There'll be no more, there'll
be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more,
there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more,
there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more,
there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll
be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll
be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more,
there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll
be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more,
there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more,
there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll be no more, there'll
Second Peter chapter one. Second Peter one look at one
verse again with me. 2 Peter 1, verse 11. 2 Peter 1, verse 11, and may we
enter into the blessedness of this one verse. He says, "...an entrance shall
be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And entrance shall be
ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." It's too big for me, but I'm
going to try it. There's a song we sing says,
there's a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we can
see it afar. There's a place that is more
wondrous than all the wonders of this world combined. A kingdom more majestic and glorious
and magnificent than all others that have ever been before. A place of exceeding joy and gladness,
a place of purity, perfection, holiness, A place of unbroken peace, truly
a place where never is heard a discouraging word, truly. A place of unbroken love, no chilling wind we sang or poisonous
breath. A place of unbridled, unstifled
happiness. a place of no sin, none, no tears
ever, no sorrow, no sadness, no clouds, no night, eternal
day, no fear, none. no loneliness, none, no sickness,
no death, no want, no lack. A land described as the promised
land, Beulah land, the celestial city, the city of God, the holy
city, New Jerusalem, Mount Zion, Canaan's fair and happy land,
heaven, glory, a place called glory. That sums it all up. Here it says, the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord Jesus and Savior Jesus Christ, an everlasting
kingdom. And he says some people will
be granted an entrance abundantly, some magnificent, abundant entrance
into this everlasting kingdom wherein all these things are abundantly, a glorious, unmatched, or parade of people into this
place that will pale everything and anything before it, and all
things put together. The Scripture says, I hath not
seen, ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things that God hath prepared for them that live.
Our Lord said, I go to prepare a place for you. A place. Paul came back from it and he
said. I can't say. He said, let me tell you about. Can't say it's not lawful to
utter. Not able to. And this is no dream. It's no dream, it's no fairytale. Look now at verse sixteen, he
said, We have not followed cunningly devised fables. This is no fictitious
utopia. That's what the world says that
Christians or believers believe in. Heaven, you know, is some
fictitious utopia. some land, you know, some place called
heaven. They believe it's fictitious.
This is not fictitious. This is no escape from reality. This is escape from here to reality,
to reality. The things that are seen are
temporal. Things are not seen are eternal,
Scripture says. This is no fairy tale, because
many have come back from that place. Yes, many. You know, we
think of our Lord being the only one. He wasn't. I just mentioned
Paul. John. On the Isle of Patmos saw
this place, didn't he? Huh? Many and they've returned to
tell about it or try. And many experience a little
of it now. I love that song, you know, what
a foretaste of glory divine. And it is, this is a touch of
it, this is a foretaste of this place we're going to, this little,
it should be hell to the world, wouldn't it? Come in here and
sit for an hour, it'd be pure hell. But it's heaven to the
believer. We escape hell to come here to
a little taste of heaven. Now, I described this place to
you. Do you want to go? How does one
get there? If I would add, if I described
that place to the world, I talk about no sin, I mean no sickness,
no sorrow, no pain, no disease, no death, happiness and joy,
unbridled joy and so forth. If I said that to the world,
the world, everyone, without exception, would want to go there. But I said a place of no sin,
a place of holiness, righteousness, everybody wouldn't want to go
there. But listen, no one is going to go to this
place I just described, who just wants to go to this
place I just described. No one is going to go to heaven
who just wants to go to heaven. Like I said, all of these things
appeal to man's pursuit of happiness. No sorrow, no sadness. Who would
not want to do without those things and be eternally happy? Everyone does. And that's what
men and women make up all sorts of vain imaginations, as Scripture
says, of heaven and think it's going to be Whatever they think
it's going to be, you know. They make up all sorts of things.
You've heard them. I've heard them say wild things
like. Some famous actor died one time
and he was a drunk. And they said, well, I just know
he's up there drinking a scotch and water having a good time.
Or a place where you just golf all day, you know. or play, or
just some carnal utopia. Carnal being enjoy the pleasures
that we do now up there. But now listen. These things
that I described to you, joy and gladness, peace, love, happiness,
no tears and sorrows and sadness, No fear, loneliness, no sickness,
no sorrow, no death. These things are good and they
will be enjoyed. And there's nothing wrong with
looking forward to those things. I do. I want to be happy forever. Don't you? Sure, I'm tired of
the sadness. Aren't you? Aren't you tired
of the sadness? This world is one continual sad event after
another, it seems like. Heart-wrenching, heartbreaking,
hole-gaping sadness that you never recover from, but you will
recover. And these things, though, are
going to be enjoyed by all who go there, but these are not why
they go there who go there. These things are not why they
want to go there. Now, I'm going to give you a
description of this place, just one. I'm just going to give you
one description of this place, and you judge yourselves, examine
yourselves right now in your heart, young and old alike, as
I give this description of this place, one description, and you
see if now you want to go here. OK? This is heaven. This is what heaven's all about.
Heaven. Eternal life. The life after
is a place where you go. It's a place where Jesus Christ
is. And where you worship him all
day and all night. And that's all you do. That's all you do. He's singing
a song, we wouldn't sing it. He's glory in this word, we wouldn't
read it. It's a place where Jesus Christ is. It's a place where he is. Now
who wants to go there? You'd think I made an airplane
out of that. Now who wants to go there? The
land, the city, a place where God dwells. That's what the scriptures
say, where Jesus Christ dwells. And we get to be with Him forever.
We get to be with Him forever. Now what's your heartfelt reaction?
Your heartfelt reaction? Do you want to go? Do you want to go? You see, Christ
is why certain persons want to go to heaven. We sang that song just a moment
ago. Do you remember what you sang?
I'll ask you like Philip asked the Ethiopian, do you understand
what you sing? Oh, that will be glory for me,
glory for me, glory for me. When by his grace I shall look
on his face, that will be glory for me." That's heaven. And that's going
to separate, that description is going to separate those who
are going there from those who are not. You see, he is heaven, and he's
why they go there. He's why they go there. He's
why they want to go there. He's how they get there. He's
how they get there. It says, "...and an entrant shall
be ministering unto you." By who? Christ. He has the keys. Then he has
keys, the Scripture says, at his side of hell and death and
heaven. and blow. He decides who gets
there, who gets there. I have not seen, did you remember
what I just spoke? Ear hath not heard, neither have
entered into the hearts of man the things that God hath prepared
for them that, what? Love him. Love him. You see, salvation
is a relationship with the I heard my pastor say this for years,
and I never fully understood it until this person made me
understand it. Salvation is a relationship with
a person. And this is why young people
and other people, older people, people who don't know Christ,
aren't necessarily interested in this thing of salvation. They
see no beauty in Him. There's no commonness about Him
that they should desire Him. I don't want to go to heaven.
I'm having a good time here, thank you. You see? But salvation is God Almighty
taking a sin-loving, world-loving, God-hating son of Adam and changing
them into a holiness-loving, God-loving, Christ-worshipping
person. Salvation is God changing a person's
will desire, affection, heart. Salvation is a person falling
in love with another person. That's salvation. It's called
a marriage. It's like Rebecca. When they
asked her, will you go to marry this man you've never seen before? Go to a land you've never seen
or never been visited before. Will you go and marry this man
whom I have described to you?" She said, I'll go. That is a
miracle. The angel of the Lord went before
Abraham's servant and prepared the way, prepared her heart,
and she fell in love with a man she'd never met. And the Scripture
says, blessed are you, blessed are they who believe, having
not seen belief, whom having not seen, yet they love him.
Can you love somebody you've never seen? Yes, you can. You
must. It's salvation. It's having, it's being married
to Jesus Christ, it's only, it's having only eyes for him, only
having eyes for him, a heart for him from then on, and promising
Taking a marriage about. Saying I do these about do you
promise to love. Honor cherish and obey. Till death. That unite. You say I do. I do you take this man to be your
lawfully wedded Lord. and husband. I do. I will. It's a marriage. It's a marriage. They are the
bride, he is the bridegroom. He's been away for a while. Our Lord said this, he said,
when the bridegroom is gone, he said, you rejoice now, talking
to his disciples. He said, but there's coming a
time when the bridegroom shall leave and you'll mourn, you'll
fast, you'll long for his presence. He said, you give anything for
one of these days with me. Barbara, think about it. Those
disciples spent three and a half years with the Lord. Oh, my, that was just the most
glorious. They looked back, Joe, and said,
those were the good old days. When they got up a few years,
fifty, they longed for just one of those days to sit around the
fire with the Lord. They took Him for granted. He'd been away for a while. He
said, You'll mourn when I'm gone. You'll mourn. And they look forward
to that great reunion. It's going to be called the marriage
supper of the land. And you imagine the disciples,
Nancy, you imagine the disciples' joy when the Lord had risen from
the dead. He was dead for three days. And
they went fishing. And then he was on the shore
and they were out in the boat. And he said, Have you caught anything? No. Cast your net over there. John
said, it's the Lord. Peter said, I can't wait. Seeing
it all, he dove in to get to the Lord. Only been gone three
days. It's a marriage supper. Imagine
what that supper was like around that fire that night. I was telling John, we went to
a gift, a Christmas gift, wasn't it, from all your family to a
pretty nice restaurant around this area, and I ate some red
snapper. And I just thought, it's going
to die. It was so good. It's just the best I've ever
eaten. And I immediately thought of
that piece of fish our Lord fixed on that Not only was the food
good, but the fellowship was better. As good as the food was,
they probably couldn't eat, Stan, for the fellowship. You've been
to Bible conferences, haven't you? You just think, this is
just great. Well, wait. Just wait. Just wait. Wait, I
say. It gets better. Joe, you like
to say that all the time, don't you? It's going to get better.
We say it can't get any better than that. Well, yes, it can.
It's going to. It's called the married supper.
It's a reception that never ends. And we have yet to fully experience
it. In that great day, he's going to come. Our husband, our captain, started to say he's an officer
and a gentleman. Our captain, our handsome prince is going
to come sweep us off our feet, up in his mighty arms, and carry
us into glory, and sit us down in that glorious place, and we'll
live happily ever after. Happily ever after. Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress. This
is where the pilgrims went through the river of death,
and they had a hard time going through that river. But they
got over, and listen to you, they got over, got through the
river of death, and now they're ascending up to that celestial
city. Listen to this, it's good. They left their mortal garments
behind them in the river. They went in with them. They
came out without them. They therefore went up through
the air, sweetly talking as they went. They had two glorious shining
companions beside them, angels. The talk they had with the shining
ones was about the glory of the place. These shining ones told
them about the beauty and the glory of it and said it was inexpressible. They said, there it is, as they
pointed to it, Mount Sion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the place
of innumerable company of angels and the spirits of just men made
perfect. You're going now, they said, to the paradise of God.
wherein you shall see the tree of life, and eat of the never
fading fruits thereof. And when you come there, you
shall have white robes given you, and your walk and talk shall
be every day with the King, even all the days of eternity. There
you shall not see again such things as you saw when you were
in the lower region on earth, to wit, sorrow, sickness, affliction,
and death, for the former things are passed away and shall not
be remembered." Well, the men asked these shining
ones, What shall we do in the flesh? And they answered, You'll
enjoy the perpetual sight and vision of the Holy One. There
you shall see him as he is. There also you shall serve him
continually with praise, with shouting and thanksgiving, whom
you desired to serve in the world, though with much difficulty because
of the infirmity of your flesh. There you shall serve him perfectly.
There you shall sing perfectly." Have you ever wanted to sing
these songs from the heart? There you shall. There your eyes shall be delighted
with seeing, and your ears with hearing the pleasant voice of
the Mighty One. There you shall enjoy your friends again that
are gone thither before you. There you shall with joy receive
even everyone that follows into the place after you. There also
you'll be clothed with glory and majesty. You'll be fit to
ride out with the King. When he shall come with the sound
of trumpet in the clouds on the wings of the wind, you shall
come with him and welcome your brethren into that holy place."
What shall we do there? Well, that's for starters. So our heavenly husband has left. our bridegroom. And now we mourn, because we
long to soar on the wings of equals, but now we have to dwell
with turkeys. And we mourn his absence and
speak, and they speak in words like this. This is what his people
speak. This is how they speak. Paul,
who went there, said, that I might win him. He said, I have a desire and
to depart and be with the Lord, which is far better. Turn over to First John with
me. First John chapter one. First John one. Turn over there. You see, heaven is a person.
This is what I'm saying. This is the theme of this message.
Heaven is a person. Happiness is a person. It's not
some magical formula. It's a person. The more you know
this person, the happier you'll be. The more you come to know
and love and trust this person, the happier you'll be. The more
you come to know this person, the less you'll need, the more
you'll have. Scott Richardson said, Christ
is all if he's all you've got. You think about that? That's
profound. You study that in about a day
and a half. Heaven is a person. Happiness
is a person. Joy, peace, love is a person. You have this relationship with
this person, you have no fear. You know this person, you have
no fear. The more you know this person, the less fear you have.
I'm speaking some wisdom here. The more you know this person,
the less lonely you'll be. The more you commune with this
person, the more he'll commune with thee. Draw nigh unto God,
he'll draw nigh unto you. You see what I'm saying? The more you know this person,
the more sickness, the less sickness will be sickness. Death will have no sting, none,
none. Sorrow, no sorrow, no real sorrow,
no sadness, you'll know he did it, the more you know this person. No want, no lack. Listen to John
describe him. John spent years with him, this
person. Listen to him, his description
of him. This is how he writes of this one. He said that. You mean who, don't you, John?
Yes, but he's more than a who. That which
was from the beginning, which we have heard. Now, I've heard some messages,
I've heard some preaching. You have too. You've heard some
preachers. You've heard some powerful messages.
They heard Christ speak. Stan, they heard Christ speak. God in the flesh speak. John, they heard God speak. One of them said to him, a John
like you. John. God spoke his name, John. He
said, we heard that. We heard. We saw him with our
eyes. The old saying is, you have to
see it to believe it. We saw it, still didn't believe
it. The things we saw, we still can't believe. We've seen with our eye, we've
looked upon. How much time do you reckon they
spent like this? I talked about you all, about
us, how we look looking at television. Think how they must—you ever
seen a kid when he's at an amusement park or something? Think what those grown men must—just
every time they turned around, Christ was doing something. You know what? He'd get up and
tell Ocean, hush! Walk on the water! Raise the
dead! They just walked around in a
continual state of glory. Isn't that a joke? And so John's
going to write about it. And John says, Shook old Joe's hand a while
ago, his calloused, hard-working hands I love. Love that man. Those hands are part of him.
Don't you love to hold his hand? I know one lady who really loved
to hold his hand. Our Lord. Those hands. He said, when he arose from the
grave, they couldn't believe it was him. Touch me. To the. My hands. Said Thomas, reach here to your
hand. Here, Tom. Here, shake my hand. We handled it. What are those hands? What do
you reckon those hands felt like, Joe? Big scars in them. hands, lovely hands. He said,
our hands have handled the word of life. Read on, the life was
manifested. We've seen it, the life. This is how it describes this
person, the life. We bear witness and show unto
you that eternal life, that eternal life. You see, heaven's not a
thing, it's a person. It's not a place, it's where
He is. which was with the Father, and manifest unto us that which
we have seen and heard, and we declare unto you," he says, that
you also may have fellowship. Sherry, you're going to touch
those same hands. He's going to put that arm around
you. He's got arms. I don't care what these fellows
say. He's got arms. He's going to put them around
you, Sherry Emerson. Come here, honey. that you may have fellowship
with us, truly our fellowship with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. And these things right we unto
you, that your joy may be full." Your joy may be full. Isn't that
glorious? That is glorious. Jesus Christ
is real. He is real. Back to the text
in closing, okay? 2 Peter 1, back there in closing. He's real. And he is really, and by experience, he is the
life of every believer. That's what Colossians said,
who in Christ our life shall appear. Our life. This separates
the truth from the false. He really is the life of every
believer. And it starts by degrees. It's
not perfect. You don't have an all-consuming
desire at first, I don't think, really. I really don't think
so. I think it grows. You grow in grace, the scripture
says, and in knowledge of his person. And to know him more
is to love him more. But it's there by degree at first. A young believer is taken with
him at first. It's like marriage. I thought
I loved my wife at first. Y'all know what I'm talking about.
I thought I loved her at first when we first got married. I
did. Much of it was infatuation though, wasn't it, at first.
She thought she loved me, you know. But it had to be infatuation
because she really didn't know me. Had she known me, she wouldn't
have loved me. And Christ, you know, we become
enamored with and taken with it when we first hear of it.
But the more you grow in grace and the knowledge of Him and
see of Him, His glory, the excellencies of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, the unsearchable riches, the more you search out the unsearchable, the more you fall in love with
Him, the more you've got to have Him, the more you say, I can't
wait to see Him. I can't wait to see Him. Well,
how are we going to see? How are we going to be granted
interest? It says there in verse one, you have obtained like precious
faith through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. Through his righteousness, through
his faithfulness, that's how. Verse three says it's according
to his divine power. He's given unto us all things.
Given? Yeah, given. Grace, that's it. Here we go
again. Same old, same old, hodja. Grace
and peace. Peter's saying it now. These
fellows are one-string fiddle players, aren't they? Don't these
apostles know nothing else? There is nothing else. By grace,
he said. Paul was in the habit of repeating
himself, wasn't he? He said in Ephesians 2, By grace,
you say. One or two verses later, he said,
By grace, you say. It's a broken record. Well, this
is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this
life's in His Son. Verse four, he says, a precious
promises, great promises. Whose promises? Our promises? His promises. He'll keep them. He'll never leave them. He'll
never leave. He's not slack concerning his
promises, as some men count slackness. Like a man who married a woman
says, I'm going off to find us a place to live. Now going off
to build us our home of our dreams, I'll come back to get you. Now
he's just a man, and he might die on the way, and he might
not come back. He might find somebody better
than you, but not this man. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go, I'll come again. to receive you to myself. I go to prepare a place for you,
and when it's done, when this whole thing, everything concerning
you is fulfilled in the fullness of time, I'm coming back to get
you." Well, where is he? Where is he? Where is the promise
of his coming? Well, he's not slack concerning his promise.
He's coming back in the fullness of time when he says it's time
to get her and gather the chariots. I'm going to get my bride. And this is where absence makes
the heart grow fonder. Great promises. You have his
word on it. So verse 10 says, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. Watch, wait, trust. Take him at his word. As a faithful
bride, wait on him. Wait on him. Don't be married
to anybody else. You remember that article a couple
weeks ago? on a true believer, a Christian. What is a Christian?
It's in the name. It's one who's married to this
person. They ain't running around with other people. They're not
seeking other things. They don't go a-whoring. They're
married to a person, in love with a person. And he's gone,
and they're waiting on him. I remember the story of Lou Gehrig.
Do you remember Lou Gehrig? Some of you do. Joe, you remember. Lou Gehrig died of what they
call now Lou Gehrig's disease. And he was only 30-some years
old when he died in his prime. A great baseball player. You
remember him, don't you, Charles? Lou Gehrig. Well, his wife. They married when they were about
in their early teens. About like you and Gladys Williams.
She was, what, ten when you got married? Close enough, wasn't
it? They've been married now 400
years. Well, Lou Gehrig and his wife,
they married at an early age. They were just lovers, inseparable
lovers. And he died at 30-some years
old. And later on, they interviewed
her. She was 80-some years old, 85 years old. She was a widow
for 50 years. And they said, Why didn't you
ever remarry? She said, How could you when
you've had the past? And that's a Christian. That's
a believer waiting on the Lord, waiting. And he's going to grant
you an entrance into his heaven, coming back to get you. And it
says an abundant entrance. Like I said, a glorious processional. into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In closing, I've got
to read this. Would you let me, would you read
it with me? 1 Kings. 1 Kings. You know the account
of when Sheba went to see Solomon? You'd like to read that, wouldn't
you? Sure you would. 1 Kings chapter... Where is this? First chapter
ten in closing. First Kings ten. And this is
the way it's going to be with us people. Just like this. Just
like this. I was telling one of the brethren,
I believe this is the reason Solomon was as rich as he was,
was as glorious as he was, had as many wives as he did, because
he's such a picture of Christ. Look at it. It said in verse
two that Verse one, let's read, Queen of Sheba heard of the fame
of Solomon. She came to prove him with hard
questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great train of spices.
She came to Solomon. She communed with him of all
that was in her heart. Solomon told her all her questions.
There's not anything hid from the king which she told her not. And this is beautiful. When the
Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, The house that he had
built, the meat of his table, the meat of his table. Back in
chapter four it says, one day's provision for Solomon's table.
One day, one table to spread on his table. It took 38,880
pounds of meal, 19,440 pounds of flour, 10 oxen, oxen of the pasture, a hundred
sheep, hearts, or deer, roebucks, fallow deer, and fatted owls."
Fatted fowl, one day. When she saw that spread, she
saw all of that, the meat of his table, the sitting of his
servants, everybody sitting around The attendance of his ministers,
those glorious ones that ministered to him, his butler, his servant,
the angel, and their apparel, these shining ones, and his cupbearers,
the apostles, the prophets, and his ascent by which he went up
unto the house of the Lord, went up and sat on the throne. dignity such as she'd never seen
before. She said, there's no more spirit
in her. Her mouth was open. She
thought she was somebody because she came to see Solomon. And
she said to the king, verse six, it was true. The report, everything
I heard was true in my own land. Thy acts, what you've done, and
your wisdom, how be it? I believed not the words until
I came, and my ears heard, and now my eyes see. Behold, the
half was not told. Your wisdom and prosperity exceeded
the fame which I heard. Happy are the men, happy are
thy servants, which Stand continually before thee, and adhere thy wisdom."
And that's going to be us. We're going to be one of those.
We're going to be one of those, greater than Solomon. I think
his table was spread. Looked like a poor house. A mere
pit. Scraps. His clothing would be rags. So an abundant entrance should
be ministered unto you, an everlasting kingdom. You want to go there?
See the king with me? Oh, who will come and go with
me? All right, let's sing another
song. Number five hundred and nine.
Five hundred and nine. Five hundred and nine. This is
a good one. The last verse particularly.
The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face.
I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace. Let's just
sing that last verse and close it, OK? Stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that
you would be pleased according to your will and your
good pleasure, that you would grant us, every person in this
room tonight, an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And we'll give you all
the glory throughout eternity. In Christ's name we ask. Amen. You're dismissed.