Things That Will Not Be In The New Earth

I want you to turn in your Bible with me, Revelation chapter 21 this morning. I'm going to refer a lot to the book in the Old Testament, Isaiah, but we're going to read from Revelation chapter 21. I want to read, just jump through, read several verses here as we come to our message.

This is part eight in our short series, Searching for a City with Foundation. We embarked on this series in part one of Abraham searching for a city, not Jerusalem, not Hebron, certainly not Ur. He left Ur, and you know what? He began a journey looking for an eternal city, not of this world.

It is a spiritual city, but it's far more real than anything in this world. Never think because something's not of this world, it's not real. It's mystical.

It's out there somewhere. No, that's more real. It's eternal, perpetual, without end.

Since everything you know is going to perish one day on this earth, it's passing away. It's only here for a short time. You're going to live as a sinner in this world.

You better enjoy it. Go enjoy it to its full. You only have it for a fleeting moment.

It's like sand in your hands. It'll just fade away through your hands. Make the most of it.

It's all you ever have. But the Christian can live a life of sorrow, pain, heartache, trouble, persecution, even martyrdom, and yet he inherits eternal joy, everlasting abiding joy. That's reality.

I want to go to Revelation 21, and this is my message part eight here. It's a longer, bulkier sentence or title than I like, but how else can I convey what I'm going to preach this morning and what I'm going to give you as a title? Things you won't find in heaven and earth. Things you will not find.

Things you cannot find. Things you'll never find. Things that will never be there.

Things that are impossible to find there. I'm going to deal with them this morning because one of the best ways to show you what it's going to be like is to show you what it won't be like. So, before we even embark on me going through and showing you what eternity is like, what heaven now is like, what the new earth is going to be like, what the new Jerusalem is going to be like, I'm going to show you what it's not like, what won't get in there.

Reading from Revelation chapter 21 verse 1, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. Then verse 4, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

I want you to note as we read, just note in your own mind, what things does he say will not be there? What things does he say? And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon his throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Then read on down to verse 22. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

Verse 25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. And then over to chapter 22, reading from verse 3 to 5. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads.

And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Let's pray together. Father, we love you.

We praise you this morning. Lord God, as we're gathered around your table just rejoicing in your sacrifice and your son and sending him to die for sinners like us, we stand amazed. We stand in awe that we've been brought into something.

Lord God, not just salvation, Lord God, not just already what we have tasted of here in this world, but oh God, we have got a taste of the world to come, of the power of a different world. And Lord God, we realize that all we have is the down payment, that the Holy Spirit is the seal of redemption, that he indwells us, that he lives within us, that he opens up and reveals and teaches what is yet to come, what is the inheritance of the saints, what is stored up, what you have prepared for those that love you, that follow you, that fear you. My God, all we have done is merely tasted and found that the Lord is good.

But what a day when we feast on the deep things of God. What a day when we sit at your table in your kingdom with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and every saint of all the ages, of all nations. Lord God, and we sit and we feast in your presence, having arrived at our destination, which is in the presence of God.

Father, this morning show us what will never get into God's heaven. Show us what will never get into the new Jerusalem, what shall never darken or bring a shade upon the new heaven or the new earth. Give us such a vision, a glorious vision, that our sorrows now are passing, our failures now are momentary, that our sins that grieve our heart and quench the Holy Spirit are but for a moment.

My God, our wrestling against the devil, against the flesh, against the things of this world, against besetting sins. My God, it's only for a time, but it shall come to an end and never be any more again. My God, you said that those that overcome shall inherit all things and that all things shall become new.

Lord God, give us a taste, a vision, a thirst, a longing, a sight of it this morning by your grace and your mercy in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen.

My message as we look for this city, things that won't, you won't find in the new heaven and earth, things you won't find there, things you won't find in the new Jerusalem, they're not there. You could search, you won't find them. Not for all eternity will they ever appear again in God's city.

It says in Revelation 21 verse 1, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. As I bring you to this and go through this chapter, these two chapters, and just detail, and this is only a taste.

In fact, these things lead out in arms and legs, many branches to many other things. You'll find the things I'm going to deal with, they're fundamental. They're the essential things and many other things branch off them.

All the troubles and woes of this present world. But before I look at them, I want to bring you to this first thing found here in verse 1. The first heaven and the first earth. Notice what it calls them, the first.

It defines a certain kind of earth and a certain kind of heaven. Remember what we said, not God's heaven. Talking about the atmosphere around the planet, that's called heaven.

The atmospheric heaven. The second heaven is outer space, the universe. The third heaven is God's heaven.

And that's why Paul the apostle said, I was caught up to paradise, the third heaven. He called that the third heaven. But here, what you have in verse 1 is the apostle John speaking about the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.

Now, not passing away doesn't mean other annihilation or extinction of the atom. It doesn't mean that. I actually believe it means he's going to recreate it.

Listen to what God says about the various stages of the history of the earth. It says also in Revelation 20 and verse 11, and I saw a great white throne and him that sat upon it. This is the judgment at the end of time, the great white throne judgment.

When every sinner is going to stand before God. Sinners are in hell. They haven't stood judgment yet.

They're going to get resurrected to stand in judgment. And we're told that God is going to sit on a great white throne. It's a throne of judgment of every single sinner that has ever lived in all of history for 6,000 years.

And God is going to sit on this great white throne. And it says him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no more place for them.

So when God sits on the throne of judgment, the judgment is going to take place, but the heavens and the earth are going to flee away. Do you know what? They're going to run from the appearance of the living God. On that day, when God sits in judgment, the earth itself is going to pass away.

The earth is going to flee away from the very sight of a holy God sitting in judgment. Can you imagine how a sinner is going to feel if the universe, if the atmosphere, if the planets, if the earth itself, the physical earth is going to flee from the face of a holy God. Can you imagine what one sinner is going to feel? One feeble sinner who has already been in hell, who's about to get cast into the lake of fire.

Can you imagine them standing, thinking of opportunities they had to get born again, thinking of the love of God towards them, thinking of Christ stretching out all the day long, calling us to repentance. And yet they said, no, no, no. I love my sin.

I want my own way. Can you imagine the trembling in the presence of God? It's no wonder because it says heaven and earth flee away when God sits in judgment. This shows the time of the earth changing.

It shows the time when it's the end of the old world and it's the beginning of a new world. It's when God sits in judgment. There's going to be the end of the old earth.

It won't continue the same. There's coming a new earth. And listen, Jesus talks about this in Matthew 19 verse 28.

And Jesus said unto him, the 12 disciples, verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me, okay, yous that are following me now walking with me in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory. So Jesus is talking to people who now in this world suffer and follow him and forsake things in this world and have to fight temptation. And he says, listen to me, see you that follow me now in the regeneration when I sit on my throne.

He calls that time when he sits on his throne and comes in glory. He calls it the regeneration. Regeneration is a word we use for the born again experience.

You're regenerate. You become regenerated. That's being born again, saved by God's grace.

You know what it means? You become a new creature. You're being changed. You get a new spirit, a new heart.

Oh, I know there's still an old man there. Don't you know it? But you become a new creature in Christ. But look what he talks about the born again experience who meets Christ.

He talks about an experience when he sits on his throne, the regeneration. Do you know this regeneration? He's talking about the entire world. The entire world is the regeneration.

Romans chapter 8 deals with us. The earth now groans. It's groaning.

It's reeling. Do you know the entirety of creation is longing for a certain day? It realizes it has come under the fall. It is groaning for something new.

Saints of God, this is so real that Jesus talks about the regeneration. And the word regeneration, it means rebirth, the renovation, or the restoration of all things. Remember in Ephesians, he prophesies about a time coming, the restoration of all things the prophets ever spoke.

There's a time when it all happens. Everything's getting restored. Everything is being made new.

Everything gets cleansed and put right. There is a time when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back. Or listen to what Peter says about the same thing that's talked about in Revelation 21.

It says in 2 Peter 3-6, whereby, and he's talking about the flood, when sinners were destroyed in a flood. Listen to what he says. Whereby the world that then was, he calls it the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

Only eight were saved in the ark. Everyone else perished in a flood of judgment. They got a message preached.

Repent. Flee the wrath to come. Enter the ark.

God made provision. I provided an ark. I provided a place of safety, rescue, deliverance.

I'll protect you from the storm, the wrath that's to come. But you know what? Only eight entered into the ark. Everyone else mocked, laughed, scorned, disbelieved.

That was the old world. And you know what it says? That world, he calls it a different world before Noah. Was it the same earth? Was it the same planet after the flood? Of course it was, but it was renovated.

That was the old world. And so he says that old world perished, but yet it still existed. The word perished doesn't mean put out of existence.

It just, as it was in its old sinful state, it perished under the wrath of God, which came by way of water. God judged the entire world by water. But you know what he done with the world? He renovated it.

Everything broke open. The depths broke open. The waters above the earth broke open.

Everything changed the entire atmosphere. Everything completely was renovated. The flood renovated, reconfigured the entire planet.

Entire continents were refigured under the power of this. So Peter talks about the old world that perished in the flood. Then he goes a bit further.

But the heavens and the earth, which are now. Now Peter's talking about now. The heavens and the earth, which are now.

So he talked about Noah's day before the flood. That was then. That was the earth then.

That was the world then. But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. So look at this.

God is waiting to judge ungodly men. But at the time he does, he's going to judge this world again by fire. At the judgment of all sinners, he's going to judge this world.

But this time by fire. So you've got the old world. You've got the present world.

You've got two worlds now. The old world before the ark. The old world that was judged by water.

You know, Peter speaking here says you've now got the present heavens and earth, which are reserved on the fire. As they stand, they are set to a judgment. This world is heading for fire.

Everything is going to go in the fire. It's going to be judged not by water. This world will never be destroyed by water ever again.

Not by a flood, no matter how much it rains in Ireland. It is heading for judgment by fire and it's reserved to that. Just like sinners are.

Every sinner who dies in their sin is reserved to judgment by fire. God doesn't want any man to perish. The Bible says clearly he doesn't desire that any perish.

He desires that all come to repentance. That's what the Bible says. It says in Isaiah, he doesn't take any delight in the perishing or the loss of the wicked.

He will judge sinners, every sinner. He'll judge them, but his delight is not in that. And so it says in 2nd Peter chapter three and 10, and he goes further now, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which, and notice this, in the which the heaven, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements melt with fervent heat and the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.

The earth is going to be burnt up. So he talks about the old world. He talks about the present heaven and earth, and then he says this present heaven and earth, it's going to perish with fire.

Then listen to how he finishes this. Verse 13, nevertheless, we talk about the redeemed of the Lord, talk about the born again believer, those that fear God, that live righteously in this world. What does he say? Nevertheless, I'm telling you, this world is heading for fire.

Sinners are heading for judgment, just like in Noah's day. It's exactly the same. Then it was by water, now it's by fire.

All over our world are the marks of the great flood, the worldwide flood. Our entire world was engulfed. Everest was underwater.

I've been in the middle of Texas. You get signs in Texas, 600 miles that way to the next city, and you stay on that road and you drive 600 miles to your destination. It's extraordinary.

And I've been right in the middle of Texas. It's barren, it's dry, nowhere near the sea. And I picked up, I went out to a friend's, his sister's place, and we went out and there was these big boulders everywhere.

Fossils, massive fossils on stones all over. It's the back of beyond. We're not even near either Atlantic.

And here are massive fossils. I go, man, if I lived here, I'd be picking all these up. I'd be bringing a lorry, wanting to deposit them in my back garden.

But they're so common here, nobody lifts them. Saints of God, our entire world, you go to the highest mountains in South America, or you go into Europe, you will find fossils on the top of mountains. There was a worldwide flood, there was a judgment, but there's coming a fiery judgment upon this earth.

Now here in this chapter, Revelation 21, it says here in verse 1, John saw this, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. What does Peter say? Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Peter talks about the old world destroyed by water.

He talks about our present heaven and earth, which is going to be destroyed by fire. But he also talks about a new heaven and earth that is for those it's been promised to you. This is a promise in the Bible for you, a new heaven and a new earth, where it's going to be filled with righteousness, and it's for you.

You have a promise. You've been given it, God has made it. Now let me take you into the things in Revelation 21.

This new heaven, new earth, things that won't be there. Let me begin to define it to you, show, expound some of these verses, so you begin to understand. What does this new heaven and earth look like? I'm not going to tell you this morning what it looks like.

I'm going to tell you what it won't look like. I'll tell you what will never be there. I mean never be there.

It was in the old world of Noah. It's in our world now, the world of Peter and our world. It'll never get in that next world.

See, the world's going to get regenerated, renovated, reconstructed. You know, it's like your body. When you die, if you're a saint, your body lies in the grave.

It decays. That same body gets resurrected, not another. You don't just get a new human body, a new super body.

God's saying, here, take this. I just created. No, no, no, no.

He doesn't do that. You know what he does? He gathers the molecules. Only God can do that.

He raises your body from your grave where your body was laid. He'll go to the bottom of the ocean if it was dumped in the sea, and he will resurrect the molecules, put it together. That's what God's going to do with the world.

All of creation is going to go through fire. You know what? He reconstructs it again. Everything is changed by fire.

It's consumed by fire. The molecules, the elements of the earth are going to be melted with fire, but then out of that, he creates a third new world, and not a new world order, but it is a new world order, and I'm looking for this new world order. We're going to have a new heaven and a new earth.

We're going to have heaven on earth. So let me take you through these things. Some of them are very interesting.

Some of them are extremely vital. Number one, you'll find in verse one, right at the end of verse one, it seems like a very perchance statement, and there was no more sea. No more sea in the new heaven and earth.

This is the only one of the points you're going to go, oh, it's the only one that I go, are you sure, Lord? Can we not, Lord? Because it seems so endearing, but I want to promise you it's going to be far better than that. Anything you think's good about the ocean, it's going to be far better than that. God will never do less.

Eden was less than what he's going to make now. It says in Habakkuk chapter 2 and 14, the Old Testament, and the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Waters covering the sea is not for the new earth.

It's for this earth. And you know what? There's prophecies in the Old Testament about the millennium or Christ's coming reign on the earth when God's glory is going to cover the entire earth. The entire earth so thickly, it's going to be like waters covering the sea.

Now, how does waters cover the sea? A little bit. Waters cover the entire sea. That's what the sea is.

It's all water. That's how much water covers the sea. It's all water.

God prophesies in the Old Testament how that an hour, a day is coming with the glory of God. What's the glory of God? The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, of his character, the revelation of who he is. It's going to be so thick in our world across every nation.

It's going to be so thick and dominating. It's going to be like water covering the sea. Do you know what he's saying? Everything's going to be saturated with the knowledge of God.

But notice what it says. It's talking about a time when there's oceans. So it's not talking about the new heaven.

Do you see why in Revelation chapter 21 and verse 1, why would it even say a statement like there'll be no oceans? You know what you're getting? You're getting an indicator, a difference between the thousand-year millennial reign of Christ on the earth and of the eternal earth, the new earth to come. Because the millennium happens in the in the present earth. It's got oceans.

It's got seas. That's why you talk about the glory as the water covering the seas. Listen again to what Isaiah says in chapter 11 verse 9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in my holy mountain a prophecy about a coming time on the earth, on this earth.

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. I'm going to quote Isaiah an awful lot because Isaiah gives an awful lot of prophecy yet to come about our condition in the future, both during the thousand-year millennium and in eternity in the new earth. He prophesies about both many times.

Entire chapters are filled with prophecies. But you need to be able to distinguish between when is he talking about this world being covered with his glory and of all nations coming up to worship Christ at Jerusalem and when is he talking about the new earth? Do you know a key to this? There's no ocean. There is in the millennium.

There's no ocean in the new earth. It won't be there. And that's a very important prophecy, a very important statement because it's helping you to understand prophecy.

It's not a small statement. So when he says there was no more sea, see, we're going to see a glorious time prophesied. We'll come to it a bit more shortly.

But let me say for a moment about the sea or the ocean. The ocean covers about 71% of the entire earth's surface is just ocean. It's remarkable.

97% of all water on the planet is in the sea, the ocean. Our world is a massive water world. Our entire world is a massive water world.

Ever had kids they want to go to water world, go play with all the water. This world is a massive water world. God created it like this.

God created this present world with water, with ocean. It's vital that we have that amount of ocean. God intended it.

And yet you don't access very much of it at all. There are five recognized oceans. So the entire ocean, there is only one ocean.

There is only one United Sea. The salt water actually maneuvers through our entire world, all the continents. There is only one sea.

But we recognize for understanding five different oceans. There's the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, and now they've coined the Southern Ocean, which they didn't used to have on maps. They're now putting it on maps.

But when you come to the sea, it's remarkable. Do you realize the depths of the sea is a bit like outer space? They haven't even begun to investigate the depths of the sea. You'd think they would with all the technology, they understand it all.

No, they do not. I'm present with all of our technology, only about 25% or maybe 20% of the floor bed of the oceans have been mapped, but not investigated, only vaguely mapped by technology from a great distance. They actually claim that there's an estimated 1 million species in the ocean.

Two-thirds of these we have never discovered. No human eye has ever seen two-thirds of these species. They've never been found.

There's an entire world under the ocean that mankind knows nothing about. It hasn't been there. It can't even get close.

And the average depth of the ocean is four kilometers. I could keep going giving you estimates and facts and figures about the ocean, but you know what? Again, like we did on Wednesday night about outer space and the universe, I give you facts and figures It is immense. I want you to see that you could take Everest and all the highest mountains in our world, put them in the deepest parts of the ocean, and they still wouldn't stick up above the water.

It is so immense that all the high places could go in the ocean. It wouldn't affect much of anything. It is an unbelievable depth, and yet man can only go so far in the water before his lungs burst, before his brain would burst, his body cannot function.

Even with technology, there's only so far you can go. So there's only so far you can go high into the atmosphere until you can't breathe anymore. You go to the highest mountains, you begin to struggle because God's created it that way.

There's only so far you can go into the ocean without being in danger. Even with equipment, you've got to be so careful. You could kill yourself if you don't know what you're doing.

So God has created it. Look, there's only so far you can go down, only so far you can go up. God has created this earth perfectly for you and I to live in.

Why would God create the ocean? So you think the ocean is perfect. You think the ocean is a beautiful thing, and you'd wanted a new heaven and a new earth. Why did God create an ocean? There is a reason.

Do you know that the ocean is a massive recycling factory? That's literally what it is. It recycles everything. It keeps our world safe and healthy and functioning.

About 85% of our oxygen comes from the oceans. It regulates the entire heat and temperature and climate of the continents. The oceans draw in heat.

They would scorch us. It preserves us. It protects us.

It also provides food, medication. There's certain things in the sea you won't find anywhere else. It's for your health.

They have found many things good for cancer. It's in the ocean. The ocean is filled with medicinal things, salts, minerals, vitamins.

It is all there. God has created the sea like this. And then just take our modern technology and trade.

With America, 75% of all of their trade gets carried to them and from them by the ocean. Not by planes. It's still the ocean is the main means of conveyance all around our world.

It's the means of trade. And you see it again in Revelation 18. Remember all the merchants of the earth with their boots? And when they see judgment come in Babylon, they cry.

The merchants, the shipmen, the businessmen. Saints of God, there is no sea in the new heaven and earth because you don't need a recycling factory. Don't worry, Christians.

It's going to be beautiful. You're going to enjoy. You're going to swim.

I believe there's going to be rivers and lakes and locks and water places and streams and rivers beyond imagination. Waterfalls, springs, everything. But you know what? Our God is going to design it.

At the moment, you can't even touch on a portion of this ocean. But you know what? When God finishes, you'll have access to every beautiful thing. You'll see all those species for yourself.

It won't be hidden in the depths of the sea anymore. But you know what? God is going to make it available for you to see. So in the new heaven and earth, there is no more ocean because there's no corruption.

There's no pollution. There's nothing wrong with the planet. At the minute, we need the ocean to recycle, keep everything going.

That's the first thing. Now, with the next things I'm going to mention, they're terrible things. God is going to show you that none of the heartache, troubles, the bad things of this world are going to get into the new earth.

They will not be there. He lists them in verse four. Listen carefully.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Look what happens when God sits in judgment and judges sinners. What does he do to the saints? He doesn't judge them.

He doesn't punish them. What's he going to do in that day as we enter the new earth? He wipes away all tears. He doesn't just say tears, all tears.

Do you know what that means? God notes every single individual tear. One individual tear in your cheek, he notes that. He hasn't missed one of your tears.

You think, oh God, why don't you answer me? Why don't you see me? Why don't you hear me? Saints, he saw every tear, every individual tear. But he doesn't wipe them away now. He can comfort you.

He can help you. He can bless you. He can change your circumstance.

He can do something for you. He can make you rejoice and be glad. But it's not the day of wiping away tears yet.

There is an ultimate day when all tears get wiped away. The word wiped away means to be blotted out, put out of existence, removed, never to be seen again. Who does it? God does it, not an angel, not another redeemed saint, not the apostle Paul, not the prophet Moses, none of these.

God himself will literally wipe away your tears, every single tears. Did I not see you sitting in darkness weeping your tears? Did I not bleed for those tears? We have a God who cares. It says in Psalm 56 and 8, this is David writing, thou tellest my wonderings.

Put thou my tears in thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? Do you see there's not only a bottle for your tears. There's a book where God writes your tears, marks it down.

Do you think he misses anything? No, he doesn't. Oh, but it didn't change. He never missed anything.

But see, this world is a world of sorrow. There are heartaches here. There are many tears.

I've cried so many tears at times I thought it's impossible for me to ever cry again. Then I cry again, bountifully. See your tears when you cry, those tears are chemically different than when you cry from joy.

You ever laughed so much at something, you split your sides and you cry. That's a different kind of tear. That's not the same tear.

It's chemically different. It has a different makeup. And so there's a book here that records your tears.

He then says, when I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. This I know for God is for me. So look, his tears are over his enemies.

His tears are running down. God's recording them in his book. God is keeping them in his bottle.

When you begin to read the Bible, you read of these tears that get caught many times. Do you remember Mary and Martha crying over Lazarus? Christ steps in and does a miracle. He reverts their sorrow.

He turns their tears into laughter. It's an amazing miracle. But those tears are real.

Those tears are genuine. Their hearts broke over their brother. More than that, who else cried? Jesus cried.

Jesus wept. The shortest verse in the Bible. Hey, he knows.

You know, lots of people say, oh, he cried over their unbelief. I don't believe that. I believe he had the fullness.

See, he was alive. Christ had all the fullness of emotion and feeling. He knew he was going to raise him.

He knew that. He knew he had the power. He knew his father was going to answer.

But do you know what? His heart broke for his friend. His heart broke over Mary and Martha. It's a natural emotion.

Tears are normal. It's a God-given emotion. And so you have situations like that.

Oh, you have Jeremiah in the Old Testament, Jesus in the New Testament, weeping over Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I would have gathered you as a mother hen, but you would not. I would have saved you from the wrath to come and the judgment to come, but you would not.

Hot tears. You know, Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. Of all the prophets in the Bible, his eyes poured down tears, not over his own sorrows, over the condition of God's people.

He wept and he wept and he wept. Their rebellion, their stubbornness, their apostasy, their sin, their attitude towards God, this prophet of God wept hot tears. We need prophets like that again.

We need some prophets who literally weep over the condition of the church, whose eyes run down. We'd say, man, that guy needs tablets. He needs to go to the doctor, needs to get out of that, needs to be happy.

You know what? We don't feel what God feels over the church of this hour and generation. Oh, that our eyes were as rivers to flow down. Tears have many sources, grief, personal loss.

Haven't we felt it here in this church? But also tears of compassion, mercy, tears of worry for others in our family, tears over persecution and opposition, tears because you suffer, tears, and here, listen, over your own repentance. They are recorded in God's book. When you wept, I mean wept, I am so sorry, God.

I have sinned against you, weeping over your own sin, weeping over your own condition. Even as a believer, oh God, do something with my heart. Have you ever wept over your own condition? God makes note of that.

God keeps your tears. See, tears are a God-given thing. Tears over your own brokenness.

When you're broken, you weep. What about disappointment? Have you been so disappointed you cried? Cried because what you desire doesn't happen. What you wanted, you cannot have.

Or failure. I have failed God. I have grieved him.

Why did I have to fail him? Have you cried that much? See how tears are a part of our life. So diverse, so different. God records them.

But look what he says. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. None of these tears get in the new earth.

None of these tears. All that I've mentioned, all different, diverse, none of them get in the new heaven. There's no tears.

You don't weep over your own sin. You don't weep over disappointment. You'll never be disappointed.

Failure, you'll never fail again. You'll never sin again. You'll never grieve for others again.

Your heart won't be broken in that hour. God restores everything. He heals everything.

No one is going to die. It says in Revelation 7, 17, and this is speaking about those who come up out of the great tribulation. Believers in the great tribulation, in the days of Antichrist, who come up through it, who get martyred, who suffer, who die.

Listen to what it says about them. It says in Revelation 7, 17, for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of water. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

That's still temporary. That's not the one I'm talking about. But you know those who get martyred in the great tribulation, who die at the hands of Antichrist, not compromising, following the lamb on this earth, they get nothing but suffering.

Don't tell me the Christian life's about having fun or being happy. God, why am I not enjoying myself? Try going to the tribulation saints and saying, cheer up guys. Be happy.

Jesus loves you. You know what? Their entire walk, some of them will only get saved at that time. Their entire time on this earth as a believer will be nothing but pain, suffering, turmoil of soul, of mind, and of their physical body.

They're not promised to escape. In fact, quite the opposite. Daniel says they won't be delivered.

God is going to deliver them over to the little horn for him to prevail over them. No deliverance. God isn't going to answer your miracle prayer.

Maybe with some he will, but we're actually told. We're actually told the saints at that time will be prevailed over. They're not going to be preserved.

God is going to let Antichrist persecute them, make them suffer, and martyr them. But saints, there's a day when he's going to wipe away all tears. Again, the second thing here it says in verse four, and there should be no more death.

See in the new heaven and the new earth, there's no death. Nobody ever dies. Not one person.

There will never be death. Death can't get in there. There's no such thing as death.

Death is finished. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 25, for he that is Jesus must reign. Talk about now.

He must reign till he has put down all enemies under his feet. All enemies are not under his feet at the moment. He died on the cross.

He triumphed. Listen what he says. Verse 26, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

This is why people have a strange idea about death. Why are you grieving they're in heaven? Oh sure, just rejoice. Think of them in heaven.

Death is an enemy. Death isn't my friend. Oh, but they died in the Lord.

Yes, I knew that. I know it's for our comfort, but they're dead. Death is still an enemy.

Do you know some of you in this room, unless it's me first, I'm going to bury some of you. Death is going to visit this room. I dread that.

I won't dread it if it's me because I'm going to be home. You'll cry your tears. I won't.

I'll be home. I'll be on death. But you know what? It is an enemy.

It's not a friend. Death coming to you is not a friend. Oh, praise God.

I'm about to die. It's not a friend. It's an enemy.

It's part of the fall. It's a terrible thing. But yet Jesus says, and the word of God says, the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Death is going to get destroyed. It's going to have an end. There's a final end.

There was a beginning in the garden of Eden. The first to die, who was he? Abel. He was murdered.

The first man ever to die on our planet. And yet he was a righteous man. God didn't protect him.

God let him die as a martyr. Why didn't they protect him? God not have power. Is there something wrong with Abel? God let it happen.

That's what you get in this world. It's a fallen world. But we're promised better things.

And so with death, it's going to be destroyed. Do you know death? Physical death is the consequence of sin. The fall in the garden.

Eve, that looks tasty. Wow. That looks beautiful.

It tastes so good. Here, Adam, why don't you taste? It's done me good. My eyes are open.

I'm fine. I didn't die. Adam takes it.

Consequence of your sin. Adam, Eve, you are going to see people die. You're going to bury your son.

All because of your sin. The consequence of sin. All of creation fell.

Everything fell. Even the animals, the plants, the universe come under a curse in this fall. And look at it.

Death is the consequence. But look at what Christ done on the cross. Verse 55.

Oh death, where is thy sting? See, it's not removed yet. But the sting of it is. Oh grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin.

And the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. What's the victory? I've got a victory over death.

It's at the cross when he died. Not only my sins forgiven, I have a victory over death. Saints of God, I'll die physically unless I'm caught up to meet him in the air.

And I wish it was that. But I'll probably get myself in too much trouble to reach that point. Saints, death, there's a victory over it.

I don't like it. Don't tell me. I'm a very strong, mature Christian.

But I'm not going there. Oh let death come. I don't want death.

I'm against death. I hate death. It's an enemy.

Not coming as a friend. Praise God. Let's get on with this.

I resist death. I'll flee from death. It's not a friend.

It's an enemy. It's part of the fall. But I'll tell you what.

There's a victory. The sting is gone. I am going to wake in your glory.

I'm going to step right into the presence of God. Let death come to me. I go straight into the presence of God.

For the personer, they'll go straight into hell. One second later, they wake up in hell. I'm not going to.

The sting is gone. There's a victory. What is the victory? I'm going to go to be with my master, my maker, my lord.

Back in Isaiah, it says in Isaiah 25 and verse 8, he will swallow up death and victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people should be taken away from off all of the earth for the Lord has spoken it. Isaiah time and time again prophesies this coming new earth. He prophesies about it.

He's seen it as clearly as John. There's a new earth coming where death is going to get swallowed up in victory. There's a new earth.

All the rebuke is going to get removed. There is no death there. Saints, we're heading for an earth where there's no death, no tears, no death, no ocean, but an awful lot more.

It says in Isaiah 6520, there should be no more. Hence an infant of days, not speaking about the millennium. Notice the difference.

There's a day of blessing coming on the earth under the reign of Christ. Listen to what it says. And there should be no more infant of days, nor an old man that has not fulfilled his days.

For the child shall die a hundred years old. So during the millennium, if someone dies at a hundred, you're a child. For the child shall die a hundred years old.

That's how long people are going to live. If you die at 100 years old, man, he died young, didn't he? He's only a hundred. There's a day coming on this earth like that, but the sinner being a hundred.

Notice in this that he's talking about, he's talking about a condition that hadn't come in Isaiah's day and still has never come. A time when if you as a Christian die at a hundred, you're thought to be a child. But listen, it talks, it says sinners are there.

So it can't be the new heaven and the new earth. So it talks about the sinners being a hundred years old shall be a cursed. To be a sinner without Christ and reach a hundred, you're cursed.

You're not thought of, wow, he lives to a hundred. All these super men, these new world order men, they all live to 90 into a hundred. They all have longevity.

They better, they're going to burn in hell. God helped them. And so Isaiah prophesies about a time, a unique, unusual time of restoration coming on the earth under the reign of Christ, of the knowledge of God on the earth.

But that isn't the time we're talking about. See people still die at that time. At a hundred years old, you still die.

There's sinners there, but not in the new heaven, not in the new earth. There is no more death. Again, thirdly, neither sorrow.

Look at this word sorrow in verse four says over in Isaiah 65, 17 again for behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mine, but be glad and rejoice. It's told about the new earth. Be glad and rejoice forever.

And not what I create for behold, I create Jerusalem, a rejoicing and our people of joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

Look at this though is prophesied about the new heaven and new earth. No more sorrow, gladness, joy. Can you imagine no more sorrow, no more sadness.

Some of you fight with sadness in your personal walk, sadness, deep sadness. It's a real thing. Sorrow, a heavy heart, a weight upon you that doesn't seem to lift.

You almost feel like you're getting pushed into the earth. The burden is so heavy upon you. You're sad.

You're sorrowful. You know what it says about the new earth? There's no sorrow there. That sorrow flees away.

A new heaven and a new earth is coming. There is everlasting gladness. The redeemed of the Lord shall return with everlasting joy on their heads.

Saints of God, we're heading for a world that only knows joy. We know almost nothing but sadness here and sorrow. I mean, we get highs and people in this world enjoy sin for a time and they get a kick out of something or a believer gets happy over a certain thing.

Everything's going well today. I'm happy. Everything's bad today.

I'm in the pits. But do you know what? There is no more sorrow there and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads and they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sigh and shall flee away. Those are going to flee away.

Never see them again. You're not going to sigh again. You're not going to be heavy again.

It's over. It's done away with. Your sorrow is momentary.

Do you hear me, Christian? Are you redeemed by the blood? Have you been saved and forgiven? Your tears are only for a time. Death is only for a time. Sorrow is only for a time.

He says then crying. This word crying doesn't mean with tears. It means an outcry, a cry of sorrow or the wail aloud.

You pour forth in words, in arguments, in sentences, in understandable terms. You actually cry out and make your voice known in the earth. It's a pour and forth of your problems and the causes of heartache and troubles.

You're not going to hear crying in the new heaven and earth. No one in all of creation in the new earth, if there's billions of people there, you're not going to have one person ever in all of eternity cry out with despair or with a problem or a grievance or an issue. All of that is gone.

No more crying out. No more demonstrations. No more marches.

We want more pain. The government isn't doing right. None of that.

You aren't going to cry out. There's nothing to cry out against. There's nothing there.

You won't find anything. You don't experience anything. There's nothing at all.

And then what about the next one? Neither shall there be any more pain. Are you glad for that? No more tooth rot. No more dentist appointments.

I'm going to be so glad. No more cancer. No more watching a loved one suffer.

Won't happen. No more pain. No more feeling pain.

A few times I felt violent pain. I'm glad it wasn't too long. I can't handle pain.

I don't like to suffer. I don't like pain. Will you feel pain? Once in a dentist's seat and I hemorrhaged in my head.

It was only, I was so close to having my cranial nerve, it was about to hit. A friend of mine lost a 21 year old nephew whenever it hit the cranial nerve, the exact same thing, that he died instantly. And it was eating into my nose, all of this abscess was eating into my nose just about to hit the cranial nerve.

And in the dentist's seat, he'd medicated me. Sorry if you're squeamish this morning. But he medicated me up.

And as soon as he began to work on my tooth, it hemorrhaged. And I sat there with every nerve alive. I actually sat there and I had sweat and she was wiping the sweat.

She actually walked out the door. Candice was waiting outside and the lady was covered in blood, said to the next person, your appointment's going to be delayed a little bit. Went back in.

Candice is sitting there going, my husband's in there. He's the only one in there. I was in there going, this is what it's like to die.

I'm actually dying. This is death. I'm going through death here.

Without a dentist, it would have been. All that poison was going into my body. And that's only a little taste.

See, pain. God gives us a promise of a world to come. There's never any pain.

You won't stub your foot, ever stubbed your toe or your little toe. You'll never. I don't know how this works, but it'll never happen.

You'll never do that. There's no suffering, no physical suffering. No one is going to feel the pangs of hunger.

And I know you don't feel that, but there's many in this world. They'll walk for three days across hot deserts to get one meal. They don't have anything.

Their little children are literally in pain from hunger. They'll eat things that you shouldn't eat because they're in hunger. They're in pain.

Their belly is in pain. Then he says for the former things are passed away. He says in Revelation 22 and three, there should be no more curse.

Remember when the curse come? When Adam sinned, remember Eve sinned, but that didn't bring the fall. Adam had a sin. How could Eve sin and disobey God and the fall didn't come? Why did it have to be Adam? Why did sin enter with Adam and not through Eve? How come she fell, she sinned, she disobeyed, but sin didn't come in? Romans teaches us it come in and Adam's one act of sin.

It all fell. You know why? He's the head. He represented all of mankind.

The Bible teaches headship, authority, structure. God makes a covenant with a man and through that all of creation falls. Do you know when Adam sinned, a curse came on this world.

God in Genesis three cursed the serpent. Now you'll go on your belly all the days of your life and eat dust. Serpent.

You know what that means? A serpent didn't used to go on its belly. Do you know serpent snakes have arms and legs? Go look it up. They have minute, tiny arms and legs.

Of course, evolution says, oh, they evolved out of it. Their brain told them we don't need arms and legs. So we'll just go, we don't need them anymore.

My Bible gives us the time and the reason. You're cursed as an animal. You're cursed.

The ground was cursed. That's why I've got to dig up my garden, weeding around my nice flowers. It's a part of the universal flood.

That's why Cain killed Abel. Remember Cain was cursed. God said, a curse is upon you.

See how all the curse came. The Bible also says in Galatians chapter three, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not on all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Every man is cursed.

It also says that Christ has redeemed us in Galatians 3.17. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. There's a curse on this world.

Everyone who tries to get saved by their own works is cursed. Every sinner is cursed. All of creation is cursed.

The earth is cursed. The animal world is cursed. There is a curse on this world.

Christ died to redeem us from the curse of the law. You don't need to break the curse. You need to get redeemed.

Never in the New Testament do you have the breaking of curses, or we're going to have to break the generational curses in your family. Was your grandfather a Freemason? God help Rory, or maybe someone in your family is barren. Obviously a curse, or you're poor so you're under a curse.

That's the law. In the New Testament, blessed is the poor. You better be careful what covenant you're teaching.

Very, very careful. Do you know what? In the new heaven and earth, there's no curse. Aren't you glad there's no curse? There's no curse on the ground.

There's no curse in an individual. No one's there going to be saying, I can minister to you and break all the curses. No thanks, I'm born again.

I'm in Jesus. You know in that world, there's no curse. There'll never be a curse.

There cannot be a curse. In chapter 21, 22 it says, and there's no temple. There's no temple.

There's no building. Oh, are you going to church today? Let's go down to the old tabernacle. Let's go to the temple in Jerusalem.

There's no building, no ritual, no special clothes, no fragrance, no spices, none of this. No priesthood, no special people ministering. We're not even told about apostles and prophets.

There's no pastor. In the new Jerusalem, we're not even told about any pastor. How are they going to manage? Look what it says.

For the Lord God Almighty and the lamb of the temple. The temple becomes a person. Entire worship is caught up in a person.

Not a place, not a thing, not a ritual, not a time. It is a person. Isn't this what Christ prophesied? John chapter 4, 21.

Jesus said unto the woman at the well with her five marriages and her now her fornication with a man. Woman. I mean, what are you going to preach to a woman who's immoral? All messed up in her life.

Broken five marriages. What are you going to preach to her? Judgment, wrath, repent, the blood. What are you going to preach? Listen to what Christ said.

Taught her how to be a worshiper. Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem worship the father. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth.

For the father seeketh such to worship him. God is the spirit and they that worship him, worship him in spirit and in truth. You're actually looking at the new Jerusalem.

What is worship? It is the lamb. He is worship. He is the temple of God.

He is the place of gathering. Gather unto the lamb. It's a remarkable thing.

But let me finish here with one thing. Revelation 21, 23. And the city had no need for the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it.

For the glory of God did lighten it. And the lamb is the light thereof. Not only is the lamb the temple and God himself the temple, he's also the light of the entire new creation.

Where does light come from? The lamb. Sure, we always knew he was the light. But he is the light source.

You don't need any man-created light. Or listen to Revelation 22 and 5. It goes a bit deeper. And there shall be no night there.

In the new earth, there's no night. You use that like to sleep in slumber. I am so sorry.

There's no sleeping. There'll be no beds for sale in that world. There's no night.

Do you realize God created night because you have to sleep? It's a part of his order. Why is there a night? I mean, why didn't he keep it just light? Because you need a sleep. He turns the light off.

It's dark. You're meant to go to bed. It's a hint from God.

You know, bye-bye. Close up things. You need a sleep.

So there's no night in that world. You know what? There's no shadow, no darkness, nothing dark. It can't get in there.

Can you imagine the spectacular light of God? He also says there's no need for a candle or a torch, neither the light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. So we see here, hey, there's no need for the sun. You're not going to need the sun or the moon.

There's no night. There's no darkness there. There's only perpetual light.

No need for the stars to entertain you in darkness, and you come home late at night. There's no need. You know where we're going? We're going back to Genesis.

Listen at the beginning. Genesis 1 and 3. For God said, let there be light, and there was light. Listen carefully.

God said, let there be light. Ping. There's light instantly.

And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

This is the first day of creation. He divides light and darkness. Light is created by God.

But hold on. There's a problem. That's verse 3 to 5. Let there be light.

There's light. There's night and darkness. There's a problem here.

It's verse 14. Speaks about the fourth day. Not the first day.

The fourth day. God creates the sun, the moon, and the stars. So what do you have in the first day, second day, third day? Light.

There's a light beyond the sun, moon, stars in our world. Light is something more than what you think it is. It's in this world.

So in the original creation, God created the earth. Light dominated before there was even a sun. It's remarkable.

In Isaiah 60 verse 19, the sun shall be no more by light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God, thy glory. God is going to be your glory. He is going to be your light.

He will be the guide of your steps. He will be everything you need. Oh, I did forget something else that it talks about a lot in this chapter that won't be there.

And I close with us, but I'm not going into it. Do you know what else isn't there? Sinners, sinners, but the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the whoremongers, that's sexually immoral. Saucers, idolaters, liars have their part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

21, 27, there shall be a new wise enter into it, the new Jerusalem. Anything, not in any wise, not at all, nothing that defileth that city, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Saints, I'm just opening this up for you to begin to show you the things that are not in that new earth, that new Jerusalem.

They'll never be there. No sin, no death, no sorrow, no crying, no sinners. No one will ever sin again.

No one will ever die again. There'll be no parting again. There's no darkness.

Sorry, there's no ocean. There's going to be lots of rivers, a bountiful supply. I'm sure you'll all have your own river, so don't worry.

You'll have your own little lake to go out on, I am sure. Not promising you, but I'm assuming. Saints of God, I'm telling you about what this new earth will not be, because we're in an earth right now that's reserved to fire.

There's many bad things in here. It's under a curse, and fire is coming that's going to burn up the elements. Everything is going to melt.

Can you imagine the heat? We've experienced nothing like it in world history. This entire universe, cosmos, galaxy, all the planets, earth, the sun, the moon, are going to melt with heat. Even the sun is going melt with heat.

It's never done that before, but it is. Do you know why? At the face of him that sits in judgment, and he's going to come and judge all sinners. All sinners will be cast into the lake of fire.

They're not getting in there. You won't even remember them. We won't even think or consider that, because you only think here in human terms of your human affections and connections.

They're only given to you for a time, but they're gone. I've had some loved ones die outside of Christ. It's the worst experience in this world, far worse than losing your wife.

To stand looking at a coffin and go, you can't comfort your loved ones, your family, because that person, they knew the gospel. They trembled under conviction, but they drank their days away, womanized, and now they lie there, and they're gone. They'll never get another chance.

It is the worst experience of life. That has to be my worst experience, to stand in a grieving room, and I go, there's not one word I can say. But do you know what? In that world, he makes everything new.

Pray with me. Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, Father, I pray that you comfort us, that you'd encourage us right now. Our grief, our sorrow, our pain, our failure, our sin, our grieving you, our confusion, our hurts, our burdens, our weights, our trials, our temptations, our opposition by the evil one.

Lord God, our walking through this present evil world, all of this is temporary, here but a time. And like Abraham, we are looking for a city whose builder and founder is God, whose foundations are everlasting, are eternal, immovable. This city that's been built by God, we are looking for it to become a citizen of that heavenly city.

To be in that world, they'll know no darkness, no sin, no parting, no grief, no sadness. No sinner will ever be there. No one's ever going to fail.

And Lord God, you are the glory there. You are the light. You are going to enlighten that entire creation.

You are our temple. We are going to gaze upon you and worship you and minister unto you. We're going to fellowship one with the other eternally.

We are going to walk this earth in white, perpetually reigning and ruling with the Lord Jesus Christ. We love you, our God. We bless you.

Help us when our hearts faint here and now. Help us when we despair to the point of thinking we're not going to come through. Lord God, forgive us for doubting your promises when our hearts are heavy, when clouds of despair get between our eye, our vision and your face.

Please forgive us, uphold us, restore us, bring us through our temptations, our hour of trial. We know it's only temporary and we need your upholding grace for this present time. In Jesus' name.

Amen.