Open your Bibles with me to Isaiah
chapter 35. Isaiah chapter 35. We live in a world where everything
is temporary. vanishing, fading away. We're going rapidly to a world
where everything is eternal. Everything in this world is temporary. Get it all and you've only gotten
vanity. Vanity of vanities, says the
preacher. If you get it all, it's just
vanity. Without Christ our Savior. We're
going to a world where nothing is vanity. Everything matters. eternal misery, eternal wrath,
eternal death, eternal dying, eternal torment, or eternal bliss,
eternal glory, eternal righteousness, eternal joy, eternal presence
with God, eternal life. I make it a matter of determined
purpose, and have for many years, to think often about dying. I would recommend you do the
same. Think often about dying. Think
often about eternity. Think much about hell, and think
much about heaven. I think a lot about going home
and I want to talk to you this morning from my heart and from
the Word of God as best I can about going home. Isaiah 35 and
verse 10 is my text. The ransomed of the Lord shall
return and come to Zion. with songs and everlasting joy
upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Going home. All the ransomed of the Lord
are going home. They shall come to Zion with
songs and everlasting joy. They'll obtain joy and gladness. and sorrow and sighing shall
flee away." What good words and comfortable words those are.
When the Lord God is finished with all things, all the ransom
to the Lord shall be brought home. Every sinner loved and
chosen of God in eternal election. Every sinner ransomed by the
precious blood of Christ at Calvary shall be brought to glory by
the mighty operations of God's grace, not one failing. They
shall enter into heaven triumphantly, every one of them. a people prepared
and made worthy to possess it. Prepared by blood, prepared by
grace, prepared by righteousness given to us in Christ Jesus. They shall enter into heaven's
glory triumphantly. People talk about degrees of
reward and how some folks will just get to heaven by the skin
of their teeth, and they talk nonsense. They talk blasphemy. God's elect shall enter heaven
as a matter of right, as a matter of justice, as well as a matter
of grace, because the blood and righteousness of Christ makes
us fit for heavenly glory. They shall enter with songs of
praise in their hearts and everlasting gladness upon their heads. Now let's meditate for a little
while about this promised end gathering of the Lord's ransomed
ones. May God the Holy Ghost give us
grace to put everything else out of our minds for just a little
while and set our hearts upon our Lord Jesus Christ and that
great hour when we shall enter into those things above forever. Set our hearts upon heaven, upon
Christ, upon God. and let us not for a moment now
think about things on the earth, but just about things eternal.
We ought to focus our hearts and minds constantly upon our
all-glorious Savior and the everlasting joys of heaven with him. How
happily we would live if we lived constantly in anticipation of
heavenly glory. How happily we would live if
we would push from our minds those things that don't matter.
Now let me tell you what doesn't matter. Nothing else matters. And focus our minds only upon
Christ our Redeemer. Oh, God give us grace that our
hearts may learn by experience of grace as only he can cause
us to learn to long for those glorious mansions yonder provided
for us in heaven, when our Lord Jesus spoke to Peter about his
great, great sin. Oh, how that must have plagued
Peter till he died, cursing and denying the Savior in the hour
of his great sorrow. His next word to Peter, after
telling him, before the rooster crows twice tomorrow, you're
gonna deny me three times. His next word to him, 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 you may be
also." The Apostle Paul, when he writes to the Colossians,
urging us to live for God in this world, He begins by saying,
if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection,
set your heart, singularly, set the affection of your heart on
things above, not on things on the earth. Our horrible tendency,
Jerry Sadler, old or young believer, is to set our heart on things
here. Set your heart on things above,
for you're dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. Would you enter into life eternal
when you leave this world? Would you enter into heavenly
bliss when you leave this world? Would you live forever with God
in Christ in heaven's glory? Let me begin my message by showing
you from the book of God what's required. Turn over to Revelation
chapter 21. Revelation 21. What's required if we would enter
into heaven? If you enter into heaven, you
must meet the requirements that God gives in the gospel. If I
would enter into heaven's glory, take possession of that celestial
city, I must meet the requirements that God gives in the gospel.
Revelation chapter 21, verse 27. There shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defileth. Neither whatsoever worketh abomination
or maketh a lie. but they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life. Chapter 22, verse 11. He that
is unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let
him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy
still. What does God require? What will it take for you to
enter into heaven's glory? You must be chosen of God. Chosen
of God in everlasting election before the world was. Chosen
in eternal predestination. There's no other way to get to
glory except your name be written in the book of life of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. If you'd enter into
glory, you've got to be without sin. No sin, no sin. That is, you must be redeemed.
Your sin's put away by the sacrifice of God's own Son. All those who
are the ransomed of the Lord shall enter in, but only those
who are the ransomed of the Lord. If you would enter into glory,
you must be righteous. And the only way you can be righteous
is to be made righteous. Made righteous in free justification. Made righteous by the righteousness
of Christ being made your righteousness just as your sin was made his
sin. If you would enter into glory,
you must be holy. You got to have a new nature.
You got to be regenerated, sanctified, holy. In Christ, all who are
in Christ meet those requirements. Look up here at this man for
a minute. No matter what you see in me, no matter what you
hear come from my lips, be it good or bad, no matter where
you see these feet carry me, no matter what you see these
hands do, no matter what state of mind you see me in, you're
looking at a man who is chosen of God. without seeing before God. Righteous,
righteous by God's own act and holy, made holy by being made
a new creature in Christ, by having a new man created in me,
in righteousness and in true holiness. That's what God requires. In Christ all who are in him
are made meat to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. If you believe on the Son of
God, are you listening? If you believe on the Son of
God, You have been chosen of God from eternity. Your name's
written in the book of life from eternity. You were redeemed by
the precious blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary. Your faith in him
is the fruit and evidence of that. You have been made righteous,
justified before God, and God has given you a new nature. a
nature that's holy, that's Christ in you, partakers of the divine
nature. That's the hope of glory. Now,
let me give you my message in four or five brief things. First,
let me give you a brief description of this place called heaven.
And I give you the description with a very limited, limited
knowledge, very limited understanding. Divine revelation tells us much
and yet tells us little. This is clear. Heaven is a place
of rest without rest. Listen to this. There remaineth
therefore a rest unto the people of God. God's people who've entered
into glory have ceased from their works. They've ceased from their
labors, they've ceased from their struggles, they've ceased from
their troubles, and they're at rest. They've entered into the
blessed Sabbath forever, the blessed Jubilee Sabbath. And
yet we're told that the four beasts, each of them had six
wings, and they were full of eyes, and they rest not day and
night, saying, holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was
and is and is to come. Heaven is a place where we rest
from our labors and rest from our toil and rest from our struggles
and rest from sin. Rest. Oh, sweet, sweet rest. What can be sweeter to a laboring
man than rest? And a place where we never rest
from our praise and our adoration and our worship and our service
of our Redeemer. Heaven is a place where the soul
is always satisfied and yet never satisfied. I shall be satisfied,
David said, when I awaken thy likeness. There, we shall always
see God in Christ. And yet, we will always want
to see more of Him. We will always embrace our Savior. And yet, we will always want
to embrace Him more. We will always feed on Him. And
yet, we'll want to feed on Him more. In heaven, there's both
satisfaction and hunger. As somebody said, heaven is full
of mysteries. We know far, far, far less about
heaven than we think. I have not seen nor ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things which
God's prepared for them that love him. It has never entered
your mind what God's prepared for us. Imagine that. Now, God's revealed it to us,
but your puny brain, your puny mind and mine has never been
able to have a thought about the immense glory that awaits
us that's full and right. Heaven is a place where peace
and joy and love eternally flow into our souls. and admiration
and praise and love eternally flow out to God our Savior. All the saints' language in heaven
is hallelujah, praise. Worthy is the Lamb who sits on
the throne. Oh, what shall it be to be taken
within the gates of that city and hear the music of that choir,
what will it be to enter into that rest which is never rest? From Emmanuel's praise, to be
satisfied with that indescribable satisfaction that ever hungers
and thirsts for Christ without satisfaction. Second. Consider the employment, the
business, the work of God's saints in heaven. It involves admiration. Is there someone you admire? I mean really admire. A husband,
a wife, a child, a neighbor, friend. Someone you really admire. Admiration involves much thought
about that person who's worthy of admiration. In heaven's glory,
we will ever increasingly admire God. Ever increasingly admire God. The work of heaven is praise.
praise. Sometimes, my Creator enabled
a little bit to praise Him. When I say a little bit, I mean
just a little bit, just a little bit. In Heaven's glory, we will
praise the Triune Jehovah. We will praise Him for all His
being, all His purpose, all His providence, all His works, all
His salvation. and joy, joy. What's sweeter than joy? Joy
in the Lord, joy in his goodness, joy in his wisdom, joy in his
grace, joy in his judgments. The employment of heaven is love. The free exercise of love. The free exchange of love. The free expression of love.
Love for God. Love for our Savior. Love for
one another. Isn't it strange how difficult
it is for you and I to express love to each other? Isn't that
amazing? That's just amazing. A husband
to his wife, a wife to her husband, children to their parents, parents
to their children. Somewhat easy. But to one another. It's just
amazing. Heaven's bliss. It's the free
exchange of love. for each other because of God
our Redeemer, because we are one in Christ the Lord. It is
a continual gazing upon the face of the incarnate God our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb who died, the Lion who reigns,
the God who is and was and shall forever be. There is not a look
there. that's not fixed upon our Savior's
face. They shall see his face. Not a movement of the tongue
that is not spent commending him. Not a step of the feet that's
not bent on following him. Not one stir of the hand that's
not occupied with him. Not one thought of the mind that's
not filled with Christ. Not one desire that's not taken
up with loving Him. What about the multitude of the
saints? Loving Christ is loving them. We will sit down with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, with Peter, and James, and John, and we will
sit down with Bobby and Bob and Judy and all the saints who've
gone before us. We'll sit down and we'll sit down gazing upon
him with one heart, with one joy. Extolling Christ will be
our joy with all the saints, speaking about who Christ is
and what he's done for us with mutual delight. Let me tell you
what the Lord did for me. Let me tell you how the Lord
blessed me. Let me tell you how this took place. And each one
extolling the Lord Jesus to the other. What makes heaven such
a blessed, lovely home? Is it not Christ who is precious
to our hearts? The Lamb who is the light of
that place? Heaven would indeed be a dark house if the Son of
Righteousness were not there. The Lamb of God crucified, risen,
reigning, glorious is the light of heaven's house. Do you see
what I'm saying? Heaven is a place of everlasting
light, adoration, holiness, perfection, and ceaseless worship. That's
the place to which we're moving rapidly if we're gods. I often sit back here in my office
or drive down the road by myself or sit in my easy chair meditating
and I try to just pause and push everything
else out of mind. and I find it impossible. I can't push you out of my mind.
I can't push Shelby out of my mind. I can't push those children
out of my mind. You're always there. I try just
for a little bit to push everything and everybody out of mind except
God my Savior. In heaven's glory we will push
everything out of mind but Him. and our attachment with one another
and with God's saints will be purely our attachment to Him. Will you be taking up your lodging
there? Only if you're made clean every
which, totally without sin, totally righteous, totally holy. Only if you believe on the Son
of God. What makes heaven so sweet? Turn
to Revelation chapter 7. Let's look at a few scriptures.
Revelation 7. Verse 13. One of the elders answered, saying
unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? White
robes, those robes of righteousness. Whence came they? And I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That's
where all God's saints come from, great tribulation. This world Without Christ is
a place of great trial and trouble, suffering, and sorrow. I've said to you many times, I didn't grow up in a house that
you'd want to grow up in. I grew up in a hellhole. It was
just constant fighting, constant trouble. And I have a sad confession I
have to make. I called more of it than I received. God's people are people who come
out of great trouble. That's what a life of sin and
unbelief is. Trouble, tribulation, suffering,
anguish, heartache. You may pretend it's not so.
You may find lots of things to cover it. That's what it is to
be without life, without God, without hope, without faith.
And those who enter into glory, are men and women who have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. So
that our righteousness is that righteousness accomplished by
the Lord Jesus Christ by his obedience unto death. And the
garments of salvation are these white robes of righteousness
washed in his blood. Therefore, verse 15, are they
before the throne of God. Therefore they serve him day
and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. And they shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more. Neither shall the sun light on
them nor any heat. For the lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto
living water, fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. No wonder this is such a desirable
place. Blessed and holy is he that goes
to this place. Blessed are they which die in
the Lord. Blessed are those people who
stand before God, who bow before Him, who are seated in the seats
around the throne of God, the chosen of God, seated before
Him, beholding Him face to face. Face to face. That means a lot
of things. It means immediately presence. It means you've come now face-to-face
with one another. John said, I've got many things
right here, but I can't do it now. I want to see you face-to-face.
And we can't wait to see those we've been absent from face-to-face. It's a renewal time. But it's
more than that. Face-to-face is looking squarely
in your face and seeing you as you really are, face-to-face. How many times did you talk to
people or correspond with people, maybe for years and not see their
face and then suddenly you see their face? I recall years ago,
Phil Sipson and his wife came to visit us down in Boca Raton,
Florida. And I had corresponded with Phil for a long time. We
had talked a good bit on the phone. And they were coming to
visit with us for a few days. And they showed up at the front
door. And his wife said to Shelby, she said, you weren't what I
was expecting. I was expecting a short little fat woman. And
Shelby wanted to say to her, you sure weren't what I was expecting.
He was a short little fellow who was white. And she was from
the Bahamas. She was a tall black woman, black
as the ace of spades. And she didn't say that. She
wanted to say, you sure weren't what I was expecting. We just
didn't anticipate it. Oh, listen to me. Listen to me. I have some expectations. of
what it will be to see God, my Savior, face-to-face. God, in all His fullness as God,
in all His fullness as the God-man, my Savior. And I want to tell
you something. I guarantee you, it will not
be what I expect. but infinitely, infinitely beyond. Oh, how sweet, how exciting heaven
must be. What's its excellence? The excellence
of heaven, as Ruth said just a little bit ago, is the presence
of Christ with him, with him. John heard a voice from the angels
said, come up hither, and I'll show you the bride, the Lamb's
wife. And he shows the bride, the lamb's wife, he shows us
the lamb. He shows us the beauty, the perfection,
the righteousness, the garments of the bride, the triumph, the
glory, the spoiling of the bride, spoiling all the earth, taking
all the riches of the earth, everything good from the earth.
And as he does, he's showing us the lamb, our great savior,
he who espoused us as his bride from everlasting. Now we see
him through a glass darkly. There we'll see him face to face. Reckon what the bride's thoughts
will be when first Christ takes her into his arms. Some of you ladies can anticipate
what I'm about to say. You met this fellow and you've
been seeing him, corresponding with him a little while, and
you date him, you marry him, he takes you in his arms, and
you just melt. I suspect as he takes us in his
arms, we will melt in his arms. Melt as utterly conformed to
him at last. This is my beloved. He brought
me into his banqueting house. His banner over me is love. One of the old writers, Andrew
Gray, said, what should be your thoughts when Christ shall take
you in his arms? If ever he will take you, I think
we will fall apart. I think we will fall apart. Now,
I have some questions. I asked them a lot. Shall this tongue that has so
often taken my Savior's name in vain, so often polluted the
holiness of God, ever be made the tongue of angels to express
the greatness and glory of Christ? Shall these eyes that have been
windows through which so much evil has come into my soul, behold
the spotless God face to face on his throne of glory. When I see my Redeemer face to
face, were it not for the fact that he has said, sorrow and
sigh shall flee away, then I would not be able to grasp the idea
of seeing him without it. When we see his face, his transforming
face, where shall we turn our eyes except to him? Shall these ears that have listened
to so much vanity and filth ever hear his voice and the songs
of the redeemed? Shall these feet, these feet
of mine that have pursued endless vanity and folly be feet that
follow the Lamb with us wherever he goeth? Shall this heart of
mine, the house of so many idols, the
birthplace of so much sin, be at last made the unrivaled
dwelling place of my Redeemer. Shall these hands, instruments
of so much evil, so much iniquity, so much transgression, so much
ungodliness embrace that matchless Holy One whose name is Emmanuel,
Jesus the Christ? Is that a possibility? Can that
possibly be so? Indeed it shall, and I'm confident
it shall, because I believe that Jesus is the Christ. I believe that Jesus is the Christ. And he that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ hath everlasting life. Do you believe that Jesus
is the Christ? Do you rest your soul only on
the merits of His righteousness, His obedience, His death, His
blood, His grace, His mercy. Do you believe? that Jesus of
Nazareth actually did all that the prophet said he would do,
that actually saved his people from their sins. If you do, soon
you and I together shall meet around the throne of God in heaven. Going home is what we're doing
now. Going home, going home. And that's a reason for joy.
Oh, what a reason for joy. Shelby and I lived in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, where I was raised for the first couple of years
we were married. And I preached away a good bit while I was in
college. And I'd usually preach somewhere north of us. Don't
know why that was the case, but usually somewhere north of us.
I had to come down to Mount Airy in North Carolina, down 52, down
where Andy Griffith was raised. And we had to come right through
Mount Airy. Mount Airy was 36 miles from Winston-Salem. Many
a night, I had been driving that last 36 miles at 2, 3, 4, 5,
6 o'clock in the morning getting home, getting ready to go to
school the next morning. And I'm going to tell you what, the
longest stretch of road Oh, the longest stretch of road was that
36 miles. Just that last 36 miles. How come? Because I'm going home. And home seemed so far away,
even after I'd just been gone a few hours. Going home. This is what our pilgrimage is
in this world, children of God. We are going home. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. That makes this pilgrimage seem
very long, but it's just 36 miles. just a few miles and soon we
will walk in the gates of life. Oh God hasten the day and God
make this blessed hope yours for Christ's sake. Amen.