be speaking from this portion
of Scripture this morning and again this evening. Revelation chapter 22, here's
my subject, The Greatest Joy of Heaven. The Greatest Joy of
Heaven. I have often been asked creature,
what can you tell me about heaven? Well, I know this, it's a very
special place for a very special people. The Lord has his people that
he himself chose out before he made the world. people from every
nation, kindred, country, land. To them he gave grace in Christ
Jesus and he appointed them to everlasting glory and happiness. It was for these people that
Christ Jesus came into the world and he has secured the redemption
of these folks. He bought us from divine injustice
that held us for ransom. And he died to save us and did
save us by his death. And he who died for us arose
and ever lives to make intercession for us. And sometime during our
like a special people, God's people, the Lord's sheep. He sends the Spirit of God their
way who accompanies the gospel. That's the voice of the Lord,
the gospel, the good news of redemption finished by Christ
Jesus. The Spirit of God sends the gospel
to us and He wakes us up from a sleep of death. And when our eyes are open, we
behold something of the glories of God. And in the light of His... Our depravity. And then the Spirit
of God shows us Christ Jesus. And we run to Him for life. We run to Him for salvation and
for all the things that we need. And everything we need in Him
we find, this Lamb of God. God's people are special people. And heaven is a special place
that God has made for these special people. What is heaven? It's the abode of God. It's where
God rules and reigns. That God said, heaven, he said,
is my throne. Earth is my footstool. Heaven is where Christ Jesus
is, where He has Himself taken His seat at the right hand of
God. Having fully accomplished our
salvation, He's been rewarded with everlasting dominion and
sovereignty. It will be our delight, the delight
of all of God's people, to someday enter this fair land, and we'll
be there forever. We'll be there to worship, we'll
be there to honor God, to dwell with the King, and that will
be throughout the endless ages of eternity. place itself, that special place. I can't imagine the beauty and
the grandeur and the glory of it. Many have endeavored to describe
the wonders of heaven, but no tongue can tell, no pen can write
of the things that await the children of the king. I know that heaven is magnificent. It must be because it is the
dwelling place of God. It is a glorious, prepared place
for all of God's covenant people. It is the home to which we're
going. The Bible says several things
about heaven. It is said, first of all, to
be the inheritance of the children of God. We're God's children. We've always been His children.
Understand this, the Lord's people have never been the children
of the evil one. We've been children of God and
because we are children of God, The Lord has sent forth His Spirit
into our hearts, who leads us to call upon God and say, Abba,
Father. But this heaven is our inheritance. That's what awaits us. You know,
a parent, a father, he leaves a will and he has an inheritance
for his children, which is divided among the children. In Old Testament
times, and New Testament as well, back in those days, very firstborn
of the family. He had a double inheritance.
You know, all of God's people are said to be the firstborn
of God, as though we're receiving a double inheritance. And we
all receive equal. It isn't that one will receive
more than another. All of heaven awaits us. All
that God has in store for us awaits every child of God. And it isn't going to be divided
up on earth. If a man leaves, he makes out
his last will and testament, and he has so many who are to
inherit what he leaves behind, it's divided up. But God's vast
inheritance for us is not going to be divided up. We all receive
absolutely the fullness of the inheritance, and that includes
heaven itself. Heaven with all of its unspeakable
glories awaits us. That's our inheritance. That's
why Paul, you know, he wrote about, he said, talking about
being absent from this body means to be present with the Lord. And Peter said, blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible. and undefiled that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you, for you who are kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. Heaven is our inheritance. Our Father has bequeathed that
to us. It may be in this world that
a man can write out his last will and testament and he decides
what the inheritance is going to be for his children. It may
be that some circumstances might arise that prevents them from
getting their inheritance. But that'll never happen with
the children of God. All of us shall receive a full
portion of the wonders and glories of
heaven. Heaven is, secondly, the promised
land of the people of God, the Israel of God. We're the true
Israel of God. We've been redeemed by purchase
and by power. Just like Israel of old was redeemed
from Egyptian bondage by purchase and by power, by blood and with
the mighty arm of God. We've been redeemed. We've been
redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus, which Peter says,
the precious blood of Christ. And we've been redeemed by power
as well. It's the Spirit of God who's
put forth His omnipotence. His omnipotence in defeating,
in defeating all of those that were against us and giving us
life. Who can give life but God Himself? We're the true Israel of God. And our Lord is leading us through
this wilderness. This desert. This world is not
our home. We're just passing through. That's
why the songwriter said, our treasures are laid up somewhere
beyond the blue. Heaven awaits us. Our Lord Jesus,
thirdly, he calls it the Father's house. He said to his disciples,
in my Father's house are many mansions. or many dwelling places. He said, if they were not so,
I would have told you. You see, since heaven is the
Father's house and we're His children by adopting grace, that
means that's our house. You know what heaven is for the
people of God? It's our home. You remember reading in the book
of Ecclesiastes chapter 12 when That man, wise man Solomon, was
led to speak about death. He says, man goes to his, remember
what he said, long home. That's what he said. His long
home. That's what heaven is for the
people of God. It's our long home. That's where
we're gonna be a long time. How long? Forever. Forever. We're going home. We're going
home. This is not home. Our Lord Jesus
said to His disciples, you're not of this world. If you were
of this world, the world would love its own. You're not of this
world. You're of God. And we've been
born of God. We've not been born again by
the power of the world. The world is against the gospel. The world is against God's people. The world is against God Himself. We're not of the world, we're
of God. We're of God. This is not our
home. Our citizenship is in heaven. We're just making a journey.
Don't get too attached to things as you go through on the journey.
Can you imagine the people of Israel as they journeyed from
Egypt to the land of promise? as they went through maybe some
villages along the way, and they saw some sights maybe that they
thought, you know, this is really nice, and I'm sure Moses was
saying to them, don't get attached to these things, we're going
somewhere better than this. He said, we're going to a land
flowing with milk and honey. Oh, but look at this! And he
would say, No! There's something better! There's
something better awaits us! And that's the way we should
be as a people of God. We should always remember it.
Let's don't get too attached to the things along the way in
the journey. Don't get too absorbed in things
here. Don't lay hold to these possessions
that God temporarily puts into our hands. Don't be distracted. Remember, we're going home. This
is not our home. Whenever we've gone to Japan
to visit our son, and daughter-in-law and our granddaughter, Edlin.
We get over there, they speak a different language. Things
are different over there. And we don't pay too much attention. It's good to take a few snapshots,
you know, and you see those things. But that's not home. That's not
home. And you know, the whole time
we're there, we're sort of uncomfortable. Listen, this is not our home,
people of God. We speak a different language.
The world has a different language than we have. Our language is
the language of grace. Our language is the language
of redemption. Our language is the language
of God saved us. Our language is the language
of absolute sovereignty. God reigns, and the world doesn't
speak this language. They don't understand this language. Let's don't get too caught up
in things down here. And it's easy to do, isn't it? We go into the Father's house.
To the Father's house. And then this place called heaven,
it's known as paradise. We're going to paradise. You
know what paradise means? The word means a fenced-in garden. And I'll tell you something about
this. Look at the last verse of chapter
21. Chapter 21, verse 27. Look at these first few words
of chapter 21, verse 27, and there shall in no wise enter
in anything that defileth. Nothing's gonna enter in and
defile paradise. I'll have a little bit more to
say about paradise tonight, because tonight I'm preaching on this
subject, the paradise of God. That's what my subject is tonight.
And nothing's going to enter into this paradise that defiles
it. Because it's a fenced-in garden. It's the King's garden. Literally,
that's what paradise means. The King's garden. It's from
an old Persian word. The King's garden. And you know
what heaven is? Heaven is the King's garden.
Who is the King? Christ Jesus the Lord. He's the
King of kings and the Lord of lords. And this is where we're
going. To the King's garden. Now, how
lovely must that garden be if it's the king's garden? It's a paradise, the garden of
the king. Our Lord, when he was dying, he was still mighty to save,
and he saved a thief, and the thief having had a work of grace
done in his heart by the almighty Christ Jesus himself. That thief
said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And
the Lord Jesus said, today, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. You know what he was saying?
You're gonna be with me in my garden. You're gonna be with
me in my garden. And when the people of God, when
we leave this world, it's the king taking us home to his garden. That kind of takes some of the
sting of death away, doesn't it? We're going to the king's
garden. It's also called the heavenly
Jerusalem. Number five, it's called heaven,
it's called the heavenly Jerusalem. And Jerusalem means the city
of double peace. And I tell you, it is a city
of peace, double peace. No more warfare in that fair
land. Here we war. against the flesh. Scripture says the flesh and
the spirit war against each other, the old man and the new man. But that warfare is going to
come to an end at death and we'll enter into the heavenly Jerusalem,
the city of double peace. We'll enter into a city where
we'll have perfect peace with Him and without. You who are the people of God.
We know, you know and I know we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. But what about inward peace? Inward peace. Where your heart
and your spirit are not disturbed about anything. Is there ever a time you're not
disturbed or troubled or anxious about something? We only know a little bit of
inward peace. But I'm telling you, there's
coming a day when we are into the heavenly Jerusalem, that
city of double peace. We'll have peace without, and
bless the name of God, we'll have peace within. Peace within. It's called the kingdom of heaven.
Sixthly, in the last day, our Lord Jesus
will gather all people before him. And he'll say to his sheep,
come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. It's the kingdom of
heaven. The kingdom of heaven. and you
can't have a kingdom without a king. There's the glorious throne of
Christ Jesus. There he sits in his sovereign,
regal authority. There's the king. And all of
His attendants, the angels, they obey His every beck and call. Whatever He says, they obey. And His will is executed throughout
all of His dominion. It's a kingdom and there's the
King. And someday, all the King's children,
all of His brethren, will be with Him. When our Lord gathers us all
together and we stand in immortality, and we stand in bodies that can't
ever be corrupted by wickedness or sinfulness ever again, He
will then present us to the Father a glorious church, having neither
spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing. And he will say to the
father, behold, I am the children thou has given me. It's the kingdom of heaven. We're the children of the king. That makes us royal. No wonder we read in Revelation
chapter 1, He's made us kings and priests under God, or literally
a kingdom of priests under God. Heaven is also called the eternal
kingdom. For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly unto the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1 and 11. This is an eternal
kingdom. It's a kingdom that'll never
end. Can you possibly understand this? And I know your mind can't grasp
it, even as mine cannot, but we love to dwell upon this and
think about this. Heaven is forever! It's forever! Life in this world is very brief. In fact, James says, what is
your life? It's a vapor. You and I are just making a brief
appearance in this world. And though we may live many years
according to our calculations, ultimately it's very brief. And then we enter into a kingdom
that will be forever. It's called then heaven is called
also a better country. A better country. Like Abraham
of old, we look for a better city, a better country whose
builder and maker is God. It's better. Hebrews 11 verses
14 through 16. It's better than this world. It's infinitely better. Now, we have wonderful times
here. It can be very blessed down here,
especially when we're worshipping together. But can you possibly
think of and comprehend a land where it's going to be better?
And that will be forever. Things will never be bad. Sometimes
we ask, well, how are you doing today? I'm not doing too good.
Hey, when anybody asks you that in heaven's glory, how are you
doing? I'm doing wonderful. I'm doing wonderful. There won't
be any bad days in heaven. There won't be any pain in heaven.
There won't be any tears in heaven. And there won't be, here's the
big thing, there won't be any sin in heaven. And that's the
reason for all the troubles we have. It's a better country. It's a place where we won't have
any more effects from sin. And I'll tell you, it's a place
where we'll be exempt from all suffering. Some of the Lord's dear people
are suffering today. I'll tell you, first of all,
the Lord's people suffer on account of sin. It still breaks our hearts. Still feel the guilt of it. And
if we didn't know that our sins have been washed away and that
we're robed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus, that we're made
the righteousness of God in Him due to His bloody death upon
the cross of Calvary, if we didn't know that, we would be ashamed. As we thought about the fact,
our God sees us. Our God sees us. Oh, the mental anguish we sometimes
still have as we think about our sinfulness, the coldness of our hearts, the weakness of our faith. Our mouths, instead of being
used to glorify God, it's used in frivolous talk. The things
that our eyes see, the eyes of the witness of the soul, things
that we behold, things that we hear, the ungodliness, ungodly
things that we hear with our ears, and we have the guilt within,
we feel miserable, we suffer within, we suffer over our own
sinfulness. Heaven's a place where all sufferings
will be in the past. No more weeping there. No more
broken-hearted confessions to God. Oh God, I have failed miserably
again. How many times have we prayed
something like that? Oh God, forgive me. Oh God, forgive
me. And then some of God's people
suffer physically. I know some of the people of
God, every day of their lives, filled with suffering physically.
Not temporary suffering, but they just suffer all the time. That's going to end. No sickness
there. No disease there. No physical
pain in that fair land. The apostle wrote, continuing
that in the chapter five, Ron read to us from chapter four
of 2 Corinthians, Paul continued, for we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God and a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, in this
tabernacle we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house, which is from heaven. If so, being clothed, we shall
not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan. You know something about that?
We do groan, being burdened, being burdened. Not for that
we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be
swallowed up in life. We groan. One of these days,
groaning's gonna be over. Now we blush at the thoughts
of our own sinfulness. We say like David, my sin is
ever before me. Oh God, I'm thankful these people
can't see my thoughts. Oh God, I'm so glad that people
can't see my imagination. And we blush. We blush with shame. But in heaven, no more blushing. No more blushing. Former things
will be passed away. And heaven will be delivered
from all evil. No more evil nature. and will be delivered from a
world of wickedness. Paul says in 2 Timothy 4.18,
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil, that is, every
evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom. My own wickedness troubles me. But I'll tell you something else
that troubles me. The vileness of this world. My goodness. Things that used to be never
spoken about. Now it's common talk. The filth. The rottenness. The ungodliness throughout this
world. Which makes a moral person to be embarrassed by all that
they hear and all that they see. But heaven will be a place free
from evil. And heaven will be a place of
bliss without end. I wouldn't take anything away
from anything I've said, but however, though I have spoken
you the truth about heaven, I've not yet spoken to you about the
greatest joy of heaven. And that's found in verse four. The first phrase, Revelation
22, four, and they shall see His face. That's the cream of
heaven. If I could say it this way, that's
the heaven of heaven. That's the greatest joy of heaven. It's the most wonderful thing
about heaven. To see His face. The hymn writer said, when by
His grace I shall look on His face. That, that will be glory. Glory for me. You see, that's what heaven is
all about, really. And I take nothing away from
all the other things that I've said, because they all came from
the Scriptures, but this is really what heaven is all about. worshipping,
seeing, honoring the Lamb of God forever and ever. And I would say to you who are
the people of God, a good many of you, I would say to you, may God enable
you to forget your earthly troubles for a little bit. Let your difficulties and your
burdens be pushed aside for a little while. And think of the everlasting
joy that awaits you in this land to which we're going. The land about which God has
said much in his word, and this is the God who cannot lie, and
think about this. you're going to see the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses said, Lord, Lord, show
me your glory. You know what the Lord said? No man can see my face and live. No mortal man can lay eyes on
God in His glory. But an immortal man can. And that's what we're going to
be. Immortal, incorruptible. We shall see Him as He is. That's how I began the service
in reading from 1 John 3. We shall see him as he is, not
as he was. It was glorious to see him as
he was, I'm sure. When Mary and Joseph, when they
looked into the face of that infant, they must have thought right
out of Song of Solomon, thou art fairer than the children
of men. As Mary held that little infant
close to her bosom, she must have thought, this is the desire
of all nations in my arms. And she looked into that sweet
little face. The only baby that's been truly
innocent. That's right. Because our babies
born into this world, they're born with the nature of sin.
But not that baby. Not that baby. That baby is destined
to live and die to save His people from their sins. And how glorious
it must have been to look into that sweet little face. What must it have been like to
have seen His face as a man? when he wept as he wept at the
tomb of Lazarus? What must it have been like to
see that face when he smiled? His sinless smile. Such as recorded in Matthew 11,
Jesus rejoiced in spirit. As he thought about this, thou
hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and
revealed them unto babes, and he just smiled. A joy filled
his heart. That holy face. And then remember, this is the
face of the one who was slapped, beaten, beard plucked out, That holy
face. The face of God. That's the face
of God. Listen to me. All of God you
will ever see with your eyes is the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And men pulled out the beard
of the Son of God. They spat in His face. That face. That face of the Lord
of glory. who entered into this world for
one reason. He said, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. What is the will of God? The
will of redemption. The will of salvation. That's
why he came. And look what he got for his
troubles. Men cleared their throats and spit in his holy face. They slapped, they blindfolded
him and slapped him and said, all right, you're a prophet.
Who did it? Who did it? Oh, the vileness
of men. Why did he die? He died to save
his people from their sins. He died that God might be just
and justify folks just like you. And just like me. And then I recall how Joseph
and Nicodemus and the women took his body down from the cross,
prepared it for burial. They looked into the face of
the Son of God. Absolutely still. Lifeless. Pale. Silent. in death. His holy soul had left
that tabernacle for a while. And he was presenting himself
before the Father above and bringing home right behind him a trophy
of his grace. That thief. And just as surely
as he took him home, He gonna take us home someday. As it were, coming to take us
by the hand and say it's time to come home. Lord, here I come. Here I come! And the gates of heaven gonna
open up for all of His children. And He awaits us. John saw His face. He saw His
face in Revelation chapter 1. His face was as the brightness
of the sunshine. You look up into the sun when
it's shining, you can't even look, you just kind of squint.
You feel the warmth of it. What must it be like to look
into the face of the Son of Righteousness? and to be able to dwell there,
huh? We'll be able to stay there. Peter, James, and John on the
Mount of Transfiguration, they saw his glory brighter than the
noonday sun. And then he covered it up. He
covered up his glory. Well, them fellas, they couldn't
hardly stand it. But we're going to stand in his
glory. See His face, basking in the
wonders of His love, and we'll be there forever and ever. David said, when he was talking
about heaven, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? He's the one we want to see. Oh, to be sure when we get to
heaven there's going to be Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and just
go down through the line. The apostles will be there, the
prophets before them, the apostles, the martyrs, folks with whom we've worshiped, people we've sat beside, husbands,
wives, children, Fathers, mothers who died in Christ Jesus, they'll
be there. But it's not their faces that
we long to see. It's His face. The face of the
Son of God. The One who loved us and gave
Himself for us. Not long ago, I was reading.
These men were talking about when they died, they were talking
about going to heaven. They wanted to skip from star
to star and gaze upon the wonders of God's creation. Well, I'll tell you, he's going
to make a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. I tell you, things are magnificent
now, even though marred by wickedness. What's it going to be like when
every blight of man's iniquity has been taken away? Sin has
been done away with? Everything's going to be beautiful,
but we're not going to be interested in creation. We'll be interested
in the Creator. This One who made all things
for us. And for His pleasure, we're going to see Him. You see, heaven is a place of
worship. It's a place of worship. And at the Lord's bidding, we're going to see Him. Whenever he prays that prayer
for us of John 17, 24. Father, I will. That those whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. When he prays that prayer for
each of us, that's when we'll see his glory. Not a day to be feared. Not a
day to be dreaded. Nowhere in the Scriptures do
you find any writer or any believer ever dreading, dreading to see
the Lord of Glory. They're filled with excitement,
with great anticipation. We shall see Him as He is. This
was Job's hope. He said, in my flesh. He said,
I'm dying, I know I'm dying. He said, worms gonna devour this
body, but I know this, in my flesh, I shall see God and I'll
see him for myself. Now, to be sure, I'll give this
in closing. Everybody's gonna see his face.
The whole world. all of the universe. Everybody
who's ever lived is going to see His face. It's going to be
some people, many people, multitudes of people. Their attitude is
going to be, I don't want to see His face. Rocks and mountains
fall on me and hide me from the face of the Lamb and His wrath. Is that gonna be you? Is that gonna be you? Oh, may
God do something in your heart. Bring you to Christ Jesus. But
for the rest of us, for the rest of us, we want to see him. I long to see him. Be with him. Enjoy his presence. Can't even begin to imagine how
wonderful it's going to be. They shall see his face. Well, it seems only fitting we
all sing