Revelation 21:9-21 (Jerusalem, Jeff Kliewer)

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Jerusalem Revelation 21:9-21 Jeff Kliewer

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Forever we're changed because of your love we also in the next week we'll be starting up our starting point class which is a three -week introductory class about our church and Cornerstone and about the
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EFCA so if you're interested in becoming a member that's something that you would have to attend once again this will be taking place in the evenings and you can email
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Pastor Jeff if you're interested in that. We're moving forward with our encouraging police initiative that Pastor John is going to be heading up We're planning right now on Wednesday at 12 midnight to be delivering some pre -packaged food to the officers over there.
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So if you're interested in participating that and helping out you can see Pastor John about doing that. We're hoping to start that on the 16th because that's still the projected date.
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There's not too many kids in here but there are. My wife wanted me to remind you that if you're in pre -school for the trade there's a bin with some activities that the kids can do during the sermon.
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Typically we would be having a men's breakfast with a group of guys that are getting together.
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Because it's Labor Day we're going to postpone that until the 21st. John is our point person for that so you can check in with him to find out what chapter you should be up to in that book study.
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And then that's all I got because we're in the second service and we don't have three minutes. I always forget to take that one out.
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Alright so let's pray. Dear Lord we thank you for this glorious and beautiful day that we have, that we can come here, that we can be in your presence, that we can worship you through song, through the study of your words.
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Lord we just think of this week as schools begin. We pray for teachers and for kids that are going back.
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In all different situations we just pray for patience and for peace and for grace during this time.
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I'm reading from Romans 5. Therefore since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what
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Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith Christ has brought us into a place of undeserved privilege where we now stand.
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And we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing in God's glory. We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials.
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We know that they help us develop endurance and endurance develops strength of character and character strengthens our confident hopeless salvation.
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And this hope will not lead to disappointment. But we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us the
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Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with love. When we were utterly helpless Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
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Now most people would not be willing to die for an upright person. Though someone might perhaps be willing to die for someone who is especially good.
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But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
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And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation.
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For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his son, while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his son.
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So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
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Join me as we sing How Deep the Father's Love for Us. How deep the
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Father's love for us. How vast beyond all measure that he should give his only
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Son to make a wretch his treasure.
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How great the pain of searing loss the
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Father turns his face away as wounds which mar the chosen one bring many sons to glory.
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Behold the man upon a cross my sin upon his shoulders ashamed
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I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers it was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished a dying breath has brought me life
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I know that it is finished I will not boast in anything no gift, no power, no wisdom but I will boast in Jesus Christ his death and resurrection why should
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I gain from his reward I cannot give an answer but this
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I know with all my heart his wounds have paid my ransom why should
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I gain from his reward I cannot give an answer but this
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I know with all my heart his wounds have paid my ransom
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Let's pray together. Lord thank you that you loved us so much that you sent your Son to die for us to redeem us.
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It was your death on the cross that set us free. It was your blood that redeemed us.
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I pray Lord that we will not forget your mighty power the
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Christ of our redemption. And we praise your name by singing to you this morning.
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On a hill of Calvary The light of all the world is shone
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The weight of all our shame
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On him who has fully surrendered
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The sky went dark The angels wept
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The Father looked away A final breath
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He bowed his head The Lamb of God was slain
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By his wounds I am set free By his blood
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I've been redeemed The great dividing cross for me
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Oh praise the God of Calvary On a hill of Calvary Into the
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Father's hand he surrendered
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Borrowed to his mind free
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Redeemed The great dividing cross for me
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And if I lost it's all
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I need to see Oh praise the God of Calvary And if I never reach
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It's all, all I need to see Oh praise the
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God of Calvary Rejoice in where everything changes
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Where what we perhaps knew, experienced has been made new
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Now, for me, one of those days is November 10th, 1973.
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That was the day that I said I do, and my wife said she did too. Can that be an amazing, amazing transformation and, quite frankly, the most wonderful transformation
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I could possibly have imagined. There are other times in our lives where things change.
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But the song that we just sang, as we're getting ready to go to the Lord's table, we need to stop and think about it.
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Calvary. Because before, before Calvary, there was only a promise.
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And before, for each one of us individually, Calvary was internalized and brought into our hearts, beyond just knowledge, but brought into our hearts.
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There was only despair. There was only the world. There was only seeking after vain things.
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Going to the book of Ecclesiastes, oh my goodness. You know, Solomon, he chased after everything and was chasing after the wind.
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But because of Calvary, because of the victory in the tomb, everything changes.
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Ephesians 2, it starts out that we were pretty bad people and then it says, but God.
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Now, Eric just read a passage in Romans 5 and in verse 10 we are described as being enemies.
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And that's pretty bad. Then it goes on and it says, but we were reconciled to God.
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And then in verse 11 it says, we also joy in God through our
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Lord Jesus Christ. There's a transformation right there.
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We are able to be here this morning because our hearts are made new. We are able to be in fellowship because we are adopted children.
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We are brothers and sisters in Christ. These past many weeks have been spectacular, outside, inside, meeting people that I didn't know before, but I immediately know
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I'm a brother, I'm a sister in Christ. The transformation is complete.
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And so here we are this morning. We are going to take time with the elements. We're going to take time to remember.
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Now we're told, do this in remembrance of me. Remember who we were. Remember the amazing sacrifice, the bloodshed.
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And remember who we can be, who we are. And remember the hope that we've got. Celebrate all of this, what
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God has done for us through his son, Jesus. And so now we get to celebrate in fellowship together.
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Here's another perspective of it. I was privileged about a year and a half ago to go to the first concert that my grandson was in, playing the viola, and to see in the eyes of Eric and Stephanie as they watched their son on stage perform, that look in their eyes of their son is doing this.
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I want to read for you out of Psalm 33, 18. And put this into perspective because we are in front of the elements and we are about to celebrate the
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Lord's Supper. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him.
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We sit here this morning as children, as adopted heirs, washed clean, and the
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Father is in pleasure to look down on us.
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And that's what we're experiencing together in front of this table. And so I want us to remember, first of all, our position one.
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We want to remember the shed blood, the broken body. We want to celebrate in the hope of everything that's to come.
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And we want to do this knowing that we have a Father in heaven who loves us and is in pleasure that we're in front of him.
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Jesus took his twelve into the upper room and it's recorded in 1
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Corinthians 11. For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the
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Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,
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Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you.
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Do this in remembrance of me. I hear a lot of little snappings as people are opening up.
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If you've got that little cup, that little white disc in the top, that's the element. So let's pray.
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Father, as we gather together, as we gather together in remembrance, as we gather together in gratitude, as we gather together in humility and in appreciation of all that you've done, we hold this element.
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It needs to remind us of the body which went to the cross, this body which was scourged because of my sin, because of the love, and so that I could come to you and cry,
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Abba, Father. So now, Lord, we take this element and we say,
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Thank you. Take, eat. Jesus hung on that cross, scourged, whipped, nails in his hands, and at the end, to ensure that death would occur, they would break the bones of the accused, but no bones were to be broken on our
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Lord. So they took a sword and they pierced his side and the blood gushed out, and water, that blood is shed for the remission of sin.
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And though we are sinners, through the blood of Christ, our Father sees us as white as snow.
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The cup we hold represents this blood. It is written in the same manner he took the cup when he had stopped saying,
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This cup is the New Testament in my blood. Do ye this as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me.
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Take, drink. Amen.
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Thank you, John. All right, let's read, first of all, from Revelation 21, verses 9 to 21 today, and then we'll pray and exposit from there.
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Revelation 21, verse 9 and following. We are using the ESV. If you would like to look that up, it's
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English Standard Version. Revelation 21, 9 and following.
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Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls, full of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying,
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Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city,
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Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
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It had a great high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed.
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On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
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And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the
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Lamb. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls.
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The city lies four square, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia.
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Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, one hundred and forty -four cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement.
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The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
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The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third a gate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth barrel, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
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And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
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Wow, amen. That twentieth verse was a little hard to read, but got through it.
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Let's pray. So Father, we thank you for your word this morning.
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We recognize how desperately we need it, because in this world, we have our minds set on things below too often.
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Not often enough do we look to the things that are above to the new Jerusalem. Our prayer,
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Lord, is that this morning, you would change the desires of our hearts, that we would desire the new
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Jerusalem, that we would long for the new Jerusalem, that we would yearn for the new
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Jerusalem, that we would be with you forever in that place.
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Help us, God, to change the way we think. We pray that you would change us by your word. And Lord, I just need to ask right now that you would come fill me with your
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Holy Spirit. Because apart from you, I can do nothing. You are the vine,
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I am a branch. And unless I abide in you, remaining in you, I can bear no fruit.
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But I confess that with you, all things are possible. So I ask now, Lord, that your Holy Spirit come and use me for this work of proclaiming your word, that it would go forth and accomplish a purpose to change hearts, which only you can do.
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In Jesus' name, amen. Anybody here ever witnessed a miracle?
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And I mean by a miracle, something earth -shattering, undeniable, just amazing. Something that you would say, now that just proves that there's a
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God, and that the Christian God is, in fact, the true God. Anybody seen something like that? I have.
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And I would submit to you that all of you see it day after day after day. There's a few things.
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When I just look at these particular things, it just blows my mind. Just, can't even imagine that this is the case.
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The first is how all of the world, whether or not they recognize
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Christ as the Messiah, has to date their checkbook, and date their papers, and their email correspondences by the
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Lord Jesus Christ. The world itself is divided by B .C.
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and A .D. Now, they tried to change that, but it doesn't change the fact that 2020 means 2 ,020 years since our
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Messiah arrived here on earth. Isn't that an amazing thing? Just mind -blowing that the whole world has as its reference point the coming of Christ.
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I love that. Number two, that the Bible is far and away the most printed, and read, and studied, and sold book in the history of the world, with no other book coming close.
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I think that's great, because in Romans 10 it said, their voice shall go out to all the earth. And so it has gone to the ends of the earth, translated into more languages, the
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Bible, this book that we have, which the world despises, and yet cannot escape.
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Number three, thing that just blows my mind. In Matthew 24, verse 14,
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Jesus was with his small band of followers in a little place called Israel. And there he told them that this gospel shall be preached to all nations.
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In the Greek, that's panta ta ethne, every ethnic group, and then the end shall come. And as we sit here in 2020, we know of many, many believers in all of the 195 countries of this earth.
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Believers in the gospel. The gospel has gone to the ends of the earth, and it's reaching the last of the ethnic groups within those countries.
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And the end is soon to come. Isn't that amazing to think, when Jesus said that, there was just a few people listening to him.
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And it's come true precisely. As he said, that's verifiable, that's fact. Number four, and this is where I'm going with this.
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The fact that Israel is back in their homeland. The world has never seen something like this before.
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A nation reborn after being driven out of their land in 70 AD, on May 14, 1948, returning to their land.
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Can you imagine? Wouldn't you be astonished if you woke up to find out tomorrow that America was no more, and the land was given to Native Americans.
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And that's only been a couple hundred years since America was born. Or the Hittite people of the
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Old Testament were reestablished in Hittite land. Unthinkable, because what happens over time is that the peoples of a nation would assimilate and lose their culture and lose their ethnicity, but not so with the
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Jews. For God was preserving them and bringing them back to their homeland.
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Joe Foch is one of my heroes in the faith in the sense of looking up to a model who imitates
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Christ. Joe Foch, pastor of Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, talks about, he's been to Israel probably 24, 36 times, a few dozen times.
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And one time he was flying into Tel Aviv and was talking with a family that was moving to Israel from America.
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And he was surprised to find out that this was not a religious family. So he asked them, why are you picking up your entire life from America and moving to Israel?
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And they said, we just feel drawn. Just drawn to Jerusalem.
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It's an amazing thing, a supernatural thing that's happening. And our generation sees it.
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We're here to see the return of Jews from all parts of the earth to their homeland.
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It's a supernatural and just amazing work that's happening. So the point this morning, we want to talk about Jerusalem.
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Jerusalem is not just a city, it's a promise. It's a yearning in the heart of a believer for a city whose architect and builder is
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God. It's the promise of coming delight at God's right hand, pleasure, happiness, joy.
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Everything that this world has lost is promised in this place.
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Like we saw last week where there are no more tears, there's no more pain, no more death, no more disease, no more mourning for the former things have passed away and all things have become new.
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We are longing for Jerusalem. It's a promise. So let's look now at the sections of scripture that we studied.
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We've read them already. Verses 9 to 11, notice this promise that we desire is something we absolutely do not deserve.
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It says in verse 9, Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues.
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Stop there for a minute. Which angel does God choose to use to show
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John the coming new Jerusalem? He picks one of the seven angels who has dumped out a bowl of wrath on the earth.
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And I think the point communicated here is that John, you and your readers who believe, this promise is for you, this is your desire, but it's not something you deserve.
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You deserve to be under the bowls of wrath that this angel poured out on mankind, and yet you were spared that.
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And that is the good news of the gospel. We are sinners who deserve for God to judge us because he's holy and we're unrighteous.
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He should pour out his wrath on us. Instead, he put his son Jesus in our place to die the death that we deserve, to rise from the dead and offer eternal life to those who call on his name.
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What good news that sinners like us who deserve wrath are receiving this, and so it makes it all the sweeter.
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As you read on, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. Now this picture is the city, but that city is called the bride because it's made for us.
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The church, which enlarges here to include Old Testament Israel and all the redeemed of all the dispensations.
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The bride says in verse 10, he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city,
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Jerusalem. Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, it's radiant like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
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Now when John wrote these words, diamonds had not yet been discovered. So there was nobody in South Africa cutting diamonds.
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The most rare and precious jewel he could think of to describe this city is a jasper.
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But jaspers are opaque, they're not perfectly clear. This one is clear as crystal.
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So I would imagine the perfect diamond, something just gorgeous, reflecting the glory of the
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Lord. What is the glory of the Lord? The glory of the Lord is the sum of his attributes.
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It's who he is on display. So God's attributes of his holiness and his love and compassion and justice, his omniscience and omnipresence, being
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God, all of those attributes that make him who he is, bigger than us, transcendent, all of those are summarized in his glory put on display.
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And it is described here as radiant. The image is light just bursting forth through the rare jewel like a jasper, clear as crystal.
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It's shining forth the brilliance of God. This city is meant to display
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God's attributes, his glory. It's not what we deserve, but this should be the desire of our heart to be where God is, to see this.
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Next, it is also the Jewish desire. The Jewish desire.
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Ethnic Israel has longed for Jerusalem, the city of David, the peace of Jeru. Conquered by David.
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And guys, you can go online and look at some YouTube videos. The city of David has been discovered in Jerusalem.
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Underground, they're excavating the old city, the part that David himself lived in.
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It's under the Arab side of the city. You know, Jerusalem is divided by the Israeli side or the
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Jewish, ethnic Jewish side and the Arab side. Under the Arab side, they're excavating and discovering the very tunnels that David walked on.
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Amazing. But look at it in verse 12. It had a great high wall with 12 gates.
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And at the gates, 12 angels. This is my point. Then Israel were inscribed.
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Verse 13 will say there's three on each side. So there's an order to this. The 12 tribes of Israel are remembered for all eternity.
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And so I'll say to the replacement theologian in covenant theology that says that Israel is no longer a part of God's plan.
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That the church has replaced Israel. Even in the eternal city, there is a remembrance of ethnic
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Israel. Israel is still the apple of God's eye.
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And Israel has been persecuted for generations. Even after Christ came and fulfilled the promises and the remnant came forth and believed, as ethnic
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Israel, they continued to be persecuted. They were persecuted by Babylon. And when they came out in Psalm 126, verse 1, they said when the
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Lord restored the captives of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. It was like a dream.
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They're yearning for Jerusalem. But even when they came back to their promised land, they were persecuted by one nation after another.
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After the Babylonians, the Persians, and the Medes, then the Greeks, then the Romans, they were always under the thumb of oppression until in 70
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AD, Titus destroyed the city and drove them out. And they were running to the ends of the earth in Diaspora.
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In 1492, finish it, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
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And the king, Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain, expelled all the
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Jews from the country. You know that happened in 1492? Many of them went to Portugal next door.
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But in 1496, Manuel, the king of Portugal, wanted to marry the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella.
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So you know what happened, don't you? He followed their path and kicked the Jews out of there as well.
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Or forced them to convert. But even in that situation, they retained their
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Jewish customs and their ethnicity. Until 1933, when a horrible and wicked spirit came across Germany.
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Now, mind you, Germany in 1933 was not a Christian country. Speaking to a stadium packed with 20 ,000
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Germans, a minister representing Adolf Hitler named
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Reinhold Kraust said this, Christianity is liberation from the
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Old Testament. Is that right? No. Liberation from the
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Old Testament, one of the most questionable books in the world's history. The whole scapegoat and inferiority type theology of the rabbi
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Paul should be renounced. This representative of Hitler said, we need to get rid of the rabbi
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Paul's theology. Renounce that. You know, Paul was Jewish and his theology came from the
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Old Testament. He said, we gotta get rid of the scapegoat theology. What's that? Substitutionary atonement.
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That Christ died as a substitute for guilty sinners like us. Our scapegoat. Germany said, let's get rid of that.
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Now tellingly, when he preached that message in 1933, the 20 ,000 people in attendance cheered wildly.
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This was a post -Christian culture that hated the doctrines of the Bible. Even the confessing church which stood on the right side was not fully on the right side.
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One of the ministers of the confessing church was named Bishop Otto Debelius and at Hitler's inauguration said this,
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I have always considered myself an anti -Semite. He said that at Hitler's inauguration.
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One cannot ignore that Jewry has played a leading role in all the destructive manifestations of modern civilization.
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Blaming the Jewish people, although they were only 500 ,000 in all of Germany. About a half of a percent.
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What can explain this kind of vitriol against the Jewish people? Demonic, satanic hatred for God's people.
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The apple of his eye. We know what happened in the 1940s when 9 million
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Jews lived in Europe, not just in Germany, but in the entire continent of Europe.
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Six million, two thirds would be killed in the
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Holocaust. Do you ever stop and think about what a big deal that is?
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And yet, what a miracle May 14, 1948 was in fulfillment of Isaiah 66.
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Has this ever been seen before? A nation born in a day. The Jews were given back their homeland after all of that time.
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What a miracle. And brothers and sisters, Revelation 21 verse 12 says the names of the 12 tribes are forever inscribed on the walls of the new
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Jerusalem. God is not done with his promises. Every promise that God ever made,
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Old Testament and New, is yes and amen. And when Genesis 12, 1 -3 says those who bless
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Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed, that abides to this day.
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I don't know the particulars of how that works out, but I know this, we ought to bless Israel.
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We ought to stand with Israel. Then in verse 13 we see that the gates are marked by the names of the tribes, but verse 14 brings a continuity with the
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New Testament. So there's some discontinuity and there's some continuity. God is continuing his program with Israel but the discontinuity is it's not the same exact city as is in Jerusalem right now, is it?
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That one has been under siege and then the millennial kingdom has happened at this point, but here we see a discontinuity.
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The new Jerusalem descends from heaven. This is a new city.
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Amazing. And so as we get into this last section here and consider what it looks like and what it's like, we need to recognize this is the new
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Jerusalem brought down from heaven. The church is there because the names of the 12 apostles are written on the foundation.
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Verse 14. So it's Old Testament and New Testament saints together, all the redeemed of the earth.
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So notice with me the magnitude of this city. And the reason we're looking at this, it should awaken desire in us for this city.
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We need to stop and just say, wow! There's not much I can do as a preacher to add to this.
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I can't add anything to it. But you're supposed to look at it and say, whoa! This is where my heart is.
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The one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold, of course, to measure the city and its gates and walls.
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The city lies four square. Its length the same as its width, and he measured the city with his rod.
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12 ,000 stadia. About 1 ,300 miles. That's the distance from Maine to Florida.
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Anybody ever made that drive from the entire east coast? That's how long one side of the wall of the city is.
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And it's a square. Not only is it a square, it's a cube!
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Look what it says. Its length and width and height are equal. Now, if you believe that walls are offensive, this wall is highly offensive.
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This thing is four times the size of the
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Earth's atmosphere. So the wall goes up four times higher than our current atmosphere is at 300 miles.
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This is a big, big wall. It says he also measured its wall 144 cubits.
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Which is it? 12 ,000 stadia or 144 cubits? Answer. The thickness is 144 cubits.
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That's how thick the wall is. What's a cubit? A cubit is the distance from the elbow to the fingertip.
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Okay? That's how far it is. About 18 inches. Says he measured it 144 cubits by human measurement.
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So we're not talking about some ethereal someone might say, well that's symbolic language. It's not really that big.
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What does it say? Which is also an angel's measurement.
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So the way an angel measures it is how we measure it. So a cubit is a cubit. Now, my elbow to fingertip is about 20 inches instead of 18.
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So that means if you were mistaking me for an angel, you were mistaken. Because it's 18 inches.
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So my arm is too long, I can't be an angel. An angel basically has the same dimensions in heaven as we do.
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And people, you might say, well, I guess in heaven we're going to be as big as a tree.
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No, you're going to be as big as you. You're you. God, in your resurrected body, you're real.
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You're in flesh. But it's glorified flesh. It's different. It can pass through walls like Jesus, it seems.
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Maybe you can go up these walls. Why does it go so high? There's probably a vertical element to heaven.
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Maybe the streets run upward sometimes too. So it's bigger and different, but it's still real.
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An angel's measurement is a human measurement. Same thing. So that's pretty amazing to think about.
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One other thing before we look at the beauty of it. I notice the order of this city.
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Did you notice the order of it? It's a perfect cube. 12 ,000 this way, 12 ,000 that way, 12 ,000 that way.
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There's order, there's symmetry. God is a God of order and symmetry. And here in these last days, there is a frontal attack on the order of God.
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Something called critical theory. It is kind of what it sounds like. Critical theory is an attack on the order of God.
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It seeks to destroy and disorder and divide and take apart everything that is orderly.
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So in our culture, there is a movement to disorder.
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Intentionally to divide based on any marker of a person's identity.
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So this is very important to understand. The goal of critical theory is disintegration and division.
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God is a God of order. So when critical theory wants to dissect language and make language completely subjective, that no words can have an objective meaning, or to reject any narrative, a meta narrative of scripture.
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That's critical theory. They target the police.
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Why are the police in the crosshairs of today's cultural moment?
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Because the police represent law and order. The desire of critical theory is the complete disordering of things.
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God is a God of order. Lastly, the new city, Jerusalem, is a city of beauty.
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Let's see this. And again, I can't add anything to this one. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold.
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Like clear glass. Now gold is also not see -through, right? But in heaven, it is.
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It's clear as glass. Why? To reflect and allow the beauty of God in all
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His glory to be seen throughout the new Jerusalem. Amazing.
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It says, we won't read all of these again, because I'd probably mess up. I was lucky to get through it once.
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But all these jewels, just the gorgeous city, and finally, verse 21.
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This is probably the image that sticks in many of your minds, right? The street of the city was pure gold.
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The street was pure gold. We will walk on streets of gold.
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This is the hope and the promise held out for us as believers. The new Jerusalem, to walk on streets of gold.
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The reason this is given to us in such detail, is to set our hearts' affection on the new
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Jerusalem. In closing, let your mind go there.
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Imagine what this is like. Spend time in the text. To get your eyes off of the things of this earth, and on to the things to come.
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Thank you for that. Amen. Let me close and illustrate with C .S.
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Lewis. In your notes, if you have your notes, you can get this quote. Otherwise, just listen. C .S.
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Lewis, in The Weight of Glory, asserts that the promise of peace and pleasure in this life and in the new
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Jerusalem, is a promise to be desired, not squashed. It's not selfish to desire this city for yourself.
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To look forward to it is a good thing. So here's how C .S. Lewis puts it. The New Testament has lots to say about self -denial.
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But not about self -denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow
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Christ and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.
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So track with this. He's saying, to have these desires for something more. This desire in your heart to be happy and joyful and to experience life.
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Those are good desires. Because God appeals to those desires. Now, keep listening. He says, if there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing,
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I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the
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Christian faith. This is where it gets good. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the
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Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak.
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We are half -hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us.
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Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
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We are far too easily pleased. And I love
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C .S. Lewis's vivid picture there at the end. He pictures a poor child in a slum who's never known anything but his slum.
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And there's a dirty little stream running through it. And the kid plays in that stream and makes little mud pies in the slum.
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And along comes a benevolent man who says, I offer you a vacation at the sea.
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But the kid can't imagine what the sea is like. He's content to play and make mud pies in a dirty stream in a slum.
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That's what we're like. Because we're content with the things that please us. Our desires are not too big, they're too small.
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If only this child could see what the ocean looks like. And set his mind on what that world is actually like.
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That's the new Jerusalem. That's what the Bible is calling us to do now. Not to try to squash your sin desires.
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You see, the reason you sin, and the reason I sin, is because it feels good.
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You desire sin, you want sin, because you want pleasure, you want life, you want to experience happiness and joy.
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The problem is you're willing to satisfy those desires with a small thing that goes away and doesn't fulfill.
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The problem is not the desire, it's how easily pleased we are. Does that make sense? So you kill sin by a greater desire.
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When you begin to set your mind on things above and you think about Christ and His kingdom and this city, it's not selfish.
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You're looking forward to a city whose architect and builder is God. And as you imagine it, and you desire to know
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Him, you can let go of the lesser pleasures in pursuit of a greater pleasure.
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Amen? Let's pray. So Father, we thank You so much for this picture of the new
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Jerusalem. You put it here for a reason. Help our minds to just go crazy imagining the beauty.
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Help our minds to just run wild with joy in anticipation of the things You have prepared for those who love
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You. And in that way, Lord, we pray that we would crucify the flesh with its carnal desires to kill sin by the greater desire.
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And Jesus, we confess that You are the desire of nations. You are the hope of the world.
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You are the treasure in the field that the man sold everything that he had to buy that field in order to have
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You. You were the one that the rich young ruler was unable to recognize.
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For he cherished the things of this earth and missed out on the greater thing. So Lord, this morning, we set our minds and our hearts on things above, not on things below.
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Help us to crucify desires that are not of You and fan into flame the desires for the eternal city, the kingdom that cannot be shaken.
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And Lord, finally this morning, we pray for the Jews. We thank You for that peace treaty with the United Arab Emirates for protection of that nation that is the apple of Your eye.
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We pray that many of them would come to saving faith. We pray for the peace of Israel.
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We bless Israel in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand and worship. ...and death.
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... ...
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... And the power of the gospel shall prevail
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For we know in Christ all things are possible
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For all who call upon his name We will stand as children of the promise
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We will fix our eyes on him, our souls remain
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Till the race is finished and the work is done
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Will not by faith and not by sight Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices, my flesh also dwells secure
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For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your Holy One see corruption
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You make known to me the path of life, and in your presence there is fullness of joy