made this statement. He said,
my whole outlook upon everything that happens to me should be
governed by these three things. Number one, my realization of
who I am. I'm a child of God. Chosen, redeemed,
and called by the grace of God. Secondly, my consciousness of
where I'm The Lord has promised good to me. His word my hope
secures. He will my strength and portion
be as long as life endures. And when this heart and flesh
shall fail and mortal life shall cease, I shall possess within
the veil a life of joy and peace. And thirdly, he said, this ought
to govern my outlook on everything. my knowledge of what awaits me
when I get there, a life of endless, perfect joy and peace with Christ
my Lord. I think I will read my text to
you as the last text we'll look at this evening, give you something
to look forward to. But if we could see by faith
that which the Apostle John saw by revelation, if we could grasp
the glory and the happiness of God's saints in heaven, even
now, at this moment, at this present time, between death and
the resurrection, we would say with John, blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord. Blessed, blessed, blessed. Those who die without Christ,
some of you are here without him. Some of you may take your
last breath before I finish preaching, without Christ. And if you die
without Christ, without His righteousness to clothe you, without His blood
to atone for your sin, without faith in Him, without His grace,
without knowing Him, if you meet God without Christ, eternal torment
in hell shall be your everlasting portion. But those who have faith,
those who have died in the Lord, those who are born of God and
shall die in Christ Jesus are forever blessed. Now, tonight,
I want to talk to you, if God will enable me, about the blessedness
of those saints of God who are now in heaven. Indeed, in doing
so, about the blessedness that awaits us in heaven's glory.
The title of my message tonight is What Are They Doing? I want
to show you from the word of God that God's saints in heaven,
our departed friends, are alive and well. Though their bodies
have died, though they are laid in the earth and there must rot,
decay, and return to the dust, they are themselves more alive,
more happy, more full of life, more full of happiness than ever
before. I want to show you three things.
First, Let me show you from the scriptures what the Word of God
says about a very heavy burden. Turn with me, if you will, to
2 Corinthians chapter 5. We will begin here. I remind
you one more time of this fact. In this tabernacle of clay, in
this body of flesh, all believers groan under the burden the weight
of the heavy, heavy burden of sin. While living in this world,
we seek to be content with God's providence and his purpose. We
seek, as Rex said in his prayer a little bit ago, to emulate
our Savior and ever say to our God, not my will, thy will be
done, even when it seems so contrary to what we would desire by nature.
We endeavor to do the will of our God, to glorify Him by living
before Him in faith and resigning all things to Him. Our Heavenly
Father, we know, always knows what is best, and He always does
what's best. He makes no mistakes. Oh, how
our souls find blessed, blessed peace in this satisfaction. Our
God does all things well. But here in this world of time
and sense, this world of sin and sorrow, those who know the
grace of God, those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ and love
Him, labor under a load of heavy, heavy, galling, galling burden. And the burden which causes us
to grow is sin. This is what Paul tells us here
in 2 Corinthians 5. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle, what a word, tabernacle. If you had
a literal translation, it'd read tent. And not much of a tent,
it'd just be a kind of lean to, something to shade you from the
sun, shade you from the rain, that's about all. This tent,
this worthless tent, that's what this body is. We know that if
this temporary shelter for our souls were dissolved, we have
a building. We've got something substantial,
something worthwhile, something permanent, a building of God
and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in
this, in this tabernacle of clay, we groan. You know what a groan
is, don't you? a sigh without words. That's
a pain expressed without words. That's a grief that's heard,
but not expressed in words. We grow earnestly desiring to
be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. If so be
that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that
are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. Not for that
we would be unclothed. It's not that we're frustrated
with life. It's not that we're frustrated with God's providence. It's not that we just want to
be out of this world, but rather clothed upon that mortality,
this dying body, mortality, this life of death, this existence
that is death in the process, that mortality might be swallowed
up of life. I have, for the last couple of
weeks, read and reread and reread several portions of the book
of Ecclesiastes. And I sat down this morning and
read those 12 chapters together one more time. And I'm convinced
that this is what Solomon is saying throughout the book. Many
seem to think that Ecclesiastes expresses the frustrations of
an old man who wanted a lot, had a lot, but wasn't satisfied
with anything. Nothing could be further from the truth. The
wise man Solomon was the wisest mere man who ever lived upon
the earth. And after investigating all the sciences, after studying
all the technologies of his day, after investigating everything
that makes men tick in the day in which he lived, he said, vanity
of vanities, all is vanity, saith the butcher. This is what he
said. In this tabernacle, we grow,
we grow. I recall several years ago, Shelby
and Faith and I went to Memphis, Tennessee for a Bible conference.
That's where I met Brother Scott Richardson, Brother Bill Clark
for the first time. And during the afternoon one
day, we went to the Memphis Zoo out in Memphis, Tennessee. And
I was somewhat taken by a raven that was out in the open, just
sitting on a cross piece. because I didn't at first see
how he was sitting there. That raven was sitting there
and folks come by and he didn't move much. He'd just kind of
look around. And then I saw the raven try to fly. They had that
raven tethered to his feet so that he could just fly just a
little ways and he'd come right back down on the thing. And he'd sit
there and look up. Once in a while I'd look down
and just look around. That's a pretty good picture
of the heaven born soul. We are tethered to this earth,
but we can never be satisfied. We long to soar and be free. J.C. Ryle said, when an eagle
is happy in a cage, when the sheep is happy in mud, when a
fish is happy on dry land, then and not till then will my soul
be happy in this body of flesh. Like Paul said, Oh, wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
In this tabernacle we grow. The psalmist said, as for me,
I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness, but not till then. Oh, I pray that God will
fix it so that I will never, ever be satisfied living here. But rather always long like that
tethered raven to soar into the skies to my home, which awaits
me in heaven's glory. All right, secondly, here the
scripture speaks of an immediate transition. This fifth chapter
of 2 Corinthians displays this fact as well. As soon as this
tabernacle of clay is dissolved, as soon as this tent is torn
down, mortality shall be swallowed up by life, and we shall be present
with the Lord. As soon as the believer closes
his eyes in death, he opens them in heaven. As soon as we leave
this world of woe, we enter heaven's world of bliss. As soon as we
cease from this life of grief, we enter heaven's life of joy.
As soon as we cease from this existence of groaning and burden,
we enter heaven's state of glory and blessedness. Turn to Revelation
14. Hold your hands here in 2 Corinthians.
I want to come right back here. But in Revelation chapter 14,
John gives us a picture of the dead which have died in the Lord.
He says in verse 13, And I heard a voice from heaven saying to
me, Write, write this thing for the benefit of you men and women
who yet live on this earth. Write this thing for the benefit
of you who wonder what things are like for God's saints in
heaven. Write this for you who are making your pilgrimage through
this world. Write. Blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. Now
this is what John tells us. Our departed brothers and sisters
in Christ are with Christ now. Those who have left us are with
Christ in heaven. They're not in purgatory or anything
like that nonsense. Their bodies sleep in the earth,
but not their souls. Their bodies, as Solomon tells
us in Ecclesiastes, have gone to the earth just like a brute
beast. But as the beast goes down to the earth, man rises
up to heaven, and the souls of God's elect are with him in heaven's
glory right now. I don't have any doubt that you
have asked yourself, as I have myself many times, well, where
is heaven? The scoffers and the infidels,
like the Pope fun, you know, and they say, you fellows talk
about heaven, where is it? I don't know. I don't know. I
really don't have any idea. Heaven is a place somewhere outside
this world, somewhere outside time, somewhere outside our ability
to apprehend it. But this I know, whatever and
wherever heaven is, it is a place, a real place. I started to use
the word literal, but literal won't quite get it. Heaven is
a place beyond anything literal we understand in this world.
Let me show you. Look in Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews
9. You remember in verse 12, our
Lord Jesus with his own blood ascended into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. Well, what is that holy
place? Look in verse 24. For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands. which
are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself." Where
is Christ? That physical body that arose
from the tomb? That physical body that the disciples
saw ascending up into heaven, accompanied by the angels of
God? Where is He? He's yonder in heaven itself. at the right hand of the majesty
on high, at the right hand of the throne of God, setting himself,
a man in glory on the throne of God, there to make intercession
for you and I who are his. Look at this. He has entered
into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Turn over one page to Hebrews
chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 11. Every high priest standeth
daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices
which can never take away sins. All the sacrifices offered by
priests on Jewish altars could never take away sins. And all
the sacrifices offered by imaginary self-appointed priests on altars
of men can never take away sin. But this man, this one man, this
one high priest, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, after he had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty of high, sat right down on the right hand
of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Jesus Christ took his seat yonder
in heaven, at the right hand of God, on the throne of God,
because his work was finished, as our high priest, the blood
atonement was made, righteousness was brought in, and now sin has
been put away by his sacrifice. And he sat down. because he got
nothing else to do. His work is over. Never was there
a high priest in the Old Testament who sat down in the Holy of Holies
because his work was never over. He could never atone for sin.
Jesus Christ did. Heaven is the place where Christ
is and it is the place to which he has promised to bring us.
You're familiar with John chapter 14? Our Lord's giving his valedictory
address to his disciples and he says, let not your heart be
troubled. They were all in a stir. They now began to understand
what the Lord said. He was going away. He was going
to the Father. And what are we going to do? He said, Stop fretting. Stop
worrying yourselves. You believe God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. He said,
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. I know that probably
is talking about his second advent, his coming in glory to receive
all his own into heaven. But I think most likely it's
talking more specifically about him coming for each of us at
the appointed hour. This is what he means, Bob. He
said, Bobby, when When your place is prepared and your time's come,
I'll come take you to it. When your house is built, when
your tabernacle is ready to be dissolved and your house not
made with hands eternal in the heavens is fixed, I'll come take
you to it. Then in Hebrews chapter 12, heaven
is the place where Christ is and the place where he has promised
to bring us. And that is the place where our
departed friends are right now. Ye are come unto Mount Zion,
verse 22, the city of the living God, unto the new Jerusalem,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn whose names
are written in heaven, to the spirits of just men made perfect. Now then, turn back here to 2
Corinthians 5 again and understand what Paul tells us. is just the dissolving of this
body. You see, this body is of the earth, and it is suitable
only for the earth. This present state of existence
is suitable only for this present life. And this body must return
to the earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, as Ecclesiastes
declares. And this ought not be any cause
for great sorrow to any believer. You see, death will be, it'll
be like taking down a tent to move into a house. Shelby and
I once stayed with a family down in, just outside of Jacksonville,
Florida. I was preaching down there at
Dr. Zenlit. Joe Desmuk and his wife built just a nice, nice,
nice brick house, spacious, large house. And while they were building
it, they lived in an old camper. And I'll guarantee you something.
That camper, after they got that house built, was taken just as
far out of sight as they could get it. Because they weren't
about to look at that camper. That camper was gone. We live
over here now. What about the camper? Well,
sometimes we take it down to the lake, but we don't live there
anymore. The camper is no longer meaningful. Do you understand what I'm saying?
The dissolution of this body is just dropping a tent to move
into a palace. That's all. In heaven, we shall
have another house for which our souls now groan. Look in
verse 2 of 2 Corinthians 5. In this we groan earnestly desiring
to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. Now, I
really don't know what all the scriptures are saying here. I
can't say much about this house other than this. Our Lord has
prepared another body suitable to that state between death and
the resurrection in which the believer shall serve him when
we leave this world. In other words, our souls will
be clothed with the body while we await the resurrection of
this body of flesh into resurrection glory. Somehow people have the
idea that when the body goes to the earth, when we've closed
our eyes in death, our spirits just kind of float around like
ghosts in the air. That's not the teaching of Scripture.
Our Lord said, in my Father's house are many mansions, many
dwelling places. We have a house not made with
hands, prepared by Christ himself, eternal in the heavens that is
suitable to our glorious life with Christ. And as soon as this
tabernacle is dissolved, we will enter that house. There'll be
no lapse of time, no delay between taking my last breath in this
world and singing his praise in that world. There'll be no
lapse, no delay between closing these eyes in death and opening
the eyes of my soul in life. Now, this is not a matter of
conjecture. It's not a matter of speculation at all. The apostle
says in verse one, we know. We know this is something we're
dead sure of. It's been revealed by God. We
have the earnest of the Spirit. Now, He that hath wrought for
us the selfsame thing as God, who hath also given us the earnest
of the Spirit, He says in verse 5. And we know it because we
live by faith in Christ. We believe Him. What happens
when the believer dies? You ask me, where have our departed
friends gone? They've gone to heaven. They'd
gone home. They'd gone to be with the master.
Now then, what are they doing? Let me spend just a few minutes
talking to you about a blessed occupation. The scriptures speak
sparingly with regard to the employment of God's saints in
heaven. But there are four or five things clearly revealed
in the word of God. We don't know much about the
glory that awaits us The glory that our family in heaven is
presently enjoying, but we do know a little. Number one, God's
saints in heaven are celebrating and adoring the perfections of
Christ our Redeemer. Turn to Revelation 5, Revelation
chapter 5. This actually is very difficult
to break in here anywhere. Revelation chapter 5 really begins
in chapter 4 verse 1 and runs all the way through chapter 5.
It's a vision John has of Christ in heaven. He sees the throne
of God, the bow around the throne, the sea of glass, everything
being ruled by the throne. He sees the living creatures,
God's preachers, those who preach the gospel to his people and
those to whom they preached it, the 24 elders, the church of
God's elect. And he sees the throne and he
cries, who's worthy to open the book? And the Lamb of God stands
up and opens the book. He takes it and opens the seals
of God's book of his purpose and predestination. And then
in verse 11, And I beheld and heard the voice of many angels
round about the throne, and the beast, the gospel preachers,
and the elders, the church of God. And the number of them was
10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud
voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and
riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
Now, this is what I'm saying, yonder in glory land, where the
lamb is in the midst of the throne, in the midst of his church, where
he delights to call us his brethren. Those who are gathered round
his throne incessantly celebrate him. They speak of his holiness
and justice, his wisdom and power, his goodness and grace, his faithfulness
and love, his redemption, his blood, his atonement, and his
salvation. Secondly, God's saints in heaven
are incessantly, delightfully employed in beholding His glory. Listen to this, John 17. Should
it be the pleasure of my God tonight to take me out of this
world, understand why He did it. Should it be His pleasure,
Rex, to take you or your wife out of this world, let us understand
why He does it. One of these days he's going
to. It is his pleasure to take us out, just a matter of time,
whatever he's appointed. This is what our Savior said.
Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am. He bought us because he wants
us and he's going to have us. Be with me where I am that they
may behold my glory. Oh my soul, what will it be to
behold the glory of our Redeemer? We shall forever behold him as
he is with a constantly increasing knowledge of him. Heaven is the
garden of God. There the rose of Sharon is always
in full and the fragrance of it perfumes everything. Heaven is to behold Christ forever,
never taking our eyes off of him and never wanting to. God's saints in heaven are employed
in the constant exercise of every spiritual grace. There is a sense
when faith and hope shall all cease, but God's saints in heaven
as yet live constantly in faith. They believe God, anticipating
the resurrection of their bodies. They live in hope. Our brethren
wait with hope, the patient hope of faith in the resurrection.
And they live in love. There they truly love one another. Someone made this observation.
I can find it here. One of the great felicities of
heaven is that the saints no longer misunderstand each other
there. They live in perpetual love one
for another. God's saints in heaven are employed
in the unending service of Christ. They are engaged in prayer. It's
wrong that we pray to the saints. That's idolatry. But it's altogether
right that they should pray for us. It's wrong that we pray for
the dead. That's superstition. It's altogether
right that they should pray for us. And in Revelation 6, 10,
the saints of God are described as constantly crying with a loud
voice, How long, O Lord, holy and true dost thou not judge
and avenge the blood of them that dwell upon the earth? The
saints of God are engaged in songs, songs of grace and praise
unto God our Savior, singing constantly of electing love,
redeeming grace, regenerating mercy, justifying goodness, sanctifying
righteousness, and the preservation of God's saints by his power.
Robert Murray McShane, speaking of this, said, we shall not rest
from our work, but from our labors. There we shall toil. and pain
no more in our work. Make certain that you're in Christ. Take comfort in the blessed promise
that's given us of heavenly glory and be assured that our weary,
troublesome lives will soon end and end for the better. There
is no sorrow here that heaven will not heal. Arthur Peake said,
Breath of the air of paradise will more than make up for all
the sorrows of this world. Amen.