This sermon was preached on Sunday
evening, October 30th, 1983 at the Trinity Baptist Church in
Montville, New Jersey. Our Father, how we thank you. You have made us a singing people. And that this exercise of praise
in song will follow us beyond the grave and into the life to
come. How we praise you for the peculiar
way in which the deepest feelings of the soul find expression in
song, and that we shall join the company of the redeemed of
all ages and sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb forever
and forever. O our God, as we anticipate that
glorious privilege, We pray that while we are yet in this present
state, for the door of opportunity stands open, and the great concerns
of eternity stand in the balance. O God, come to us by the Holy
Spirit, that we who are your people may see more clearly that
for which we are destined by grace, and being strengthened
by a clearer vision of the inheritance of the saints in may serve you
with greater zeal while we are yet here. And, O God, for those
who have already been the burden of our prayer tonight, we pray
for them again, whose eyes can only see glory in this present
life. O Spirit of God, come, and may
they taste the powers of the world to come, and may they flee
from all that which is slated for judgment. and fix their hopes
upon Him who alone can bring them into that new heaven and
new earth wherein dwells righteousness. Speak to us, pull back the veil,
give us eyes to see, and may our hearts burn within us as
the Spirit takes of the things of Christ and reveals them to
us through the Scriptures. Amen. Now we do continue tonight our
series of studies in the biblical themes of heaven and of hell. And having spent some seven seasons
of exposition on various Lord's Days in the past month, seeking
to answer from the Bible these two questions, what is hell and
who is going there? We began last Lord's Day evening
to consider this question, what is heaven? And as we began to
answer that question from the word of God, I made two affirmations
in your hearing, and then we saw that the scriptures warrant,
even necessitate these affirmations, and the affirmations are these. Number one, heaven is a place
as well as a state or condition of blessedness. And number two,
heaven is a state of the perfection of the soul and body of all the
redeemed of God. Now tonight, time permitting,
we shall examine two more parts of the biblical answer to the
question, what is heaven? At this stage I anticipate six
parts to that answer altogether, completing the remaining two
next week, God willing, unless I get some fresh light in my
study throughout the week. Tonight we move on from the assertions
that heaven is a place as well as a condition, that heaven is
a state of the perfection of the soul and body of the redeemed,
to assert in the third place that heaven is a place of unwearied
service joined to perennial rest and refreshment. Heaven is a
place of unwearied service joined to perennial rest and refreshment. Now let's look at two texts which
underscore the rest dimension of heaven. In the book of the
Revelation, chapter 14 and verse 13, we read Revelation 14 and
verse 13, And I heard a voice from heaven
saying, Write, and this is what he was to write, Blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, yes, says the
Spirit, in order that they may rest from their labors, for their
works follow with them. And this word that was to be
written is one in which the blessedness, the happiness of those who die
in the Lord is to be proclaimed. And that happiness is proclaimed
in this context with a specific reference to this great reality
of what the intermediate state will hold for these departed
spirits, namely, in order that they may rest from their labors. And the word for labor used in
this context is the word which means labor unto pain, toil unto
weariness. The kind of labor that causes
a man to come home through his front door, plunk on his favorite
easy chair and sigh and say, I am bone weary. God says, blessed
are the dead who die in the Lord, that they may rest from their
bone weariness, that they may rest from their labor unto pain,
and their toil unto weariness. Now, the same emphasis is found
in a passage that points not to the intermediate state, but
to the final state of heaven, ushered in at the return of our
Lord, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Here the Thessalonian believers,
as you will remember, were undergoing tremendous opposition from ungodly
and unbelieving men, from a hostile society, and the Apostle is seeking
to comfort them in that present state of distress. And so he
writes to them and says in verse 7, of chapter 1 and 2 Thessalonians,
and to you that are afflicted, rest with us at the revelation
of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of His power,
inflaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and
to those who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here
the Apostle Paul points to this tremendous blessing that will
be ushered in at the return of the Lord Jesus. Not only will
there be this destruction of the ungodly, and it's that part
of the passage that we concentrated upon when we were dealing with
the question, what is hell? But now our concentration is
upon verse 7. To you that are afflicted, you
that feel the pressure of a hostile world, you that feel the squeeze
of a society that is no friend of grace to help you unto God,
you that are afflicted, fix the gaze of your soul upon this tremendous
blessing that awaits you at the return of the Lord. Not only
will your enemies and the enemies of Christ be destroyed, That's
negative, but you will be ushered into this state of blessed and
perfect rest. You that who are afflicted rest
with us at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so these
two texts point undeniably to the fact that heaven is indeed
a place, a state, a condition of perennial rest. and of refreshment. And yet the same Scriptures that
teach us that truth teach us that heaven will be a place of
unwearied service. Turn to Revelation chapter 7. And I begin the reading in verse
13. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, These that are
arrayed in white robes, who are they, and where did they come
from? And I say unto him, My Lord,
you know. And he said to me, These are
they that come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore,
are they before the throne of God? and they serve him day and
night in his temple. And he that sits on the throne
shall spread his tabernacle over him. Thou hear the saints who
have entered into their rest are described as those who serve
their God before his throne day and night. And the word for service
here, la truo, is the word that is the standard word to describe
the sacred service of a priest in the temple. the sacred service
of one who labors in the official worship of God. And one of the
most beautiful things about the teaching of the New Testament,
in which the child of God is set apart unto God, a sanctified
man or woman, is that in a very real sense, all of his activity
becomes sacred service. It becomes la crue. It becomes
an activity of worshipful service to God. And here we are told
that the redeemed are those who will serve Him day and night. It will be unwearied service. For we go on to read in this
very passage, verse 16, they shall hunger no more They'll
never need to take a coffee break, or a lunch break, or a supper
break. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun strike upon them nor
any heat. For the Lamb that is in the midst
of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them
unto fountains of waters of light, and God shall wipe away every
tear from their eyes. So here is this beautiful picture
of this constant service, day and night, but unwearied service. Constant but unwearied service. Chapter 22 of the book of the
Revelation, the same emphasis is set before us. Revelation
chapter 22 and verse 3. And there shall be no curse anymore. and the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be therein, and his servants shall serve him. His bondslaves will render him,"
and then he doesn't use the normal word, the verb form, for a person
who is a bondservant, a doulos, but he renders Latruo. The bondservant
shall render service that in every facet of its outworking
is an act of pure worship to the living God. So I say that
heaven will indeed be a place of unwearied service joined to
perennial rest and I added the word refreshment, and why did
I add that? Well, for the simple reason that
there is another strand of truth that comes through particularly
in the Gospels, and granted, it comes to us couched in the
form of Eastern feasting and eating circumstances, but these
pictures are meant to convey a substantial reality. Turn to
Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8. Then there is a parallel passage
in Luke 13, where our Lord speaks and says, verse 11 of Matthew
8, And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and
from the west, and shall sit down, literally shall recline
at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. And here heaven in its consummate
glory is likened to a vast banquet house in which are found Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers of the faithful, and then the
redeemed of God coming in from the east, the west, sitting down
and reclining at table, feasting and banqueting in the kingdom
of God. And the parallel passage to this
is Luke 13.29, Luke 13.29. I'll only look at it briefly and then
turn back to an amazing statement in the previous chapter of Luke. And they shall come from the
east and the west and from the north and the south and shall,
again the same word, recline in the kingdom of God. But then if we turn back to Luke
12, some of the circumstances of that refreshment under the
figure and imagery of the banquet house is opened up in a most
amazing way. We read in verse 35 of Luke 12,
Let your loins be girded about in your lamps burning. Be prepared
and ready for the coming of your Lord. And be yourselves like
unto men looking for their Lord, when he shall return from the
marriage feast, that when he comes and knocks, they may straightway
open unto him. Blessed are those bond-servants
whom the Lord, when he comes, shall find watching. Truly I
say unto you," here's the amazing statement, He, that is the returning
Lord Himself, will gird Himself, and shall make them, His servants,
sit down to meet, and shall come and serve them." To me, that's
one of the most amazing statements in all of the Bible. And Lenski,
the Lutheran commentator, expresses that amazement The wonder of
this parable begins right here when Jesus exclaims, Blessed
are those slaves. Why? It was the ordinary duty
of these slaves to be watching and ready, to be awake, no matter
how long their lord delayed his return. We are right, there is
no merit or worthiness on the part of these slaves, and the
lord's verdict, blessed, is in no way based on what these slaves
have done, but altogether on what their returned lord now
does for them. No wonder Jesus exclaims once
more, truly I say to you, verity and authority seal his statement. Jesus then takes the human imagery
of a great Lord's returning to his palace and his slaves receiving
him back in state at night and gives it a turn that is unheard
of among earthly Lords and the grand ones of this world. He
does the same thing in other parables. The Lord does not seek
his ease and retire for the night. He changes his slaves into his
lords. He makes as grand a feast for
them as was the one from which he came. He has them recline
to dine, and, wonder of wonders, He does not order other slaves
to serve them. His angels, who wait about His
throne on tiptoes, eagerly anticipating the slightest glance of His eye
and intimation of His will, know, wonder of wonders, He does not
order other slaves to serve them. But He girds Himself, makes Himself
their slave, and ministers to them. Many waiters and helpers
are needed at a great feast, but this Lord needs none. This
lets the reality peep through that this Lord is the Almighty,
Heavenly Lord Himself. Now, how can God picture it to
us in plainer language? What is heaven Here we are given
in this graphic imagery this picture of heaven as the place
not only of perennial rest, but of refreshment in which our Lord
Himself serves us in the meeting of all of our needs. And so we
are warranted to think of heaven, if we are thinking biblically,
as much as our minds will allow us, as a place of unwearied service
joined to perennial rest and refreshment. Now someone asks
the question, what will the nature of that service be? Well, surely
from the scriptures we learn that no little part of that service
will be the abandoned worship and adoration of our great God. The abandoned worship and adoration
of our great God, for the pictures we receive of the redeemed, particularly
in the book of the Revelation, again and again we find them
engaged in whole-souled abandonment of worship and of adoration. They have become so transfixed
with the face-to-face presence of their God that it's as though
they cannot tear themselves away from the glory of looking upon
His face. More of that, God willing, in
our message next week. But is that all the service we
will render? And I can remember a time when
I didn't even dare to express to anyone, for fear they'd think
me a blasphemer, that there was something in me that didn't get
too excited at the thought of doing nothing but worshipping
and adoring. The sense of the creative, the
desire to accomplish, the aesthetic sensitivities, all of those things
that mark us out as image bearers of God. And I said, Lord, forgive
me for even thinking it, and I didn't dare breathe this to
a soul for fear I'd be thought a heretic or half an apostate
or some other tragic and terrible thing. And I said, Lord, forgive
me for thinking it, but if I find my moments of greatest joy here
and now when I'm actively serving you, and that's the fruit of
grace, then surely something of that will be carried on into
the world to come. Then in my reading of the scriptures
I began, I believe, to understand the implication of such passages
as those in which, again, it's under human imagery. There is
analogy. God is teaching by likeness.
But you remember when the returning Lord comes to reckon with his
servants in the 19th chapter of Luke, their reward is spoken
of in terms of an appointment of stewardship of administration. You have been faithful. I will
place you over ten cities. You have been faithful. I will
place you over five cities. And the whole concept, you see,
of the responsibility of the stewardship of administration
of the affairs of the world to come. And again, the Scripture
says, Know you not that we shall judge angels? And again, we are
told that we shall sit down with our Lord Jesus upon His throne
in the world to come. And these are at least pointers. And I would not go into speculative
theology tonight, but at least these substantial biblical statements
point in the direction of at least part of the answer to the
question, what will the nature of this unwearied service be? This service, joined to perennial
rest and refreshment, well at the heart of it indeed will be
this preoccupation with the abandoned worship and adoration of our
glorious God. But with it, will there not be
the true fulfillment of what is called the cultural mandate? Adam's task was to subdue the
earth. And because he sinned, this earth
became a cursed earth and an unyielding earth in the sweat
of thy brow. God said you will work to see
this earth yield its produce. What will it be when this present
world is delivered from the bondage of corruption at the revealing
of the sons of God? Surely it must be in this direction. the engagement of all of our
faculties with all of the capacities for aesthetics and mathematics
and logic and all the other glorious faculties of the mind and the
soul and the body brought into the unwearied service of this
glorious God to explore and bring glory to God throughout the entire
universe, however far it extends. And if I think more than that,
then my poor little pea brain begins to feel the weight of
it, and I feel something will rupture between my ears. Surely,
if the first commandment is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy strength, a glorified body and a glorified soul, in
a context of this unwearied service will find the people of God forever
living out that commandment to the glory of their Redeemer God. Well, by way of application,
let me say, dear child of God, it is this hope that should burn
in your breast in the midst of your toil that is always now
marked by weariness. In the sweat of thy brow is the
terminology of God that marks labor in this present order of
things. And even in the service of Christ,
because, as Paul says, we that are in this tabernacle do groan
Our service, though at times because we have the first fruits
of the Spirit, partakes, as it were, of a little glancing glow
and impulse of the powers of the world to come, and we feel
at moments in devotion and in service that we could go on forever
under that particular impulse that we sense. Alas, alas, how
quickly it fades, and we are made very conscious that we have
the treasure in earth in vessels. The Apostle Paul understood well
how this perspective on heaven strengthened him in the present
pressure of toil unto weariness. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 4,
17 and 18, and here is the practical application of all of this to
us, dear people of God. This is not something to give
us a momentary lift while we sit in this building. something
to be carried with us as an overarching perspective, 2 Corinthians 4.16. Wherefore, we do not faint, but
though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed
day by day for our light affliction, which is for the moment, and
it is for the moment. And the moment is this present
order of things prior to the coming of Christ is working for
us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory while
we do not look on the things which are seen. But at the things
which are not seen, here are two contrasting sets of things,
things that are seen The pulpit is seen. The microphone is seen. The preacher is seen. The book
is seen. The walls are seen. Our cars
are seen. Our friends are seen. That's
the set of the things that are seen. But there is another set
of realities, just as real. They are the things, not shadows,
not notions, not ideas. They are things. They have substance. They are the things, but they
are not beheld with these physical eyes, yet. And he says, we fix
the gaze of our souls not upon the things that are seen. Now
that doesn't mean when Paul was walking down a Roman street,
he closed his eyes and said, I don't look on the things that
are seen. Don't look on the things. And trust God to guide him by
an angel. That would be tempting the Lord. Yes, he looked where
he was going. But he's speaking of the focus
of the soul, the concentration of the faculties of the inner
life. And he says, we do not fix them on the things that are
seen. When he did, what did he see?
Everywhere he turned, he saw the constant reminders of this
decaying outward shell. This vessel of clay, he saw the
lictor's lash. He saw the jailer's teeth. He
saw the skull. He saw the stones that would
be hurled upon him. He saw the howling seas in which
he experienced shipwreck. All of his labor for Christ was
marked for toil and suffering and agony. But he says it's all
a light affliction. Why? Because I do not fix my
gaze on the things that are seen, but on the things that are not
seen for. The things that are seen are
temporal. They are passing. They are fleeting. But the things that are not seen
are eternal. Child of God, listen to me. I'll
put it in this blunt language as I know how. If you don't pause
periodically amidst your life in the circle of the things that
are seen to force your gaze upon the things that are not seen,
You will not live as you ought to live as a child of God in
this world. I've heard the phrase many, many
times, that guy's so heavenly minded he's no earthly good.
I've never yet met such a person. But I've met thousands of professing
Christians who were so earthly minded they were no heavenly
good. And the church is never more
mighty to deliver men from the clutches of a damning attachment
to earth than when it has its affections most firmly embedded
in heaven and in the world to come. And my unconverted friend, listen
to me. You better start facing reality. What's that little bubble
you're chasing right now? What's that bubble? Marriage? A home? Position? Security? Prestige? A slap on the back
from your peers? What is it that's really important
to you? The thing that keeps you from becoming a Christian?
What is it? What is it? What is it? What
is it? Compare it to what awaits the
people of God. Can that thing promise you this? Can it promise you what I have
couched in these words? Unwearied service joined to perennial
rest and refreshment in the enjoyment of God? If not, my friend, it
isn't worth bartering your soul for it. Oh, I hope to make some
of you jealous enough to seek the way of life and salvation
in the Lord Jesus. Don't pity us poor woolly-headed,
air-headed Christians. My friends, the moment is coming
when the entire universe of intelligent beings will stand back bug-eyed
and aghast when they see us in all the glory that Christ has
purchased for us. But I must hurry on to touch
on one more aspect of what heaven is. According to the scriptures,
heaven is not only a place and a condition, not only is heaven
a state of the perfection of the soul and the body, not only
is heaven the place of unwearied service joined to perennial rest
and refreshment, but, fourthly, is a place of the perfected communion
of all the redeemed of all ages. Heaven is a place of the perfected
communion of all the redeemed of all ages. Now, from the patriarchs onward,
heaven is set before us under the dominant imagery of a city. Now, has that ever puzzled you?
Do you think of rest and refreshment, most of us think of the what,
the city or the country? Oh, if I could only move out
into the country, get away from everybody at my elbow, and the
Garden State Parkway, and Rue Davey, and all the rest. The
closer to the city we feel, the further we are away from anything
to remind us of heaven. And yet, from the patriarchs
onward, The dominant imagery of heaven is not that of a placid
countryside with a beautiful lake jumping with trout, but it's the picture of the city.
Look at Hebrews chapter 11. Speaking of Abraham, the father
of the faithful, verse 8, by faith Abraham when he was called
a babe to go out into a place which he was to receive for an
inheritance. And he went out, not knowing
where he was going. Some people probably really thought
poor old Abraham had a few screws loose. One day, he took down
his tent, pulled up all the tent stakes, wrapped up his tent,
Put a few pots and pans in a gunny sack, and people come around
and say, Abraham, where are you going? He says, I don't know. Abraham, you didn't hear me.
Abraham, look me straight in the eye. Let me smell your breath.
Abraham, where are you going? I don't know. Abraham, you seem
to be a reasonable man. Perhaps I've not made my question,
but Abraham, Where are you going? I don't know. God just said,
get up and go. And he said, you'll show me where I'm going to go.
Now, what in the world makes a sane man like Abraham do that? Well, read on. By faith he became
a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling
in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise. For he looked for the city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He looked for the city. Now, where did he ever get the
notion of a city? Out in the wilderness where God
called him. God gave him, by divine revelation,
that wonderful understanding that his ultimate destiny was
a city which hath foundations, not a tent that merely hath stakes,
but a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Now, you see, you cannot think
of a city without thinking of the social dimensions of the
relationship of the dwellers. A bunch of nomads with a lot
of land between them, each dwelling in his own tent, can have very
little to do with one another. But the whole concept of a city
is that men are pressed into intimate social contact. Now, they may, through the tragic
effects of sin, live as little islands, and that's the heartbreaking
tragedy of the modern American city, where no one says, For
each one is fearful of his neighbor, but nonetheless intimate social
contact there must be whether that stewardship is responded
to righteously or unrighteously. Well, God makes it very plain
that though every one of us is born individually and saved individually,
we are immediately incorporated into the whole family of God
of all the ages. Hebrews chapter 12. In a moment
you'll see where I'm going, so hang in there. Hebrews chapter
12. As the writer to Hebrews is contrasting
the things to which we come in the New Covenant with those to
which the people of God came in the Old Covenant, verse 18
of Hebrews 12, you are not come, and then he describes some of
the external factors of the giving of the Old Covenant. But he says
in contrast, verse 22, but you are come unto Mount Zion and
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable
hosts of angels. to the General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to
Jesus, Mediator of a new covenant. And so, whenever a sinner, by
the operation of the Holy Spirit, out of the matrix of that agony
of accurate self-discovery, comes to see himself a sinner in whom
there is no hope for this problem of sin to be found in himself
or in anyone else, as we heard this morning. And when such a
person turns away to Christ, mediator of the new covenant,
He invariably immediately comes into communion of the spirits
of just men made perfect. He immediately becomes one who
is identified with a general assembly and church of the firstborn
enrolled in heaven. He becomes a citizen of the city
of God. And so when we turn to the book
of the Revelation, And read the record of what John was given
to see of the perfected church. This imagery comes to its full-blown
expression in that city of God that comes down out of heaven. Revelation 21 and verse 2. Revelation 21 and verse 2. And
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God's made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And that city
is none other than the church as we saw in our study last week. And then again in chapter 22
and verse 14, blessed are they that wash their robes that they
may have the right to come to the tree of life. and may enter
in by the gates into the city. And verse 19, And if any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away his part from the tree of life and out
of the holy city. Now think for a minute, and surely
here in this metropolitan area we should be able to relate to
this In a way, some of our country friends could never relate to
it. There are many passages country folk understand better than we
do, but here's one we ought to be able to understand. Can you
begin to conceive of what it will be like, the multitudes
of the redeemed gathered together in a manner that is in some way
analogous to the life of a bustling city, with all of the constant
interaction and constant interpenetration of one life with another and
one segment with another. But here is a city in which all
of the pressures and intimate, integrated life of that city,
nothing but love, harmony, mutuality of desire, pervades every single
level of the dynamics of the life of the inhabitants of that
city. According to Scripture, there
will be degrees of responsibility as part of divine reward. I will
make you ruler over tenses. I will make you ruler over five.
Imagine, the man with five is never envious of the man with
ten, and the man with ten never looks down his snoot at the man
over five. Degrees of responsibility fully
acknowledged and accepted, but with no disdain from the greater
to the lesser, and no sinful envy from the lesser to the greater. Again, there is every indication
that in that state there will be the total absence of everything
that would jangle and jar the sense of perfect love and oneness
and self-givingness? What is one perfected man or
woman, boy or girl, and now a great multitude whom no man can number,
congregated in something analogous to a city? I say this strand
of biblical truth forces upon us the statement that heaven
is a place of the perfected communion of the redeemed of all ages. A man by the name of Cheever
wrote a book called The Power of the World to Come, and in
his chapter on heaven, and he's one of the few authors I've read
who's captured this element of truth and expanded upon it, and
I'll give you just a little taste of Cheever's perspective on this.
In the second place, speaking of heaven, it is a social life
in which all the communicative and companionable tendencies
of our nature and powers of our being will be exercised in an
enjoyment ten thousand fold intensified by being reflected from and shared
with the beatific experience of others. It's remarkable as
an indication of the glory of the social life of heaven and
the activity and blissfulness of mutual thought and affection,
interchanged and ardent there, that this same epistle to Hebrews
introduces us to the innumerable company of angels and the general
assembly and church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. We are come to such vast and
glorious assemblages as to scenes and objects transporting, even
to be only looked at and admired, but how much more enrapturing
to go in and out among them, holding communion with them.
The very sight of others in glory will be infinite joy, a study
of salvation, a rapture of delight. There will be so much to admire
and love in every creature. Every creature will be so full
of glory, so ravishing a reflection of the glory of the Savior, that
eternity might be occupied in silently gazing and adoring. And even so, the Lord Jesus,
at His coming with His saints, will be admired in all who believe."
Tremendous thought, the kind of thought that will not find
lodgment by a mere glance upon your mind. It takes sober, concentrated
meditation for it to find any settled lodgment, because it
is so utterly contrary to all that we know here and now. Think
of it. We who are indwelt by the Spirit
graciously saved by the one Redeemer. And with all of our hearts we
long that we should experience nothing but pure love flowing
between us and all who name the name of Christ. But alas, because
of remaining sin, often some whom we most dearly love in Christ
cause us our deepest grief. And the last Son who most dearly
love us in Christ, we cause them their deepest grief. We cause
them the pain of our own unchristlike words. We cause them the grief
of our unchristlike insensitivity. We cause them the sorrow and
the pain of our laxes in grace when they, longing to see Christ
formed in us, and instead they see the outcroppings of carnality. And so looking at one another
and feeling the longings of love, there is the pain, there is the
vulnerability that comes from seeking to dwell in love where
sin yet remains. Oh, what will heaven be in that
perfected communion of the saints when every saint will love perfectly
not only God, But all of his fellow saints, and while maintaining
all of our own God-given individuality, and don't have any silly notions
that we'll all be flattened out to something that's been produced
by the computer, in which every nose is the same shape and every
voice the same tone, the God of infinite variety, will not
blot all of that out. You'll be you in heaven and I'll
be me. God will so work on us by the
dynamics of redemptive grace that all that is now sinful and
irritates and causes the drawing back of reserve and lack of trust
and hurt and pain and all of the rest will be forever done
away with. John said, by this we know we
have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren
And you see, for a true child of God, this dimension of heaven
is exciting to Him. Do you find it exciting that
you will dwell in the city of God in a state of perfected communion
with all of His people? Does that excite you? If you
really love the brethren, it does. It grieves me to have to
speak against my brethren, but speak I must when they err and
say that the Bible says something it doesn't say. but it's painful
nonetheless. It's never a delight to speak
against one's brethren, but it's biblical to do so. When people
err from the truth, that must be exposed. It must be done with
grief and pain and reluctance, but it must be done. And oh,
how we long for the day when all the darkness is so taken
from our minds and all of the carnal dispositions from our
hearts. that we shall dwell in perfect
love with all of the people of God, and that forever. You see, God is so committed
to that aspect of redemption, that's why not one saint will
get his last installment of redemption until we all get it at the same
time. Have you ever wondered why? If God can do anything,
why doesn't He give every saint when the soul departs? Why didn't
He just snatch the body up to heaven and give him a glorified
body? But you see, until that last elect soul is brought in
and the Lord Jesus returns, not one saint will get the last installment
of redemption until we all get it at the same time. Then we
shall be constituted that city of God coming down out of heaven
with our returning Lord, resplendent with the glory that will cause
us to be what the scripture says, those who are made like him. For we shall see him as he is. My dear unconverted friend, I
don't know what you're selling your soul for, but it's pretty
cheap. It's pretty cheap. When these
four great realities could be yours if you will but have Christ. Richard Baxter said these words
and they really got hold of me this week and I found it hard
at times to think of anything else. He said, God always takes
a man's heart to heaven before he ever takes his person there. Now you're sitting here in your
person. Do you hope that that person, you, will one day be
taken by God to heaven? God will never take your person
there until he first of all takes your heart there. And you know
how he takes hearts to heaven? Through the gospel. When that
gospel is brought home with power and your heart vomits out its
sin, divorces itself from the world and throws itself into
loving, trustful attachment to Jesus Christ. That is how your
heart is taken to heaven. And if your heart is taken there,
one day God will take your person there. But if your heart is on
this earth, your person with this earth will be burned at
the return of the Lord Jesus when He comes in flaming fire.
Where is your heart? My friend, where's your heart?
If your heart's there through the gospel, it's certain God
will get your person there. If your heart's not there, you'll
never be there. May God grant that you will not
hear such things and sell your soul for trinkets. Let us pray. Our Father, we read in your Word
that eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered the
heart of man the things you have prepared for those that love
you. When we go on to read that you've
revealed them unto us by the Spirit, We confess that even
the revelation is so bright with glory that our eyes cannot look
long upon it. And yet we thank you for the
privilege of looking for a few moments tonight and how we praise
you for that which is reserved for your people. Surely our hearts
expand with joy and praise and adoration And from the depths
of our being we cry, Hallelujah! What a Savior who should purchase
for us so glorious an inheritance! O Father, have mercy upon those
whose eyes can only see the things of this present life, who would
sell their souls for trinkets. O may the gospel of Your grace
win their hearts! May they, like Moses, consider
the recompense of the reward and be willing to suffer affliction
with your people now rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a season. And, O Lord, for those of us
who by grace do claim to be your children, help us to be more
heavenly-minded. Help us, O God, constantly to
remember what is ours by inheritance and by right of purchase, and
will infallibly be secured to us and conferred upon us by our
gracious Lord. O Father, seal the word to each
of our hearts. For your praise and for our eternal
profit, we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.