Saved to What?
End of Days • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 7 viewsThe new heaven and the new earth will be a place where the terrors of the past are forgotten and every new day is a day of gladness and joy.
Notes
Transcript
1) There is not a Christian parent alive that doesn’t want their child to be saved.
a) That’s why one of the first Bible verses we teach our children is John 3:16 – it’s the big kahuna verse to get someone saved.
i) [John 3:16-17 ESV] 16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
(1) I tossed in verse 17 because it clarifies verse 16.
(a) Jesus came to save us, but save us to what?
2) Isaiah 65:17-25
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.
3) Saved to what?
a) When we explain salvation to our children, we typically say we are saved so we can go to heaven when we die.
i) But let me ask you a real question here – in John 3:16 and 17, do you hear the word heaven anywhere?
(1) We hear eternal life; we don’t hear heaven.
(a) Over time we’ve equated the two but the two are not the same.
(i) Yes, when we die, we’ll spend a season where we will be seated with Jesus in the heavenly places as Ephesians 2:4-6 says.
b) But at the end of days, God will create – that word is used three times in Isaiah 65:17-18 – God will create a new heaven and a new earth and we will live on the new earth.
i) Everlasting life is going to be a lot like life as we know it now.
(1) And it’s going to look a lot different too.
4) What’s going to be gone?
a) Austin told us the biggie last week – doesn’t Austin do a good job? – last week Austin preached on the death of death.
i) One of the blessings of Covid is it has exposed our terror of death.
(1) J. I. Packer in his book “Knowing God” talks about two different types of people: the balconeers and the travelers.[1]
(a) Travelers are easy to define – they are people on the road going somewhere.
(i) Balconeers on the other hand are the folks whose balconies face the road, and they sit on their balconies and watch the travelers go by.
1. They hear what the travelers are talking about; they might even talk with the travelers, and they will give the travelers lots of advice.
(b) The difference between travelers and balconeers is the difference between doing and talking.
(i) The balconeers talk.
1. They hear everybody’s struggles and they’ve got all of the answers even though they’ve never faced it themselves.
a. They are the priest giving marital advice.
i. They are the single people telling you how to raise your children – they’ve never been there but they have all of the answers.
(ii) The travelers walk.
1. The don’t have time to pontificate – they are facing the dragons, not reading about them in books.
a. I don’t know about you, but seeing the picture of a copperhead snake in a book was scary enough for me; one day when I looked down and saw one 4 inches from my foot was a whole nother thing all together.
ii) Covid has taken us off the balcony.
(1) It’s easy to talk about death when you aren’t planning on dying.
(a) Covid has exposed us – we don’t want to go to heaven when we die, because we don’t want to die.
(i) We desperately don’t want to die.
1. We have condemned ourselves and those we love to solitary confinement; we have accepted almost without question rules and regulations that under normal circumstances were absolutely unthinkable.
a. Why – because we desperately don’t want to die.
(2) Covid made us come off the balcony- it’s put us on the road – and what we see isn’t pretty.
(a) We are terrified of death.
(i) There is nothing we can do about it and it scares the bejabbers out of us.
1. What does Isaiah say to that?
5) At the end of days, God will create a new heaven and a new earth.
a) He’s not going to patch up the old one; He’s going to clear this thing out and He’s going to make a brand-new world and several things will be missing.
i) [Isaiah 65:19b-20 ESV] 19 …no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
(1) Some of you have lost children and to this day you wear that scar – it just won’t go away.
(a) Some of you have had miscarriages that don’t seem like real babies to everyone else but it was a real baby to you.
(i) Just this week, a friend of mine from Davis Chapel, just four years older than me passed away after a very routine surgery.
1. We’ve all lost people “before their time,” and it is devastating.
b) In the Kingdom of God, at the end of days, that’s not going to happen anymore; we will never again mourn the loss of anybody.
i) And no child will ever die again.
(1) No one will die again because death is dead.
6) What else is going to be gone? [Isaiah 65:22a-23a ESV] 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; … 23 They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity…”
They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them.
a) Not only is death gone, sin is gone.
i) I know I’ve asked you to read Deuteronomy 28 a bunch of times and I know most of you haven’t read it yet – get on with it children.
(1) These two verses refer right back to that chapter.
(a) In that chapter, God says what He will do when His people rebel against Him.
(i) These verses say that at the end of days, that curse will be gone, and that’s a big deal by itself, but that implies something that is even better.
ii) It’s not that we are forgiven of our sins, we won’t sin.
(1) Temptation will be gone; the “desires of the flesh” – that’s such a church phrase – those things you know are wrong, but you really want them anyway, those desires will be gone.
(a) Our weaknesses will pass away – we won’t be tempted to stray, and even if we could, we wouldn’t.
(i) The curse is gone – sin is gone.
7) God will rejoice - [Isaiah 65:19 ESV] 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.
a) At the end of days in the Kingdom of God, God will rejoice.
i) God will be happy – God will be glad over the very things we are glad over.
(1) Listen to what this text is saying: God will be glad in his people – then he says no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.
(a) Do you hear, the pain you feel is felt by God the Father.
(i) He is distressed by the very things you are distressed about.
(2) Lauralee Ussery sent me a video from the ERLC – The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention – and I posted it to my Facebook page.
(a) It’s 17 minutes long and it’s worth the investment.
(i) Quickly, a mom and dad find out that their, not yet born child has a condition in which her brain will not develop properly, and, as the doctors put it, was not compatible with life.
1. The doctors advised an abortion, but mom wouldn’t have it – mom said, “Pearl was my kid and it was my job to protect her.”
a. Pearl was born and lived to be six.
(b) When she died, they were all devastated but dad in particular went to a very dark place.
(i) Talking about God, dad said, “I lived like you would expect someone to live who was out of control.
1. “A split second before it was too late, God moved. It was like he rushed in and started turning on all of the lights.
a. “God said, I never left, I was here the whole time – I never expected you to do this well – I never expected anything from you.
i. God said to this heartbroken, grieving, out of control, mourning dad, “I just wanted to be your dad.”
8) You see, when death dies and sin dies, we can see.
a) I want you to think about something and then compare it to something.
i) When my children were little, baby monitors were kind of a new thing.
(1) They were like little walkie-talkies that you never turned off.
(a) Now you parents, remember and those of you who aren’t parents, use your imagination here.
ii) It’s the middle of the night and you are sleeping, what I call, the sleep of the dead.
(1) You are so tired and so worn out and your sleep is so deep.
(a) And then over that monitor you hear a grunt, and it jolts you out of your slumber.
(i) You lay there a moment hoping it was just one grunt, but it generally isn’t.
1. There is another and another and you know what’s coming.
a. So before the baby starts to really let it fly, you are getting up and heading it’s way.
iii) God says, [Isaiah 65:24 ESV] 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.
Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.
(1) Dad’s listening to the baby monitor – we don’t even know that we don’t need to be afraid.
(a) Three words God says will describe us at the end of days, in the Kingdom of God: We will rejoice, we will be glad and we will enjoy.
9) Now, let me throw you a curve - [Luke 17:20-21 ESV] 20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
a) We are travelers.
i) And if we are honest, we’ll admit the demons we fight are stronger and scarier and much more insidious than we imagined – life is a whole heck of a lot harder than any of us ever thought it would be.
(1) Facing death is much more terrifying than talking about dying in a Sunday School class.
(a) We aren’t on the balcony anymore; we are on the road walking the walk and the darkness comes at us like waves on the ocean.
(i) We. Are. Scared.
b) And it’s ok.
i) The Father didn’t expect us to handle this well.
(1) In fact, He didn’t expect anything from us at all.
(a) The Father just wants to be our dad.
ii) When He sent Jesus, it wasn’t so we could go to heaven when we die.
(1) He came to show us something else.
(a) Jesus was a traveler.
(i) He took the worst that life had to offer, and he did it with courage and determination, with sacrifice and faith.
1. He did it, not to condemn us for doing it wrong.
a. He did it so we could see.
i. Dad heard us and he’s made it right.
iii) Jesus didn’t come to give us heaven we when we die.
(1) Jesus came to give us courage to live life right now.
[1] (Packer 1973), p. 11-12