Sermon Tone Analysis

The Sure Promises of Heaven

Revelation 21:1-23

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - Sept. 16, 2012

*People are looking for a sure thing.

I googled “sure thing” Friday and got over 9 million hits.

-- But what’s a sure thing?

-The election isn’t sure, -- even though this is the most important election of our lifetimes, and we urgently need Godly leaders.

-The economy isn’t sure.

Millions are out of work, and a tidal wave of government debt threatens to overwhelm our country.

-The stock market went over 13,600 on Friday, but it could collapse tomorrow.

*An old cliché said the only sure things were death and taxes, but that’s not true either.

I’m still hoping for the rapture!

*When you get down to it, the only sure things are the things of God.

And as we look into the Word of God this morning, we can see four sure promises about Heaven, four sure promises for all who have trusted in Jesus Christ.

1. First: God promises a home.

*By the end of Revelation 20 all evil has been defeated.

Satan, all of his demons and all lost people have been thrown into the lake of fire.

Endless perfection begins in Revelation 21, so in vs. 1 John said: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

Also there was no more sea.

(1)

[1] Notice in vs. 1 that the first heaven (today’s heaven) has passed away.

*Why was that necessary?

-- The only explanation I’ve ever heard is because sin did not start on the earth.

It started in heaven when Satan and the other fallen angels rebelled against God.

So the heaven and earth that exist today are going to pass away.

*2 Peter 3:10 describes at least part of this destruction with these words: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”

*It will be a fire of unimaginable proportions, but Christians, we have nothing to fear! God has promised us a new home.

And we need a new home, because our old home is passing away.

*We moved around a lot when I was a little boy.

Eleven different houses by the time I was in the 7th grade.

That’s when we settled down for a while on 248 Vista Circle in Macon, GA.

*I have fond memories of living there: Playing with my little brother, picking on my big sister, the creek behind our house, riding skateboards down those big hills.

(We had to make our own back then, you know.)

*Whenever I go to Macon, I drive by, just to take a look.

A few years ago, I even knocked on the door, and the nice young man living there let me go on a little tour.

He was the Youth Pastor at a Methodist Church in Macon.

And I guess he thought this old nut knocking on his door looked harmless enough.

*I got to go back to the house in Macon, but that’s not my home.

We lived on Comanche Trail in West Monroe for 23 years, but that’s not home either.

*God is preparing a new place for us beyond compare.

And Christians, He gives us a glimpse of our new home in vs. 2: “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

*Our new home is going to be incredibly astounding!

-- In vs. 2, the best thing John can compare it to is a bride, coming down that aisle, all dressed up for her husband.

*Then, down in vs. 9-16 the Apostle John tells us a little more about it:

9. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife."

10.

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

11. having the glory of God.

Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

12. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

13. three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

14.

Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15.

And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.

16.

The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth.

And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs.

Its length, breadth, and height are equal.

*Twelve thousand furlongs: Church, that’s fifteen hundred miles, -- all the way from Texas to Pennsylvania!

-Fifteen hundred miles long, fifteen hundred miles wide and fifteen hundred miles high!

-- But you won’t get tired going up the stairs!

(2)

*In vs. 17-21, John continued to describe the New Jerusalem.

Listen to these verses from the NLT:

17.

Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick* (the angel used a standard human measure).

18.

The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.

19.

The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve gems: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,

20. the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

21.

The twelve gates were made of pearls -- each gate from a single pearl!

And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.

*Gates made of giant pearls, a street made of gold, foundations decorated with sapphires, emeralds and other precious stones I know nothing about.

But here’s something I do know: Our new home is going to be beautiful beyond compare!

*When the great inventor Thomas Edison was on his death bed, he could barely speak.

But his doctor saw that Edison was trying to say something.

The doctor bent down very close and heard Thomas Edison whisper, “It’s very beautiful over there.”

(3)

*Edison’s last words testified about the beauty of Heaven.

And the reason why our Heavenly home is going to be so great is because Jesus Himself is putting it together for us!

That’s what He promised us on the night before the cross.

*In John 14:1-6, Jesus said:

1. "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

2. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

3.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

4.

And where I go you know, and the way you know."

5. Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"

6. Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me.

*It is most important to stress that our new home is not for everybody.

God the Father reminds us of this vital truth back up in vs. 7&8, where He said:

7. "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

8.

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.''

*Christians: vs. 8 reminds us that just because we are Christians, just because we are forgiven does not mean that we can live any old way.

God wants us to strive every day to be holy, because He is holy.

*But our new home in heaven is not for everybody.

In vs. 7, God the Father said, “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”

*Who is he that overcomes?

-- The Apostle John has already told us in 1 John 5:4&5.

There he said:

4. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith.

5. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

*Our new home is not for everybody.

-- But it IS for anybody who will trust in Jesus Christ!

*This vital truth is also supported by vs. 22&23, where John called Jesus the Lamb, and said this about Heaven: