself to the top of the charts by the end of the year. Bono said this song was the whole reason he started his career in singing Elvis Costello, which you may or may not know. He was a lifelong Lennon fan. He wrote a song, the other side of summer, in which he sang these lyrics. Wasn't it a millionaire who said, imagine no possessions?
[00:08:44] Interestingly enough, it was a millionaire who wrote this song.
[00:08:47] He was a man who owned a custom painted Rolls Royce that he never actually drove.
[00:08:54] Listen, our world could get easily lost in what a true, peaceful world looks like. What does a one world look like that lives in peace? No war, no possessions. All the things that Lenin talked about. A perfect utopia. These days, we would say that place would have no walls, no gates, no nations, no possessions. Certainly it would have no antiquated beliefs and consequences for evil behavior. It would have no religion, it would have no heaven. Those things only divide. It certainly would not have a judgment place called hell. Certainly there would be no rulers, no one to have possessions and lord them over other people power or possessions, and certainly no personal ownerships. I feel like I'm saying pee a lot.
[00:09:40] No possessions, no personal ownership.
[00:09:44] Interestingly enough, the Bible does talk about life eternal, and it is very interesting. And I think Lenin and us these days would be very surprised at what life in eternity looks like. It may shock us to find out what is there and what isn't there. So let me prep you for this morning before we jump in. All right.
[00:10:10] We have a tendency to talk about the end of our lives and leave it like the last chapter of the book is unread. Have you ever read a book and you just put it down and you left the last chapter and it just eats away at you until you get back to it and you read that last chapter because you got to know how it all ends. Like there has to be some conclusion, some reconciliation at the end. We have a tendency, in church circles, we have a tendency to talk about heaven as the end. Heaven is not the end.
[00:10:38] Heaven is only a portion of the end. But until you read the last chapter, the story is not finished. Most of the Bible, it may shock you. Most of the Bible talks about what eternity is going to be like, and it does not talk about heaven. As a matter of fact, a lot of the Bible, in the majority of the Bible, heaven is talked about a very, very little bit.
[00:11:05] The majority of what the Bible talks about is the eternal kingdom. It is not heaven. And so this morning, what I'd like to do is I'd like to read that last chapter with you. I'd like to talk about what life is like after this life, because most of the Bible, in almost every book of the Bible, there's a portion of it that talks about life eternal, and it's not talking about heaven. And this is why when Peter writes to us and we're doing this series in two, Peter, Peter writes to us and he says, stay awake, pay attention.
[00:11:39] Listen, this is really, really important. It's where our hope is, because Jesus will come and our time here will end, and we will begin a new place in a new body. So I only have one verse to talk to you about in two. Peter three. Peter, three. And it's verse 13 today. And then we're going to talk about a lot of other verses in the Bible that talk about what eternity will be like. Here's where we land in two. Peter, verse 13. But according to his promise, we are waiting for what church?
[00:12:14] New heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells.
[00:12:19] This is what we're waiting for. According to his promise, we are not waiting for heaven. Heaven is not a new earth, and it is not a new heavens. Heaven is heaven. It's totally different. The entire Bible talks about this new earth. Peter is not beginning a new concept. And in this new earth, there will be. You ready, John Lennon fans? There will be plots of land, walls, gates, houses, vineyards, land that we work, kings, rulers, wealth that is celebrated and shared, geographical divisions of the planet. And there will be buying and selling.
[00:13:00] This is what the new earth will look like.
[00:13:04] This may shock you. It is the ploy of the Antichrist to develop a world where there are no kings except one him.
[00:13:14] Right. He will be the one ruler. It's a ploy of the Antichrist to get rid of all other rulers. It's a ploy of the Antichrist that there be no nations, no walls, no gates, no boundaries, no personal authority over property.
[00:13:28] That is what the Antichrist will try and push.
[00:13:32] But as far as we are concerned, when we look at the new earth, when we receive our resurrected bodies, a lot of life, it may shock you to know, will be just like life is right now. Right here. It'll look very similar.
[00:13:47] Here's an easy template to follow.
[00:13:50] Everything is made to function in the end. Excuse me. As when it was made to function at the beginning.
[00:13:59] So when God started the clock with Adam and Eve, that is the world that God created and nothing was evil in it. That is the world that will be restored at the end.
[00:14:11] 99% of extent species will all be back. The T rex will be back. I think that'll be cool, don't you?
[00:14:21] The T rex. Everything will come back more glorious than before. The two foot dragonfly will be back. Ancient scorpions that stood tall on their back legs, they will be back. Megacrockodiles, they will be back. But they won't eat you.
[00:14:36] God never loses anything. Whatever sin has stolen from this planet will be restored.
[00:14:43] Work.
[00:14:45] Was Adam given work to do? Yes or no? Yes. Will we be given work to do? Yes. I'm out.
[00:14:54] Yeah, we'll be given work to do. Will there be boundaries? Was there boundaries for Adam in the garden? Yes. There would be boundaries for us in the new earth? Rule. Was Adam given the ability to rule over a parcel of land? Yes. Rule the earth and subdue it. Right. We will be given the same responsibilities. Be careful about taking your negative influence or negative experiences of this life and translating them into the end, because they are not the same thing. For instance, I cannot grow grass.
[00:15:22] Not the bad grass. I just can't grow grass. All right.
[00:15:28] For the life of me, I can't grow it. I pay money for the bags of grass, I spread it on the ground, I rake the ground, I water it. Then I forget to water it. It dies. Or my dogs run all over it and it dies. Or the birds come and eat it and it's gone. I cannot grow grass for the life of me because the land works against me. But there will be a time when the land works for us and I will once more be able to grow grass.
[00:15:57] The genesis curse is that the sweat of our brow is what pulls us. It's why we groan when we work.
[00:16:06] So the land will work for us and relationships will work for us as well. There will be no temptations, no shame, no hidden flaws, no sin to wear us down any longer. In fact, the Old Testament is full of pictures of this new earth. Here's just one out of Isaiah 25 six. On this mountain, the lord of hosts will make for all the peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well aged wine, of rich food, full of marrow. I don't know marrow, but of aged wine, well refined.
[00:16:45] We will be living in this world where the earth will work for us, and we will be drinking and eating for all eternity, but not gaining it. Here, you want to know one of my favorite verses that talks about the end times? The new earth. Ezekiel 47 says that there will be many fruit trees that bear fruit constantly, and fishermen that fish from the rivers that are full of fish.
[00:17:13] One of the best passages, I think, in the New Testament that talks about this new earth is found in revelation, chapter 21.
[00:17:21] 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. This is not, by the way, a new heaven, like a brand new created planet. This is a new heaven and a new earth. Meaning that you've never experienced anything like this before.
[00:17:42] All the impurities and all the sin has been burned off. This is brand new, something you've never imagined. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This is the place, I believe, where Jesus said in John 14, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am, there you may be also. This new Jerusalem will be coming down out of heaven. This will be a place. Maybe this is heaven as we know it now, that will come down to earth, but this will be a place that has boundaries, where we will go, called the New Jerusalem.
[00:18:21] We can go and we can come there as often as we want.
[00:18:25] Verse three. 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. Listen, this was always the plan of God. The plan of God was never to get Adam and Eve to come to him. The plan of God was always to come to us. This is theologically relevant to whatever your theology is.
[00:18:53] When God created the world, he created it as a gift to Adam and Eve, and he came and walked with them in the garden. Remember that in the Old Testament, when sin entered in and God wanted to be with his people, he tabernacled with them. He came down to them in a pillar of salt in a pillar of cloud by day and a fire pillar by night. God was showing them he was with them. He didn't call them to be with him. He went down to be with them. When Jesus came to us, he was called God with us. Immanuel. God with us. God came to be with us in the person of Jesus Christ. And now that we know Christ as our savior, we have the Holy Spirit living within us. God is with us.
[00:19:39] And in the end, when all is restored, we don't go to be with him. He comes to be with us.
[00:19:48] We are not made for heaven. We are made for earth.
[00:19:53] One day, heaven will be turned into a physical place for physical beings to live on. Death is a disruption of this plan. So heaven was created as a place we go to immediately when we are separated from our bodies here. But one day, we will be restored to this planet, and God will come and be with us. Then, verse four. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
[00:20:21] Right, Scotty? This is the day we're looking for, right? And death shall be no more.
[00:20:27] Neither shall there be mourning or crying or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Former things are all things that have been impacted by sin. Former things are not kings and nations and work and boundaries. That's not former things. There's everything that has been tainted by sin will be gone. Verse 23. And the city has no need of a sun or moon to shine in it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the lamb.
[00:20:59] God's glory will be enough to. We need to move forward. Verse 23. Callie, just keep following along with me. The city has no need of sun or moon to shine in it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the lamb. The glory of God will be enough to dispel any darkness while there is no need for the sun. I do believe, and I differ with some pastor friends of mine on this, but I do believe there will be sun. I believe there will be seasons, which requires a sun to happen. I tell you that because in revelation 22 two, it says this in the middle of the street of the city, also on the other side of the river, the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. So there will be a passing of time. We'll be able to track time here. The leaves of the trees were for the healing of nations back to revelation 21 24. By its light, the nations will walk. The kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. So church in the new kingdom will there be nations. Yes, yes. Will there be kings?
[00:22:06] Yes, it says it very clearly. There will be cities or a city, at least the new Jerusalem. And in Hebrews 1116, it says this. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Cities are not evil, but cities. There will be a city in the end time with no sin in it. There will be dwelling places in these cities. Again, back to John 14.
[00:22:35] In my father's house are many rooms, mansions, dwelling place, whatever you want to call it. There are dwelling areas.
[00:22:43] We will have dwelling areas. Luke 16 nine says, we will be welcomed into our eternal dwelling. We sing songs about mansions. I don't know if we're going to have a mansion or a shack. Quite frankly, I don't care. Just the fact that I'm there will be enough rulers will be there. Daniel seven says, the kingdoms of this earth will be handed over to the people who worship the most high. All of the kingdoms of this earth will be redeemed from their sin, and they will be given these sections to the children of God, to those who follow Jesus Christ, and we will rule different areas. Albert Walters says it this way. Humankind, who has botched its original mandate, is given another chance in Christ. We are reinstated as God's managers on earth. The original good creation is to be restored. Jesus, by the way, told us we're going to have ruling abilities. Jesus himself. These words come from his mouth. In Matthew 1928, Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, in the new world, the new earth, the kingdom where the son of man will sit on his glorious throne. You who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones. And what will they be doing? Church judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
[00:24:01] There will be kings, there will be rulers, there will be managers. You will have a job position again, don't take your bad influences of this world, the bad experiences, and put it on that one right. You'll enjoy your job and you'll love your boss.
[00:24:17] Verse 25 and its gates revelation 21 25 its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there church will there be gates in the new kingdom? And what do you need for gates to stand up? You need walls. There will be gates. There will be walls. Why are there walls and gates that never close? I dont know. It doesnt make any sense to me. But im not arguing with whats written.
[00:24:42] God doesnt fear boundaries. Boundaries are not sinful. The tree was a boundary that God gave Adam and Eve, and they broke that boundary, but God made the boundary. Boundaries are not sinful. Verse 26. They will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations. Glory and honor is another word for commerce. In other words, in verse 24 and 26, these people who own these plots of land will be bringing something to God that they build, make, raise, grow. Whatever they will be bringing it as a tribute to God. There will be something of value to offer God in. Thanks again. It talks about this in Isaiah 60. I told you we're going to be jumping around to a lot of verses. Isaiah 63 all nations shall come to your light, kings, to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around and see. They will gather together. They will come to you. The wealth of the nations come to you. This is talking about the new kingdom. We will be these rulers, and the people they rule over will be putting something together and bringing them as gifts to God on a regular basis.
[00:25:50] Isaiah shares more light on what we'll be doing there in verse 21 of chapter 65, they shall build what church.
[00:25:58] They shall build houses and they will inhabit them. And they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. In other words, we will be working the soil and we will be building houses.
[00:26:10] We will have houses. I don't know why, but they're going to be there. And what we build, what we create, we will enjoy. And what we grow, we will enjoy. And we will want to share. Whatever we grow, whatever we have.
[00:26:24] There will also be some kind of mining on the new earth. Isaiah 66. They shall bring gold and frankincense. They shall bring good news and praises to the Lord. Well, you get gold out of the earth. So there's going to be some sort of digging in the earth and bringing gold, riches to God.
[00:26:44] There will be purpose in work. It won't be empty. It won't be sin tattered. It will be for the glory of God.
[00:26:53] Interesting, huh?
[00:26:55] So life there in the new kingdom will look a lot like life here. Except there will not be any sin. You couldn't sin if you wanted to. And nobody will hurt you ever again.
[00:27:07] What will we be like? What will our bodies be like? Remember, death is a disruption of God's plan. Our souls, our spirits were never meant to be separate from this body. Yet I do. Funerals of people who serve God, and we put the body in the ground, but the spirit is somewhere else. That was never meant to occur. We are meant to be body, soul and spirit, all in the same person at the same time.
[00:27:35] We are not made for heaven, we are made for earth.
[00:27:39] Heaven is where we go because of sin, because sin comes into the world. Sin brings death. So death passes to all people because all have what church? We die because of sin. We are separated from our bodies because we live in a sinful world. But one day, and this is our hope, we will be resurrected so that we have a new body and our spirits will be united. Our souls will be united to our bodies. That's why we say absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. In this day and in this age. The only time a body and spirit are separated is at the time of death. But in the new kingdom, no more death.
[00:28:20] Second Corinthians five one. Let me give you a couple of verses, for we know that if the tent that is our earthly home, that's our earthly body, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. In other words, if we die now because we live in a sin tainted world, heaven is our destination immediately.
[00:28:43] But how can a physical body live in a spiritual state forever? It can't.
[00:28:49] That's why the Old Testament and the New Testament speak about a resurrection. Our bodies and souls will be united together again. Our molecules on this planet, wherever they end up, whether they're burned up or they just wear out or something terrible happens to them, whatever the molecules of your body are right now, and wherever they are in this planet right now, if you know Christ as your savior will one day we'd be united and you will receive a new body.
[00:29:17] John 528 says this, don't marvel at this. For an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and they will what church they will come out. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. You will see your body again, your soul that goes to be in heaven right now, which we know very little of, your soul and your body will be reunited and you will arrive before God either to be welcomed into his eternal kingdom or to be judged and spend eternity apart from him in hell.
[00:29:55] By the way, Jesus talks about hell way more than he talks about heaven. Did you know that? My guess is because he doesn't want you to go there.
[00:30:05] One day dead bodies will be reunited with their spirits, some to life eternal with Jesus and some to judgment.
[00:30:13] These new bodies, this new body will be much like the body we have on this earth. It won't be like getting a new car when you ditch an old car, it'll be like a transformation that occurs where your new body looks very much like your old body. It's an important part of who we are. John Piper says it this way. The old body will become a new body, but it will still be your body. There will be continuity. God is able to do what we cannot imagine. The resurrection is not described in terms of a totally new creation, but in terms of a change of the old creation. So whatever is, I am sans a gallbladder right now. I get my gallbladder back at some point.
[00:30:57] Most of what we know about this graciously given eternity is because Jesus Christ rose from the dead. I mentioned this last week. Jesus rose from the dead and stuck around for 50 days. He did this for a couple of reasons, but one big reason is because he wants us to know what our eternal body is going to look like. He wants us to realize what we are going to be like in eternity. Is Jesus body in his tomb?
[00:31:27] No, of course not. He is in heaven, right? You couldn't find his body on the planet us. However, we will be separated when we die, and there will be a resurrection day when our bodies and our souls are reunited.
[00:31:41] And we will live with Jesus in a body just like his.
[00:31:45] Here's why I say that. Here's a couple of different passages. Romans six five. For if we have been united with him in death like his, that's salvation. In other words, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Philippians 320. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like whose glorious body? Church like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself. Notice Jesus was not raised to heaven. He was raised to earth. He walked around. His new body, had the capacity to do all the things that our bodies normally do. So let's play a little game. You tell me what we will be doing in our new bodies based on what Jesus did in his body. You ready? Here's a little game. Will we eat?
[00:32:43] Yes. How do you know that?
[00:32:45] Jesus ate.
[00:32:47] He ate on the beach. He ate. In fact, he cooked breakfast for the disciples. Will we sleep?
[00:32:54] I'm not sure on that one, because we're never told that Jesus slept after he resurrected. So I'm not quite sure. Maybe. Maybe not. Will we have a physical body that we can touch?
[00:33:04] Yes, because Jesus did. He looked at Thomas and he said, here, touch my.
[00:33:10] Touch the wounds in my hands and my son. Right. Will we speak?
[00:33:15] Yes, Jesus did. Will we wear clothes.
[00:33:19] Yes, Jesus did. Now, maybe we won't. Maybe we will. But he did when he rose from the dead. Otherwise, Mary, when she saw him at the tomb, would have said, what in the world is all right? So we would have seen something a little different there.
[00:33:32] Will we be see through?
[00:33:35] No, we will not. Will we be male and female?
[00:33:40] Yes, we will. Will we be able to fly?
[00:33:46] I don't know. Because Jesus ascended to heaven, right? Maybe we can fly. I don't know. Adam and Eve were not created to fly, but I don't know.
[00:34:00] Will we retain some of the molecular mass of our previous bodies?
[00:34:04] Yes. Jesus is not in the tomb, and you won't be either.
[00:34:09] Will we be able to walk through solid objects? Yes, probably.
[00:34:15] The reason I say that is because in the Bible, in John 2026, it says that the disciples were in the room, and it intentionally tells us it was locked from the inside, and Jesus appeared in the middle of them. So somehow he walked through the walls. I think that'll be cool. Listen, we don't know all the details, but we do know this. All the consequences and the effects of sin are gone.
[00:34:39] No disabilities, no flaws, no moles, no deformities, no depression, no addiction, no shame, no guilt, no sorrow.
[00:34:50] One corinthians 1513.
[00:34:53] Why is this important? Because, church, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. See it there.
[00:35:02] If there's no resurrection of the dead, if you can't hope for this, then Jesus is still in the tomb.
[00:35:07] And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is, what?
[00:35:12] In vain? And our faith is in vain. In fact, the next verse, one of the next verses in one corinthians 15, said, listen, if none of this is true, eat, drink and be merry, because tomorrow you die. Did you know that's in the Bible?
[00:35:33] Without heaven and the future resurrection, there is no hope. No hope for a future. And by the way, if this is true, if it isn't true, life is hopeless. If it is true, ignoring it is dire consequences.
[00:35:53] Revelation 2015 if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
[00:36:02] If it is true, ignoring it is to your own peril.
[00:36:09] Only those who belong to Jesus live here.
[00:36:13] Nothing unclean will ever enter this place again. Jesus blood has to wash you clean to get to this place.
[00:36:22] And if you've never accepted Christ's blood to wash away your sins, you should do that today, because you don't know when your end will come. It'll come like a thief in the night.
[00:36:37] The bottom line is the activities of the millennial kingdom will be activities of the new earth, just without sin ever messing it up.
[00:36:47] So what? A couple of so whats for you? Number one, live life with purpose. Gods plan for you has and will never change, even though sin attempts to ruin it for you. Genesis begins with chapter one, not with chapter three. Chapter three is where sin is introduced. Chapter one and chapter two are wonderful passages to read with Adam and Eve. They are meant to do what we are meant to do in eternity, enjoying our creation that God has given to us and walking with Jesus for all eternity.
[00:37:20] Why does God talk to us so much about the resurrection to come? Well, Paul explains it in one corinthians 15. Therefore, my beloved brothers, in verse 58, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in main church. If you've got a job somewhere, if you're serving at this church, if you're a mom, happy Mother's day again. If you are a dad, you be the best worker, the best father, the best husband, the best mom, the best wife, the best servant, the best student. You're the best at whatever you do because you're working for the Lord and your labor is not in vain.
[00:37:59] Whatever you do here matters.
[00:38:04] Because the way we live life here is what we're saying. We are going to live life like there.
[00:38:11] Redemption begins now. That's why everything you do in this life matters. We're going to talk a little bit more about that next week. Number two, redemption is the restoration of all things. Think of all the things that won't exist in the new kingdom.
[00:38:26] Door locks, airbags, police, prisons, orphanages, weapons, manufactures. None of that stuff will be in the new earth. All these things will be gone. Sin is so interwoven into our reality, it's hard for us to think about life and what will happen without sin influencing it or us. But one day, all these things will be gone and we will be free in our redemption in Jesus Christ.
[00:38:50] Redemption in Jesus Christ reaches as far as anything that was influenced in the fall. Nothing is lost. Listen to this. Restoration simply means God gets it all back.
[00:39:02] He loses nothing.
[00:39:04] Sin takes nothing away from God. Restoration equals God gets it all back.
[00:39:12] I got a slide there so you can follow. I think I put that up there. Yeah, there it is. The imperishable is sown. It is raised new. Listen, emotionally, no depression, no suicide, no anxiety, no trauma, gone physiologically, no schizophrenia, no narcissism no Tourette's, no body dysphoria, no gender dysphoria. It's all gone. Spiritual unbelief, doubt, skepticism gone satan, demons, discouragers, liars, gone socially gun violence, abuse, poverty, war, racism, deceptions, sexual immorality, prisons, torture, all gone relational grudges, vengeance, gossip, slander, broken relationships, gone physiological cancer is gone blindness is gone Als is gone car accidents are gone poisoning, malaria, obesity, anorexia, all gone heart attacks, gone. Abraham Kuyper says it this way. There's not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ does not cry. Mine.
[00:40:18] He gets it all back.
[00:40:20] The total work of God in redemption is that the entire earth, the entire planet, and we, our bodies, are restored.
[00:40:30] I give you this one verse in Romans, chapter eight, a few verses in this chapter. For the creation waits. Listen to these words with eager longing for the revelation of the sons of God.
[00:40:42] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it. In hope. That's Adam.
[00:40:50] But in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage and corruption to obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. And not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit. We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope, we were saved.
[00:41:15] You looking forward to the new kingdom? That's good, because that means you are a hopeful person.
[00:41:21] Paradise lost will be paradise regained. Last thing I wanted to tell you is this. And this is how we started. Do not preach the gospel and leave out the important parts.
[00:41:32] Read the last chapter.
[00:41:35] Jesus did come to rescue us from our sin. Jesus does love you enough not to leave you behind. Jesus did die for you because that was the price required for your soul.
[00:41:47] But Jesus rose from the dead to show you what life will be like for you in the new kingdom as you live life with him. We need to stop painting the picture of fat cherubs and see through angels as our final destination. I don't know about you, but I'm not really looking forward to that. What I am looking forward to is my resurrected body back. None of this more up here.
[00:42:16] I can eat. I can be with my loved ones. I can enjoy music. Can you imagine a musician that practices for eternity?
[00:42:27] I'm looking forward to new colors, new paintings, new ways that we use our gifts that God has given us here, but without sin to influence them. You don't have a prayer of offending anybody. It doesn't happen there, you couldn't sin if you wanted to.
[00:42:42] And we will do this for all eternity.
[00:42:46] Families together for eternity. Drinking, eating, enjoying company, time spent with loved ones. And listen, I know this world says that's a fairy tale, but I have to tell you, as you have seen this morning, and I could have given you a lot more verses in scripture, because the Bible talks about this over and over and over again, because in this hope, we have been saved.
[00:43:13] This is why the topic is essential to our understanding of the gospel, because without this, the story is not complete. This is our hope. This is what we cling to now when the suffering of this world weighs us down. This is what we cling to when we go to the doctor's office and he uses the c word for the very first time. This is what we cling to when we sit beside the bedside of somebody we love and we think to ourselves, there's no way they're going to make it. We cling to this hope not because it's a fairy tale, but because God talks about it over and over and over, over and over again. Sin steals all that from us. God restores it back to us.
[00:43:55] And you've got to make your life right with Jesus if you're going to be on the right side of this in the end, because some, as you heard, will be raised to life with him and some will be raised to judgment. And you can know what side you were on just by visiting this little prayer booth right after the service took. It only takes five minutes of your time. And you can know tonight when you lay your head on your pillow, if your life is taken like a thief in the night, you go to be with Jesus now, and one day you'll be resurrected from the dead and you will get your body back in a much better form where you will live with him for all eternity.
[00:44:33] This is the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:44:39] CS Lewis said it this way. By the way, CS Lewis was an atheist. I don't know if you knew that.
[00:44:45] He gave his life to Jesus and became one of the finest theological scholars of the early 19 hundreds. And here's what he said. He wrote lion, witch and the wardrobe. He wrote these. Some of the movies turned into movies these days.
[00:45:03] This is one that he wrote in his book called the last battle. Here's what he says.
[00:45:09] These children.
[00:45:11] These children, by the way, if you know the chronicles of Narnia, these children are transported into the new earth, and then they're transported back and they kind of go to an extra planetary place and they get glimpses into heaven.
[00:45:29] They walk through the whole story of the death and the resurrection of Jesus and the person of Aslan, who's a lion. You may or may not know this story. You should. It's a really good story.
[00:45:40] But in the end, the children find out that they're not going back to the Shadowlands anymore.
[00:45:48] A terrible accident has occurred. And they're not going to go back.
[00:45:51] They're going to stay with Aslan. They're going to stay in this place.
[00:45:55] And as they find out, they're going to stay in this place. A tragic accident occurred in the Shadowlands, the real world. And they find out that they're going to be with Aslan, this lion that's a representation of Jesus Christ for all eternity. Here's how Cs Lewis writes. And as he spoke, he no longer looked to them like a lion. But the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful, I cannot write them. And as for this, the end of all the stories, we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after and on the screen.
[00:46:27] But for them, it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been cover and the title page. Now, at last, they were beginning chapter one of the great story, which no one on earth has ever read, which goes on forever, and in which every chapter is better than the one before.
[00:46:49] This is our hope. This is the last chapter of the Gospel that gives us the reason to live life here now that matters, and life in eternity, with a hope that gives us a peace that passes understanding in this life.
[00:47:07] Let's pray.
[00:47:09] Father God, I am grateful that you have given us so much information about not only this life, but the life to come.
[00:47:21] Thank you. That your word is packed full with information about what life will be like. And because we just don't understand it. You gave us Jesus, who rose from the dead and stuck around for 50 days so that we could see what life, what bodies will be like in the new kingdom.
[00:47:42] We're anxious for that day if death comes first, or you may come before that, whatever happens. But when our bodies will be remade into a body like yours, we're anxious for those days.
[00:47:56] We're anxious for sin, not to mess our lives up anymore.
[00:48:00] We're anxious to see people we love.
[00:48:05] We're anxious to see people that have followed you, just confess you as their savior, that we will run and we will hug.
[00:48:16] We're anxious to have dinner around the table with people we know now and people will get to know them.
[00:48:24] We're anxious to see all of the children that have been torn from this life.
[00:48:32] We're anxious to see what you have for us.
[00:48:36] Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind can imagine the things that you have prepared for us. But we wait for it with anticipation. And in the meantime, we're anxious for you to use our lives in such a way that would bring you glory.
[00:48:53] Help us not to get stuck in this mud of life where we're just waiting for a paycheck or the weekend.
[00:49:00] But help us to actually live a life that matters, with a hope that it goes beyond this world and a purpose given to us by the one who made us.
[00:49:11] We give you thanks for all these promises because they are true and yes, in Jesus Christ. And we give you the most thanks for him because he loved us enough to die for us and give us a pathway back.
[00:49:25] If there's anyone here that doesn't know you as their savior, father, and they're lost in sin in this life, may you fix that for them today.
[00:49:35] Help them to kneel at the cross and give all their burdens to you. And may you give them a joy and a hope that they've never heard or seen before.
[00:49:47] I pray this all in Jesus name. Amen.
