Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Paul's first epistle to the
Corinthians, chapter 13, and verse 10. But when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. I'm to speak this evening of
a glimpse of the world to come. The Apostle Paul here is addressing
the Corinthians who had been much taken up with spiritual
gifts. The gifts of being able to speak
a language and interpret a language and other various gifts. And
he sets before them that all of these things shall pass away. These things belong to this world.
But one thing that belongs to both worlds is the blessing of
love, of charity and love. And he makes those comparisons
in this chapter between that which the Church of God has now
and that which she shall have hereafter. In chapter two, the apostle had
said that it entered not into the heart of man what God had
prepared for them that love him. And he is quoting from Isaiah
64. And of course, when we think
of the Old Testament church, they could hardly have envisaged
the churches that we have today. When we think of the church in
the wilderness, the Lord saying to his people, you only have
I known of all nations that are in the earth. And where he is
giving those intimations from the calling of Rahab, calling
of Ruth, those clear prophecies in Isaiah of the Gentiles being
called in, of a church state, it could hardly be envisaged
that right through the nations of the earth there should be
assemblies like we assemble today, and that we are clearly preaching
and setting forth the promised seed the Lord Jesus Christ who
came, who suffered, bled and died, and ascended up into heaven,
they could hardly have envisaged what it would look like. The
contrast is such a contrast, and yet we can look back and
we can see the prophecies, we can see them fulfilled in the
Lord Jesus Christ, We can see that it was always God's purpose
that in every nation kindred and tongue, but we actually now
see how it is and how it is unfolded. And the apostle would take that
same thought with the Old Testament church and say to us, this applies
to us too. We have many things that are
told us about the world to come, about heaven, about what it shall
be. when this world shall be no more,
but really it has not entered into the heart of man what God
hath prepared for them that love him. There is and must be the
same great contrast between what we know and what those who know
in heaven and actually see and experience in heaven. And when
we have taken from us, as you have had, one of your number,
one of the brethren, there's times like this, we think of
here as one of our brethren that knew it as we have it here. But
now, he knows it as it is in heaven. He knows that difference,
that contrast. And so it leads us to think,
well, what do the scriptures speak of it? There are many different
passages that do. But I felt this impressed upon
my spirit in this passage. You might say it's a strange
passage because it really primarily is teaching how much more love
is better than any other gifts that may be given. But in doing
so, he is comparing what we know here to what is known actually
in heaven. And many times through the scriptures
we have contrasts. They are great ways of understanding
the truths of God is by contrast, seeing it in two different ways. And we get a clear insight of
the truth in that way. And so the apostle is using the
contrast here in this chapter. Of course, our Lord used that
in nearly all of his parables. He always had. a contrast. Those that were saved, those
that were lost, those that are good ground hearers, those that
are bad ground hearers, the publican in prayer and the Pharisee in
prayer, he is all the time showing these two sides of it. And of
course there is this great contrast between here below and that in
heaven. I often think of it portrayed
as I think of the map of Israel and where the tribes were settled
and is one way I try and remember where Jacob had his cross-handed
blessing with Ephraim and Manasseh. I always have trouble with which
one really was the firstborn and which one was made the firstborn. And what it was said that Manasseh
was the first born, but the blessing was upon the head of Ephraim.
And when you look at their tribes, you see this great big landmass
on one side of Jordan, not actually in Israel as such, and then a
landmass the other side. actually in Israel. You might
say it is all Israel, of course, but one side of Jordan, one the
other, and that is all Manasseh, the half-tribes of Manasseh.
You think, well, he got the better blessing because he's got far
more land mass, and there is the leaf realm. The leaf realm
is all the other side of Jordan. And I often think of it in this
way, if you take Manasseh and Ephraim as representative of
the whole Church of God at any one point in the Day of Grace,
you get some on one side, some are in the wilderness, and some
on the other side of Jordan, they are in heaven. But when
this world shall be no more, they shall be all like Ephraim,
all. all in heaven. And maybe it's
my simple way of looking at it with a picture of that man and
to remember those two sons. And we think of the head prior
to more happy but not more secure, the glorified saints above. And we cannot help thinking of
those that have gone before in this way and thinking, well,
We saw them, we spoke with them, they knew what we know, but now
they know what we don't know, but can only get a little glimpse
of beforehand. It's hard to look the Lord's
help at three points. Firstly, the illustrations used
to show the difference between the church on earth and the church
in heaven. And then secondly, that which
is done away and that enjoyed in heaven. Primarily just this
passage. And then thirdly, that which
is not done away but remains through time and eternity. Firstly, the illustrations. The
Apostle uses three simple ones here. In our text we have, and
it's in verse nine as well, in part, in part, not fully. We have in verse nine,
verse 10, verse 12, this illustration of in part. And we have many
things in life which We are only given a part of it. We don't
know it fully. I always used to remember this
going through schooling and further education with engineering. Very
often we wanted to know a little bit more than what was in the
actual course. And we were just a bit inquisitive,
but we wanted to know a bit more. And the teacher would say, no,
I'm teaching you what is necessary to pass your exam at the end
of the year. and that desire to know it, but
don't waste your time on that, you've got to get through this
course. But we're all the time mindful that what we were being
taught was only a part. There's a lot more still to be
known. If we went on into further higher
education still, and perhaps even for a few more years in
the same course, we'd get to know it. But even on earth, there's
very few that would fully know even in an intellectual sense,
all of the subject that they are going through. They know
but in a part of it. And we get through in our spheres
of education, in our employment, with the part that we know. It
is sufficient for us to earn our living, to get by as an engineer. I don't have to know every facet
of engineering to be able to do my job. in that job that I'm
in. So it's not a disadvantage, as
it were, that we know in part, but it's humbling to think that
there's many things that we do not know. And this is what the
apostle then is saying regarding the whole experience of the Church
of God, all the people of God, everything that is revealed,
everything that is taught, when it is all taught, when it is
all done, when we even were to know everything in the scripture
from beginning to end, we only know a part, but we know enough. I'm often thankful for that.
There's many times you might read part of the Word of God,
and you think, well, Noah, how did he get all the animals together,
and different aspects you might think of the ark, and it's just
silent, and there's other parts of the Word of God, and little
bits of detail, we thought we'd like to know that, but it's not.
And I often think back to what I said about at school. The Lord,
in effect, is saying to his children, You will only know in part, but
I'll make sure you know the part that you need to know, that is
saving, so that John, he says, many things that Jesus did, that
if all were written, the world would not hold the books that
would be written, but these are written that ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that in believing
ye might have life through his name. That is why I'm often cautious
in the ministry. Sometimes it's good to perhaps
get a context from perhaps some other writings, but I'm very
wary about, shall I say, wasting the time in the pulpit, grabbing
information from outside of the Word of God, when the Lord has
said, this is the part that you need. And this is what you need
to concentrate on. This is the inspired, infallible
Word of God. It's sufficient, it's necessary
for salvation. And yes, there's many things
you think, why wasn't it put in the Word of God? Why has the
Lord left it to secular information to work out what was happening
or what was done and doctrinally or that which is necessary for
salvation? The part that we need is there. That part is not missing. Sometimes
you might try and do a jigsaw puzzle and one part is missing
and you can't finish it. Or mend something and you realise
you've got a screw or a few parts missing and you can't complete
it. But in the Word of God, what
is given, though it is in part, is sufficient for salvation. and we are to remember that. But the illustration then is
that in heaven it is not in part. While it was in part here, in
heaven it is complete. We shall know fully. There shall
not be anything left out. And this is the illustration
that is used, the impasse that flows into several other aspects
of the difference between here and in heaven. Dear friends, don't be discouraged
or don't let Satan say, well, how can you be a child of God
when he brings before you painfully things that you do not know?
or it may be those that you work with, or those that would challenge
your faith, you can't fully answer them. You may be able to answer
them and say, I know in part, and I know the part that is vital. You might say like the man that
was born blind, one thing I know, whereas I was blind now I see. And they would have said, yeah,
but there's many, many things you don't know. And we are scribes,
and we are Pharisees, and we know all these things. But he
knew it in his heart, and he knew the Lord had taught him
that. He wouldn't let go of that. And so it may have been encouragement
to us, though we may feel ignorant, feel to know little of the word
of God, feel to know but a part. But it was a part that we were
taught by the Holy Spirit, There's a part that is a part here below,
but it gives us really that token and title to a mansion in the
skies. Then there's the illustration
of a child, in verse 11. When I was a child, I spake as
a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, that when
I became a man, I put away childish things. Very simple illustration. Yet those of you that work with
children, those of us, we can remember things that we are taken
up with when we look at our own children or the grandchildren,
when we get to grandparents, everything, how they speak, how
they act, how they talk, they are childish. But we know that
they will grow up. And those even in positions of
authority in the church, in the land, all of us, we have once
been children, and we've spoken like that, we've viewed things
like that, but we've grown out of that, we're no longer like
that. And this again is an illustration
that the Apostle would give before us when we're thinking about
eternity, when we're thinking about heaven, when we're thinking
about the world to come, Think about that simple illustration
of how a child views the world, and how they act, and how an
adult does. What a difference. And yet who
would despise, who would ridicule a child because they are a child,
and because they are saying or acting the way that they are,
because they are children. We wouldn't despise that. And
so would the Church of God as well. The Lord doesn't despise
his dear people, those who act and walk, as it were, as children
in faith and in the things of God. In heaven, that is when
we shall see, as it were, as a man. And then we have the illustration
of a glass, looking through a glass, and the glass is dark. And we
can see the things behind it, but we can't see them in clear
focus. There's aspects we cannot see. We know it is there, but we cannot
see clearly. And the apostle says, now, now
here below, we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Another illustration, it's a
simple one, but it's very vivid and very clear. And it's as if
the Lord would say this to his church here below, here below
my true people, my true saved people, those that truly have
the faith of God, you only know in part and is in the way you
were in childhood and you are seen through a glass darkly.
But it's in this time zone that the grace of God is shown, a
true knowledge of the Lord is obtained, a saving knowledge
of the Lord, and that the Lord's people are brought to have that
hope beyond the grave that they shall see not in part, not as
a child, and not through glass darkly, but very, very clearly."
So maybe an encouragement. The Lord knows this present state
of things. He has not decreed that here
we shall know perfectly and everything that is in the world to come.
No. But He has shown enough. that
we may truly know we are the church, we are a people called,
and we are those who are destined to a heavenly throne, a heavenly
home, and who shall have that contrast, the difference, and
they shall see it. And your brother in faith now
sees that difference, sees that contrast. Onto then, secondly, that which
is done away and that which is enjoyed in heaven. And most of
these points, when you will, you'll find them in this passage. The first is hope. Hope is done
away when that hope for is realized. Now if we had a child that was
hoping for a particular present on their birthday, and their
birthday came and they got what they were hoping for, they wouldn't
have any, they didn't have hope still. They didn't need the hope.
They'd actually had the thing. It is realized what they were
hoping for. You're told elsewhere that hope
that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why does
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which
we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. And so the Lord
has given us here below this blessing of hope. We have it in the last verse
now, bideth faith, hope, charity, these three. And that hope is
a very needful blessing that we have here to be looking for
something to be realised, looking for that which we shall have
that we've hoped for. And so again, do not despise
where the Lord has given you a good hope through grace, a
hope based upon the Word of God, imposed hope based upon His Word,
upon what He has done for us, what He has worked in us. A hope
that isn't just imagined, but it has that which has a basis
to it. And that belongs to us here below. But that then will one day be
realized and there will be no need of hope. in heaven. And so may we think of this as
an encouragement here below. If the Lord has raised up a hope
in our heart, through this passage, through this thought, the Lord
is saying, my child, one day you will not need that hope because
you will realise it and you will see it in heaven. A hope in Christ. a hope to stand
faultless before his throne, a hope of eternal glory, a hope
like the Thessalonians were given through broad writings, have
seen their loved ones again, hope have seen Christ, those
things that are hoped for, to be delivered from this body of
sin and death, out of Satan's range, out of all that is here
below, that hope, the hope through the precious blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished at Calvary, that
He shall be well with the righteous. Then we have faith. Faith is
done away and replaced by sight. In Hebrews 12 we read that our
Lord Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. That is, that faith is given
at the new birth, and it is given by the Lord, it is not part of
our old nature that somehow has escaped the fall and we can just
by a bit of duty, faith, accept Christ and have all the gospel
blessings in. That's not the gospel. But the
gospel is, all men have not faith, that the people of God are given
faith as a gift. By grace you're saved through
faith and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And when the Lord gives that
faith, when he shall finish that faith, is at death. When he takes his people home,
they have no need of faith because faith then is changed to signs. Faith is the equivalent of sight. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And it makes up for the lack
of natural sight. But again, what encouragement
for the Church of God. This is what the Lord has decreed
we should see with here below. that the Word of God is our eyes. That is showing us the world
to come. That is showing us ourselves.
It is showing us what is in heaven. All that we need to see, we see
through the lens of the Word of God. You know, it's no wonder
that the Lord said to Peter that Satan had desire to have you
to sift you as wheat, but I pray for thee, that thy faith fail
not, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." He
didn't pray that he wouldn't deny the Lord, but that his faith
fail not. That was what was vital, that
was what was saving, that which was given by the Lord, that which
saw through that trial, saw through his fall and brought him still
as a follower, still as a believer. That which with David saw him
through his fall over adultery and murder and brought him the
other side still as a child of God. The blessing of faith that
the Lord has given that cannot die, that is kept by God and
yet that that is not needed, the other side of the grave,
because that shall be changed to sight. Everything that we
have seen by faith in the word, we shall see, and we shall see
as sight. How clearly, when we think of
verse 12, seen through a glass darkly, but then face to face,
Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I know. We thank the Lord, He knows our
thoughts, He sees us when we see not Him, says the hymn writer,
He knows all about us. It's imperfect, I know, but we
can see each other, we say we might know quite a bit about
each other, but we still don't know everything, not our thoughts
and many things of each other's lives we don't know, but we see
each other face to face. The apostle is saying, the Lord,
he sees not just the outside, but the heart and everything
about us. But in heaven, we shall see heaven. I know everything about him.
We shall see him face to face. Heaven is not just some feeling. One of my cousins years ago,
he said, do you think heaven is the real place? He says, isn't
it just the feelings when you die? If you feel good, heavenly,
then that's heaven. If you feel bad, then that's
hell. And he had no concept of hell
or heaven as being a real place at all, brought up to understand
the truth in our churches. And you think how many have these
thoughts of a spiritual realm that has no substance, that somehow
is inferior to what we have here. Here we can see each other, hear
each other, we've got all our senses of smell, of sight, of
feeling, But in heaven, no, there's not going to be anything like
that. These are the shadows, but the reality won't be as real
as what the shadows are. That cannot possibly be separate. It must be more real. To actually know, even as we
are knowing. And it's something to really,
really consider. a new heavens and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness and it bears as much more substance
than what we have here. And yet we cannot comprehend
a world that does not have death in it, even with the seasons,
with the leaves falling off as they are now, and they're dying,
you think, that can't happen in heaven, there's not death
in heaven. Or we just cannot comprehend
a world unlike our own. And faith, it views it through
the word, but when faith is done away, then we shall see. What a contrast, what a difference. Then we have prophecies, in verse
eight. Whether there be prophecies,
they shall fail. Why? Because that which is prophesied,
when it comes to pass, it does not need to be continually prophesied. As when our Lord came, then if
any was to prophesy of the coming Messiah, once our Lord had come,
that was a false prophet, because the Lord had already come. He
was already fulfilled. John the Baptist, the end of
the prophets, the last of the prophets. He pointed to the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And so, again,
an aspect that we can see of the Old Testament pointing to
Christ's first coming, we think that now has passed away. We now have the prophecies of
the Lord's second coming, And that will be done away when He
does come again. But all the time where we are
living with what God has given, we need His blessings, need to
understand and to worship God, but it's only for a time. And
when that time is done, then we shall see what those things
were pointing to. And so again, a little glimpse,
a glimpse of the world to come when the prophecies that we have,
that they shall be fulfilled. When Christ shall return, so
shall we ever be with the Lord. When he shall come with all his
saints to be glorified in his people, when the dead in Christ
shall rise first, we shall be caught up with them in the air. All of these things that have
been told and that they shall come to pass. One of the aspects
that we find in Acts especially is the apostles realising scripture's
fulfilled. And they're quoting Psalms, they're
quoting Joel, they're quoting David, and they're saying these
prophecies a thousand years ago, they are being fulfilled now. We are in the time of their being
fulfilled. I wonder how many in our day
Do we actually view something that is happening and say we
are witnesses of this being fulfilled and coming to pass? It's a good
thing to compare scripture with what is happening in the world.
Sometimes you have little thoughts of what shall happen. You think
of what is said, Euphrates flowing up and make way for the kings
of the east and you see what has happened with Russia and
China and you think when is it that they are going to come and
take over the western world and what we think of it won't be
anymore and is that what shall be around Jerusalem, the armies
when the Lord shall come? And it's just when you know these
prophecies, but we haven't got enough to be able to say this
is what is going to come to pass, but we just compare what is happening
with the word of God constantly. And of course I often think of
Mr. Philpott's review and his looking through the revelation.
Mr. Philpott, he did not even have
an automobile, he didn't have a petrol engine, he didn't have
a computer, he didn't have phones. There were so many things that
he could not possibly have thought would ever come upon the earth,
and how many things there are that we do not know. But many
have made great mistakes in saying, oh, this is prophecy, this means
this, this is what must happen. And the Jews, they knew not the
day of their visitation. The Lord came sooner in a different
way than they thought. And may the New Testament Church,
may we today, not be caught the same, the Lord coming in a day
and an hour that we thought not, because we're thinking it's some
future date and some other things are going to happen first. But
it's a good thing to be reminded, here below we are given prophecies. Those prophecies one day will
be fulfilled and there shall be no more need of those prophecies,
but there is a use for them here below, even if it is to give
us this expectation there is a world to come. The Lord is
working out his purposes day by day and hour by hour. Then
we have tongues, the ability to speak and interpret will be
done away with, with one pure language, again in verse 8. Whether there be tongues, they
shall cease. Tongues was very necessary at
the day of Pentecost. You think of how the Lord confused
the languages when man at Babel refused to spread out through
the earth. So the Lord confounded their
language so they spread out. When the Lord has come and then
he commissions going into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature, then the confusion of language is now a hindrance.
So the Lord gives that wonderful miracle of the miraculous gift
of speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, and from that, the ability
and the gifts, and you can know it. We've had friends and we've
got friends that are very gifted in languages. They know seven,
eight, nine languages fluently, can write them, speak them. And
they can pick them up so quickly. And I'm hopeless at languages. You see those that have that
gift, and they've not only got the gift, but they're also called,
and they're gracious men and women. And those that we use
to translate the word of God as we have it, how vital that
was. That's not left to chance, if
you like. There just happened to be people
that were Gracious God, the people that could translate the original
languages into our tongue. God has ordered that. And so
that belongs to here below. We need that ability. We need
tongues, not miraculously given, but the gift of those tongues
and ability to translate while the earth remains. But in heaven,
one perfect language, one pure, language that everyone understands
and knows. No giving in marriage, no marrying
and giving in marriage. So different, everything different
in heaven. But in language, that barrier
between all the nations is taken away. You might say, well how
did the Lord make sure the gospel spread then if there wasn't the
difference in language like at Babel? or he said they persecute
you in one city and you go to the next. That's how it was spread,
and the Lord ensured it would be spread. But just another aspect
of what is vital here for the church on earth, but the church
in heaven, they do not have, they do not know that at all. And then we have all knowledge,
all the knowledge of earth, those things that on earth that we
need to know, they are so vital for us here. We have in verse
11, we have it also at the end of verse 12, then, that then
shall I know, even as I'm also known, that knowledge as an adult,
the knowledge here below, We need all the types of knowledge
that we have here. All the trades, all the things
that we've studied up to be able to build houses and do computers
and everything in that way, and then in a spiritual way as well. Understanding the doctrines of
the gospel, being taught and instructed in the ways of the
Lord. We have a little hint of that, the promise, they shall
all know me from the least unto the greatest, they shall not
say every man know the Lord, they shall all know me. But again,
that is in part. And we are told that when this
world is done away, that these former things shall not even
come into mind, not be remembered. It's a mystery to us. How can
it be that We see in heaven that which puts
right what was on earth when we can't remember what was on
earth. Again, it's one of those things we only know in part.
No little parts, but in heaven we shall perfectly know. Some will spend so much time
arguing or reasoning over these things that we might say are unnecessary things, or not the
important, vital things. And may we think then, those
things that are done away, are they so important that it divides
brethren, separates brethren? Those things that are vital,
those things that point to heaven, point to what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done, His sufferings, death, and what shall triumph
in the day of death. And then we come, of course,
here to what shall not be done away in our third point, and
that is love. Now abideth faith, hope, charity,
these three, but the greatest of these is charity. And all these other things, charity
never faileth. Verso, whether they be prophecies,
they shall fail. tongues they shall see, knowledge
it shall vanish away. All of these things go. But we
have from the beginning, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Having loved
his only, love them unto the end. The whole reason why the
Lord chose and saved the people was for love only, with no cause
in ourselves. and that shall remain eternally. Increase, be more clear, but
the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost here
is that which shall not change. It shall abide, it shall remain,
the everlasting love of God towards his people. And the apostle here
is saying with these Corinthians, all of these spiritual gifts,
all of these divisions amongst the members of the body, the
body's many members in chapter 12, that we have love, the love
of God. And we can impose our services,
grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God
the Father. That eternal love that shall
never be separated from his people. The love of Christ constraineth
us, and the love of Christ towards his people shall know no change. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
and today, and forever. And I love the way the Lord dealt
with Peter, having denied him three times. The Lord doesn't
say to Peter, Peter, you've denied me three times, but I love you,
Peter. He said, love us thou may. Because
in John we have, we love him because he first loved us. And
where we have in our hearts, have shed abroad in our hearts,
and may not be many times that we really felt it, so full of
it. But when we do, that's a blessed
token of eternal love of God, which shall never, never be taken
away from history of people. May we then have, not just with
this passage, but other passages, a glimpse of the world to come. And especially when we have those
that we walk with, we've had them at Cranbrook, those that
we've cared for over the years, we've seen them slowly be taken
down and then they've been taken away. And all that is left for
us is their grave and tombstone. that we realise that they are
absent from the body present with the Lord, and to think,
what are they enjoying now? What are they seeing now? What
are they entered into now? What does the Word tell us of
that? And when shall it be that we also shall see Him? Well, may the Lord give us this
hope, and to run the race set before us, looking unto Jesus. and to have that bright prospect
and expectancy as the Apostle, absent from the body and present
with the Lord. Amen.