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Our Eternal Home - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 21:1-8

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 Let me ask you a question this morning to begin with and this is not a rhetorical question. I truly want you to answer this question in your heart. If you are a Christian, when you think of where you will spend eternity, what comes to your mind? Truly. I am not asking what your stated doctrine is, but what comes to your mind when you think about your eternal state? 

 

For many Christians, their perspective of where they will live for eternity bears absolutely no resemblance to the biblical reality. It’s their own kind of mental CGI constructed from a weird collection of biblical misinformation and personal and cultural misrepresentation. 

 

Of course, when we die, I think we all understand this, when we die as believers, if we die before Christ comes, we go to heaven where God is—where He dwells. But do you understand that is not our eternal home? We are learning from the last book in our Bibles that our eternal home will not be some virtual AI generated world. Instead, we will live forever on a new earth that will be remarkably like this one. Simply without sin, without the curse, an earth where righteousness is truly at home. 

 

It will be designed for us as perfect glorified human beings, but it will also be designed so that our God may dwell among us. In Revelation 21 and 22, we are truly discovering the new world. 

Last time, we studied the first four verses of Revelation 21. If you weren’t here because of spring break or some other reason, I encourage you to go back and listen. That’s truly foundational for our study of our eternal home. 

 

But let me just remind those of us who were here of what we have learned so far in outline form. I’m not going to cover all of it again. But just an outline. In verses 1 and 2, we got our first glimpse of our eternal home: a new universe with new heavens and a new earth. And in addition to that we saw the eternal city which will be at the center of that new earth. 

 

In verses 3 and 4, we heard as it were, the divine announcement of our eternal home. Having gotten a first glimpse of it, John then hears an angel announce the reality with some really important insights into what that will be like. 

 

But this morning, we come to verses 5 through 8. And I have to tell you, I thought about covering this more lightly and moving on some into the eternal city that’s described beginning in verse 9. But as I got into it, I just couldn’t do that. It is so profoundly rich. I hope it will encourage you as it has encouraged me. Because in verses 5 through 8, we gain God’s personal assurance of our eternal home. God’s personal assurance. 

 

J. I. Packer writes, “Hearts on earth say in the course of a joyful experience, ‘I don’t want this ever to end.’” Have you ever been in one of those circumstances? I just don’t want this moment to end. But he writes, “But it invariably does. The hearts of those in heaven say, ‘I want this to go on forever.’ And it will. There is no better news than this.”

 

But how do we know that’s true? How do we know that that’s the eternal home for those who’ve trusted in Christ? Well, in our text this morning, we learn it is because in part we have God’s own personal assurance. Let’s read it together. Revelation chapter 21, beginning in verse 5: 

 

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without costs. He will overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

In these remarkable verses, God speaks audibly from His throne to John the apostle. And He does so for the benefit of all of His people including for us. God speaks here for the sole purpose of reassuring us that all that is recorded in chapters 21 and 22 is true. It’s going to happen. Our eternal future is secure, and God the Father wants us to know that with certainty. In fact, look at verse 7 again: “He who overcomes will inherit these things and I will be His God and he will be My son” or My daughter. 

 

These verses really lay out several reasons that you and I as believers can have confidence about our eternal home. Let’s look at the reasons together. Again, I hope it is encouraging to you as it has been to me as I have lived with these verses this week. 

 

The first reason that we can be assured that we will inherit these things is that it is guaranteed by His sovereignty. It’s guaranteed by His sovereignty. Look at verse 5: “And He who sits on the throne said.” “He who sits on the throne.” Back in chapters 4 and 5, it was God the Father who sits on the throne. At the end of chapter 20 at the great white throne of judgment, it is Jesus the Son who sits on the throne. In chapter 22, verse 3, we learned that it was the throne of God and of the Lamb. 

 

But here in our text, it’s probably God the Father as it will become clear as this unfolds. What makes that interesting is that the Father has only spoken two times before this in this entire book: back in chapter 1, verse 8; chapter 16, verse 17. But here the Father speaks and announces the new creation, and He does so as He is sitting on His throne. That is intended to communicate a truth about what He is about to proclaim. It shows His absolute sovereignty: He is sitting high exalted on the universe’s throne. 

 

It's like Daniel said of Him in Daniel 4, actually it was Nebuchadnezzar who said in Daniel 4, verse 35, speaking of God, “He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth.” There is all there is: heaven and earth. “He does according to His will . . . and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” You see, because God is sovereign, because He is sitting on His throne, our future home is absolutely guaranteed. What can derail the plans of the sovereign God?

 

There is a second reason that we can have confidence we will inherit these things. It is because it is based on His plan. Look at verse 5, he goes on to say, “Behold”—here’s a special announcement—“I am making all things new.” Now we understand that personally, because when God saved us, He made all things new. Second Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.” A new creation. “The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come.” So, we have experienced this at a very personal level but here God says His plan calls for that same dramatic change on a cosmic scale. 

 

When God says He is making all things new here, He’s referring to the plan laid out in Isaiah. Remember, I mentioned last week this whole passage is built on two promises in Isaiah 65:17, “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.”

 

Isaiah 66:22, “The new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me, declares the Lord.” You see, that has always been God’s plan. And since it is part of His eternal plan, or as Paul calls it in Ephesians 3, “the plan of the ages.” It will come to pass. 

 

If God planned it, it’s going to happen. Psalm 33:11: “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.” One of the most difficult things about living in our country is the reality that potentially every four years the pendulum swings with a new president and you have one side, you know, and for four years, it’s all this. And then it swings the other way and for four years, it’s all this. It changes and nobody’s plans last. But that is not true of our God. The plans of His heart stand from generation to generation. 

 

Isaiah 46:10, He says, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done,”—listen to what God says—“saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’”

Ephesians 1:11, “God works all things after the counsel of His will.” God never fails to accomplish anything in His eternal plan and that includes creating a new earth for all of us who have believed in His Son. You can bet on it because it is based in His eternal plan.

 

There is a third reason that we who have believed in Christ can have assurance that we will inherit these things: it is because it is promised in His Word. Verse 5, “and He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.’” You remember back in chapter 1, the Lord Jesus commanded John to write and now the Father commands him to write. Why? Because the Father wanted to emphasize the dependability of these words about our future home. 

 

Think about it this way, Christian. The Father wanted you to know. The Father wanted you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that what is described in these chapters is the eternal home of everyone, including you, who has trusted in His Son. It’s why the Father is speaking. And the assurance of our eternal home is based on who God is and on what He has said. Because God is, notice the words here, “faithful and true.” That’s who He is, therefore, His words are always faithful and true. 

 

You know, I was struck as I studied this passage and I want you to be struck with it as well. Do you understand what is really going on in this passage? God who is in His being always faithful and true, speaks from the throne, includes these verses because He wants to prove to you that these things are true. That’s grace. 

 

And I think the reason that He is proving to us here the truth of what He has said, is because He knows it is so foreign to our experience. We live in a world of lying and dishonesty. You probably know this, but more than sixty percent of Americans believe lying is sometimes necessary. Not okay, but necessary. Ninety three percent admit lying regularly at work. And here’s a really astounding fact: two percent even admitted to lying in response to a poll on lying. What is the point? 

 

In one recent study, Americans admitted to lying four times a day. And I think that is really a generous underestimate. It happens all the time, and we just get used to it. Recently, I had a roof leak, and I had some damage in my home. So, I called my insurance company. Literally for months the adjuster told me, “Yes, Mr. Pennington, we’ll have that claim settled this week.” For months. I am not going to tell you what company it was. 

 

The relentless patter of dishonesty that’s all around us tempts us to distrust the promises that people make. And sadly, sometimes in the back of our minds, even to doubt the promises that God Himself has made. But we can trust God with this promise of a new world. Why? Because He is by nature faithful and true. Titus 1 says, “God cannot lie.” And God has John write this in His Word. These are the promises in His Word. He said to John, “Write. Write it down. So, My people know.”

 

There is a fourth reason we can be confident that we will inherit the new earth, and that is because it is already completed in His omniscience. It is already completed in His omniscience. Notice verse 6: “Then He said to me, ‘It is done.’” That probably recalls to your mind the words of our Lord in John 19:30 when at the end of His suffering on the cross, He said, “It is finished.” Announcing that the work of redemption was complete.

 

Here, God says literally in the Greek text, “They have come to pass.” What’s the “they” referring to? The plural pronoun “they” refers back to “all things” in verse 5. Here the Father announces the end of redemptive history: “all things have been made new.” What Paul promised in 1 Corinthians 15, when in the end the Son would hand all things over to the Father so that He would be all in all. 

 

The Father’s statement here in verse 6, “It is done” can have two possible meanings. This may simply be a quote of what God will say in the future when He announces that the new creation is in fact complete. When it truly is done. And some take that view. 

 

But I think and with many commentators, it’s more likely that God is speaking here to John. God told John in the first century that the new creation is already done. In other words, the new heavens and the earth are so certain that in God’s mind they are already complete. You see, God knows everything as it is. And from our perspective that includes all that will be. 

 

But God knows what He knows in what theologians call “the eternal present.” We can depend on the new heaven and the new earth because from God’s vantage point, it already exists. It’s that certain. God says, “It’s done.” You can count on it. 

 

There is a fifth reason we can be confident of a new heaven and a new earth: it is because it will be accomplished by His power. It will be accomplished by His power, verse 6, He goes on to say, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” As you know, “alpha” is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, “omega” the last. John develops this by adding “the beginning and the end.” 

 

Later, John expands even this. In chapter 22, verse 13, he puts it this way, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” That's true of Christ. It's true of God the Father. God is the beginning. That is, He is the origin or source of all things. He is the end. God is the goal. He is the aim of all things. He is the first. Go back to the beginning of history, and before there was anything else, you find God. He's the first. Slice history wherever you like, and there's God.

 

And He is the last. When history ends, there you will find God directing all of it according to His sovereign purpose. He existed before history began. He will bring it to its end, and His power accomplishes every detail in between. He is the Lord of history. How does He do that? By His power. His infinite sovereign power will accomplish His plan. 

 

A sixth reason that God gives to assure us is that our eternal home, and I love this, is included in His saving purpose. It's included in His saving purpose. You see, Christian, built into your salvation, the very moment that you were born again, that God gave you life, and you repented and believed, at that very moment, built into that salvation, is the assurance that every believer in Jesus Christ will enjoy eternal life in the eternal home that Christ has prepared. Why is that true?

 

Because that is the Father's will. Go back to John chapter 6. John chapter 6 and look at verse 37.

John 6:37. Jesus says, “All that the Father gives Me,”—that is, all that the Father gave to Me as an eternal love gift, in eternity past, we learn that elsewhere, all that the Father has given to Me as a love gift, those people will come to me, that is, come to Me for salvation. “And the one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out.”

 

Now watch verse 38, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me”—of the Father. And what's His will? Verse 39, “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son,”—that sees him in the Gospel message, and believes in Him—“will have eternal life.” That's the Father's will. “And I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” That points to the future. It's the Father's will that all who believe in His Son have eternal life and inherit the home that Christ has prepared. That's His saving purpose.

 

And even in our text, go back to Revelation 21, the Father's saving purpose is shown in the promise of the Gospel. Notice verse 6. The Father says, “I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.”

 

In Greek, it's an inflected language, so you don't always have to include the personal pronoun. It's built into the ending of the verb as other inflected languages, but here it's included. And in Greek, you include the pronoun separate from the verb when you want to really emphasize something. So literally it reads like this, “I myself will give to the one who thirsts.” 

 

And he's talking about water. What is this concept of water? Well, the image of water symbolizing eternal life actually comes from an Old Testament passage. Go back to Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah 55.

Now remember the context. If you're familiar with your Bible, you know that just two chapters before, you have the Psalm of the Suffering Servant. You have the Servant who comes, who absorbs in Himself the wrath of God for the sins of His people. He bore our sins, as Peter puts it, in His own body on the cross, and that's described so beautifully in Isaiah 53. So how does someone come to benefit from the suffering of the Servant, from the death, the saving, redeeming death of the Messiah? Chapter 55, verse 1, here's how.

 

“Ho! Every one who thirsts,”—there's that image. It's talking about spiritual thirst. If your heart is parched, if you recognize that nothing in this life has satisfied, if you feel the weight of your sin, if you're thirsty, spiritually speaking, everyone who thirsts, “come to the waters.”

 

And he expands the image a bit: “And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk.” What does it cost? Well, “without money and without cost. Why do you spend your money for what is not bread?” In other words, “and your wages for what does not satisfy?” 

 

Listen, what you've invested in this life, if you're not in Christ, it hasn't satisfied, and it won't. As Augustine wrote, we were made for God, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Him. Your heart will be restless until you found your rest in your Creator. Thirsty. 

 

“Listen carefully,” verse 2, “to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.”

 

How? How do I come to Him? Go down to verse 6. Here's the clearest passage in the Old Testament on the way of salvation. “Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.” That’s faith. Believe that He can quench the thirst. Believe that He can change your heart. Believe that He can forgive your sin, that He can make you right with Himself. “And” verse 7, “let the wicked forsake his way,”—his predictable patterns of behavior—“and the unrighteous man his thoughts.” That's repentance. Faith and repentance. That's how you come. It doesn't cost you anything. It cost Him His life on the cross, but it costs you nothing but turning from your sin and believing in Him. And what happens? “Let him return to the Lord,” verse 7, “and He will have compassion on him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” That's where this image comes from. 

 

Our Lord used this image with the woman in the well. Turn to John, chapter 4. John, chapter 4, verse 10. You remember, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink, ‘you would have asked Him and He would give you living water.’” 

 

John 4:13, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water [from Jacob's well] will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst, but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water.” Here it is, “springing up to”—what? “Eternal life.” Eternal life.

 

John returns to this image three times in the book of Revelation. Turn to Revelation 7, verse 17. Here the context is the scene in heaven. Those who died during the tribulation, martyrs for their faith in Christ. Verse 17 of Revelation 7 says, “The lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life.” In other words, in eternity, we're just going to keep drinking from the water of life, from Christ and all that He is.

 

This book ends with this image. Turn to Revelation 22, verse 17. Here it's a gospel invitation.

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come.” This morning if you have not trusted in Christ. And maybe you've never realized it to the extent you do this morning that your heart truly is parched, thirsty. You're dying of thirst because there's no spiritual life to be found. Listen, there's only one source of living water, and that's Jesus Christ. He's the only one who can parch your spiritual thirst. Come!

 

“Let the one who wishes take of the water of life,”—here it is again—“without cost.” It cost Him His life as he died in the place of all who would believe in Him, suffering God's wrath so that we could be forgiven. But what it costs you is simply your sin. It costs you turning from all of those things to Him in faith. Come. That's my prayer for you this morning.

 

Now, turn back to our text. Revelation 21. Here, the Father promises that all who have realized their thirst for eternal life and who have sought to have that thirst quenched in Christ, the living water, will be saved. Look at verse 6. “I [Myself] will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life,”—and I love it. He repeats it again—“without cost.” 

 

John MacArthur writes, “Those who will be redeemed and who will enter heaven,”—and he means in context the new heaven and the new earth—“are those who are dissatisfied with their hopeless lost condition and crave God's righteousness with every part of their being.” Again, if you're here this morning and your soul is truly parched, thirsty, you're never going to find the satisfaction you're looking for anywhere else. It's all a lie. It's only found in the living water. Christ offers you Himself. “Come.” Turn from your sin and come to Him. 

 

But here in verse 6, the Father assures us that as part of His redemptive purpose, all who have acknowledged their spiritual thirst and believed in the biblical Jesus and the biblical gospel will be there in the new world to do what? To continually drink from the spring of the water of life without cost.

 

The Father's saving purpose is also shown in our text in the preservation of every believer. The preservation of every believer. Look at verse 7. “He who overcomes.” The Greek word is Nikao. You recognize we get the brand Nike from this word. The word Nikao means “to conquer,” “to overcome.” You'll remember at the end of each of the seven letters to the churches in chapters 2 and 3, Christ finished each letter with a unique promise to the overcomers. Who were the overcomers? Every Christian. In John's Gospel, in 1 John 5, John defines the overcomer as the person who exercises saving faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and whose faith is proven to be genuine by his or her continuing to believe until death or until Christ returns. That's the overcomer. If you're here this morning and you're a true believer, you're an overcomer because you have believed, and if you're a true believer, you'll keep on believing. You're an overcomer. 

But why does every person, this is a key question, why does every person who genuinely believes in Jesus persevere? You ever thought about that? Why does every person persevere? And the answer is because of divine preservation. You see, we persevere in our faith until the end only because God preserves us. And God preserves us, and I love this, because He promised to do so as part of the new covenant. In Jeremiah 32:40, listen to this. This is you. God says, “I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good.” And listen to these verses, or these words: “And I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.” That's what God does in the new covenant. It's what He promises.

 

That's why Paul can write in Romans 8, verse 29, “those whom God foreknew,”—that is those whom he predetermined to have a relationship with—“He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, and these whom He predestined, He called”—through the gospel to Himself. “And these whom He called, He also justified. And these whom He justified, He also glorified. Not one person gets lost in the mix. That's why Paul writes in Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.” 

 

You see, the reason I hold fast to Christ and the gospel is because He holds me fast. How? How does the Father preserve us so that we persevere? Well, there are a lot of things that could be said about that, but let me give you the two primary means, the human side and the divine side. On the human side, it's our continuing faith. First Peter chapter 1, verse 5. Peter writes, we “are protected by the power of God . . . for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” You see, the preserving force is what? God. We're protected by God. But he adds, “through faith.” That's the means God uses to preserve us. That's the human side. 

 

But the divine side, another means that's key, is Jesus’ high priestly intercession. Don't you love what he says to Peter in Luke chapter 22? He says, “Peter, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat.” Satan wants to destroy your faith. But what does he say? Luke 22:32, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” That's why you'll persevere. You're preserved not only through your faith, which is a gift in itself, but you're preserved because Jesus continually intercedes on your behalf in the presence of the Father. It's the Father's will that He lose none, and He's not going to lose you. It's the Father's will that all who believe in His Son receive eternal life and inherit the eternal home Christ has prepared.

 

And we see that that's the Father's purpose in the promise of the Gospel itself and in His preservation of every believer. But here's the question. What does God promise then to the true believer? The true believer who acknowledges his or her spiritual thirst, drinks freely of Christ in the gospel, and then perseveres in believing. If that's you, what's His promise to you? Notice the blessings of perseverance in verse 7. Here's number one. This is God the Father speaking. “He who overcomes,”—the one who believes and keeps on believing—"will inherit these things.”

These things refer to all the things described in these two chapters: the new heavens and the new earth. Believer, God the Father says, “If you believed in My Son, you will inherit these things.”

 

But he makes a second promise, and I love this. He says, “I will be his God, and he will be My son.” God promised this to Abraham in Genesis 17. He promised it to David and Solomon in the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7. But do you know, Christian, this is already true of you. You already enjoy this privilege because of adoption, which is at the heart of the gospel. John 1, “to all those who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave”—what? “The right to become the children of God.” It's not a make-believe. That's not a strange image that has no real semblance to fact. That's the reality. You're His son. You're His daughter. 

 

But the fullness of your adoption, while you already are adopted, the fullness of your adoption awaits eternity and specifically the redemption of your body. Romans 8:23: “We ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, . . . groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. But Christian, don't miss the big point. You're already God's son or God's daughter.

 

But here, God says, “I will be His God, and He will be My son.” That means for eternity, we will continue to enjoy and grow in a relationship with the Father as His adopted child in ever new and fresh expressions forever. It will happen, because it's at the very heart of His saving purpose. It's why He saved you. It's why He chose you. Ephesians chapter one, verse four, “He,”—the Father—“chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.” Why? Verse five, “In love, He predestined us to adoption.” This is His saving purpose. It'll happen. It's why He started the whole plan. 

 

There's a seventh and final reason God gives to assure us that we will inherit these things, and it's an unusual and unlikely one. It's proven in His description of the lost. Look at verse eight: “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

 

There are similar lists of sins in other places: Romans 1, for example, 1 Corinthians 6, Galatians 5, 2 Timothy 3. And this isn't the last one in Revelation. We're going to see two more of these lists before we're done. But the significance of this list, this list of sins, is that it identifies those who will not be in the new world. But why here? By giving us this list here, right in the middle of a paragraph of assurance to us, God intends to encourage us. But how? Obviously, it's a serious warning against those who are characterized by these sins. They're not going to inherit heaven and eventually the new earth. So, no unforgiven, unchanged sinner will have a part in the new world. But it's in the middle of a paragraph of assurance. Why? 

 

Well, let's look at the list. Verse 8 begins, but for the cowardly. These are not the naturally timid. That's not the idea. Instead, these are those who claim to be Christ's followers, but their fear causes them to abandon Christ, proving that their faith wasn't genuine.

 

Leon Morris writes, “This is that cowardice, which in the last resort chooses self and safety before Christ. It's like the parable of the soils in Matthew 13, verse 20. “The one on whom the seed was sown on the rocky places, is the one who hears the word, immediately responds with joy. But because he doesn't have a firm root in himself, when affliction or persecution comes, his fear causes him immediately to depart.” He falls away. Mark 8.35, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.” Hebrews 10.39, unbelievers are those who shrink back in fear to destruction. 

 

You see, true saving faith always endures to the end. Matthew 24.13, “The one who endures to the end,” Jesus says, “he will be saved.” We're not saved by our endurance. Our endurance shows that we are in fact truly saved. John 8.31, “Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.’”

 

The cowardly are those who don't continue in Christ's word. “Unbelieving,” verse 8 says. This includes not only those who reject the gospel outright, but also those who claim it for a time, but then in the end deny Christ. “Abominable,” literally the ones having been polluted, probably by sexual practices that accompany false religion.

 

“Murderers,” that includes all who actually commit murder, including in Revelation, involved in the martyr of Christians, but all who commit murder, but according to Jesus, this word also includes all of those whose lives are characterized by anger and hatred. “Immoral persons” are those who have given themselves over to sexual sin, whether that's premarital sex, sex outside of marriage, all kinds of sexual aberrations such as homosexuality, incest, bestiality, and so forth. “Sorcerers,” pharmakeus is the word. We get our word pharmacy from it. These were those who used drugs in the occult. So, in our day, this would involve those who were into witchcraft and spiritualism, devil worship, and all those sorts of things.

 

“Idolaters,” all who worship anything instead of or anything in addition to the true God. “And all liars.” This sin, by the way, is in all three lists in the last two chapters of this letter, because it's at the heart of it, isn't it? Jesus said in John 8:44, Satan is a liar, a father of lies, and his children lie. This is what marks those who belong to Satan. In fact, Proverbs 6, you know, we think of lying pretty lightly. It happens, people admit to four times a day. But God says in Proverbs 6, one of the seven things I especially hate is a lying tongue. 

 

Of those who practice these eight sins, and this isn't a comprehensive list, this is a representative list. So those who practice these sins and sins like them, verse 8 says, “their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” 

 

Now, why does God give this list of sins here in this paragraph? It's here for two reasons. First of all, it's a warning. It's a warning that if you practice these sins as an unbroken, unrepentant pattern of your life, even if you claim to be a Christian, you're not a Christian. This is God the Father. You're not a Christian. And God the Father says, you're not getting into my heaven. You're not getting into the new world. Instead, I can promise you, God says, you will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. It's a warning. 

 

Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Here's another of those lists. First Corinthians 6, verse 9, Paul writes, “Do you not know,”—this is an obvious thing he says—“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.” Don't deceive yourself. Don't lie to yourself, and don't listen to others who would try to convince you otherwise. Don't be deceived. “Neither fornicators,”—that's premarital sex—"nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate.” That's the feminine side of the homosexual relationship. “Nor homosexuals”—that's the masculine side of the homosexual relationship. “Nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” They're not going to be there. 

 

Listen, if your life is marked by sin, if that's what distinguishes you, if you are characterized by a life pattern of sin, an unbroken, unrepentant pattern that seems to stay either the same or increase in your life, and there's not clearly a decreasing pattern of sin over a period of time, then you're not going to inherit the kingdom of God. I don't care what prayer you prayed in the past. I don't care what aisle you walked, what Bible you wrote in the front of your Bible. None of that matters. This is God the Father. In Revelation, and here Paul writes under the authority of Christ Himself. Your only hope is to recognize your spiritual thirst and go to the living water, Jesus Christ Himself.

 

There's a second reason this list is here. This list of sins, and I think this is at the heart of it, is a reassurance to genuine Christians. God doesn't say He's going to exclude from the new earth anyone who has committed one of these sins, but those who continue to be characterized by these sins. The wording makes that clear. Because that proves they’ve never truly experienced the new birth. But as believers we can read this list and see this is not us. We are no longer characterized by these sins. If you are still in 1 Corinthians 6, look at verse 11, “Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God.” 

 

Listen, we still battle various sins and including those in this list. But they no longer define us. We can look at our lives and see a decreasing pattern of sin and increasing pattern of righteousness. Christian, understand what this passage is about. God the Father speaks from His throne in this passage, and amazingly, He does so to convince you of the truth of what is written in these chapters. He does so to assure you that since you have believed in His Son, you will inherit these things, and He will be your God, and you will be His Son or His daughter. He wanted you to know with certainty that the new earth will be your eternal home.

 

Let's pray together. Father, we're overwhelmed at such condescending grace that You, the faithful and true One, would go out of Your way to prove to us that these words are faithful and true. Father, thank You for Your eternal love. Thank You for saving us through Your Son. Lord, help us to live in light of our eternal home. And Lord, I pray for those who are here this morning whose souls are thirsty. Lord, only You can save them. Call them to Yourself through the gospel they've heard this morning. Lord, produce in them true faith and repentance.

 

We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

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58.

Our Eternal Home - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 21:1-8
Current
59.

Our Eternal Home - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 21:1-8
Next
60.

The Eternal City - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 21:9-22:5

More from this Series

Revelation

1.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 1:1-3
2.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 1:1-3
3.

Salutation & Dedication

Tom Pennington Revelation 1:4-6
4.

The King is Coming!

Tom Pennington Revelation 1:7-8
5.

A Vision of the Exalted Christ - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 1:9-20
6.

A Vision of the Exalted Christ - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 1:9-20
7.

Ephesus: Loveless Fidelity

Tom Pennington Revelation 2:1-7
8.

Smyrna: Faithful in Suffering

Tom Pennington Revelation 2:8-11
9.

Pergamum: Undiscerning Tolerance

Tom Pennington Revelation 2:12-17
10.

Thyatira: Extra-Biblical Authority

Tom Pennington Revelation 2:18-29
11.

Sardis: Dead Christianity

Tom Pennington Revelation 3:1-6
12.

Philadelphia: Enduring Faithfulness

Tom Pennington Revelation 3:7-13
13.

Laodicea: A False Gospel

Tom Pennington Revelation 3:14-22
14.

He is Worthy! - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 4-5
15.

He is Worthy! - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 4-5
16.

He is Worthy! - Part 3

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17.

He is Worthy! - Part 4

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18.

The First Six Seals: The Tribulation Begins - Part 1

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19.

The First Six Seals: The Tribulation Begins - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 6:1-17
20.

Tribulation Saints - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 7:1-17
21.

Tribulation Saints - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 7:1-17
22.

The Seventh Seal & the First Six Trumpets - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 8-9
23.

The Seventh Seal & the First Six Trumpets - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 8-9
24.

The Seventh Seal & the First Six Trumpets - Part 3

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25.

The Seventh Seal & the First Six Trumpets - Part 4

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26.

The Little Book

Tom Pennington Revelation 10:1-11
27.

The Two Witnesses - Part 1

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28.

The Two Witnesses - Part 2

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29.

The Seventh Trumpet: The Beginning of the End

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30.

The Woman, her Son, and the Dragon - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 12:1-17
31.

The Woman, her Son, and the Dragon - Part 2

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32.

The Woman, her Son, and the Dragon - Part 3

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33.

Antichrist - Part 1

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34.

Antichrist - Part 2

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35.

The False Prophet

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36.

A Preview of Jesus' Victory - Part 1

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37.

A Preview of Jesus' Victory - Part 2

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38.

A Preview of Jesus' Victory - Part 3

Tom Pennington Revelation 14:1-20
39.

A Preview of Jesus' Victory - Part 4

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40.

Heaven Prepares for the End

Tom Pennington Revelation 15:1-8
41.

Seven Bowls of Wrath - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 16:1-21
42.

Seven Bowls of Wrath - Part 2

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43.

Babylon is Fallen! - Part 1

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44.

Babylon is Fallen! - Part 2

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45.

Babylon Is Fallen! - Part 3

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46.

Babylon is Fallen! - Part 4

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47.

The Rapture of the Church

Tom Pennington Selected Scriptures
48.

The Future Tribulation

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49.

Heaven's Hallelujah Chorus! - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 19:1-10
50.

Heaven's Hallelujah Chorus - Part 2

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51.

The Glorious Return of Jesus Christ

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52.

Armageddon

Tom Pennington Revelation 19:17-21
53.

The Real Binding of Satan

Tom Pennington Revelation 20:1-3
54.

The Millennium: Christ's Future Reign on Earth - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 20:1-10
55.

The Millennium: Christ's Future Reign on Earth - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 20:1-10
56.

The Millennium: Christ’s Future Reign on Earth - Part 3

Tom Pennington Revelation 20:1-10
57.

The Last Judgment

Tom Pennington Revelation 20:11-15
58.

Our Eternal Home - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 21:1-8
59.

Our Eternal Home - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 21:1-8
60.

The Eternal City - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 21:9-22:5
61.

The Eternal City - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 21:9-22:5
62.

The Eternal City - Part 3

Tom Pennington Revelation 21:9-22:5
63.

How Should We Then Live? - Part 1

Tom Pennington Revelation 22:6-21
64.

How Should We Then Live? - Part 2

Tom Pennington Revelation 22:6-21
65.

How Should We Then Live? - Part 3

Tom Pennington Revelation 22:6-21
66.

How Should We Then Live? - Part 4

Tom Pennington Revelation 22:6-21
67.

How Should We Then Live? - Part 5

Tom Pennington Revelation 22:6-21
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