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This is a blessed and a wondrous 
description that John the Apostle gives to us. Remember that he's 
on the island of Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is in exile for having preached 
the Savior, for having preached Christ and Him crucified. John 
spends his latter years on this rock out in the Mediterranean 
and God comes to him in a special way. He tells us it's on the 
Lord's Day in Revelation 1.10. And he takes pen to paper and 
writes this out for us. And this is, as I said, a vision 
of the new heaven and a new earth. That prophesied, as Pastor Porter 
read in chapter 65 of Isaiah. Well, as we consider verses 1 
to 8, I want to notice four things. First, the new heaven and the 
new earth considered. Secondly, the bride prepared 
for her husband. Thirdly, the announcement of 
blessing. And fourthly, the voice from 
the throne. We'll probably spend the bulk 
of our time in the announcement of blessing. In many respects, 
it's hard to grieve over Austin when we consider Revelation 21 
and 22. This is what is his. His faith 
has become sight. He is in the presence of the 
Lamb. This is his first Lord's Day with the Lord of the day. 
He is worshiping world without end. Amen. Certainly it grieves 
our heart and it brings us sorrow because he was a godly young 
man, an encouraging young man, a man who bore up under a lot 
of difficulties with Christian grace and dignity and fidelity. That young man reproved me very 
often, not because he said, Pastor Butler, you've got this issue 
or you've got this problem. It was his life. It was his character. It was his godliness. And that's 
been the consistent testimony of everybody in our church. It's 
a consistent testimony of his family members. His grandfather 
said, I can't think of one bad thought about Austin. I gotta 
tell you, if my grandfather were alive today, I don't think he 
could say that. This was a godly young man. He's 
with his Lord. He's with Jesus, no more bad 
physical heart, no more Crohn's disease, no more pain, sorrow 
and tears. I'll argue this morning with 
the new heaven and the new earth. It's not only blessed because 
of what is there, God and the lamb who sits upon the throne, 
but it's blessed because of what is not there. Pain, sorrow, death, 
grief, agony, tears, sin. What a beautiful concept. Let's 
look first at the new heaven and the new earth, verse 1. John 
writes, 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. You see, there's movement in 
the scripture. The first Adam with the old earth 
failed. The first Adam was told to exercise 
dominion. The first Adam was told to extend 
that garden temple. The first Adam was told to take 
the worship of God and make it canvas the entirety of the earth. We fail when we look at Adam 
moving about in the garden, and we derive from that a work ethic. 
We ought to derive a work ethic, but that's a corollary, that's 
a sideline thought. Adam wasn't first and foremost 
a gardener, Adam was first and foremost a priest. As he moves 
about that temple, that garden temple, he is acting on behalf 
of the living God to bring this world into captivity. and to 
present it unto his father. But of course Adam sins, and 
Adam rebels, and Adam fails in this particular mandate. So God 
sends Christ. It is not for no reason that 
Christ is called the last Adam. That he's called the second Adam. 
He is the victor. He is the champion. He is the 
one that inaugurates a new heaven and a new earth wherein righteousness 
dwells. He carries out His mandate, He 
carries out His task, He carries out His charge absolutely perfectly 
through His life and death and resurrection and through His 
current session at the right hand of God Most High. It is 
Christ who is involved in making the earth His. It is Christ who 
uses the church as His Eve, as His helper, but it's ultimately 
Christ as second Adam that is carrying out the task of making 
the earth His own. So John is giving us this glimpse 
of this new heaven and a new earth. It's already been inaugurated 
through the ministry of Christ, but it's not yet been fully realized 
what we will enjoy. And then notice as well, it speaks 
of there was no more sea. Oftentimes in the Old Testament 
scriptures, and even here in the book of Revelation, the sea 
has this representation of chaos and opposition to God. We don't 
have time. to go through all of the passages. 
But the idea here is, this new heaven, this new earth comes, 
there's no more sea. There's no more opposition. There's 
no more chaos. There's no more rebellion against 
the living and true God. There is cosmos, not chaos. There is order, not confusion. There is beauty, not ugliness. There is glory. There is majesty. There is excellence. Not the 
depravity and the filth that so oftentimes punctuates this 
old heaven. and this old earth. Notice, secondly, 
he describes this city coming down. He says in verse 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. See, the unholy city's already 
dead. The unholy city's already been judged. Revelation 17 and 
18. Babylon has fallen. The great 
whore is dead. And now the holy city, this one 
coming down out of heaven, this bride, the church of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, is coming down out of heaven. And something 
very important that we need to appreciate in this passage. Notice at the end of verse 2, 
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I've had two daughters 
get married and I've witnessed others get married. And that 
day before the wedding ceremony, what happens? I've got to get 
my hair done, got to get my makeup on, I've got to get my dress 
right. Adornment in and of itself is not wicked. We see that here. 
This holy city is adorned as a bride for her bridegroom. But 
what happens when this bride does this on Saturday? She's 
passive. She's prepared. The other ladies 
come with their little sticks or whatever they do, and they 
do the hair, and they paint the face, and if that sounds demeaning, 
please forgive me, whatever. They're passive in this. They're 
prepared for this. What are we supposed to glean 
from this? We don't prepare ourselves for 
the mercy and grace of God. God's grace and mercy prepares 
us. We are a blood-bought community. We are a blood-bought society. 
We are a prepared people. Notice in Revelation 17, at verse 
14. Revelation 17, verse 14. These will make war with the 
Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords 
and King of kings, and those who are with Him are called, 
chosen, and faithful. Why are they faithful? Because 
they're called, because they're chosen. Note the order and the 
priority. We're not faithful and then we're 
called. We're not faithful and then we're chosen. We are called 
and chosen in order to be faithful. The bride is prepared by God 
Himself for His blessed consummation. And then again in Revelation 
chapter 19, verses 7 to 9, just to see this concept of being 
prepared. It is God who prepares His bride. Revelation 19, 7. Let us be glad 
and rejoice and give him glory. For the marriage supper of the 
Lamb has come, or the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his 
wife has made herself ready. That would be by grace. And to 
her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, 
for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Then he said to 
me, write, blessed are those who are called to the marriage 
supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are 
the true sayings of God." So in Revelation 21, he sees this 
new heaven, he sees this new earth. It's identified further 
as being this holy city, the new Jerusalem. When it comes 
down from heaven, later developed in chapter 21, you have to notice 
its shape. The stress doesn't fall upon 
how many square feet or square miles is this object. The stress 
is on its shape. It's rectangular, square. Think Old Testament. Think tabernacle. Think temple. What God is saying 
is coming out of heaven is this temple city of God most high. Because you know what a temple 
is. It is where God and sinners meet. When I read this though, when 
I get this verse 2, this bride, or prepared as a bride, adorned 
for her husband, we don't have time to go there, but if you 
want to write down for your later study in perusal, look at Ezekiel 
chapter 16, where God rehearses the history of the old covenant 
people. You know what God says to those 
old covenant people? When I came upon you, you were 
lying there in your blood, You were a mess. You were horrible. You were wretched. You were in 
a bad state. You were filthy. You were stinking. You were all manner of evil. 
And God says, I raised you up. I said, live, live. And then 
he goes on to detail that I decked you with ornaments. I decked 
you with jewelry. I not only cleansed you and perfumed 
you, but I made you up special for myself." John, perhaps, is 
taking that image from Ezekiel 16. He is saying that what God 
does to Old Covenant Israel, He does with New Covenant Israel. 
He does it in and through the church. They are a prepared bride. 
They are brought out of darkness into marvelous light. They are 
blessed by God with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places 
in Christ, so that they are made fit to stand in His presence, 
world without end. Amen. It is a beautiful vision. Notice thirdly, this announcement 
of blessing that comes in verses three and four. And I heard a 
loud voice from heaven saying, if you don't like loud, heaven 
may not be the place for you. You notice every time there's 
an announcement in heaven, it's loud. It's loud like the sound 
of many waters. God ain't playing games. He wants 
you to hear. He wants you to understand. He 
wants you to know. This heaven, on behalf of the 
Lord God Almighty, says in verse 3, and I heard a loud voice from 
heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will 
dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will 
be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every 
tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, 
nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain. 
for the former things have passed away." Three observations here. 
The first is simply this, the communion of God with man is 
realized. The communion of God with man 
is realized. Again, storyline. Why did God 
put Adam and Eve in the garden? To subdue the earth, to extend 
that garden temple, to make worshipers of the living God. What does 
God do with Adam and Eve in the garden? He communes. He comes to them. He has intimacy 
with them. He has Congress with them. He 
traffics with them. He has union with them. They 
forfeit that with their sin and rebellion. And again, God institutes 
means by which He will restore that blessing. What we lose in 
paradise, we gain through Christ in a way that, in many respects, 
exceeds what we had in the first Adam. communion is here held 
out to the people of God. And may I dare say that Austin 
has realized stanza four of that hymn we just sang. The bride eyes not her garment. She doesn't gaze at glory. You know, when you read through 
21 there, those jaspers and those sapphires and those various stones 
give way to Christ, to Jesus. There's no temple there. Why? Because God and Jesus are the 
temple. She doesn't gaze at her garment. She doesn't gaze at glory. She 
gazes at her dear bridegroom's face. Not at the crown that he 
gifteth, but on his pierced hand. The Lamb is all the glory of 
Emmanuel's land. That young brother knows that 
hymn much better than we do. As delightful as it was for us 
to sing that this morning, and I hope it was, he has already 
felt that for about 24 hours now. Communion with God. He dwelt with man in Eden. God 
dwells with man in the tabernacle. God dwells with man in the temple. Above all, God dwells with man 
in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't this the point 
of John 2? When Jesus goes in and he drives 
out those money changers, and he sends out those animals, and 
we see applied to him that text from the Psalter, zeal for your 
house is consuming. And then Jesus makes this statement 
that's a bit enigmatic, a bit puzzling, though John interprets 
it for us as he goes on in the gospel. Jesus says, destroy this 
temple and in three days I will raise it up. What do they say? It's taken us 46 years to build 
this temple, and will you raise it again in three days? What 
does the apostle tell us? What does the theologian tell 
us? He was talking about the temple of his body. It is through 
Christ that God and sinners come together. It is through Christ 
that God and sinners are reconciled. It is through Christ that we 
have Revelation 21 and 22. So we have the communion of God 
with man. Secondly, with reference to this announcement of blessing, 
we have the fulfillment of covenant blessings. If I say the two words 
to you, covenant theology, where does your mind go? If you happen 
to be one of our dear dispensational brothers, your mind might go 
this way. Well, you know, those people impose a grid upon the 
scripture. And that grid ultimately cheats 
the Jews out of some promises. That's really not a cool way 
to do interpretation. You're not a dispensational brother 
and you don't happen to read in covenant theology, you might 
say, well, that's that dry, sort of dusty, academic theology that 
Reformed people like. No covenant theology, no Revelation 
21 and 22. No covenantal promise. No new 
heavens and new earth. No sworn promise by God to save 
his people in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and give them 
everything. There's no Revelation 21 and 
22. This is the fruition, this is the consummation, this is 
the application of every promise God made in terms of his union 
with his people. Leviticus 26, in an Old Testament 
setting, Old Covenant setting. I will set my tabernacle among 
you, and my soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and 
be your God, and you shall be my people. Isn't that beautiful? Jeremiah 31, 33, a promise of 
the new covenant. I will put my law in their minds 
and write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they 
shall be my people. Ezekiel 37, 26 and 27, moreover, 
I will make a covenant of peace with them and it shall be an 
everlasting covenant with them. I will establish them and multiply 
them and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My 
tabernacle also shall be with them. Indeed, I will be their 
God, and they shall be my people." You see what's happening, brethren? You see the movement and the 
storyline of Scripture? What is promised in Genesis 1-3 
is realized in the second Adam. It is brought to pass in Jesus 
the Lord, the one who lived and died and rose again, so that 
all of his people might have everlasting life. He brings this 
new heaven. He brings this new earth. Later 
on in Revelation 21-22, But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord 
God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Revelation 22-3, 
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. 
That's it. It's the covenant. Come to fruition. Come to pass. In Christ, all 
the promises of God are yea and amen. May I just suggest to you, 
be you reformed, be you dispensational, read covenant theology. It sturdies 
the soul. It comforts the heart. It promotes 
in the believer a great confidence in his God who makes promises 
and fulfills them. Notice thirdly, with reference 
to this announcement of blessing, the removal of the curse. I like 
to go to the keg because they don't sell hot dogs. I like to visit my son because 
on Air Force bases they don't have graffiti all over the place. 
I like to go certain places where certain things aren't. Look what's 
absent in the new heaven and new earth. And look at who the 
agent is who makes it so. And God will wipe away every 
tear from their eyes. Dads, do you ever wipe tears 
away from the eyes of your children? Oh, that's my wife's job. Be like God. Be like the sovereign. the omnipotent Lord who created 
this world and everything in it, the God of absolute sovereignty 
that upholds this world and everything in it, and who, when one of his 
saints enters into heaven, God takes the hanky out of his pocket, 
I speak as a man, and wipes the tears from their eyes. That's a beautiful picture. If your doctrine of being a manly 
man does not involve wiping tears out of the eyes of your children, 
then you're not like God. Because that's what God holds 
forth. God will wipe away every tear 
from their eyes. Notice, there shall be no more 
death. What does Paul celebrate in 1 
Corinthians chapter 15? Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? Christ the Lord has taken the 
sting out of death. Christ the Lord has taken victory 
out of the grave. Christ the Lord has made it such 
that when his people enter into the new heaven and the new earth, 
they will never die again. There will never be that loss. 
There will never be that grief. You'll never look at the deathbed 
of someone that you love and esteem. You will never have your 
heart broken over that reality because in the new heaven and 
the new earth, it's not only what's there, God and Christ, 
that is blessed, but it's what's not there that is blessed. No more sorrow. None. That's inconceivable, isn't it? 
No more sorrow? No more anguish, no more grief. I mean, this is a valley of tears 
at best, isn't it? There's a lot to sorrow over. 
The physical challenges, the spiritual challenges, the trials 
that we face, the people that we love that face those particular 
things. The reality that brothers and 
sisters are suffering for the cause of Christ right now, sitting 
in prison cells or perhaps on death row because of the crime 
of preaching Jesus Christ. This is a world punctuated with 
many sorrows. But the new world isn't. The 
new heavens and the new earth is a place where there's no more 
sorrow, no more crying, no more pain. I've often thought, when 
I've read Revelation 7, where the great multitude is amassed 
before the throne, and they're not only rehearsing these things, 
they also add there'll be no more hunger, I've often thought 
in North America, we probably don't feel that promise the way 
we would if we were in the Sudan, the way we would if we were in 
Ethiopia, the way we would in another country where you can't 
just walk over and turn on the water tap. I'm sure our brothers 
and sisters that are suffering with hunger and thirst, who don't 
get a lot of water in a given day, read Revelation 7 and they're 
beaming. You mean I'm going to a place 
where there's no more hunger? There's no more thirst? So then conversely, or in addition 
to that, I read this particular passage where it says, there 
shall be no more pain. And I wonder if for the majority 
of us who don't suffer pain on a regular basis, if we value 
and prize that text as much as some of our other brethren who 
have chronic pain, who have chronic suffering do. They're probably 
chomping at the bit, waiting, desirous. death wish, not in 
some suicidal, sick fashion, but the reality that when I pass 
from this world into the next, the aches, the pains, the chronic, 
the illness, the issues are gone. You see, it's not only blessed 
for what it is, God and the Lamb are there, it's blessed for what 
it isn't. Sorrow, tears, pain. Think again of our young brother. 
No more heart problems. No more Crohn's. No more liquid 
diet. Brother Howie yesterday, I don't 
know if you'd want me to share this, I'm going to take some 
liberty. He said he's eating burgers in the presence of God 
now. And he qualified it. You know, 
these people that say, I'm going to play basketball for eternity. 
If you know Austin, you know he wanted his burgers. I imagine any of us who had a 
liquid diet for about 30 seconds would want burgers. In fact, one of the last bits of 
correspondence I had with him, I said, when you're feeling up 
to it, we're going to go out and punish some burgers. He sent 
back an email. I like that phrase, punish burgers. As I suspect he would have, and 
he probably would have punished burgers. You see what God is 
saying? The things that infest a sin-cursed 
world do not enter into the new heaven and the new earth. The 
things associated with the sin and the rebellion and the failure 
of Adam the first are absolutely eradicated due to Adam the second. There is a removal of the curse 
There is a throwing out of these things. And when we ask the question, 
why in this world is there sorrow? Why in this world is there pain? Why in this world is there suffering 
and all those things? What can we ultimately trace 
it back to? If those are the streams, if 
those are the corollaries, what is the fountainhead? Sin, right? Sin. So in the new heaven and 
in the new earth, guess what else won't be there? Sin. I know, that's just amazing. When we read in Revelation 22, 
5, and they shall serve Him, whole sold, completely devoted, 
absolutely involved, 24-7, world without end. Amen. And if you're thinking carnally, 
well, won't that get a little boring about year 58? No, because 
the object of our worship, the one whom we bow to, the one whom 
we praise, the one whom we sing to, is worthy of a great multitude 
who worship forever and ever. We cannot exhaust his glory, 
we cannot spend his majesty, we cannot be finished with how 
wonderful our God. is. It's as Rick Anderson used 
to explain, what it will be like when the sinner, redeemed by 
grace, enters into heaven. It's like when you take your 
kids to Disneyland, or you take your kids to the Peony, or you 
take your kids to a museum, if that's what floats their boat. 
Around every turn of the corner, they're like, there's something 
new to take their breath away. Every time you move, you say, 
there's something new and amazing. You see that animal. Wow! You 
see that ride. Wow! You see that museum artifact. Wow! That's what heaven is for 
the redeemed. You actually think you're going 
to get tired of Christ? You're going to get tired of 
looking at that pierced hand? You're going to get tired of 
being in the presence of the one who was the man of sorrows 
and acquainted with grief? The one who loves us to the uttermost? 
The one who dies for us? The one who rises again? You 
will not get tired of that. You will not exhaust that. You 
will worship and glorify and praise for all eternity. That's 
what the new heaven and the new earth is all about. So we've 
seen the new heaven and the new earth, the bride prepared for 
her husband, the announcement of blessing, fourthly, by way 
of large observation, the voice from the throne. We have an angelic 
being, I suspect, in verse 3. I heard a loud voice from heaven 
saying, here in verses 5 and following, it is God most high. 
Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things 
new. And he said to me, write, for 
these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, it is done. 
Now, readers of John's Gospel will remember a statement made 
by Jesus on the cross in John 19.30, where he says, it is finished. Now, the verb is different, but 
the concept is the same. What Christ accomplishes in 19.30 
is here published in Revelation 21. It is done. It is finished. It is over. There is a new heaven. There is a new earth. There is 
a new Jerusalem. There is this city coming down 
from God wherein all the people will live and dwell in righteousness 
and enjoy His presence and power and glory forever. It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, 
the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of 
the water of life freely to him who thirsts. Freely to him who 
thirsts. You thirst today, come to the 
Lord Jesus. You thirst today, come to the 
one alone who can save you from your sins. You thirst today, 
flee. Don't wait, don't stop, don't 
wonder, don't ponder. Because in the final analysis, 
do you know what really matters in this world? Is what thinking 
of Christ. That's it. That's it. Whether you're 18 and a godly 
young man, or whether you're not 18. We all have that to look forward 
to. That's it. I'm not telling young 
people, don't think about school. Go get Fs. Don't worry about 
a job. Just lay on the couch. Your parents 
will be fine. I'm not saying that. Think priority. What's most important? Popularity? Money? Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? Who am 
I going to marry? Again, not bad things. Not bad thoughts. 
You need to think about these things. But they pale in significance 
to what think I of Christ. Have I closed with them? Have 
I believed on him? Have I, by the grace, tasted 
and seen that the Lord is good? I mean, in this passage, the 
Lord God Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning 
and the end, says, I will give of the fountain of the water 
of life freely to him who thirsts. There is a promise here in verse 
7 to he who overcomes. Readers of the book of Revelation 
will know that each of the seven letters written to those churches 
ended with this emphasis, overcome, overcome, overcome. overcome, 
overcome, overcome. Why? Because in the context that 
the book was written there was pressure upon the people of God 
to not overcome. They had the beastly Roman Empire, 
they had unbelieving Israel, they had religious pressure, 
they had economic pressure, they had all manner of pressure upon 
them. So John takes pen to paper to write to the church, overcome! Don't give in! Don't join the 
beast system. Don't go back to apostate Israel. Overcome! It is Christ alone 
who is everything. It is Christ alone who is majesty. 
It is Christ alone to whom you must fly and in whom you must 
stay. There is this promise from the 
throne. He who overcomes shall inherit all things. And there's 
that covenantal blessing again. And I will be his God and he 
shall be my son. And then notice how the section 
ends. The Bible is a lot more realistic, I think, than we are. We like to preach the gospel. 
We like to tell people of the kingdom. We like to tell them 
of entrance into our savior's presence through his blood, by 
the power of the spirit, response to his word. See, the Bible never lets us 
forget. There is exclusion as well. Verse 8, but the cowardly, let 
me just stop there for a moment, because if you're a child or 
a young person who hasn't been in our church, you'll think, 
cowardly? Everybody's cowardly. I'm afraid of spiders. I'm not 
really. I'm just giving you an example 
here. I'm afraid of bears. Yeah, that perplexes me. I'm 
afraid of what these things could do to me. That's not the cowardly 
in the context. How does verse 7 address people? To him who overcomes. The cowardly are those who profess 
faith in Christ and then reject. The cowardly are those who do 
not endure, those who do not persevere, those who by grace 
do not run with endurance the race that is set before them. 
They are those people that when the cares of this world come 
along, or when riches come along, they say later to Jesus Christ 
and they turn back. That's the cowardly in the context. That's who God, through the Apostle, 
is addressing in verse 8. So don't think that God puts 
people in the lake of fire just because they have an otherwise 
healthy fear of lions. That's not what's going on. It 
is the theme, it is the recurring emphasis on overcome. Unbelieving. You see, he's going to list some 
pretty perverse behaviors coming up in the following section. 
Abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, 
and all liars. You see, you may say, well, I 
don't do that. I'm not an idolater. I'm not 
a liar. I'm not an abominable person. But do you realize if you are 
not a believer in Christ, you're in the same camp with these people? 
We saw this last week in our studies in Matthew. Jesus makes 
this alarming statement. He says there's a sin worse than 
sodomy. He says, truly, I say to you, 
it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day 
of judgment than for those who refuse your words. You see, the 
Bible sets forth in the new heaven and the new earth not only what 
is blessed, God and the Lamb, but what is cursed, what is bad, 
what is wretched, and what is horrible. It is excluded from 
the presence of the Lamb of God Most High. In other words, there 
was another death that occurred this week. Austin Jones is not 
going to sit in the marriage supper of the Lamb with Henry 
Morgenthaler, who for all we know was unwashed, unsanctified, 
and unjustified. God is a righteous God. God is a just God. Yes, Austin is a sinner too, 
cleansed by the blood. That's the point. That's the 
emphasis. That's where the stress lie. Cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, 
murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all 
liars who have not, by the grace of God, believed on the Lord 
Jesus Christ. That's what the text is teaching 
us. So in conclusion, My dear brothers 
and sisters, this is what our young brother is enjoying. And this is what, by God's grace, 
we look forward to. Some of the elderly among us, 
you're probably closer, just humanly speaking, naturally, 
it's the way it tends to go. Be encouraged. Don't have some 
zany, goofy death wish. But you know, a Christian is 
resolved by the grace of God to realize that when I leave 
this world, I enter into the presence of the Lamb. If you're not a believer here this 
morning, look at the two alternatives. Look at the only two positions. You're either in Christ, you're 
either an inheritor of the new heaven and the new earth, You 
receive those covenant blessings where God is your God and you 
are His people or you are excluded. And note the language, note the 
text. shall have their part in the 
lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second 
death." Up to this point, we have been told who's in the lake 
of fire. It's the beast. It's the false 
prophet. It's unbelievers. It is those 
who reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Note the contrast, the stark 
contrast. Lake of fire, these characters, 
New Jerusalem, God and the Lamb are the temple. If you are in 
your sin today, I would like to come along and shake you, 
but I can't. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you shall be saved. Pastor Porter and I reckoned 
yesterday, at the death of this young man, it was a time of worship. It was a time of rejoicing on 
the one hand. It was grieving and sorrowful 
to be sure. To watch Brother Howie and to 
watch Sister Camille is absolutely incredible. How in the world 
could they do that? Not by God's grace, but by mercy, 
by gospel, by truth, by blood, To know it's a stark difference 
when you go to a funeral or around a deathbed where there is no 
peace, there is no comfort, there is no closure, there is no Christ, 
there is no joy, there is no eternal life. You see scared 
people, terrified people, people around them that are scared and 
terrified. Why is that? If we're just a mass of molecules 
that stop existing, what difference does it make? Men know. Men know 
of a truth. Men understand because God has 
put eternity into their hearts, as the preacher says. They know 
of a truth. When they die, they will fly 
away. The question is, where? Where will you fly? May God, 
in mercy, reach down and save. May God, in mercy, give grace. 
May God, in mercy, give you the gift of faith and repentance 
if you have, as yet, believed on Him. Well, let us pray. And 
let us ask the Lord God Almighty to seal these things to our hearts. 
Oh, Father in heaven, the occasion is solemn. We think of our brother, 
we think of our dear young brother. We thank you for his life. We 
thank you for your work in his heart. We thank you that John 
6, 37 was such a special and important text to him. All that 
the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes 
I will certainly not cast out. God, may you use the scripture 
in the hearts of young people here. May you use the scripture 
and the spirit to work and to soften and to mold and to cause 
there to be faith and repentance. And our Father, again, we just 
commit to you, our dear brother Howie and our dear sister Camille, 
we pray that Revelation 21 and 22 would be a great encouragement 
to them, that you would strengthen them, that you would build them 
up, that you would cause them to continue to exemplify Christian 
grace in the midst of suffering and hardship and trial. We know 
they're grieving, we know their hearts are hurting, and we know, 
Lord God, that this is natural. We pray that you would just continue 
to sustain them and support them, use their family god to minister 
words of comfort and encouragement to them. And may in the midst 
of all of these things, may you indeed be glorified, may you 
indeed be honored, and may you indeed be praised. May we see 
you the way Job saw you. May we worship, may we reckon, 
and may we realize that we come into this world naked. We will 
return naked. You give, you take away. But 
as that dear man of God said, blessed be the name of the Lord. 
May this never leave our hearts and our minds. And I pray for 
my brothers and sisters here. God, as Pastor Cam reminded us, 
we lost a member of our church. And yet, Father, we know heaven 
has gained a godly young man. And we praise you through Christ 
our Lord. Amen.