When I sat down to begin work
this morning, I did something I don't commonly do. I decided
to open my e-mail before doing anything else. And the first
thing I got was the New Focus magazine for the month of April.
And I started to read the magazine. And the second article was an
article that I had written some time ago about going home. I just don't read my own writing.
I never have. I don't find much point in it.
And I didn't read that, but it set my mind thinking in an entirely
different direction than I had planned for the day. And I believed
by the direction of God. I laid aside what I'd been studying
and turned to Revelation chapter 22. Open your Bibles to this
last chapter in the book of God. And as God the Holy Spirit will
enable me, I want to talk to you, I hope both from his word
and from my heart to your heart about heaven. Heaven. Our home. Heaven. There is a place prepared by
God, provided by our God for all his sons and daughters called
our heavenly inheritance, called our portion, a place called heaven,
which God will give to every sinner who trust his son. A place God will bring every
redeemed sinner, chosen in everlasting love, called by his free grace,
every sinner who trusts the Lord Jesus. I want to see you seated
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob around the throne of God in the
kingdom of God. And I'm anxious to join my brothers
and sisters seated with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob around the throne
of God in the kingdom of God. We express and put ourselves
through far too much pain in the face of death as believers. We've put ourselves through far
too much pain, watching one another die in expressions of sorrow,
as if we wished it didn't happen. The fact is, you and I soon must
go to our long home. And if we are believers, it shall
be a more blessed home, a more blessed existence, A more blessed
life than we can ever imagine while we live on this earth.
More blessed than we can ever imagine while we live on this
earth. I recall years ago when I was
just a young man, Brother Mahan told me about going into the
auditorium one Sunday night early. and saw one of the old men in
the congregation sitting about halfway back where he normally
did. The man had gotten there early. Brother Mahan said, I
just walked over, sat down, we started talking. I asked him
how he was doing. He said, Brother Mahan, I've
been sitting here thinking. He said, what you thinking about?
He said, I've been thinking that we have everything just backwards.
He said, when a newborn baby is born into this world, We rejoice
and get all happy and excited at the prospect of it and all
happy and excited when it takes place. And when an old man gets
sick and his body wears out and he's about to leave this world
and finally does, we cry and sob and are very sorrowful. He
said we ought to weep when the baby is born into this veil of
tears and rejoice when the old man leaves. and he had a great
deal that was just right. Soon we shall leave this veil
of tears and enter into heaven. Have you found my text? Revelation
22 and verse 1. I can't say much about this because
it does not yet appear what we shall be, but I want to show
you some things I know. Revelation 22 verse 1. He showed
me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of
the street of it, and on either side of the river, there was
the tree of life, which bared twelve manner of fruits, and
yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nation. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His face,
and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be
no night there, no darkness. And they need no candle, need
the light of the sun. For the Lord God giveth them
light, and they shall reign forever and ever. And he said unto me,
These things are faithful and true. These things are faithful
and true. And the Lord God of the holy
prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things
which must shortly be. When the Lord God has finished
all that he purposed, when he has finished all that he ordained,
all that he predestined before the world was, when God has finished
all things exactly according to his eternal decree, all the
ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. You and I who are gods shall
enter into heaven triumphantly." Isn't that hard to imagine? As a people completely worthy
to enter into that great city. We shall enter in with songs
of praise in our hearts and everlasting gladness on our heads. Let's look at Revelation 21.
I may show you five or six things, and I'll be done quickly. First, here is God's requirement
if we would enter into heaven. If you would enter into heaven,
you must meet the requirements of God to enter the celestial
city. If I am to enter into heaven,
I must meet God's requirements. Revelation 21, verse 27. There
shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. but they which
are written in the Lamb's book of life. Look at chapter 22,
verse 11. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him
be filthy still. No changes after you leave this
world. No changes at judgment. No changes at the resurrection.
And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he
that is holy, let him be holy still. That means, Charlie, if you and
I enter glory, we must be among those chosen of God from eternity,
whose names were written in the Lamb's book of life before the
world began. We must be numbered among God's
elect, and we must be sinless. People without any defilement,
without any sin, without any abomination, without any deceit,
without any corruption. That means we must be a people
whose sins have been put away by the redeeming blood of God's
darling Son. And we must be righteous, perfectly
in agreement with and perfectly accepted by and perfectly measuring
up to all that God requires in His holy law. And we must be
holy. We must not only have a clean
record, we must have a holy nature. We must be born again by God
the Holy Spirit. And here's the wonder of this. In Christ, Christ. We who are gods are worthy
of heavenly glory. I couldn't imagine that, let
alone say it, if it weren't written in the book of God. Colossians
chapter 1 verse 12, our God has made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of his saints in life. Second, let me give
you just a brief description of heaven. You ever try to think
about it? People think lots of things,
you know, streets of gold and gates of pearl and all those
things. And while the scriptures use language like that to describe
heaven, don't ever imagine that those words are to be taken as
representing literal gates of pearl. literal streets of gold. The pearls and the gold will
be so meaningless to us in the next world that it's all right
to walk on it like dirt on the streets. That's not the reason the book
describes heaven as being a place with gates of pearl and streets
of gold because it's such wealth there. No, no. The wealth of
heaven's glory. cannot be measured in terms of
jewels and minerals and physical wealth. Heaven is described for
us as a place of rest. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. And yet we're told in Revelation
4 that those who are gathered around the throne rest not, neither
by day nor by night. so that heaven is a place of
rest with unceasing, unceasing service. A place of rest where
there is no rest. We rest from our labors, and
we rest from our sorrows, and we rest from our trials. But
in that world which is to come, we serve our God perfectly day
and night. I frankly don't have an idea. I don't have an idea what's going
to happen when our Lord makes all things new. But when he's
made all things new, we will serve our God in what's described
in the scriptures as a new heaven and a new earth. And I'll tell you what I think.
This is what I think. I think life in eternity will
be very much like life as it now is with all sin removed. And everything connected with
sin removed. God's people serving God as God
made man to serve Him without sin perfectly. Walking before
God in life serving Him. Heaven is a place where the soul
is satisfied and yet never satisfied. The psalmist says, and we say
with him, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy lightness. There we will see God in Christ. What satisfaction? But we will
want always to see more. We will know even as we are known,
but we will continually be made to know more. We will never become
infinite. We will never become God. We
will be forever growing in the knowledge of God our Savior. We will embrace Him. Always embrace
Him, but long to embrace Him more. We'll feed on him, as we
read in our text, and yet want to feed him more. In heaven,
there will be both satisfaction and hunger. Oh, I'm talking about
things that are mysteries we can't begin to comprehend. We
know far, far, far less about heaven than any of us imagines. I hath not seen, neither hath
ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. Heaven is a place
where peace and joy and love eternally flow into our souls. Unceasingly being filled with
the fullness of God and admiration and praise and love eternally
flow out of our hearts to our God. What is heaven? Think for a minute
of its enjoyment and the employment of God's saints
there. In heaven, we will constantly
admire our God. Constantly praise Him. I'm not talking about the silly
religious nonsense people talk about. I'm not talking about
standing around clapping your hands all the time and shouting
amen all the time. I'm talking about living in constant admiration
of God. With constant praise flowing
from our hearts to God. Constantly enjoy Him. loving him with no interruption,
constantly gazing upon him, our eyes, our hearts, our minds fixed
upon God, our Redeemer, our incarnate God and Savior, the Lamb who
died, the Lion who reigns, God who is and was and is to come. There's not one eye there that's
not fixed on the Redeemer, not one movement of the tongue that
doesn't commend him. Not one step of the foot that's
not following him. Not one hand is stirred that's
not occupied with him. Not one thought that's not filled
with him. Not one desire that's not taken
up with him. Pastor, what about the multitudes
of the saints who are there? We will sit down with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, his kingdom. Knowing one another, enjoying
one another, loving one another, but loving Christ is loving them. Extolling Christ is their joy. Speaking about what Christ has
done is their mutual delight. What makes heaven such a blessed,
blessed, blessed place? What makes it so sweet? Turn
back to chapter 7, let me show you. Verse 13, that which makes heaven so sweet
among the redeemed in glory. That which causes Job today to be satisfied in the presence
of his Redeemer. That which causes Lot today to
sing praise to God his Savior. That which gives joy to Peter
and James and John and that which shall give joy to us, far greater
joy than we could ever otherwise have known in heaven's glory
is the redemption of our souls, the salvation of our souls by
the grace of our God and the blood of his darling son. Revelation
7 verse 13, one of the elders answered crying and saying to
me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? He sees
all these Saints These many women raiding white robes. What are
these? and I said and And which came
they and I said unto him sir thou knowest and he said unto
me these are they Which came out of great tribulation? Great
tribulation I Think brother Allen Suggested this to me a few weeks
ago, and I think he's got something. I think was brother Alan that
great tribulation Talk about the conviction of sin. Did you
suggest that? Something to do with the conviction
of sin believers Are troubled greatly about what they are Delivered
from what they are and they come out of great tribulation and
when they had done so they washed their robes and made them white
and in the blood of the Lamb. 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. They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall
the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them unto
living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Look at chapter 14, Revelation
14. I looked, and lo, a lamb stood
on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand,
having his father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard
a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice
of a great thunder, And I heard the voice of harpers harping
with their harps, and they sung as it were a new song before
the throne, and before the four beasts and the elders. And no
man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four
thousand which were redeemed from the earth. No, not the angels of God, no,
not the damned in hell, but only the multitude of God's elect
who were redeemed These are they, watch it, these are they which
were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. What's he talking about? What's
he talking about? These 144,000 never, never, never,
never, were defiled. We sometimes say, just as if
I'd never sinned. That's not it. That's not it.
God declares we haven't. God declares we haven't. These
are virgins, chaste and pure. These are they which follow the
Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among
men. the firstfruits of God unto God and to the Lamb. And in their
mouth was found no guile. Children that shall not lie.
An Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. Those who have not
spoken a lie with their lips. What? No guile. These are new
creatures in Christ Jesus. For they are without fault before
the throne of God. No wonder we read in verse 13,
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Look at chapter
21, Revelation 21, verse 1. 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. My
dear friend, Brother Sid Buggins, The year before last when we
met in England, just before we left, he said to me, he said,
he said, in the new world, there'll be no more sea. He said, seas
are things that separate folks. No more sea. Nothing more to
separate us at all in any way from one another. And I saw the
holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This New Jerusalem
is not a literal city. This is the church of God. This
is the bride of Christ. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them and be their God. God shall
wipe away all tears. What a statement. All tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat
upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he
said unto me, write, for these words are true and faithful.
And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give to him that is a
thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son. Now, look at verse 22. I saw no temple therein, for
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And
the city had no need of the sun, neither the moon to shine in
it. For the glory of God did lighten
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them
which are saved shall walk in the light of it. That is, God's
elect out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue walk in the
light of it. And the kings of the earth do bring their glory
and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not
be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. And
they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
And there shall no wise enter into it anything that defileth,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which
are written in the Lamb's book of life. What a great sight John
saw. And as he describes it for us,
it is as if the three persons of the Godhead are saying to
us, come up here to where we are. and all the angels of God
and all the redeemed say, come up hither so that we ought always
to have our hearts set heavenward. What is it that makes heaven
so delightful, so blessed? It is the mediator, Christ Jesus. They shall see his face. Oh, what will the bride's thoughts
be when Christ first takes her in his arms. What will it be to first see Him and embrace Him Oh, what mind can imagine the
bliss awaiting us? Andrew Gray once said to his
congregation, Gray was a preacher in the 1600s, died as a young
man, went to glory young. What shall be your thoughts when
Christ shall take you in his arms? If ever he will take you,
I think we shall fall apart. we shall fall apart. That's a
pretty good description. Now, I have some questions. Shall this tongue that has offended so much, this tongue that has blasphemed
so much, This tongue that has communicated so much evil, speak the perfect praises of
my Redeemer. Yes, this very tongue. This body, soul, and corruption
shall be raised in incorruption. These eyes that have taken in
so much wickedness upon which my heart has set itself. Shall
these eyes see him face to face? Yes, these very eyes. Shall these
hands, the instruments of so much evil, these very hands, shall these
hands take the crown off my head that he puts on it and cast it
at his feet and say you're worth it. Yes, these very hands. Shall
these feet who have followed every path of evil known to man,
shall these feet in heaven's glory follow the Lamb whithersoever
he goeth? Yes, these very feet. Shall this
heart This cold, hard, deceitful heart. The house of so many idols. The birthplace of so much iniquity.
Be made the unrivaled dwelling place of God my Savior. Yes. This heart. With this heart. Oh, what a prospect is before
us. What a pleasant day that will
be when faith and hope yield themselves to love and sight
in perfection. Here we live in faith and hope.
There, all love and sight. Faith and hope fight the battle. Love and sight will divide the
spoils. Faith and hope embrace Christ
as through a veil, but love and sight will embrace him face to
face. Soon we will leave faith and
hope behind, but love and sight will go on forever. But there are some struggles
I have. Struggles I have with regard
to heaven that I suspect most of you have. I have a constant struggle here
now with unbelief, hardness of heart, and indifference. Still, as soon as I entered the
gates of glory, I had this blessed prospect. All this unbelief, all this hardness,
all this indifference, all the spiritual ignorance that still
possesses me shall be completely gone instantly. Here I am often under a sense
of what the old writers used to call desertion. I often sense
that God has left me. I find an absent God, a hidden
Christ, a quenched spirit. Often, more often than not, I can't even speak to God in
prayer. I try, but I can't find him. But still, there's comfort for
my soul. There's no desertion in heaven.
There's a day soon coming when I will no longer cry, how long,
O Lord, wilt thou hide thy face from me? In heaven's glory, I
will never again I find it hard to speak to God. You struggle
with that, Bobbie? I do. I have another struggle. I must
acknowledge it. I don't want to pretend that
things are different with me than they really are. I sometimes
struggle and struggle hard with assurance. Folks say it ought not happen,
and I recognize that. I suspect that the struggle itself
is hardly evil. I know it is. But I sometimes
question whether I'll go home to heaven with Christ when I
leave this world or perish in hell. I often say with Newton,
"'Tis a point I long to know." Often it causes anxious thought.
Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his or am I not? He said, Pastor, not you. Oh
yeah, yeah. I know I shouldn't have such
struggles, but I do. And I know they're real. I have terribly painful questions
concerning the reality of my faith. Oh, how I long to trust Christ
perfectly, completely, without a doubt, without unbelief, without
fear. But even in this regard, God
gives me great consolation and hope. You see, it is not the
measure of my faith that is my assurance and my security. It is not the strength of my
faith that is my assurance and my security. It is the object
of my faith, Christ my Redeemer. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you. Years ago, this happened to us. Shelby and I got on a
plane over here in Lexington, and there was a young lady, I
guess she was probably half our age, maybe a little older, who
got on the plane with us. She had never flown before. And
she was obviously terrified, just terrified at flying. And she told Shelby she was scared
to death. And when they cranked the engine up, you could see
her just shake visibly, visibly. And when they started down the
runway, she reached back and grabbed Shelby's hand and squeezed.
I thought she was going to break every bone in her hand. Just
squeezed it as tight as she could squeeze it. She was terrified. And then we got up and flying
about 35,000 feet, and she was just fine. Everything's smooth,
no bounces, everything's fine. And then we started to come down.
It was worse coming down than it was going up. She reached
back and grabbed her head and squeezed as tight as she could.
There wasn't any reason for her to be any more afraid than there
was for her to be afraid. We were both on the same plane.
We were all on the same plane. but she had no sense of confidence
at all that we were going to get where we were going. She
wouldn't bother. I wouldn't bother. Most people
on the plane weren't bothered, but she was. The safety of the
passengers was not in her gripping her hand or gripping the seat
real tight, like holding on to that seat's going to keep you
from getting hurt. No, no. The safety in the passengers
is the safety of the plane. and the safety of our souls is
not our hold on Christ. It is Christ's hold on us. Do you understand that? It is
not our grip of Him by faith, but His grip of us by His grace. I have another painful struggle. My love for Christ is so horribly
little that I often fear I have not. I know people misunderstand things. I say, I'm not reproving you. Please understand this. I'm not
reproving anybody for singing, my Jesus, I love thee, I know
thou art mine. But I can't sing about my love
for him. I just can't do it. I weep over
my love for Him. My love for Him. Who can call this love? This
coldness, this indifference, this callousness of my heart. Oh, don't you love the Savior?
Oh, yes, we love Him because He first loved us. And when the Savior ask, lovest
thou me? I reply with Peter, Lord, thou
knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Thank God he knows all things. Not just what I do, all things. He knows all that he has done
for me, and all he has done in me, and all he shall do with
me. Soon, soon. I will love him. I will. You hear that? I will love him. Don Fortner will soon love the
Son of God as he ought to be loved. While I'm here, I can't prevail
over the idols. Oh, the idols. The idols. The idols. The idols. That constantly
rival Christ in my heart. The idols. There's one. Those over there in Lexington.
Sometimes even you. the idols that rival the Son
of God. Soon, there'll be no rival. No rival left in me for my Savior,
but He loved and adored as God my Savior. Those are struggles I have, but
as for me, in the teeth of all those things
as for me this is my joy I will behold
thy face in righteousness and I shall be satisfied I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness And I pray, God my Savior, let
me not be satisfied until I awake with Thy likeness. Amen.