Thank you, Joe. It's my joy to
be here. I love to come to Rocky Mount. Turn with me this morning, if
you will, to the book of John, chapter fourteen. John, chapter
fourteen. I don't know if it is the events of the last few years
in particular or just the fact that I'm getting older. I'm not
really sure which plays the greater part in what's happening but
I do find myself thinking more and more about the place that
is mentioned here. I know This has to be somewhat
on your mind when death comes to one of God's own to his beloved
in a congregation. We cannot help but think about
this place to some extent. And I freely admit to you that
I do more and more. Look here in John fourteen what
our Lord was saying in verse one he said let not your heart
be troubled and that ought to be our first fought when someone
we love leaves this world, if they loved Christ, then let not
your heart be troubled. You don't have to be troubled.
Now, don't misunderstand me. We'll be emotional and we'll
be sorrowful for ourselves, and we can't help that. But spiritually,
let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. There's the key to comfort. is
believe on Christ. He said, here's why you don't
have to be troubled. He said, in my father's house
are many mansions. And if it weren't so, he said,
I would have told you. If it was a lie, he said, what
men say, if it was a lie, I would have told you. If this weren't
true, our Lord, when he was here, would have said, I don't worry
about that heaven place. But it is true. He said, to seal
it up, he said, I'm going, when I leave here, I'm going to prepare
a place for you. Now, here's the problem. I told you I get to thinking
about the place, and I've got to clarify that for you, because
one of the first things that Christ does, as soon as he says
that, I'm going to prepare a place for you, he tells you something
else about the place. And that's this is hard for us
humanly speaking to understand, but the place is not a place.
The place is the person. Now, let me prove that to you
in verse three said, and if I go and prepare a place for you,
he said, I'm going to come again and receive you unto myself. Myself. He didn't say, I'm going
to come receive you to this place. He said, I'm going to receive
you to myself. He is the place. You see that? He said, and to
prove it, he said, that where I am, there you may be also. The place is a person. Now, let
me show you this. In the scriptures, the name of
this place is called Heaven. Capital H-E-A-V-N. When you see little h, E-A-B-N,
little heaven, it means if we walked outside, a minute ago
was outside and the sky was beautiful. The heavens were beautiful. Last night the stars were so
clear over Palm Indies. Man, when you get out of those
city lights, the Big Dipper was down through there and Cassiopeia
and, you know, Scorpio, all those stars were beautiful. The heavens
were beautiful. But when we talk about heaven,
capital H-E-A-B-N, it's a place, but it's also a place that's
a person. Now, folks, one of two things in our day. I want
you to turn over to Revelation 7. One of two things in our day
is pretty common. Folks are woefully, on the one
hand, woefully ignorant of heaven, capital H-E-A-V-N. In USA Today
recently, in fact this summer when Brandon was in my class
over in summer Bible school and Do you remember me making, reading
the little article out of USA Today? They'd taken a survey,
and the survey was, how many believe there is a heaven? Sixty-two
percent said, I believe there's a heaven. And later in the survey,
they asked the question, how many of these same people, not
the sixty-two percent, but all hundred percent, how many of
the hundred percent believe they're going to go to heaven? 85% said
they were going there. Now a little math tells me there's
23% that believe they're going someplace they don't believe
exists. Do you see how absurd that is?
There's all these people saying, I don't believe in heaven, but
I'm going there. Is that ridiculous or what? It shows
how woefully ignorant people are. People don't look where
All there is to know about heaven is right here. All right? It's
the only place we can find out the truth about it. But on the
other hand, it's easy to get caught up in the other side of
this, which is concerning ourselves completely and totally with interest
in this place called heaven. And that's why I've entitled
this message, Heaven is Heaven Because Heaven is Christ. All
right? Let's not get confused. This
is all about Christ. That's what heaven's about. And
a person, you see, could know everything there is to know about
heaven and never actually go there because they simply did
not know the person of Jesus Christ. Knowledge of heaven is
not the way to heaven. A little further down in John
14, do you remember? Philip said, how can we know
the way? How can we know the way? where
this, your going is, where you're going to prepare this place for
us. How do we know the way? What did our Lord John do? He
said, Heaven's the way. Learn all you can about heaven
and you'll get there. So what did he say? He said,
I am the way. Christ not only is the place,
He's the way to the place. Heaven is only heaven because
that's where Christ is. And if we don't know Him, then
we can't go where He is. So let's see this morning what
the Scriptures tell us about Christ, who is our heaven. And let's begin in verse 9 of
Revelation 7. Verse 9 of Revelation 7. After
this, and after this, what came before was that our Lord had
sent an angel to take John from the Isle of Patmos, where he
was in exile, taking the apostle John and actually took him and
showed him what heaven, what it was, who it was. All right? And so this is the revelation.
He said, after this, after we got there, this is what I saw.
So let's see what he saw in verse 9. I beheld in law a great multitude,
which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and
people and tongues They stood before the throne and before
the Lamb, capital L, that's a person, that's Christ, clothed with white
robes and palms in their hands." Now, first thing let's notice
is there's a whole lot of people there. In our day, I think we
mistakenly think, I mean, the way people behave out there and
the way they're acting, it looks to me like just about everybody's
going the other way. Doesn't it? Men just act like
they almost want to go to the place called hell. Huh? If you just look out there and
say, well, boy, this is a mess. Everybody, it was that, it's
that way in every generation. Noah, you know, what was there,
eight out of how many ever million there was? Huh? Boy, you think,
oh, is there going to be anybody there? Let me tell you. I can't
prove this to you in the Scriptures, but Brother Charlie Payne said
it the first time I ever heard it said in the pulpit at 13th
Street. He said, listen, there are going to be more people in
glory than there are going to be under the wrath of God. You
say, can you prove that? No, not really, not really, but
I know it's so. I know it's so, because my Lord's
going to have the victory. He's going to have the preeminence,
and nobody is ever going to say, well, you mean you couldn't save
more of them than you damned? He's going to go. There's going
to be so many children. So you think about since how
many children have died and childbirth and what since the beginning
of time. There's going to be so many children
up there. Can you think of anything any happier than having obedient,
sweet, loving children running everywhere? And I heard one man say, Hey,
when we're aborting 4,000 a day in this country alone, heaven's
going to be populated rightful. Something to think about. And
again, I can't point to the Scripture and prove that, but it sounds
like what my Lord would do. It sounds like what He'd do.
But the whole point is, and it won't matter if I'm wrong about
that, the point is there's going to be an infinite multitude there. A great multitude, it says, doesn't
it? And this great multitude magnifies
Christ, because it shows that no matter how many there are,
this infinite number of people, not even that many, can begin
to tax the sustaining resources and power of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is so great that he has done,
and he will do all that's necessary to redeem, to bring where he
is, and to keep secure a great, great multitude. Don't you, don't
anybody sit here and go, well, you know, can he save me? There's
so many there. You know, one more, is it going to be? No,
no. Doesn't matter how great the multitude. Our Lord is so
great, he could save as many as he determines to. And it will
never doubt the ability of our Lord Jesus Christ to not only
do all that's required, all that's necessary, but so much, much
more beyond your wildest expectations and understanding. The reason
... John came back and said, Paul went to the third heaven
and went ... He couldn't even express the glory that he saw
and what the Lord had done for his people there. They're going
to be a great multitude here. And here's good news. It says
that there's every tribe and kindred and nation and people
under heaven. I sure am glad that he didn't decide to exclude
the white folks. And let me tell you, don't you
think for a minute there won't be every other kind. And carry
that a step further. I don't even know whether this
is talking about races and all that business or not. I do know
what it's talking about. It says no man's going to be
excluded because of what he was. And I'm sure glad for that. Because
if you started a list of reasons to exclude folks, I'm probably
going to be on that list a bunch of times. You understand my point? Nobody's going to be excluded
because of what they were. But then notice in there it says,
in verse 9, it says that they stood. They stood. They worship,
they do bow down and worship, but it says here they're standing.
You know why that is? They're all in good standing.
They have no sin. There's no sin there. It's only,
it's only when a, when a, the only time a child does this is
when they got caught. They start covering up their
back end because they're afraid they're going to get a switch
and they got caught. Well, everybody there stands up. They're in good
standing. There's no accusatory finger
being pointed. And I'll tell you, it's unlike
a place where folks are going to be running and hiding and
trying to get under the hills and rocks to hide from the wrath
of God. You see the difference? In heaven,
everybody's standing up. They're in good standing. were
all sinless and righteous in God's sight. And here's proof,
too, of their sinlessness. It's because of what they got
on. You see what they're all wearing? White robes. White robes. Pure. Pure as the driven snow. Dressed in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I got some good news for you
fellas. You know you're never going to have to go shopping
for another suit of clothes. That makes me happy. I just can't
stand having to go buy new clothes. You ladies, never again will
you get up and have to figure out what you're going to wear
that day. You won't have to go, oh they're going to think this
looks right, or oh it doesn't fit anymore. None of that anymore. Because you got one robe, it
never wears out, it always looks perfect, and ladies you'll like
this. You know what? How many of you would have liked
it sometime in your life to walk in a room with a thousand people
in a ballroom and have every single head turn to you and go,
isn't she stunning? Ladies, listen, this is not appealing
to your vanity. I'm telling you, the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to make you that beautiful. That robe of his righteousness
makes you stunning. You will be beautiful. It's a
glorious robe that he puts on. Yes, it is. And, you know, Princess
Diana, I read recently, somebody, they sold one of her gowns for
$24,000. Up there, that gown would be
a rag compared to the righteous robe, the white robe of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It not only fits perfectly, it
never wears out, and it's a stunning, stunning robe. And, fellows,
we'll like it, too. And it says there, you see the
last phrase, that they're holding palms in their hands. I tell
you what, in this life, if you had to pick, Spurgeon said, if
you had to pick a single tree branch to carry through this
life, symbolic of what it's like, you know what it would be? A
weeping willow. But we will have exchanged the
willow, the weeping willow, for the palm, which is our victory.
The palm branch is the symbol of victory. And we'll be standing
there with palm branches because our Lord Jesus Christ has given
us the victory over death, pain, sorrow, and all tears. OK, look
at verse 10, and I don't have as much to say about every one
of these verses, so don't get concerned. Verse 10. Why do folks
speak in hushed tones? Look up here just a minute. Why
do folks speak in hushed tones? Why do people cup their hand
and talk to each other and talk like that? Well, usually it's
for one of three reasons. First of all, it's fear of being
overheard to say something that was wrong or silly, stupid, whatever. Another reason is We're afraid
somebody's going to hear the gossip or the lie we're getting
ready to tell. And another reason is, and you
children understand this, it's because you're talking when you
should be listening. In school, you don't ever go, hey, pass
me the note, do you? No, you go, pass me the note
next. Right? You speak in hushed tones
that way. Let me tell you, in heaven, there's none of that. Look at verse 10. It says, And
they cried, they cried with a loud voice. They cried with a loud
voice. You see, in heaven, folks are
not afraid to speak loud enough, because Christ has taught us
the right things to say. We're all taught of God. And
secondly, because there's no lies or gossip there. There's
no sin there. And thirdly, it's because we're
no longer ashamed. or afraid to just speak out. I, there is not enough lemon
drops in this world for me to get one of these children to
stand up and say anything right now in a loud voice. I couldn't
get it done. They'd go, you'd have to, and
you might get one to just, but I tell you, you know what they
do in heaven? It says they cry out with a loud voice, and what
do they cry out? Verse, verse 10 it says, salvation to our
God which sits upon the throne and unto the I bet I couldn't get one of you
men to stand up and do what I just did. And I understand. It makes
you too self-conscious, right? I mean, you think, I couldn't
do that. Let me tell you, when we get
there, there won't be any, none of this hushed tones. We'll stand
up and we'll say what's true. We'll say what, we'll call the
Lord Jesus Christ, we'll recognize him as that God he is. And we'll
say it right out loud. And not only us, but look at
verse 11. And all the angels, they stand
too. They stand around the throne
and about the elders and the four beasts, and they fell before
the throne on their faces, and they worship God. That's what
they do. The angels are there worshiping
God. Every being in heaven recognizes and worships the Lord Jesus Christ
as the great God that He is. There is not even a whisper of
a hint of a glimmer of the beginning of a doubt in heaven as to who
the Lord Jesus Christ is. He's God. You want to hear that again?
There's not even a whisper of a hint of a glimmer of the beginning
of a doubt that Jesus Christ is God. When we get there, we'll
know who He is. Yes, sir, we will will, not through
a glass dimly, but he will see Him. We'll know who He is. Everybody
there does. And is there the least bit of
the lack of assurance on anyone's part in glory as to who Christ
is, what He's done, and whether He's worthy? Well, look what
all those beings are saying here in verse 13. I'm sorry, in verse
12. This is what all the beings there
are saying. Amen! You know what that means
now? That means, so be it. So be it. Without any doubt,
so be it. What's so be it? So be it. Blessing
and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might
be unto our God forever and ever. So be it! That's what they say. Every being there, the angels,
the elders, those in white robes, this is what they're saying up
there. They're saying, the Lord Jesus Christ, to Him be glory. Bless His name. They say, the
Lord Jesus Christ is all wisdom. They say, thanksgiving to our
Lord and God Jesus Christ. Honor and power and might is
all His. Amen. Amen. So be it. That'd be some service to be
in, wouldn't it? Hmm? Let me tell you, no one in heaven
doubts who Christ is and what He's done. They know. They know. Won't it be wonderful to have
that full assurance of who the Lord Jesus Christ is? He's God.
He's God, you'll notice through the rest of what we're going
to read. He is called God over and over. The Lamb and God. That's who, that's same, synonymous,
they're the same person. And, you know, who's going to be in heaven now? Now
listen, this is, this is, this is an important issue. Who's
going to be there? Don't you want to know? Hmm? Be honest. Don't you want to know? Don't
you want to know? Yeah. Well, I'll be honest with
you, listening to most preachers, you know that in all the years
since I hadn't had a notion who the Lord Jesus Christ was over
twenty years. I've never been to a funeral.
Never been to a funeral except one that my pastor preached.
That the preacher didn't, I don't care who died. He could have
been the worst snake to crawl out from under a rock. Had an
uncle who just about fit that description. And that preacher
put him right on in heaven. I've never been to a funeral.
that the man wasn't in heaven, the person, the woman, whoever
it was. Everybody's going to heaven according to the preachers.
Now, I've heard Henry have to preach the funeral to some unbelievers,
and it's not easy. It's not easy. But I'll tell
you what he won't do. He won't say, well, I'm old Joe
here. I knew he was, you know, some
things you can't say just out of common grace. But according
to most preachers, I've never been to a funeral. outside, you
know, Henry preaching it, that they weren't all in heaven. Well,
who's going to be there? Well, that's a good question,
and John asked it. Look here. He said, in verse
13, And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these
that are arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?
He said, And what are they, and where did they come from? Let
me tell you, that's a good question. Don't you want to know the answer
to that? Huh? Is it in the back of your mind? Am I going to wear
one of those robes? Is somebody I knew that's dying, are they
going to have one of those robes on? It's on our mind, isn't it?
You bet it is. Well, it's a good question, and
I'll tell you, he didn't wait long to give the answer. Our
Lord didn't. Right in verse 14, And I said unto him, Sir, he
said, You know the answer to that. And he said to me, Yeah,
I do. These are they which came out
of great tribulation, out of trials. In this life, believers
are going to have tribulation. Now, you're going to have trouble.
He said, There are those which came out of great tribulation,
and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. You want to know who's there?
It's those in the robes. Where did they get the robes?
They washed them in the blood of Jesus Christ. They were totally
dependent on the blood of Jesus Christ for their righteousness
before God. And let me tell you, there's
no other way to get there. Christ is the way. The blood
cleanses us from all transgression. It's in Christ. That's where
it's at, folks. Who's going to be there? Those
that are in Christ. Can it be any more plain? John is there and says, where
did they all come from? And he was told, those who washed
their robes in the blood of Jesus Christ, that's who's here. I
tell you what, if it hadn't been washed in the blood of Christ,
don't you expect to go there? And I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't
like the fact that my dad never had an interest, one, in the
gospel from him. After I knew him, when I knew
the gospel, folks, I don't like it, but I don't expect to see
him there. For years I had to weep when
I thought that thought, but he wasn't there. I don't expect
to see him there. I'll tell you what, he was in
a coma for a few days. And I spent time trying to tell
him who Christ was, and he was totally unresponsive. I don't
know what God can do. I pray he did a miracle. But
I tell you what, unless something was going on there I don't understand,
and he was washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, he won't be
there. You understand? At no point am I going, well,
Dad was good to me, and he was. And Dad treated me right, and
he did. Dad did the best he could for me, and he did. That's not
what the basis is here, is it? I'm telling you, don't just forget
everybody else. It's, you gotta, what about me? What about, have I washed myself
in the blood of Jesus Christ? Is that what I put on to go there
in? That's the key, folks. That's the key. Look at verse
15. Verse 15. Therefore are they
before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his
temple. and he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them." Now the word serve there, it says
they serve him. Now I know most people in our day think, well
I'm nobody's servant. Remember the reply of the Pharisees
said, we bring no man's slave. Remember that? Paul on the other
hand said, I'm a bond slave. Put the oar through my ear, put
the collar on my neck, I'm gladly the servant of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Service is only is only slavery, okay, and we only resent
it when it's not done out of love. Every once in a while I
go by Henry's house and on the counter, whether anybody's there
or not, if I see, if there's something I see and I know who
did it, where it came from, and why it's there, there'll be a
raisin pie. Henry likes raisin pie. I only
know one person who makes it. Evelyn Yates makes it. And every
once in a while You see, she'll make Henry a pie, because she
knows he likes it. Let me tell you, it's not labor
to her, it's service. It's not work, it's service. It's not, she doesn't, when she's
done, she doesn't go, whew, glad that's done. You understand?
She doesn't take it over and go, that'll be four dollars,
Henry. You know what I'm saying? And let me tell you, in glory,
one of the great joys is that we can serve him. we can serve
Him. True service is not work, doesn't
lead to weariness or resentment, but to love. It is, it is service
when it is done in love is great pleasure, great pleasure. And
we're serving Him there. And then also notice in that
same verse it says that He shall dwell among them. You know, I
used to travel a lot and People say, why don't you get tired
of driving? I go, well, not really, you know. The Lord hasn't made
it grievous to me, you know, a thousand miles a week. Sometimes
it doesn't bother me or whatever, you know. Just ever get tired
of driving that truck, Joe? Sometimes, but I mean, you know,
I know what bothers you more than anything, being gone from
her. That's what bothers you, isn't
it? I tell you what, if it were possible
that she was with you, then you wouldn't mind so much. I tell
you what, all that matters in heaven, you know, all that matters,
is that Christ dwells with us there. That's the whole key. And don't misunderstand me. To
never be separated from Him is great joy. There's other benefits
as well. You know what they are? Turn
the page in verse 16. Let me show you some of the other
benefits. It says, "...they shall hunger no more, neither thirst
any more, neither shall sun light on them, nor any heat of day."
Listen, we don't know much about hunger in this country. or thirst, for that matter, or
not being able to get out of the sun, or use a 23 skin blocker,
or whatever. We don't know much about that.
Let me tell you, this world is... I tell you, when Bill Clark goes
to Africa and preaches this, he got some listeners. When He
says there, you're not going to hunger anymore, you're not
going to thirst anymore, and the sun's not going to scorch
you up anymore. They go, thanks be unto God. There's a place
where I don't have to worry about that anymore. You see, in verse
17 it says, For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of
waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Maybe
this morning you're not worried about what you're going to eat
for lunch, I suspect most of us are. Or whether we can get
a drink of water, go down to the fountain. Or whether or not
the sun's going to burn us if we've got air conditioning. Let
me tell you, something's on your mind. I don't know what's anguishing
you this morning or this week. I don't know what's troubling
you. I don't know what's eating at you. I have no idea. But let
me tell you, when you get there, He's going to have taken care
of it. Whatever it is, it won't bother you anymore. Whatever
it was, it's all done. He will have taken care of it.
And that's good news to folks who've known trouble. Yes, it
is. Christ the Lamb of God, if we're
hungry and thirst and sun, He'll take care of it. Whatever it
is, Christ is going to remove it. Also, it says that Christ
the Lamb is in the midst of the throne. Do you see that there?
The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne. Do you know, sometimes
I wonder, I see these news clips of these rock concerts and stuff
and people just jostling and fighting and clawing and getting
up to the front of that stage and trying to touch the boot
of some rock star or something. It's just wow! Let me tell you,
in heaven, there's no jostling for position. There's no knocking
anybody down to get a little closer. It says here that he
is in the midst of the throne. And I don't understand this,
but everybody will have a good place. Everybody will be right
close enough. You'll have a good view of his
face no matter where your place is. And even if it's the last
one, you know what? I'll be content if I... Some
people say, well, you know, I don't want to be in a cabin on the
South 40. I want to be in the main house.
Good night. I tell you what, it won't matter
whether I'm on the... in the furthest corner. It'll
be just like I'm sitting on at his feet. Understand? Because
of who he is. You know, he's not some rock
star who... No matter how many lights and how much smoke and
mirrors and stuff you put up there, that you know all the
poor guys in the back cheap seats don't get to see him. Let me
tell you, he manifests himself to every corner of glory. And we'll like, we'll not only
like where we are, we'll like the fact that he's where he is,
right up there in the throne. All right, now turn over to Revelation
21 with me. And look here, here's where John
is actually going to see and describe as best he can this