In the sermon titled 'Are You Thirsty?' by Scott Brown, the focus is on understanding the connection between heaven and earth as depicted in Revelation 21:5-7. Brown emphasizes that Christians experience a foretaste of heaven on earth through the 'fountain of the water of life.' This concept is tied to conversion and salvation, offering believers a glimpse of the heavenly reality. The sermon addresses the dual reality of heaven and damnation, with a focus on the kingdom of light and sonship, which believers can experience now. Brown highlights the importance of God's written word as the true source of knowledge about heaven, warning against popular but unbiblical depictions. The sermon also explores the significance of God as the Alpha and Omega, illustrating His sovereignty over history and the certainty of His plan. The concept of 'inheritance' is discussed, contrasting the eternal rewards for believers with the consequences for non-believers. Metaphors like living water, gold, and the tree of life are used to illustrate the spiritual truths about heaven. The sermon concludes by urging listeners to embrace the living water offered by God and avoid the 'broken cisterns' of the world.

Please open your Bibles to Revelation 21 and find verse 5. This is wisdom from God for this church today to guide us in the ways in which we should walk. Revelation 21 verse 5, 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.

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. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Let's pray.

Oh Lord, we pray that you would give such a clear vision in our hearts of heaven and earth and the connection between the two that you would prepare this congregation for heaven by drinking of living water on earth that you would give us such an experience of walking with you in this world to step into the next. Amen. Please be seated. So we're walking rather slowly through Revelation 21 and 22. In these chapters you'll find the densest, clearest, most graphic views of heaven that are in the Bible.

And what we have continued to find as we've walked through these verses is that everything that you see in heaven, you've already seen it on the earth in one form or another. These are four tastes of heaven. God gives four tastes of heaven on earth. If you've been drinking of the fountain of the water of life here on earth, then you will drink it in heaven these verses really offer us a dose of reality And it's really a vision of hope. It's also a vision of damnation.

We'll get to that next week I'm only really gonna cover verses 5 through 7 but We've been speaking about the fact that a Christian actually experiences two heavens. One on earth in shadows and the other in heaven in absolute realities. True Christians really have always understood this. The Puritans understood this. Thomas Brooks wrote a book called Heaven on Earth.

He says this, all saints shall enjoy a heaven when they leave this earth. Some saints enjoy a heaven while they are here on the earth that saints might enjoy to heavens. And I've spoken about Richard Sibbs of whom it was said heaven was in him before he was in heaven. And I've quoted Charles Spurgeon twice. This is a third time.

If we don't get to heaven before we die, we shall never get there afterwards. God actually promises a way to experience the beauties of heaven on earth. And how is it, how is it that can happen? It happens through conversion, through salvation, to be delivered in order to partake of an inheritance in the saints. Colossians chapter one speaks of this.

The author is just urging the church to give thanks to the Father who has qualified us, for what? To be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light he has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. The Christian has already been conveyed into the kingdom of light. And The focus of these verses is that kingdom of light, both on earth and in heaven. And I think a key word in these verses is the word inheritance.

Well, there's much more to say about that. But In these verses, a Christian will inherit a kingdom, and he inherits that kingdom when he follows Jesus Christ and receives him and is washed in his cleansing blood. So people will experience this kingdom of living water here on earth, the kingdom of sonship, or as it says in verse 8, they'll inherit the kingdom of fire and brimstone. Those are the two contrasts. Again, we're really just gonna concentrate on this kingdom, this kingdom of sonship, this kingdom of living water this morning.

We won't focus on the kingdom of the cowardly and the unbelieving and the abominable and the kingdom that burns with brimstone and the lake of fire, which is the second death that will be next week as we go back into this text. So the Lord, the Lord and his spirit is either is your fountain of life now is your inheritance now or The unbelieving spirit of the age is your fountain of life Welcome to your fountain Take your put take your choice That's really the option that's laid forth here in this passage What kind of inheritance is there? For those who love darkness and those who love light? There are two verbs and I think are critical. We'll really cover primarily the first one, thirsting, thirsting.

And then unbelieving, That's next week. What are you slaking your thirst on in this world is the critical text. Now if you have an outline in front of you, you see I'm going to try to answer five questions from these verses. And the first is what is God doing well he's making all things new that's verse 5 the first part of it second the second question is how how is God communicating with humanity about heaven he's doing it through his written word and then thirdly who is God well he's the alpha and the omega and then fourthly what is God giving in heaven a fountain of water of life and then fifthly to whom is God giving it he's giving it to the thirsty he's giving it to the overcomers. So that's basically what these verses cover.

And of course, I want our church to really understand that heaven is not some far-off thing. It's actually understandable here on the earth because earth is a foretaste of heaven. And I've been saying that heaven is a magnet, earth is a foretaste. You need to understand both. This passage brings both of these things the newness of this new heavens and new earth that we read about in verse 5 is is a regenerated heaven and earth it's the same word regenerated is used about regeneration of the soul.

The regeneration of the soul is the pattern to help us to understand the regeneration of the heavens and the earth. And that's why what you see here in these two chapters about heaven, you've already seen them on earth. These things are regenerated, they're renewed in their perfection. Corrupted by the fall now, but perfect in heaven. These verses also, they explode a myth that maybe most people believe in the world, most people most of the people outside of this church believe and that is that death is the end.

Many people believe that when you die it's all over and you're just absorbed into oblivion and the cosmos. Well these verses say that's not true. There, death is not an end. And so this first question, you know, what is God doing? He's making all things new.

Behold, I make all things new. And so there are various facts about heaven that describe his fullness that we've already Experienced on earth a couple of times. We've sang the song the sands of time are speed are sinking Oh Christ he is the fountain the deep deep well of love the streams on earth. I've tasted, more deep I'll drink above. There to, there to an ocean fullness, his mercy doth expand, and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land.

So these are the metaphors in this passage of scripture, making all things new, drinking. And the question is, you know, for you who are drinking of that fountain on the earth, for you who follow the Lord. Is your life better now than it was four years ago? Is your life better now than it was four years ago? And I'm not, I'm not talking about your necessarily your bank account or anything like that but it has God been renewing your life is your soul in better condition now than it was four years ago I'm seeing a lot of people shaking their heads yes this is this is the doctrine of sanctification This helps us to sharpen our vision of heaven.

And as we go through these chapters, I'm praying that They'll help us banish vague and dreamy and uncertain and indistinct views of heaven. Most of us have had, I would say, this of myself, overgeneralized views of heaven. But here we find very specific views of heaven. And it's difficult because it's difficult for us to imagine a world without the fall. How about imagining your own self without the fall?

It's hard to imagine because you're fallen. Our fallenness makes it difficult for us to imagine what it would be like without the fall. But this vision of heaven is a vision without the fall. And I think what's very clear here in these passages and the other passages of scripture that speak about heaven is that heaven is not a one billion year long worship service. Heaven is not being chained to your heart for all eternity.

Heaven is not just carrying around golden bowls full of incense, you know, like you see, you know, in Revelation chapter 4. You won't be sitting looking at a stage like you are now in heaven. I think that there will probably be things like that, but it will be so far beyond the physical realities that we have here. So I want us to kind of sharpen some of the fuzziness we might have about heaven and clear away some of the haze to get clearer on heaven. But what we find here is that God takes those who've been made alive spiritually on the earth and he makes them even more alive in heaven.

So is your life better now than it was four years ago. Most believers will say yes. Yes, God has been working with me for these last four years, and I'm so thankful. And I can see his work in my life. You know, just yesterday, one of our dear sisters passed into eternity, Lois Burke, and We had the privilege of being with her in her, in the last years, days of her life.

And I, it was such a joy for me to be able to serve her the Supper of the Lamb, to serve her the Lord's Supper, even as she was declining in her mental faculties. Because even in your declining mental faculties, you can drink of living water and you can eat the supper. And even when you begin to decline and maybe don't understand everything that's going on around you, God does. And you can be served by your family, your church family, and she was served beautifully by her family all the way to the end. This is what God does.

It was such a blessing to have her here in those years especially. So the first question is what is God doing? Well, he's making all things new. The second question is how is God Communicating with humanity about heaven. Where do we learn about heaven?

Well, don't go to the popular books about heaven because they usually don't have a biblical vision of heaven. In fact, they're the best-selling and most ridiculous books that have ever been written about heaven. These boys that go to heaven and actually come out and say, no, I lied about it, and they made $100 million on it. So you don't wanna go to the popular books. What we see here in verse 5 and he said to me right for these words are faithful and true God commands John to write to write about heaven to put it down indelibly and inflexibly.

We have a written revelation. This is how God has communicated about heaven. Our faith is not an oral faith passed down from one generation to another by verbal transmission. This faith was passed down in writing from the very beginning and we have a written record, a fixed record, it's been preserved throughout the centuries. And God has given us His word to teach us about heaven, not our hearts, not the people around us.

And it is sweeter than honey. And it does convert the soul. And it makes wise the simple. And it does rejoice the heart. It does enlighten the eyes.

God has given us the word. He's given us the word of God. Praise the Lord for that. And so we're here to look at that. The third question is who is God?

Who is God? I am the Alpha and the Omega, verse six. And he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. And this is the second occasion in Revelation Where you find this phrase in Revelation 1 8 I am the alpha and the Omega says the Lord God Who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty?

And This is what you find that he is the beginning and the end of history. This is God's sovereignty over history. And so you never need to worry about what's gonna be happening in the world. All over the news today is news of the specter of nuclear war. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has said that he's ready to launch nuclear weapons to defend Russian territory.

Our own president has spoken of the same thing. We just recently last week had a well-known democratic Politician leave the Democratic Party saying these Democrats are warmongers They want to bring us into nuclear war and so she's leaving the Democratic Party. So are you afraid? Well, here's the reality. You know, where are you going to live?

Newsweek just ran a story on the best places to live in the United States and it wasn't the best cities for commerce, It was the best cities to survive a nuclear war. So this is all in the news and people are terrified. Who knows, it may happen. But here's what you do know. Here's what you know Absolutely.

Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Almighty. So whatever happens, if you have him, you have all you need. The Alpha and the Omega, now children, Do you know what that means? Alpha and the Omega? Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet.

Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. So what's the first letter of the English alphabet? A. What's the last letter of the English alphabet? Z this is like saying the Lord saying I'm the a to Z I'm the beginning and the end I am the alpha and the omega and then we say we see what he has done It is done.

He says It's a completed plan. His plan is completed. It's choreographed. The Lord, when the Lord completed His work of redemption on the cross, the Lord Jesus cried out, it is finished. This is the very same idea.

Now at the completion of his work in creation, he says, it is done. God begins and he finishes his work. He who began to work good work in you will will complete it into the day of Christ this goes down right down to your very life every person who knows the Lord what he started he'll finish what a blessing that is the future is not uncertain not to God And the universe is running according to his plan. God is in control. Nothing is out of control.

I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. The fourth question, what is God giving in heaven? Verse 6, I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. I love this imagery. The fountain of the water of life.

There's 70, at least 70 references to water in John's writings. He loved this. John couldn't stop talking about water. It was such a vivid and beautiful image of the gospel to him. And heaven is for the thirsty.

It's the thirsty who are given this fountain. God is giving a fountain. Notice it's a gift. I will give. It's a gift.

It's a free gift. It's given freely without cost. The world has its gifts. God has His. He gives the water of the fountain of life to His children.

And this idea of being thirsty, it's a verb. It's something active at work in your soul The thirsty sense a spiritual need the thirsty Sense they need something more than what they have They have a desire in their souls, and it's to be satisfied with God. It's to have God. It's to have God's word, God's ways, God's love. The thirsty want those things.

The world did not satisfy their spiritual need. And so they turned away, that's called repentance. They turned around and started seeking living water. But it's freely given. God's children, they want to drink of living water.

That's a mark of a Christian. It is the water of life. It is the water that comes out of life. It's living water. Jesus talked about this, John records it in in in John in John in Revelation 22, and the Spirit and the Bride say, come, let him who hears say, come, let him who thirsts come.

Whoever desires, Let him take the water of life Freely that's written to the living Whoever thirsts come Jesus taught that the believer At the moment of salvation has the water of life in John 6 35 and Jesus said to them I am the bread of life that's one beautiful image he who comes to me shall never hunger he who believes in me shall never thirst the Old Testament prophets spoke of this over and over again. I was going through my Bible to read every reference about water And I just gave up it would it would have taken me 15 more hours to go through them. So I stopped But Isaiah spoke of it like this. Isaiah 12.3, Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In Isaiah 49.10, They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them.

For he who has mercy on them will lead them even by the springs of water. He will guide them. Jeremiah talks about people who have turned away from the fountain of living waters and they've hewn cisterns or wells, broken cisterns, people drinking out of broken leaky cisterns. Don't drink there. That's the idea.

Many, many places in the Old Testament foreshadow this. Revelation is going to end with, and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and from the Lamb. This is an image to help us understand what it is like to have Jesus Christ. It's like having water like you've never had before. It's living water.

It's water that's alive. And the Bible teaches us to see heaven as something as real. So we are given metaphors, illustrations, anthropomorphisms, things that are of life so that we can understand them in our language to help us grasp what it is like. You know it's this water of life in heaven is an exalted kind of water of life than you have on earth. It's like the streets of gold in Revelation.

It's more beautiful than gold. The gold is a metaphor but It must be some kind of gold the gold is just given as a placeholder to help you understand the remarkable Kind of gold it's translucent and you're walking on it. It's it's more real than gold and more beautiful than any gold you've ever seen and the some of the catechisms speak about this idea that what you see on earth is a foretaste of heaven. Fisher's Catechism speaks about this. Question 38.

What satisfaction has the soul in the enjoyment of God? Unspeakably more gladness than when corn and wine and all earthly comforts do most abound. Next question. Is there any difference between the enjoyment of God in this life and that which the saints shall obtain in the life to come? Answer, is there any difference?

Not an essential difference, but a gradual difference as to the manner and the measure of it. So you're drinking of living water now more and more and more, God's sanctifying you, and then you step into heaven and then you have you see him face to face next question what is the difference as to the manner of the enjoyment answer here the enjoyment is media it by the intervention of means in other words it happens by reading the word of God praying It happens through the ordinary means of grace. It happens when we gather together and worship It happens when we sing together. It's happened when it happens we pray and fellowship in other words it's immediate it's it's it's real like here. It's by the intervention of means like we're doing now, hereafter it will be immediate without any of these means.

Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face. And then another question, What is the difference as to the measure of the enjoyment in this life and that which is to come? In this life everybody knows this the enjoyment is only partial In that which is to come it will be full and complete here The the enjoyment is only the seed or the first fruits. There, it will be the full harvest. So, that catechism goes on and on.

I heard an illustration recently that might be helpful. Someone said that picture it like you're in a room and the room is filled with beautiful furniture and effects but the light is dim and you can see everything, but it's dim. And then the lights go on. And it is more sparkling and beautiful and clear and real and distinct, and there's far more clarity. I think that's a good way to talk about it.

You know with the lights on you see the details of the beauty of the fabrics and the distinctive colors and the lines and the wood is more stunning on the floor or in the language of Revelation, translucent gold. Because the earth is meant to point you to heaven, and heaven is meant to lure you there. Now in this passage, and we'll get to this next week, hell is also meant either as a magnet or as a deterrent. Hebrews 6, 5 says that we taste elements of heaven here and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. In the Christian life you taste the powers that are in the age to come only in their partial manner.

And so we are drinking this water, this water of life. And why is it so helpful? Well, it's because when you drink of Christ, you're drinking of the one who has the fullness himself. The fullness of God is in himself. And so when you turn to him You are partaking of his fullness Colossians 2 9 for in him Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in him Colossians 1 19 for it pleased the father that in him all the fullness should dwell In him are the hidden treasures of wisdom.

Colossians 2 verse 3. This is the fountain of the water of life is to have the fullness of God and to seek him. These are the greatest riches. Now I don't know what you've been drinking all week long. What podcasts you've been drinking in, what, you know, what videos you've been watching, what books you've been reading, but there is a fountain of the water of life.

And most of what's out there to drink is not a fountain of water of life, it's brackish water. I've been reading a book this last week called The Happiness of Enjoying and making true and speedy use of Christ. How about that for you? You know that's a Puritan book, it is. It's a Puritan title.

Here's what he says. There is a fullness of light in the sun, a fullness of water in the sea, a fullness of strength in the rocks and fullness of riches in the earth. The earth the psalmist said is full of riches but he says the fullness of the star is not as full as the sun. The moon is full of light but the sun is more full. And here here what we we learn is that heaven is a is drinking fully of those waters of life.

A person can be filled up with many things. The fullness of this world, the fullness of the words and the ways of the people of this world. But the water of the fountain of life is always the most life giving and beneficial. Still quoting from this book, it is absurd to run to a rotten cistern for water when you have a living fountain, or to go to a glow worm for light instead of the sun. We often are attracted to the glow worms.

We're often attracted to the leaky cisterns. This is an argument to stop that. He says why should we abstain? We said we should abstain from all foreign and strange guides to direct us, from all rotten pillars of human inventions to support us, and from the broken cistern of all the traditions and observations of men to fill us, to perfect us, and to promote the welfare of our souls. While you can just spend all day long on self-improvement videos.

Broken cisterns, corrupt wells to drink from. He says look to no other instructor, look to no other security, look to no other counselor and guide, go to the fountain. Great little book. The fifth question to answer. To whom is God giving it?

Well, we've talked about this a little bit. He's giving it to the thirsty, but it's it's in an he's giving an inheritance to the thirsty. And this really opens up the doctrine of inheritance. In verse seven, he who overcomes shall inherit. He shall inherit.

This is the idea of inheritance. And I think the flow of the thinking is you have this inheritance of the water of life or you have the inheritance of fire and brimstone and You get the people thrown in as well If you if you trace the doctrine of inheritance from the beginning of the Bible all the way to the end where we are now You find these these consistent themes that flow through the the language that speaks of inheritance. It's mentioned over 200 times. It means that it means an inheritance is an irrevocable gift. You find a beautiful land to occupy.

You find an inalienable possession. You find a river of water. You find gold, a city. You find, one of my favorite metaphors, a land of milk and honey. Celebrate that every day of your life.

You're living in the land of milk and honey, but boy, just wait. It gets even better. These themes run all the way from Genesis to Revelation he who overcomes shall inherit these things what does it mean to overcome it means to continue to believe to continue thirsting for the living water. What is an overcomer? Well, maybe the simplest way to say it, an overcomer is a person who's been born again and who desires the water of life, who wants God, who wants God's water, who's turning away from the waters of this world.

Gregory Beale, one of the commentators, overcomers are those whose lives are characterized by refusal to compromise their faith despite the threat of persecution They ironically conquer when they maintain their faith, even though they may appear defeated in the world's eyes because of persecution John says in John 5 verse 4, whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcomes the world our faith. In Revelation 2 7 we read that the overcomers eat of the tree of life You have the waters of life. You also have the tree of life There's so many metaphors to help us to understand this. We're very dull. So God gives us 50 metaphors Here's one angle.

Here's another. Here's another angle. Water, bread, gold. A fountain. How many more are there?

It would be interesting to count them up. In Revelation 2 17, the overcomers are not hurt by the second death. In Revelation 2 verse 26, the overcomers will eat the hidden manna. They'll receive a white stone and a new name. The word overcomer is equivalent to a true Christian.

In Revelation 312, overcomers are made a pillar in the temple of God and he shall go out no more I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God the new Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from my God and I will write on him my new name." So that's what it means to be an overcomer is to receive treasures from heaven. It's an inheritance from heaven. We have become partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. That's Colossians 1 12. We have been predestined to an inheritance in Ephesians 1 11.

In 1 Peter 1 4 We have been born again to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which does not fade away reserved in heaven for you So the process of being born again is just the beginning when you die you just step into it's never into everlasting life that's what happened to mrs. Berg she just stepped in she just stepped over the line and all of her physical and intellectual capacities were restored on steroids. And you will find an inheritance for those opposed to God. And you can see this inheritance throughout the Bible too. Cain becomes a wanderer.

He sets up his own city for his own glory. It was a city of destruction. Now Abraham was seeking a city whose builder and maker is God. He did not settle in the land of fire and brimstone. He was not walking toward the city of destruction.

He was taking people out of the city of destruction. So these metaphors are very metaphors are very beautiful. They are first fruits. So one of the tenderest, sweetest phrases in the Bible is here, He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. And he shall be my son.

I love those words. I've anticipated for two years to get to these words, and he shall be my son. I will be his God and he shall be my son. You know, what does it mean to be a son? In this context, it's to have a God.

It's to have God. I will be his God and he shall be my son. To be a son is to have a father, the best father that ever lived. All the earthly fathers fall short, that's for sure, but not this father. This father does all things well.

One of the great challenges for most Christians in my experience is that they often fall into thinking of themselves like step-sons and they act like step-sons. They think like I'm a step-son but you're not a step-son. Even when your mental faculties decline you're not a step-son. You're a son with a father, with a God. Everybody has a God.

Who is your God? But you'll experience heaven on earth by having God as your God. So let's don't forget about who we are and who we belong to. We belong to God. He is our God and we are his sons.

And we follow our Father, we listen to our Father, we honor our Father. He is our God. We're not lost in this world. The statement goes back to 2nd Samuel chapter 7. This is really a fulfillment of God's promise to the house of David.

2 Samuel 7, 14, I will be his father and he shall be my son." That's spoken of David and every believer has what are called in the Bible the sure mercies of David. I will be his father and he shall be my son." Now, the next phrase really takes us to verse eight, which we'll handle next week. If he commits iniquity, I will chase in him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men, but my mercy shall not depart from him." So you have heaven on earth By knowing that there is the Alpha and the Omega, that there is the water of life given freely, that there is an inheritance here and in heaven, and you can be a son. You know, these metaphors, I hope, really stick in our minds. You know, what fountain, what fountain will flow in you?

What light will illumine you? What shepherd will guide you? What rock will stabilize you? What friend will you follow? What treasure will sustain you?

What bread will nourish you? What shield will protect you? What husband will care for you? What wisdom will teach you? What feast will delight you?

What authority will protect you? What merit will stand for you? What power will fortify you? What presence will inhabit you? What fortress will fend off your enemies, what city will socialize you, what nation will embrace you, what temple will be your place of worship, what captain will be your commander.

There is a fountain of the water of life so that heaven would come down on earth as it is in heaven. So I pray that God would help us as a church to not just know it in our heads but to channel it every day beginning today and maybe you know you haven't had the water of life, you haven't drunk the water of life. All I can say is you don't want to delay, no one ever regretted coming to the Lord early. Don't delay. If you're delaying.

And if you've not delayed and you've come, enjoy that water, it's living water. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the river of the water of life, the fountain, the living waters that spring up to eternal life. Lord, these broken cisterns, So unhelpful. I pray that you would give give us a church who is drinking deeply of the waters of life and Turning away from the broken leaky polluted cisterns of this world But Lord what a joy it is to be able to have some sense of heaven on earth.

Amen.