Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to 1 Peter chapter 1, and reading
for our text just a few words from verse 4. Verse 4, reserved in heaven for
you. reserved in heaven for you. The whole verse reads to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you. How often in the New Testament
letters to the churches and to the scattered people of God they
are directed to look above. The end of religion, the end
of worship, the end of faith is not in this world. The work of grace is carried
on here. The blessings the people first
know of the blessings of eternal life are here. But this is not
our rest and it is polluted. And here below we may expect
those fiery trials and persecutions. We may expect to be on hostile
ground as to the true faith and true religion the Lord has said. In John 17, I have given them
thy word, and the world hath hated them. We should never be
ashamed of the word of God, never make excuses for it, never expect
that when it is read or set forth before unregenerate men, that
they shall receive it or receive it with joy naturally and not
rise up against it. One of the hymns says, concerning
the declaration of what is in man and the sinfulness of man,
nor are men willing to have the truth told. The sight is too
killing for pride to behold. And so the people of God are
to look beyond this present world and as their earthly tabernacle
is slowly taken down and as the signs of that are coming they
are to have that blessed prospect before them and enjoy the anticipation
of it. I wonder how many times we think
of that because so many things in our lives There's not only
the joy of actually doing them, there's the anticipation. We
might have a holiday booked, and we know that we've got that
holiday booked, it might be for many months before. And oft times
we think of it, and there's that anticipation of it, and there's
that expectation. The more weary and tired we get,
the more we think of it and would hasten to that time. And it's
in so many different things as well. The children with their
birthdays, the wedding that is to take place, or something that
is before us. if we did not have that anticipation. Or if we hadn't, so that again
and again, we had a prospect of a holiday, but last minute
it was cancelled, then we would never really be able to anticipate
and really enjoy another holiday. Because all the time, right up
to that time, we'd be thinking, it's going to be cancelled. We
won't have it, we won't enjoy it. And so all of that time leading
up, there'd be no joy of anticipation whatsoever. There's very few
things in our lives that the only joy is actually the entry
into it, the holiday itself or the thing that is done itself.
But often there's that enjoyment that goes in the lead up to it,
in the anticipation, the thoughts of it, and the thoughts of it
often help us to get through wearisome and troubling and trying
times. And there's never more true concerning
that which the Lord has set before his people, not something that
is to be snatched away at last or taken away, but that which
is sure and that which they can really count on and look forward
to and long and anticipate not just a few days or hours although
some it may be so that like the dying thief only a short while
of knowing his interest in the Lord Jesus and in heaven but
many it is many years that they've walked here below and they've
had this prospect before them. But sometimes we lose sight of
it, sometimes we forget, sometimes we do not realise what it is
and what a blessing it is to have that hope. And the reason
why the Lord does give it to his children here below, and
that especially at times of trial, they're not to interpret them
as to that they don't have that hope, or that it's not before
them, but that hope that is to help them through those trials.
Cast not away, we are told in the word, your confidence which
hath great recompense of reward. Now we are not to cast it away
or despise the day of small things at all. The word that is before
us reserved in heaven for you. We know what it is to have something
reserved for us, to be put aside for us. We can't use it for the
present time, we can't enter into it, but it's put aside for
our use. It might be that it is something
like a form of a grant, that when we need it then we can call
upon it, and it's reserved, it's for our use, whenever we have
need of it then we can ask for part of that reserve for us.
Maybe it is that we have a place reserved in a nursing home, And
as we get older, we know that there is a place there allotted
for us, and when we get to need it, then we can go into the home
and use that place. Or maybe before that, we're thinking
of the idea of holidays, that we reserve a place on a bus or
a boat or reserve a holiday cottage for us. so that when the time
comes then our name is down, that place is not for someone
else but for us. We are used to the idea of something
or some place being reserved or put aside for our use long
before that we actually have need of it. And so We think of this just in a general
way, the idea of something being reserved, but in connection with
our text, reserved in heaven for you, we may ask when, when
was this reserved for the people of God? When was it so? You know, later on in the chapter,
we are told of those blessings that are in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in verse 20, we read, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world that
was manifest in these last times for you. In one way, it could
be said our Lord was reserved from the foundation of the world. But in these last times, revealed
or shown to the people of God. And so when we think of the words
of our text, that reservation in heaven, really it is from
eternity. The people that are chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world, they are appointed
and have a place reserved and it is there from eternity we
may say. But then why? Why has that place been reserved? For any particular person, we
are told in verse 2, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. We know that there is no reason
why the Lord sets his love upon a sinner. It is not at works,
lest any man should boast. Nothing that the Lord foresaw
in his people he loved because he would love. It is a sovereign
choice. The sovereign love that the Lord
has so reserved in heaven, a place for a people. And that's where it is in our
text, isn't it? Reserved in heaven. It is not
here, it is in heaven. No one of us living have been
to heaven. The apostle Paul says that he
was so blessed at one time He was caught up into the third
heavens, heard things that were unspeakable to utter. But there
was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet
him, lest he should be lifted up on the greatness of those
revelations. It has not entered into the heart
of man what God hath prepared for them that love him. But we know it is not here. What
is set before us here is something beyond the grave. And the Apostle
Paul says that if in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we have all men most miserable. What is set before us here is
not in this life. It's beyond this life. It is
beyond the grave. It's a reservation, a reservation
in heaven for a people. I want to look with the Lord's
helm then this evening. Two main points. Firstly, what is reserved? Reserved in heaven for you. What
is reserved? And then secondly, for whom? Now it says reserved in heaven
for you. So for whom? We may see that
described in the context. If this is to be a real comfort
to us and a help to us, then we need to be able to answer
these two questions. What is reserved? For whom is
it reserved? Firstly, what is reserved? We're told in the earlier part
of the verse that it is an inheritance. It is an inheritance. Again, you might have a person
that has written a will, and in that will they have named
several beneficiaries. All the while that person is
alive, in one sense there is reserved something of that person's
estate for the people that are named in their will. But it is
not given, it's not available to them until they die. And then it goes to their beneficiaries. Inheritance always speaks of
something that is given to another person because of the death of
someone. and particularly generally it
is someone that is related to the one that is to receive the
benefit and otherwise it can be that the
person receiving that inheritance has been loved and meant a lot
to the person that is leaving an inheritance to them. And so in the first thought here,
what is reserved when we think of it as an inheritance? It cannot be thought of separate
from that of debt. And when we think that this is
speaking of heaven, this is speaking beyond the grave after we have
died, in the prospect of it, the anticipation of it, that
we are to receive, or those that you in the text receive, it comes
to a death. So we're letting our thoughts
from our anticipated death to the death of the one that gives
an inheritance. And it sets before us the death
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. What flows forth from
his death, what could not be bestowed before he died, but
must come after he died. Our Lord certainly prayed in
John 17, Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am that they may behold my glory. But in the death of our Lord
Jesus Christ, there was a work that was done, a work that had
a benefit, something to leave, You think if someone came into
this world and they went through life, they lived on the state,
they never had a job, they never owned their own house, they went
right through this life, they came to death, they died, and
the will was opened and it was put, they had nothing to leave. Another person They had great
estates, they had great wealth, they'd worked very hard, very
diligently, and what a difference. They had a lot that they could
leave. With our Lord Jesus Christ, the
fruit of His life and His death is what makes that inheritance. He has to give to His People,
he has to give to those that believe on his name. Life itself. He has paid the debt, he has
suffered in their place, he has endured the wrath of God, he
has met all the demands of a broken law, he has settled that on their
account. He's therefore able to give them.
give them that assurance that their debt is paid, that is given
in the empty tomb. But he's also able to give them
his own righteousness, his own perfect life and obedience even
unto death, that obedience which was perfect in every particular,
imputed or put to their account so that they are accounted faultless
when they appear before God. And because He has settled their
debts and because He has given them a righteousness that they
did not have, He can bestow all things upon them. There is no
debt, no hindrance in Him bestowing everything upon them. And His
desire is that those for whom He died that they should be partners
with him on his throne, that they should be with him, that
they should see his glory, that they should partake of that which
he has entered into. And it all comes through his
death. It is an inheritance. It is a
gift. It is not earned. It is merited
only by the works of the one who has died, which is the Lord
Jesus Christ. May we remember that. What is
reserved is an inheritance. The children of Israel, when
they went through the wilderness and to the promised land, they
were given inheritance in Canaan, each of them according to lot.
But the children of Levi had no inheritance of land. The Lord
was their inheritance. And so they were scattered amongst
the other tribes and they served in the tabernacle They were the
Lord's people, the Lord fed them through the sacrifices and offerings
that the other tribes bought and they were given the Levitical
cities throughout Israel. So the Lord is the inheritance
of his people and his people are his inheritance as well. So what is reserved? It is an inheritance. But how is that inheritance described
as set forth here? It's described in three ways. Firstly, that it is incorruptible. Again, that is something that
is not known here below. Yes, I know we can get close
to it, you can get things that are made out of stainless steel
or out of gold and they won't corrupt, they won't corrode,
they won't end up being useless in that way. But mostly here
below, everything is corruptible. It shall see corruption. You've only got to even have
a, maybe it'd be a nice homestead, beautiful buildings and beautiful
land. And if someone said to you, I've
reserved that for you, that's going to be your inheritance.
But no one looks after it, no one farms it, no one keeps the
decorations up, no one takes any notice. It all becomes overgrown
with weeds and brambles, and the paint all flakes and fall
off, and the timbers all crumble down. You've only got to go down
the road and look at Providence Chapel that used to be a full
chapel. And there it is. The timbers
are all rotten. The boards are all falling out. The front door is just about
all falling down just through neglect. Now if you were given
to wait upon an inheritance in some years to come, and we're
not told it was incorruptible, you think with all this time,
by the time I come to it, then it won't be fit to be inhabited,
it won't be fit to enter into at all. Now the Holy Spirit is
saying to described that which is in heaven and that which is
waited for many years and that which is beyond our sight, in
terms that impress upon us this is not like this world. In this world there's change
and decay in all around we see. In this world there's always
corruption, our own bodies. The apostle says in 1 Corinthians
15, This corruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal
immortality, the great contrast, and that is what is here. The
inheritance, it cannot be corrupted. And the other description is
this, that it is undefiled. There's nothing unholy, there's
nothing evil, there's nothing to Tarnish it. There's no sin
there. There's no devil there. There's nothing unholy there.
It is all pure. It's not defiled
in any way. You imagine if we were told,
well, you've got a nice holiday cottage, and you're looking forward
to it, and you go to it. Or maybe it's University digs
that you been told it's your lodging for university for the
year. And you go into it, and you find,
well, there's rat butts around, and there's dirt in the corners,
and spider's webs, and all sorts of defilement in it. You think, I can't live here.
It's got to be cleaned up. This is not what we expected.
by the inheritance here and that which is reserved is undefiled. There's not anything there that
would make us recoil from it and not feel that it is suitable
for us and suitable for one that shall be themselves having a
body that is incorruptible. And that a mortal that is not
just not mortal but immortal, that which is pure, the habitation
is suiting to that. And then we have this description,
and that fadeth not away. Fadeth not away. How many times
it might be that We view an inheritance. Someone said that when they die,
they will give us this and that. And you think, well, they're
a wealthy person. But then by and by, with their
dealings and business dealings, and things go bad, and gradually
you see this amount get less and less and less. And they've
had to sell this property and that property. And what you thought
was going to be Your inheritance suddenly is very, very small,
and it just faded right away. Well, what is set before us here
does not fade away. Sometimes in our own feeling,
especially when we've had it very precious and we first believed,
then it is very real and very precious, and in our feelings
it does fade away, In reality it hasn't, only our apprehension
of it has, and through lack of faith. And so this is set before
those here that are to have fiery trials and great persecutions,
and shall at last, as you and I must, come down to the grave. And the holy inspired word of
God says, there is that It is undefiled and it fadeth
not away. It is there. It won't disappear. It is reserved for you. And when you enter into it, it'll
be just to your liking, no disappointment, exactly as you would have it. These are the words. This is
a description. of what is actually reserved. We have beautiful words of our
Lord Jesus Christ himself as he sought to prepare his disciples
for his departure, for his crucifixion in John 14. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am, there ye may
be also. And whither I go, ye know, and
the way ye know. How beautiful were so reserved
place, the mansions in the skies. But for whom? How do we know
that that is reserved for us? How do we know then these precious
words and that anticipation, you might say it's one thing
to have this set before us, but what if there's always the doubt?
Maybe it's not for us. Maybe it's for someone else.
How do we really know that my name is set down there? Going back to illustrations like
with the holidays, Sometimes, maybe during the months before
going on holiday, you'll pull out the reservation sheet. You'll look at the receipt for
the deposit you've paid. You'll make sure that, yes, that
really is in order. We have heard back from the people. They've confirmed that the arrangement
is in place. And you're relying on those tokens. You're relying on Not just communication
from you to the provider of the holiday home, but them to you
saying, yes, that place is reserved and for you. And your name is
on those papers. And it's not going to be given
to someone else or double booked, as it were. And so I want to
look with the second point, for whom? How do we know? that we are in the you in our
text, reserved in heaven for you. Our text, as it were, is
sandwiched or put between two infallible evidences that God
has given as to who that you is. And it is known by God's
work in their lives. We said about the holiday home
needing some evidence from the person that's reserving it for
us that they know about us and that they have reserved it. And
the vital thing is that if you and I are amongst the you here,
that God knows us. And it is on his knowing us and it being shown that he knows
us in the two ways or main ways in the context. that we know
that this reservation is in heaven for us. The first thing then is at the
beginning of the way. In verse 3, we read, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to His abundant mercy So there's no works, there's no merit on
our behalf in that at all. Hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Born again, life given. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. We have a living God. The Lord
Jesus Christ we spoke of regarding the inheritance or the reservation
was because of his death. But in the token of the you,
it is because of his life. that he is alive, that he appears
in the presence of God for us, that he is our advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous, that his will is done. Father,
I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. And where that is brought about,
the first step, as it were, in that is for those that the Father
has given him know that they have been given him. They are
brought to know the Lord Jesus Christ. No man can come unto
me except the Father which sent me draw him. And I will raise
him up at the last day. And so the first very clear evidence
is that they have been begotten, or quickened, or born again,
not the same as a first birth, but a second birth, that which
our Lord insisted upon to Nicodemus, ye must be born again, and is
born again unto a lively or a living hope, and that hope it comes,
through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. That is where
he's given assurance unto all men that he has raised him from
the dead. The new birth is a raising from
the dead. It is a quickening. It is a making
alive those that once were dead. And our Lord says, because I
live, ye shall live also. The life of God's people, the
spiritual life and quickening of them, comes and only comes
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Man is not able to quicken himself. He can't keep his own soul alive
when it is quickened. Life is bound up with the Lord. The Lord says, without me you
can do nothing. I am the vine, ye are the branch,
as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, neither can ye, except
ye abide in me. And so the evidence here is that
quickening. And we see how it was with the
likes of Nathaniel when he was under the fig tree. Philip said
to him, we have found the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. He says, can
any good thing come out of Nazareth? And Philip says, come and see.
And as he is going, the Lord says, behold, an Israelite indeed,
in whom is no guile. And Nathanael, surprised, says,
whence knowest thou me? And our Lord says, before that,
Philip called thee. When thou asunder the fig tree,
I saw thee. Now those fig trees, like an
umbrella with the large leaves down to the ground, We used to
have, when we were children, you couldn't see someone sitting
underneath it. And so it was a miracle. And the reaction for Nathaniel,
thou art the Christ, he knew that here was one that knew him
and had seen him and known him. And there was the same effect
recorded in John 4 with the woman at the well of Samaria, A woman,
she was led by a lord to desire living water. And he said to
her, go and call thy husband, and come hither. She says, I
have no husband. He said, thou hast rightly said,
thou hast no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he
whom thou now hast is not thine husband, in that thou says truly. And she said, sir, I perceive
that thou art a prophet. The one thing she knew about
the Messiah when he should come, that he would tell us all things. When she went and spoke to the
Samaritans in the villages, she says, come see a man that told
me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? The Lord
conveying to his people that he knows them. communicating
to them, giving them life, drawing them to himself, bringing them
out of the deadness of this world, bringing them to seek those things
which are above, seeking for that which is eternal, making
them really a prepared people for a prepared place. In Hebrews,
in chapter 11, verse 13, we are given a very clear evidence of
those that the Lord has begun with. They declare plainly that
they are strangers and pilgrims, here below. And they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a city, a heavenly city that
is to come. those two sides of it. It is
an inconsistent thing for a person to say, I'm a born again Christian,
come and let me enjoy the world to its full, and off they go
and they enjoy all of the things, the football, the bands, the
music, the pop music, All of the things that this world has
to offer, they're in their element, but they're just cast in the
name of Christ. This world's not a wilderness
to them. But for the people of God, they
see the world for what it is. A world that lieth in wickedness,
that is separate from God. God is not in all their thoughts
at all. What fellowship, what communion
had light with darkness? Come ye out from among them,
touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. Ye shall
be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Being
let go, which company do we go to? You know, it comes close
sometimes because the people of God do have often the world
as a plague in their hearts. The sins of the world, they're
still fallen. They have a fallen nature. Their
thoughts, their affections, their words, their doings, many times
they fall down as sinners and guilty. They're not just the
world outside of them. But that's really another evidence
of the new birth, when we may try and escape the world without,
but we can't within. and to groan in a body of death. Who shall deliver me, says the
apostle, from this body of death? It's that same corruption, that
same thing that the Lord says that his name is Jesus, for he
shall save his people from their sins and save them from this
present evil world. And he begins that work begins
a work of his grace, of teaching, instruction, and brings them
to himself and to believe and to value his precious blood,
his sacrifice, his death, his one offering for sin. That living hope, then, is a
vital thing. Not a dead hope, but a living
hope. that lives in Christ, and it
works in the heart. The Word says we are saved by
hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man seeth,
why doth he yet hope for? But that blessing of hope, it's
a good hope through grace, and it's a hope beyond the grave.
There is the first evidence of who the persons are that have
this reservation in heaven for you, where the Lord has begun. Then there's the keeping, the
other side of the text, verse five. Who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time. There's a mirror here, isn't
there, a reflecting thing. We spoke of the inheritance,
and that which is in heaven, that is being kept. That is not being allowed to
get corrupted and defiled and to fade not away. And those that
are going into it, Those that are entering into that inheritance,
they are also being kept here below. And so again, here is the, you
might say, an ongoing evidence. How are they kept? How are they
kept? Kept as a believer, kept as one
that is prepared for that place. Kept still anticipating it. Kept still in that heavenly way. Kept still as a believer. Kept
still as one separated from the world. The word says, though,
kept by the power of God. The power of God does it. The
almighty power and strength of God. But how is that power communicated? The text says it is through faith. Through faith. Faith which is
the evidence of things not seen as yet. Faith that cometh by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. All men have not faith. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
author and finisher of his people's faith. The author of it, or the
beginning of it, is at their new birth. The finisher of it
is at death, because at death that faith is changed to sight. And all the way through this
world, from the new birth to death, they are kept by faith. How vital it is that we use the
means of grace, live a life in meeting together as we do
tonight, meeting around the word, reading the word of God, faith
feeding upon it, man shall not live by bread only but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. A soul that is
not neglected but a soul that the Lord feeds and gives those
crumbs of mercy, gives handfuls of purpose through the word and
through the ministry, keeps through chastening and correcting as
they sin or stray aside. But it's faith that the Lord
gives his people. to perceive the hand of the Lord,
to see things the world cannot see, to hear what the world cannot
hear. And it's through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. May we never despise faith, however
small it is, The Lord said, if he had faith as small as a grain
of mustard seed, very small, then you could command even mountains
to depart and into the depths of the sea. The Lord gives his
people faith. You think of some of the examples
in Hebrews 11, how that Noah built the ark, He was a scribe
to faith. There was no rain then. There
was no water. There was no evidence of that
destruction coming. Many might have said then the
same as they would say today. The world has continued the same
as it ever was. There's no destruction. There's no judgment to come.
There's no danger. But faith sees otherwise. sees
the need of a city of refuge, it sees the need of the redeeming
precious blood of Christ, sees the need of the sheltering beneath
the blood like the children of Israel in Egypt. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And throughout that 11th of Hebrews,
you can look at it at your leisure. Faith is evidence in many different
ways and different occasions. And I'm sure your life and in
mine, there'll be times you say, I don't think I've got faith.
I hardly see how it's evidence at all. It is evidence, in every
breath of prayer, in every attendance upon the means. But there'll
be those special times, maybe in a time of moving, or a time
of trial, or a time of illness. those times when the Lord has
so appeared for us and helped us and given us those spiritual
blessings, then faith has been very, very strong. We have truly
seen very clearly in the eye of faith those things that cannot
be seen by the natural eye. It makes things very real. that
really are real, that a natural man says because he can't see
them, then it can't exist and they're not real. And so the
you, reserved in heaven for you, those that have had a beginning
and those that the work is continuing, those that are strengthened through
the Word and through the Lord's blessing upon the Word, And when
was the last time we felt our strength, our faith, our encouragement
in the things of God, our anticipation of that which is to come, was
strengthened through the Word of God, was helped through the
ministry, or through the communion of the people of God together,
or in prayer? How many times have we been kept
from sin and evil and wrong paths? And it has been the power of
God, not by ourselves, but through God's power and through the means
of faith, through the means of the Word of God and the power
joined with it. May we be able to not only see
clearly and believe clearly what God has reserved in heaven, but feel as well that sweet assurance
that it is reserved in heaven for us. Reserved in heaven for
you. May the Lord seal that witness
upon our hearts and it be a great comfort to us especially in the
trials and tribulations of the way. The Lord add his blessings. Amen.