This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day three together of our look through Revelation 21. Let me begin by
reading verses six to eight. Here's what God says, "He said to me, 'It is done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who is thirsty,
I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who
overcomes will inherit all of this, and I will be his God, and he will be my
son.

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually
immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars, their
place will be in the firely lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. "
And these verses tell us God's perspective on what's going to happen in
eternity.

And it begins with those words that we talked about a few weeks ago, you might
remember as we walked through the book of Revelation. Begins with those words in
verse six, "It is done. " Remember these are the same words that God spoke at
the end of the time of judgment, "It is done.

" And now this creation of a new heaven and earth, "It is done. " And let me
just remind you, a few weeks ago we talked about four creation events. Creation,
God looked at everything and said, "It's good.

" Salvation, "It is finished on the cross. " Judgment, "It is done. " And new
creation, here again, "It is done.

" These are all events that are about the new creation that God is bringing
about, about God's plan. When God said it is done with judgment, he was dealing
with the evil that's in this world. When God says it is done, here in verse six,
he is bringing in the joy of a new heaven and a new earth for all of eternity.

It is done. And why is it done? As you read on, it's done because of who God is.

He says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega. " This starts to tie everything together
in the book of Revelation. It takes us back to chapter one.

Remember in chapter one, verse eight, he says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end," says the Lord. "I am the one who is, who always was,
and who is still to come, the Almighty One. " So there it is in chapter one, and
here it is towards the end in chapter 21, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end.

" He doesn't want us to miss this. God's at the center of this. From beginning
to end, he is at the center.

From beginning to the end of the book of Revelation, God's at the center. From
the beginning to the end of the Bible, God's at the center. From the beginning
to the end of your life, God is at the center, whether you recognize it or not.

And from the beginning to the end of human history, God is at the center. He is
the Alpha and the Omega. And as the Alpha and Omega, as the one who has
completed all of this, here is his promise.

He says, "I will give to him who is thirsty to drink. " I'll quench your thirst,
your deepest longing, without cost. I'll give it free from the spring of the
water of life.

I love it that John gets to record these words. Remember John wrote his gospel
and wrote the words of what he'd experienced in watching the life of Jesus. And
so in his gospel, John writes in chapter four of what he saw happen that day
that Jesus met with a woman beside a well.

And in John 4, 13 and 14, John records Jesus's words, "Everyone who drinks this
water, the water from this well, will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the
water that I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water that I give him will
become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. " John, the apostle,
had been there that day.

He saw the woman. He saw the well. He heard these words.

He also was there the day in John chapter seven, in Jerusalem, the day of the
feast, in this feast of tabernacles. And in the last and greatest day of the
feast, Jesus stands up and he says in John 7, 37 and 38, he says in a loud
voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in
me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within
him.

" So here's John the apostle who had seen these things, who had recorded them in
his gospel. And now towards the end of his life, here's John the elder who has
shown these things again and he hears these words from God, "To him who is
thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
" Jesus can quench your greatest thirsts.

He can meet your deepest need. Now not everyone is going to allow him to do
this. The scripture tells us very clearly here in verse eight that there are
some who will not overcome and they'll be in the lake of fire.

The description that is given here confuses many of us. The question that comes
is, wait, I see myself in this description. It talks about liars.

I've lied. It talks about idolaters. I've put things before God in my life.

And the question comes, how am I going to make it into heaven? In verse eight,
let me read that verse again. "The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the
murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters,
all liars, their place is a place apart from God.

" Let me remind you of what this means. This is a story of the life that is
lived apart from God. This is the story of those who trust in themselves.

And because of their fears, the cowardly, or because of their doubts, the
unbelieving, they choose their selfish sins instead of a love of God. And
there's a partial list of those sins here. It's not even a complete list.

And because they choose their selfishness instead of love of God, they'll be
separated from God. They've chosen to be separated from him. So they'll be
separated from him.

And in the only place of separation in this new creation, the lake of fire. The
truth of the matter is, your identity when you come to Jesus Christ, the moment
you say to him, "I ask you to come into my life. " He changes your identity.

So you say, "Well, wait, I've lied. God doesn't see you as a liar any longer.
Wait, I've been an idolater.

God doesn't see you as an idolater any longer. Wait, I've been sexually immoral.
God doesn't see you as sexually immoral any longer.

" The moment you say to Jesus Christ, "I trust you with my life. " When God
looks at you, he sees Christ. He sees you as his son.

Now you say, "Well, wait, I've committed some of these sins. God no longer sees
it that way because of what Christ has done for you. " So as you look at this
description in verse eight, it's a description of a life without Christ.

And all I'm left with is my selfish sins. All I'm identified by is the way that
I've lived in this world. I don't want to stand before God on my own.

I want to stand before God in the goodness that only Christ can give. And as I
do that, verse seven tells me exactly what will happen. He who overcomes will
inherit all of this.

And I will be his God, and he will be my son. Now first, what does it mean to
overcome? Talks about those who overcome and those who do not overcome.

What it means to overcome is to trust in God. I overcome the ways of this world.
I overcome the selfishness of this life.

I overcome the temptations of this world. And specifically in Revelation, I
overcome the beast, the way of this world. I overcome Babylon, the direction of
this world, and I choose him instead.

And when that happens, this is what the book of Revelation is all about, verse
seven. We talked about this from the very beginning. When that happens, we will
inherit all of this.

The book of Revelation is the opening of a will. And here we're told again, we
are gaining an inheritance. Now some of you might bother, I will be his God and
he will be my son.

You're thinking, wait, I'm his daughter, I'm not his son. In this case, you want
to be his son. Even as a woman, you want to be his son, because the son is the
one who gets the inheritance.

That's why it's very clearly his son here. In the wills that were read in the
days of Jesus, only the sons gained the inheritance. I know it's different
today, but it was that way in that day.

And so we are very clearly told that the gaining of the inheritance of even the
first born goes along with our relationship with Jesus Christ. Inheritance, the
gaining of inheritance, it is not so much about possession as it's about
relationship. He who overcomes will inherit all of this, and I will be his God
and he will be my son.

And as his child, that is your greatest inheritance. We're going to hear the
descriptions in the days to come, next few days of what heaven is all about,
what it's going to be like. But the greatest inheritance is the inheritance of
that relationship with God, that closeness with God that we enjoy together for
all eternity.

Well, let's experience it right now as we talk to him. And as you pray right
now, just say, Father, thank you that I am your child. And thank you that
whether son or daughter, I will have the rights of a first born son.

I will have the rights of inheritance gained not by anything that I've done, not
the order of my birth even, but gained by what Jesus has done and by his death
and his resurrection. Thank you, Father. Thank you for what you've done for me.

And thank you that in this book of Revelation, you reveal to me this
inheritance, what you will do about evil and how you will take care of the ways
of this world, how you're going to create a new heaven and a new earth and how I
will enjoy the inheritance of my relationship with you forever. I don't have to
wait though, even while I'm living in this world, I want to take a moment right
now, today, to thank you. Thank you that I'm your child, in Jesus' name, amen.

Tomorrow we're going to look together at a new Jerusalem.