Come with me to 1 Corinthians
2 again. Last Wednesday night we looked
at this chapter and I told you that I came here because of verse
9. But when I read the whole chapter,
the direction of my message changed. I came here because of the mindset
of verse nine. And then when I read the whole
thing, the message changed. And I told you we may come back
and look at verse nine. I didn't know, but now I know. Verse nine is our text. And it
says, but as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. That is exciting to me. That's
very exciting to me. The title of this message is
The Things That God Has Prepared. Glory is going to be amazing. It's going to be amazing. We have no idea how amazing it's
going to be. We have never seen anything like
it on this earth. We have never heard anything
like it on this earth. We have never imagined anything
like it on this earth. Our Lord said to the thief on
the cross, he said, today, you are going to be with me in paradise. Paradise. Now, for most people,
when they think of a paradise, They think of a tropical island. You know, you talk about paradise
on earth. Most people naturally think of
a tropical island. You know me, you know that's
what I would think of. I thought of a paradise on this
earth. I don't know if you've ever seen
pictures of or heard of a little place called Bora Bora. the French Polynesian Islands
in the South Pacific. If you've never seen pictures
of that or heard of that, I highly recommend you Google it. The water there is so clear,
they say the boats fly. And that's exactly what it looks
like when you look at a picture of it. I went home after the
service this morning. I was going over these notes
and I got my phone out and pulled up a picture of a boat in the
water in Bora Bora. And that's exactly what it looks
like. Looks like that boat. The water is so clear. You see
a boat up here and sand down here. And it just looks like
that boat is floating in the air. The water, the beach, the plants,
the trees, the flowers. It's breathtaking. That place
is breathtaking. It's not Kingsport, Tennessee,
mind you, but it's breathtaking. They have
these little bungalow huts over the ocean that you can stay in. Some of you have seen pictures
of those. You can literally stay on top
of the ocean. You can wake up in the morning,
walk out to your balcony, and dive into the ocean if you want
to. They only cost about $100 gajillion, bazillion, katrillion
dollars per night. But if you can make that happen,
you can stay there. I have envisioned in my mind
what it would be like to stay in one of those bungalow huts
out on that water, in that place, for a week. For a week. I know that if I was there, I
would, you know, I couldn't really enjoy it, because I'd be concerned
about my time counting down, you know? I'm actually here.
But I've envisioned what it would be like to stay there, and to
me, that would be a paradise. That'd be a paradise. My eyes have seen pictures of
that place. And my ears have heard about
that place. And that place has entered into
the heart of my imagination. But verse nine says, I have not
seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, it cannot
possibly be described or imagined. We make that silly statement
on our loved ones when they go, oh, they wouldn't want to come
back here for anything. We have no idea what we're talking
about. We have no idea what we're talking
about. Oh, they're in a better place now. We have no idea what
we're talking about. Look with me at 2 Corinthians
12. Our Lord actually brought the
Apostle Paul up into heaven. He actually brought the Apostle
Paul up into heaven, and this is him telling the experience
of it. Verse one, it says, it is not
expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions
and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above
14 years ago. He's talking about himself. I
knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago. Whether in the body,
I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell. What
he's saying is, you know, the Lord probably brought my spirit
up to glory, but it was so real, I'm not sure if I was, I may
have been in my body. That's what he's saying. I may
have been in my body. I knew a man in Christ about
14 years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether
out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth such in one caught
up to the third heaven. There is a heaven right here
in the, you know, atmosphere, ozone layer of this earth. That's
where the birds fly. And then there's a heaven outside
of the atmosphere of this earth. That's where the stars and the
planets and the galaxies are. And then there's a third heaven
that's above that. That's where God lives. Verse two, I knew a man in Christ
above 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether
out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such in one caught
up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. How
that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words,
which it is not lawful. And my center margin says that
word lawful means possible. It is not possible for a man
to utter. Hall said, I heard words that
are not possible for a man's mouth to utter. You know, dogs
have mouths, they have jawbones, they have teeth, they have tongues,
and they can communicate with each other, and they can communicate
with human beings. Our little dog, if she wants
something, she can let us know. She will bark. She will do whatever
she has to do. And she will, you know, she's
pretty set in her ways. We pretty much know what she
wants, but she'll communicate with us and she'll tell us what
she wants. But I am right now speaking words that are not possible
for a dog's mouth to utter. And the apostle Paul said, that's
what I heard up there. I heard words that are not possible
for a man's mouth to utter. Beautiful words, wonderful words,
wonderful words of life. Paul said, though, I could speak
with the tongues of angels. He said, I've heard them. Never will we be able to enter
into the glory of glory until we enter into glory. Never. God has prepared things for his
people that man's mouth will never be able to speak of. And
even if an angel came and spoke it, man's ear would never be
able to fully hear it. Man's heart would never be able
to fully enter into it. But even though that's so, our
God has written some of those things in his word. He has written
down some of those things in his word. He's told us what some
of those things are. Some of the things that he's
prepared for them who he loved, and therefore, because he first
loved them, they love him in return. And we're not going to
be able to enter into the glory of this. I thought about this
when I wrote it. I thought about this as I was going over it this
afternoon. We cannot enter into the glory
of what we're about to see, but we're going to look at it anyway.
All right? We'll never really get this,
but we're going to look at it anyway. Turn with me to Luke
chapter 2. Luke chapter 2 verse 25, And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And the same man was just and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost
was upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death, before he had
seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to
do for him after the custom of the law, then took Simeon the
Lord up in his arms. and blessed God, and said, Lord,
now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. Simeon said, I can die in peace
because I have seen the salvation. that God prepared for them that
love Him. He said, I have physically laid
eyes on the sacrifice that God prepared. Now, I'm going to tell
you, none of us can enter in to this, but it's, we see our Lord by faith. But very soon we are going to
physically lay eyes on the sacrifice that God prepared for those that
love Him. We're gonna lay eyes on salvation
Himself. We are gonna see the salvation
that God prepared. And our eyes have never seen
anything like that. We've never seen anything like
Him. God has, we read there in the
scripture reading in first Corinthians two, it says, the Lord has revealed
these things to us by his spirit. And he has, God has revealed
this to us by his spirit, but we can't enter into this. One
of these days, our eyes are going to see God's lamb slain. God's Lamb slain. It's going
to be like nothing we've ever seen. These eyes are not worthy
to see what they are going to see. Job said, I know with these
eyes I'm going to see God. I'm going to see my Redeemer
that liveth. The Apostle John was given the
vision of the revelation, you know, heaven itself. And John
said, I saw the throne of God. What a thing to see. I saw, you
know, have you ever envisioned, I wonder what the throne is going
to look like? John said, I saw the throne of God. And he said,
do you know who was sitting on that throne? The Lamb slain. The Lamb slain. The salvation
sacrifice that God prepared for them that love Him. Forget water,
boats, flowers, and I saw God's Lamb. Behold the Lamb. Can you imagine the moment you're
ushered in and Michael the Archangel or whoever says, there he is,
behold the Lamb. He's going to slay you. He's
going to slay you. You're going to do the same thing
that John did and everyone who saw him. Oh, there's no more
spirit left in me. I saw God's lamb slain in just
a minute. That's about how long it's going
to be. In just a minute, that's what we're going to see. And
God is telling us our eyes have never seen anything like it.
Our eyes have never seen anything. We cannot and I shall see him
face to face and tell the story saved by grace. Can't imagine. Turn over to John 14. John 14 verse 1 says, 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." He said, I go to prepare
a place, a place. Look at Matthew 25. Matthew 25 verse 31 says, When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered
all nations, and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world, a place, the kingdom. All right, look at Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 verse eight, it says.
By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place
which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed and
he went out not knowing whether he went. By faith he sojourned
in the land of promise, as in a strange country dwelling in
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith
also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered
of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful
who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of
one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky
in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth, For they that say such things declare
plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful
of that country from whence they came out, they might have had
opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better
country, that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. a place. It's a kingdom in a
city. Look at chapter 13 verse 14. It says, for here we have no
continuing city, but we seek one to come. God has prepared
a city. He's prepared a place. It's a kingdom. It's an actual
place. And it's unlike anything we've
ever seen or ever heard about or ever experienced. It's a place
where God dwells. Can you imagine? And I say this
with reverence and fear and humility, but based on the wording of scripture,
can you imagine living in the same city that God lives in. Can you imagine? You know, we
we we pass each other. We pass each other. We see each
other in different places and we hey, there's can you imagine
passing God? There's the lamb slaying. I'll
dwell with you, I'll eat with you, I'll walk with you, I'll
live with you. Can you imagine? It's a place. It's a place where God dwells.
It's a place where righteousness dwells. And those two things
are the same person. It's the place where Jesus Christ
lives. He's a real man in a real place. It's a place that has never been
tainted by sin. It's a place that never will
be tainted by sin. It's a place where wolves and
lambs feed together and lions eat straw like a bullock and
ox. The only thing that snakes eat
is dust. That's it. It's a place where
nothing hurts anything. Isn't that what our Lord said?
Nothing is going to hurt anything. We literally cannot imagine a
place like that. We've never seen anything like
that. Nothing, nothing is going to hurt anything. A gnat is completely
safe there. Completely, totally safe. I hath not seen Ear hath not
heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the salvation
that God has prepared for His people." The kingdom, the city,
the place that God has prepared for His people. And look at this.
Go to Revelation 21. Revelation 21, verse 1, And I saw a new heaven
and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the
holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. God has prepared
a marriage. God has prepared a union for
every soul that loves him. A union between the ones who
Christ loves and the ones who love Christ. And it is a union
like we have never imagined. It is a union. It is a love like
we have never imagined. It is literally a union that
is not possible for a man or a woman's mind or a man or a
woman's heart to enter into. He said, not only will he be
with us at all times for all of eternity, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. And he said, not only will his
love for us be an eternal love, I love you with an everlasting
love. And he said, not only will he care for us and comfort us
in every way that we need it, verse four right here says, God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no
more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain for the former things are passed away. But he
said this union with his people will be a living, reigning oneness. The same oneness that He has
with His own Father. The same oneness and unity that
He has with His own Father. The union that has been prepared
for the Bride of Christ is a union with God. Not just a union with the people
of God in the place where God is. It is a union with God. Oneness with God. In John 17, our Lord said, Father,
the glory which thou gavest me, I have given it to them that
they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that
thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. That's unimaginable. It's a oneness
of glory with God. It is a oneness of perfection
with God. It's a oneness of love. It is
joint air. Everything with Christ. Everything. Never have our eyes ever seen,
never have our ears ever heard, never have we possibly imagined
what glory with Christ is going to be like. If we could truly
imagine it, we would want to leave this place so fast it would
make our head spin. If we could truly imagine it,
we could not live here one minute longer. We try to imagine what it's going
to be like, but one day soon, it's not going to be imagination
anymore. It's going to be reality. It's
going to be absolute reality in just a minute. It's just a
minute. We're going to seek glory. We're
going to hear glory. We're going to experience glory.
And this is what we're going to say the moment we experience
it. We're going to say this is paradise. This is paradise. Christ is paradise. He is what makes paradise, paradise. Wherever he is, that's paradise. Now we see through a glass very,
very, very darkly, very darkly. Soon it's going to be face to
face. What we can only right now see
by faith It's about to give way to sight, and it's going to be
glorious. I'm telling you, he's going to
be glorious. That's exciting. That's exciting. I'm ready. Amen.