New Years, Resolutions, and a Drink of Jesus

Good morning. Open your Bibles to Revelation 21, please. It's the book of the Revelation, chapter 21. Well, we are at the new year. It can be hard to believe. It seems like the years go flying by with the start of December.

It was kind of amazing to be at the Christmas season, and now we're at the tail end of it as we approach this new year, 2025, coming upon us quickly. you know it's it's an interesting time in which the whole world kind of voices its strong desire for renewal and change and what I find kind of interesting about that is both really Christmas and New Year's is a time in which the world kind of starts talking like us a little bit all of a sudden you'll start hearing more during Christmas time you'll hear more of peace on earth that kind of language and then here on New Year's is coming you'll you'll you'll hear more of a strong desire of renewal and change. And we see the strong desire for renewal and change in the appearance of resolutions, the anticipation of resolutions, and making them and trying to keep them. And really with New Year comes an optimism or optimistic feeling that change can actually happen.

The whole year is really pessimistic. If you ask me, maybe I just watch too much Fox News, I don't know, but it just seems very pessimistic, but then once you have this like time at the end of the year, after Christmas, maybe still the high of the good cheer of Christmas, there's just optimism with the new year that, hey, change and renewal can actually happen, and we see these things, we see the positive feeling of that, and the fact that people make these resolutions, And honestly, for a long time, I prided myself of being quite the Scrooge during the holiday season. Scrooge was probably my favorite superhero.

And I call him a superhero because it takes a lot of super strength to be as Scroogey as he was. And he was indeed. And I used to really just something about that enamored me. But more as I get, you know, in my olden age, you know, my older age, I get more and more festive. and I start to see and it's interesting to me to see the unity we can have with the world as they start talking the same things that we talk it's because I think God has placed the same thing on all of our hearts and it's the answer the Christian has that we can look to the scriptures and say this is why we feel this way as we look at the new year as we look at this desire from the world as we as a church join in that desire of renewal and change, we can say that there's every reason to be optimistic about that endeavor.

And the reason why we can be optimistic is because God has instituted a change he's bringing on the earth. And as our minds align with that change, that renewal, we can be optimistic that it shall be, it is being done, and our desires can grow for that great change to happen. So I like to kind of see how the world is kind of saying similar stuff. The desires are kind of almost there in a way, but yet it is the Christian that stands up and say, yes, this is where it comes forth from because all of history is going to this point.

So this is what I want to look at today, this morning, as we look at the new year coming, as we look at a desire from the world for renewal and change, we can say yes, we can be optimistic for that change because of the particular change God is bringing, join into that and praise him for that. And I think this is what we see in Revelation 21 and 22. I think we see the optimism.

I think we see the desire. I think we see the renewal happen and it joins into this chorus of worship to God for meeting that desire for change. But we need to settle ourselves on what is the change that God is bringing so we can put our minds on that and be optimistic that's what he's doing and join in the worship of the ages. With that in mind, let's read the text and let's Lord willing expound that very topic.

So Revelation 21, let's look at verses 5 through 8. We'll jump over to 22 as we finish. So chapter 21 of the Revelation, verse 5. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also, he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. He said to me, it is done.

I am the Alpha, I am the Omega, the beginning, the end, to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, this gift, and I'll be his God and he'll be my son. In chapter 22, look at verse 1. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, brightest crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and through the middle of the street of the city, also on either side of the river, the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit in each month The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations No longer will there be anything accursed but the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more.

They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. And look at verse 16 of that same chapter. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root, I am the descendant of David, the bright morning star. The spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come.

Let the one who desires to take that water of life without price, may he come. Let us pray to our God. Oh Lord in heaven, may you open this word up to us. It is a daunting task to exposit your word, Lord. I pray that you'd give me the help that I truly do need. Help me to have a measure of clarity.

Let what comes forth from my mouth be true and let it be timely in the age that we live in today. I pray for the people before me that they would be patient with my shortcomings, my weaknesses as I preach your word. and they would just have a desire above all things to grab hold of what is true and right and good, apply it to their hearts and minds, and live for the Lord Jesus Christ, who truly is our wondrous and good drink from the spring of life that comes forth from the throne. We thank you for this time together as we look at your word.

Bless our time, Lord, by your great power and grace. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. Amen. So let's first look at that optimism that we were referring to. There is an optimistic feel in the world as the new year comes, and really rightfully so as we look at the truth found in Scripture. We ought to be optimistic people.

We ought to be optimistic that there is something good on the horizon. There is something good that God is doing. We ought to be optimistic. And I see this as we look at verse 5 of chapter 21 of Revelation. The text says, And he who is seated on the throne said, behold I am making all things new now what's remarkable about that verse is this is coming on the tail end of the book of of the revelation to John and if you've ever read that book it is quite the thrill ride there is mayhem and insanity there's death there is turmoil there there are beasts there are dragons there's all sorts of things that make you want to run and hide in the closet of your bedroom.

And here though, we have at the end, after all of it, in eternity, as the judgment has came, we hear this great call or this great voice from the throne saying, I am making all things new. Now you got to remember, the book of Revelation was written to seven churches at that time that were about to face terrible, terrible persecutions. We see the things happening in Revelation, and we got to understand that they experienced much of it, more than we experienced, although, of course, we experienced our own hardships.

And as they're reading this book of the Revelation, they hear this verse, they hear this verse of, he was seated on the throne and said, behold, I am making all things new. There is this authority from the throne who is the sovereign over all the universe, and he's saying that all the chaos, all the messiness, all the persecutions, all the hardships, the echoing word that you can hear from eternity is, I am making all things new. You understand how important that is for you as an individual?

That no matter what chaos you're going through, no matter how insane things seem to be, that you can hear the echoing from the throne in eternity saying, I am making all things new. Notice how that's present tense. That is certainly a voice coming forth at the end times, but it's supposed to echo into your present day reality. I am making all things new.

That the hardships that you might be facing, let the echoing of that word go through that hardship. I am making all things new. I am renewing. I am bringing things to a greater place. And this is an optimism underneath that we can hold on to no matter the hardship. In fact, he goes on to say, he says, also, he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

It's interesting. He says, write it down for it's trustworthy and true. When we're told to write something down, that means make sure you remember it. Don't forget. And he says, because this is true, it's trustworthy. Now, why might we be tempted to forget?

Why might we be tempted to forget and to not believe it? Why might the seven churches that this was written to originally not remember or not believe it? It's because things get really difficult, because things get very hard. And so here in the book of Revelation, he's telling us, he says, write this down. This is true. No matter what hardship you're going through, you can have the faith and the trust and the confidence, the optimism that I am making all things new even in this situation.

And this is what's reverberating in the book of Revelation. It's reverberating in history that God uses all things for his goal of renewal of all things. Even in the darkest hour of your life, this echoes through. Write it down. It's true. It is trustworthy. despite how your emotions may be at present.

It is true. Write it down. We have reason to be optimistic. In fact, in verse 6, he continues with this reason. He says in verse 6 of chapter 21, he says, and he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and I am the Omega I the beginning and I am the end We see here that he saying the Alpha and the Omega the Greek alphabet I am the A and I the Z And John says, I am the beginning and I am the end.

And so we got to understand that God is saying that just as much as I was at the very beginning, I am just as much at the very end. And just as much as I know what's happened in the past, I know exactly what will happen in the future, because I am there. I am the Z. And so he's saying that as hard as it may be, as much as it might be hard for you to believe that you might be doing anything of renewal and good in this, believe it because I am already at the renewal.

I'm already there. I'm already there at the renewal. You can believe it. I can tell you guys right now, it doesn't look like anyone has underwent this, but this morning I can say on your way to church, you did not get in a car accident and a crippling one. I can say that for sure, because so to speak, we were there, right? We've been there.

We were at that historical point. It didn't happen. I can't say that about you tonight, though. I'm not trying to be ominous or anything like that, but I can't say that tonight. Why? I'm not there.

I have no idea what's going to happen. I can tell you for sure this morning on your way to church, you didn't get in a car accident. But I cannot say that tonight, so drive safely, right? But God, he is the beginning and the end. Just as much as he saw the sin, saw the hardship, saw everything that came on earth that causes our pain and suffering, our mourning and everything.

He says, I'm at the end where everything is renewed as well. So it is trustworthy and true. Things are happening for renewal, for good. And so therefore there's reason to be optimistic because the one who has said so from his throne is the beginning and the end. Every reason. to be optimistic, every reason to have an anticipation that, yes, things can be renewed, things can be better, things can be good, because the one from the throne, all sovereign, has declared it to be so, and it echoes through history.

But now let's look at, as we settle ourselves in this optimism, let's look at what is renewal? What is newness? What is goodness, right? If you listen to resolutions people make, a lot of times there's good things about it, right? I never hear anyone say as a resolution, I want to spend less time with my family. I never hear anyone in their resolution say, I want to drink more alcohol.

I never hear anyone say, I want to get more out of shape for my resolution. They're always good things. They're always good things. In fact, you might be able to say righteous things, right? But here in Scripture, we get to the heart of the thing. we get to the heart of what god is actually doing which causes us to be optimistic because he shall do it and what is that thing well he says in verse six he says it is done and then the outgrowth of that is to the thirsty i give from the spring of the water of life without payment it is done connect that with the spring of life that we can drink from that is what is done right that is what is finished is that the spring of life the greatest need that we need is established is there it is accomplished now when you hear it is done you should hear something someone said a bit ago and that is our dear lord jesus christ when he said it is finished not the same greek words but very similar to where that's what you should be hearing in your brain when you see from the throne after all is complete, renewal is complete, and he says it is done, you should hear Jesus saying it is finished.

In fact, that kind of drives our optimism. Why? Because what has been renewed and made right started with when Jesus said it is finished. That as sure as that actually took place 2,000 years ago, it will be completed when it is declared at the throne, it is done. What was finished? What was completed on that cross?

Or where was Jesus when he said that? He was on the cross, and John we read, on the cross about to give up his ghost, and he says, it is finished. Now any of us on the cross about to die, what would we say? We would say, I'm finished. I'm done. There's no getting out of this one.

But Jesus says, it is finished. He's referring to something that's not so much, again, it's about his death, but it's something that he's completing in his death. He's not saying, I am finished. He's saying, it is finished. What is finished? What did Jesus do?

And then keep your mind on what's said in this text when it says that there is a river that a thirsty can drink from. Well, what Jesus did, what he accomplished, what he finished on the cross was he was making a payment for sin. And that's not out of the ordinary. Every one of us, if Jesus doesn't return before, will pay with our death the payment of sin.

Right? Every one experiences death because that's the ultimate payment for sin and for the corruption and for the hardships, for everything that has come. We pay that with our death. But you see, so Jesus Christ is about to die and he's about to make that payment. He's saying it is finished. But the thing is, is Jesus was perfectly righteous, undeserving of any kind of death, undeserving of any kind of corruption or anything that comes with paying that with death.

And so when he says it is finished, he's saying that I am dying and making a payment for your sin, for your corruption, for what you have transgressed before the Lord. It is finished, it's connected with I'm making your payment that you owe to God because of your sin. this is exactly what Paul gets to that wonderful text in second Corinthians when he says for our sake that is for the church for the elect for the people of God for our sake he made Jesus God the father made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin So there is the one the living one the God the Son of God who knew no sin yet was made to be sin by the Father And he is saying, before he dies, it is finished. The payment for that sin is complete.

My death is the payment for this sin. And so the it is finished, it is done, that we see in Revelation, is connected with this great proclamation from the cross. The proclamation from the throne in the future is the same proclamation made from the cross of Jesus Christ when he says it is finished, he says I am making the payment for sin. That's not all it is, right?

That's not all Jesus did on the cross. Not to sound irreverent, because that was certainly a major aspect of what was done. but there's also something more that had to be done. We didn't just need our sins to be forgiven, but we needed something beyond that, in which Paul says again in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So not only is it finished that I paid their sins with my death, but I also give them righteousness that was made sure by his resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit. And so the it is finished, it is done, it is I have taken sins away. I have given righteousness in its stead. It is finished, it is done. I have given the waters of righteousness to my people.

In fact, it's interesting, going back to Revelation 21, it's pretty interesting. when you read it is done in the text in verse 6 there, it is done, that word it is actually plural. So the legacy standard version probably has it the most accurate when it says they are done. And I think we could very easily look at that and say that these two things of the payment of sin and the giving of righteousness happening in that one event of the cross is done and finished. and it is completed in this time from the throne as he declares it is done and so then connected with that reality right connected with that reality of sin pain suffering corruption rebellion against god all those things that are wicked and evil connected with that and then the payment to do away with that completely for perfect righteousness instead connected with that thought, then look at the rest of verse 6 when it says, to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

Connected with our need for righteousness that Jesus brings is this declaration that to the thirsty I will give of this wonderful spring of life that I have finished and completed. You don't, you don't, going back to the connection with the aching of the world and the despair of the world that makes them want to be optimistic at this time of year and say we need change, renewal, resolutions. We are all thirsty for change.

We are all thirsty for newness. We all feel it within our bones, no matter if we're a Christian, non-Christian, somewhere in between. There's not really anything in between, but is that we feel we are thirsty. We are in need of something. God has made his creatures needy creatures in need of something, right? That's the way he's made us.

It reminds me, I had a nest when I lived in Radnor a few years ago. I had a nest right there, right outside the window on the sill. And we had these baby robins in there. And it was amazing to see when their first hatch, when they feel any kind of movement, they just put their head up and they get ready to receive their need, right, of a worm or whatever it may be.

And it reminds me of we are like baby robins. We are constantly in need. And any kind of movement, anything at all that might give us any kind of the need that we have, we will eat and devour it. And sadly, it is sin or it is our own works of trying to make things right. But here God says it is done. I've given you the greatest thing, that is, I've given you true righteousness by Jesus.

So when he says that, to the thirsty I will give, he doesn't mean that there's some people who are thirsty who want Jesus' righteousness, there are others who don't. All are thirsty. It's just whether or not all are needy. It's just whether or not you see that my only hope is found in Jesus Christ who gives me my greatest need. There are people who try to alleviate that in sin, and in this time of year they try to alleviate that with some resolution self-improvement their own ability to perhaps make their life better but it will never ultimately satisfy it will never ultimately give you what you want it will never quench your thirst only Jesus Christ and his work on the cross will do that hear me young people hear me young people are dragged to church and they go through the motions with hymns they just kind of go through it because they think that my need is found elsewhere.

My thirst will be quenched somewhere else. It will not. It is completed and finished at the cross, period. And that's who you need. And this is what's being declared from the throne, declared from the cross. You need the righteousness that Christ has given from the cross, completed in eternity.

You need no other thing. You need that. We should be optimistic people. Jesus has done the work. It will be completed, as we're told from the throne. And this is the work of the thirst that needs to be quenched, that is, of our righteous, our sin-made righteous, through our trust and faith in Him.

Worked myself up a little too much. Now you see, what this righteousness brings us, what this forgiveness of sins and a righteousness in its stead you know does, it gives us something ultimate that we need. We could get even deeper to what this gives us, right? Amen. We want our sins done away with. We want righteousness, but it brings something with it.

And this is what the text goes on to from here. He says in verse 7, the one who conquers, i.e. the one who drinks from the spring of the water of life without payment, because Christ has made the payment, the one who is involved with that it is finished-ness, he says the one who conquers will have this heritage and i will be his god and he will be my son the thirst of the nations the thirst of every individual is because we all want god to be our god the deception of satan is here you can find your god in this fruit but the truth from the throne and from the cross is nope this cross will make god your god truly and that will quench your thirst. Your greatest desire is for God to be your God, to be the child of God.

There is no greater delight. And if you find a delight in anything else, you are lying to yourself. You're singing the choir of Satan. But here we see the beautiful reality of our sins forgiven in the cross, of giving righteousness in its stead. The renewal, the change we all desire is found in the fact that we can go from being enmities with God to being friends or sons and daughters of God.

This is the renewal that we should want from to its core that is given by Christ on the cross as a drink to the needy. And this is what we could be optimistic about because it has been declared on the throne in the future and accomplished on the cross in the past and we are in between basking in the glory of the work of our God. So notice the desires are met in Christ.

It is rightful and good for you to, within your very soul, to say something's wrong and I need change, I need renewal. Go to the fountain that you don't have to pay anything for, but rather just put your faith and trust in the one who's paid everything for you. Go to him, oh Christian, have you forgotten? him? Have you grown lazy in your glasses of faith you are to put on?

Have you grown lazy and look into Jesus this morning, this week, this year? Have you been convinced of something else will give me the quenching of my thirst, that desire? No, only Jesus. Only placing it to simple trust, a confidence in him, a prayer life in him, a going to him each day. Have you forgotten that? that he is your drink and he offers himself freely each day of your life for you to rejoice in.

And you will unbelieve or who's never done that. What are you waiting for? What else would you have to do? Where else would you go? But the one who has said, I give you myself as the drink you are looking for. I think it's interesting or beautiful, really.

The imagery in chapter 22 and verses 1 through 5 that we read, again, we have the imagery of all things coming to completion, but if you haven't noticed, as we're going through, it kind of bleeds into our time right now. Again, all things are completed. It's done. It's renewed. It's finished. But yeah, John kind of makes it bleed into our experience today, and that makes sense, right?

He's writing to the seven churches. He's saying, this is what we have to hope for, and it bleeds into your day today, even right now, renewal happens even now, the already not yet aspect. And I think we see in chapter 22, the same thing going on here, right? We have this beautiful imagery of all things being completed But yeah as we going to see there there a way in which we look at it and we say yes and it bleeds even into my life right now Look again at chapter 22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life Remember that?

Talking about the same kind of topic here, the water of renewal, the water of life. This is righteousness itself. He showed me the river of the water of life, brightest crystal flowing from the throne of God, the one that declared, it is done, and of the Lamb. and through the middle of the street of the city also on either side of that river of righteousness of perfect righteousness the tree of life was there with its 12 kinds of fruits yielding its fruit each month the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations isn't that what the nations want renewal i need something different i need healing this isn't working this isn't right and here we have the completed thing right we have the the rivers of righteousness coming forth from the throne and then it feeds a tree of life that grows and then the leaves of it are for the healings of the nations and of course the imagery should bring you back to the garden of eden right in which there was the tree of life for there was a river of righteousness and adam enjoyed it perfectly when he was righteous but in sin cut off from that but now in christ we are welcome back into that.

And I'm not sure what you said about the tree of life here. I meant to listen to it. I'm just going to put that out there. But I think the tree of life is the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is the tree that Christ was placed on, and now it is the one that is the tree of life. It gives life to those who drink of the water that produces it.

The righteousness of God brings forth the cross of Christ so that the people can taste and see that the Lord is good. And so I think what we see here is a completed thing of the cross bringing that healing, but yet again, we can't help but say to ourselves, we have the cross of Christ. We have the perfect water of righteousness flowing through that produces the cross in which we can partake of the righteousness by that cross.

And then it goes on to say the same thing we just went through in which, and then we are God's people when we partake of the cross, the tree of life. Notice how he says in verse 4, they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. That is, you will have, God is your God, and you are his people right there. You see his face, it shines upon you, his glory is revealed, you receive it because you've been made righteous by the cross, and then you are identified as God's beloved chosen one. right your name it says will be uh is on their foreheads so there is a you will be my people and i will be your god this is what we just read about in the last chapter in which we talked about the great um end result of righteousness god becomes our god that's the great end of all our delights is right there and we see it repeated right here tree of life the are the the river of righteousness a tree of life and then the you are god's people in fact he goes on to say in verse 5, and night will be no more.

They'll need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. There's no reason not to be completely, ecstatically, whatever things that are related, if I can add on that, optimistic, because God is doing this. The cry of your heart, the thirst of your soul, is to have God as your God and to be his people, everyone.

And we see that it is God's plan, it is his decree that he will do this perfectly and completely. And so for you, oh Christian, and for you, oh unbeliever, partake in the cross of Christ Partake in the tree of life that offered to you the rivers of righteousness that gives way to the cross of Christ so you can partake in that righteousness Partake of it What are you waiting for? Oh Christian, oh unbeliever.

In fact, we have an imagery of what that looks like in your life right now in Psalm 1. It's the same kind of imagery that we see in Psalm 1. Go there with me real quick. In Psalm chapter 1, the first psalm I should say. Blessed is the man. Happy is the man.

You see that? Happiness, joy. What every heart longs for. It's right there. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of Yahweh, that is righteousness. The river of righteousness, his delight is to drink deeply from that.

In his law, he meditates day and night. He is like a tree, notice the same imagery, planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and all that he does, he prospers. This is a present reality for you when you behold Christ on the cross, and he makes his law your delight. You get to swim in the waters of righteousness.

Your desires no longer are for wickedness in which leads to death and misery, but instead, through the cross of Christ, the law of Christ is written on your heart and you enjoy deeply the rivers of righteousness. This is what's in store for us now. Even as we hear the declaration from the throne, even as we hear the declaration from the cross, for those who participate in faith in Jesus, that is our reality now.

Why would we waste our time with any other endeavor but to follow Jesus and obey him by his grace? Why would we waste our lives with anything else this new year? And I love as we finish the invitation. It's a wonderful invitation. At the end of Revelation chapter 22 verse 16 look at look at it with me revelation 22 verse 16 i jesus have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches now what churches the seven churches again the seven churches are were to hear this and it was to edify them even at present even as he's talking about future realities it was to edify them at present he says i am the root and the descendant of david the bright morning star and here's the wonderful invitation here first it is in verse 17, the spirit and the bride say, come.

And I believe it is the spirit working through the bride of Christ to say, come Lord Jesus, come. It is this, I am tired of unrighteousness and sin. I'm tired of trying to pay for my own happiness, for my own delights. I instead will go to the river of life and find my happiness in the payment that Jesus has made. It is a come Lord Jesus. You know, this is certainly talking about come and return and your second coming, but you know you cry, come Lord Jesus, when you turn away from sin and you go to Christ instead.

That is your heart saying, come Lord Jesus, let your righteousness come. Let the rivers of life come to me now. I'll turn away from sin and I go to my Lord. Come Lord Jesus, come to me. And then let the one who hears the bride crying out, come Lord Jesus. Let the one who hears this, the, the, the, the, perhaps the unbelievers around the church as they're crying out, come Lord Jesus, let your righteousness come, let your, your renewal come, let your newness come.

They let the ones around here here and say come as well And this has been the mark of church history right The bride being faithful to say come Lord Jesus let your gospel let your kingdom let your second coming come And the world around is enticed and they join in the choir as they become believers and they say, yes, come Lord Jesus, come. Let the one who is thirsty, he goes on to say, let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires to take the water of life without price come and so now that word come is for you oh unbeliever it's for you oh believer who has found themselves extra thirsty as of late it is for all for everyone to say i am thirsty i shall come and drink deeply of the wellspring of christ jesus my lord for he has done the work he has finished it it is complete and my hope is in the completion in eternity when all we have will be Christ and no longer any sin.

So what a great invitation this is to end out Revelation, to end out the books of the Bible, to say, come Lord Jesus, and for those who thirst, come to Christ Jesus. Do not waste your time, do not spend your money on anything else, but rather put your faith and trust in Jesus today. And that looks like turning away from your sin today and turning to Christ Jesus who says, I will give you renewal.

This idea of having resolutions is actually not a bad idea. It's not a bad idea. But it is bad when it's not connected with our faith and trust and love for our Lord Jesus Christ. I want God to be my God. So therefore, I will turn away from all sin, turn to Jesus so that he'll be my God. That's the Christian's cry.

That's the Christian's cry for renewal and newness. and that's what the world needs to see and hear from the bride of Christ today. Let us pray. Oh, Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, our Lord. We thank you for this hope we have. Lord, we know that the God of all the universe, you, our mighty God, has declared it. In future, that you are making all things new, and that is revealed in time and space as Jesus Christ has done the work on the cross.

And so that great longing of every man's heart of righteousness is had as we participate in the cross, the tree of life. Lord in heaven, I pray that all of us here would have the hearts and the minds and our spirits opened up for Jesus to do his blessed work on our souls. Lord in heaven, for those who are caught in sin, oh, may they see Christ is more beautiful than anything their sin could ever. accomplish for them.

May they hear the words of Jesus on the cross and hear the words of God from the throne and may they in their hearts say, yes, come Lord Jesus. And may they reveal that even now as they turn away from their sin and believe upon Jesus Christ for salvation, for sanctification, as we anticipate glorification. Lord, I know that there's unbelievers as well, even before me or listening to me.

God, may they be warned for we know that the sinner the one who rejects Jesus Christ, they're the ones that's left out of the gate in which they will weep and moan and grind their teeth. Oh, Lord in heaven, may that not be said about anyone in this room. May that not be said about anyone who's listening to this. May they take this time right now, for today is the day of salvation, to look upon their Lord and to, Father, trust in him into everlasting life.

Thank you, God, for these great treasures we have in Christ. May he be glorified in us all the way to eternity, to that great day in which we hear that proclamation from the throne and enjoy newness of life complete and the new Jerusalem complete. In Jesus' name, amen.