Three years ago, actually two
years ago, when Shelby and I went to England for the first time
in over 20 years, about halfway through the trip at a place called
Wiverhampton, we met a couple, Jim and Eileen Goff. And Jim
was an elder in the West Park Church there. I'd never heard
of him, but he had requested that we come there and had arranged
for me to preach at the church one night, and we stayed in their
home and got to be just really good friends. Brother Sid Buggins,
who was also in the West Park Church, had somewhere been getting
our DVDs, and Jim had been sick for a while, and so Sid gave
him some DVDs, and he started watching them. God used them
for his soul's benefit. He'd tell his wife, Eileen, as
he sent her off to church, I'm going to Danville this morning.
And after we left there, they, Jim and Eileen, Sid and Joan,
these are folks all the time that would have been 67 years
old, 66 years old, and Sid and Joan about 10 years older than
them. They then went everywhere we went. from that time until
we left England to come home. And last year, the Goffs were
over here at the time the meetings were arranged, but Sid and Joan
did the same thing. And then when we got to England
this year, they came up to Teesdale and had rented a van So we could
all ride together everywhere we went. And so we spent a good
bit of time together. But Jim was scheduled to have
surgery sometime 23 years ago. He had some bypasses and he had
to go back in, have some bypasses done. And the doctors really
had not scheduled it. He was just waiting for that
to be done. Well, the last day we saw him,
he got in a call and the appointment was set. So he went into surgery
on Wednesday before we left there on Thursday. and things went
very well. When I called Saturday morning
to see how he was, his daughter, Sue, told me the Lord had taken
him home at midnight. My first thought, my first thought,
satisfied at last. Brother Jim is satisfied at last. And that's my subject this morning. Jim wanted so much to come here
and meet you. Ask about so many of you whose names he's heard
over the years. And if I can do so, I might not
be able to. But if I can do so, I want to
read to you the card he gave me to give you, it's posted on
the bulletin board in the back. To all our brothers and sisters
in Christ at Danville, this is just a brief message to say thank you for allowing
and encouraging your beloved pastor to visit us and to minister
to us. I know that he would not be comfortable
in coming to the UK unless he did so with your loving prayers
and support. I just wanted you all to know
how very much blessing many have received by his ministry. My
wife and I were with him in Shelby and Teasdale and Wolverhampton,
our own city and Sidmouth and can testify to the faithful ministry
of your dear pastor. Thank you for sending him forth
and being such an encouragement to him and to us through him. We pray for the work of God in
Danville. and pray that it may please the Lord to continue to
bless you all in his service. There are no words that could
truly express the thoughts of our hearts for his ministry and
visit to us, but the very least we can do is say a heartfelt
thank you. His God-glorifying and Christ-centered
ministry has been such a blessing to us and to many others. To have him and Shelby in our
home and be able to have personal fellowship with him has been
an added joy and blessing to us. May the Lord be pleased to
grant to you, for the benefit of saints and sinners, many years
of service together. Not all the folks that I meet
are as warm and friendly. The Buggins and the Goffs were
called Fortner groupies by some folks following us around. But I'll take that very well.
Our friend is in glory today. I can almost see him as he bows
before the throne, casting the crown off his head, saying blessing
and honor and glory and power unto him that sitteth upon the
throne and to the Lamb forever and forever. Satisfied at last. Heaven is a place of satisfaction, complete satisfaction, complete
satisfaction of all the purpose of God, complete satisfaction
for Christ our Redeemer, and complete satisfaction for his
people. In the glory of that place we
call heaven, all the purpose of God, Everything he predestined
before the world began shall be fully accomplished and satisfied. When all the wicked are cast
into hell, when time shall be no more, when God makes all things
new, then our God's purpose in all things shall be utterly satisfied. Every creature shall render praise
to him. Every event in time shall show
forth His glory. All His people shall sit before
Him in the perfection of the righteousness He has performed
for us in Christ Jesus. Then, when all things are subdued
to Christ entirely, when the Lord God has not only by decree
but has manifestly put all things under His feet, then the Son
The Lord Jesus shall deliver up the kingdom unto the father
and God shall be all in all. And thus we are instructed in
first Corinthians 15. Christ, too, shall be satisfied. In heaven's glory, he shall see
of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. My friend,
Eileen Goff, made a statement yesterday morning when I spoke
to her. At first, I thought, well, I ought to correct that.
And I decided immediately, this is not the time. And then I thought
a little more and I thought, no, Don, you need correcting. She said concerning her husband's
dropping of this body, Our loss, but the Lord's gain. Our loss, but the Lord's gain,
isn't it? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. How can that be? He said, Father,
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am. that they may behold my glory. He desires that his own ransomed
ones, the joy set before him for which he endured the cross,
be with him in glory. And one by one, he gains that
which he purchased at Calvary when he takes his own to glory.
Oh, what rejoicing there is in the presence of the angels of
God over one sinner who repents. Imagine what it would be like
when one sinner who has been made to repent, who has been
brought to the Redeemer, who has been robed in his righteousness
and made to experience washing in his blood and been born of
his spirit, when that sinner enters into the glory of his
Lord. the Lord's gain. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. The Lord Jesus was made to be
sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. When he was made sin for us He
suffered all the fury and ignominy of God's terrible wrath and justice
due to our sins, to the full satisfaction of justice, and
as the result of his sufferings and death, Every sinner for whom
he travailed to give life, travail that brought him to death, every
sinner for whom he made such travail shall be born of God
and be with him in glory. The agony and death of Christ
called by the prophet, the travail of his soul shall be satisfied. Our Savior's travail unto death
was that he might give us eternal life and he shall do it. That
means that he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall
be satisfied. In heaven's final glory, in heaven's
final glory, all the intentions, purposes, and designs of Christ
in his death shall be fully satisfied. Every desire of his holy heart
which compelled him to endure the cross, despising the shame,
shall be satisfied. Every soul he loved with an everlasting
love shall be with him in glory. Every sinner for whom he suffered
the wrath of God, for whom he bled and died, shall be thoroughly
purged from all sin. Every person he undertook to
save shall be with him in his perfect righteousness. the whole
company of God's elect, for whom he became surety in the covenant
of grace, shall be with him when he says, Lo, I and the children
whom thou hast given me, none of them is lost. But then in
our happy, eternal home, in our Father's house in heaven, every
desire of every believer's heart shall be fully finally satisfied. Every desire of every believer's
heart shall be fully and finally satisfied. Those prayers of the
saints shall be answered perfectly. This is what our text says. As
for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be
satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Now hear this and be warned. Nothing is a surer sign of God's
wrath. is a surer sign of a man's reprobation
than for God to give him satisfaction with this world and in this world. Nothing. You don't need to turn
there. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse
11, The wise man says God hath set the world in their heart
and he did it for this purpose so that no man can find out the
work that God doeth from the beginning to the end. There is no sure sign of a man's
reprobation no surer sign of God's wrath upon a man's soul
than for that man to be satisfied with this world and in this world. I pity the men described in verse
14 of Psalm 17, the men of the world which have their portion
in this life, whom God has filled and satisfied with the treasures
of this world. Well, Brother Dodd, shouldn't
we be content? Oh, yes. Content with God's providence,
knowing that our Heavenly Father does all things well, exercises
His providence with great discretion, wisdom, and grace on our behalf
and mercy toward us. satisfied with God, satisfied
with Christ, satisfied with grace by all means, content with God's
providence. Yet, we must never find satisfaction
with this world or in this world. There is a craving in our hearts that just can't Be satisfied
while we walk in this body of flesh. We sang just a little bit ago,
no clouds, no valleys. We often sing well above what
we experience, don't we? I'm sorry to have to be honest
with you. There are a lot of clouds. And
that is almost constant. A lot of darkness. A lot of fear. A lot of doubt. And if that's
not so with you, one of us is fooled. One of us is utterly
fooled. But no satisfaction for our hearts
here but in heaven. in the glory of heaven. As soon as we leave this world,
we find satisfaction for our souls. And I wrote a brief article
in this regard for the bulletin today. And I stress this because
it needs stressing. Many who appear to be orthodox
in their doctrine these days have embraced some form of Adventist
doctrine teaching concerning soul sleep and it's utterly abhorrent.
Utterly abhorrent. As soon as the believer leaves
this body, we have a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens, and being absent from the body, we are present with
the Lord immediately and find full and complete satisfaction. It is to this immediate satisfaction
between death and the resurrection that David refers when he says,
as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. As soon
as we enter into heaven, we will be completely satisfied. Soon
as I draw my final breath and close my mortal eyes in death,
I shall be with Christ in glory be in righteousness forever free. Let me give you six things, six
things which will gratify and satisfy the believer as soon
as he awakes in glory, as soon as his eyes behold Christ in
heaven. Number one, when we enter into
heaven, turn back to chapter Psalm 16, Psalm 16. When we enter into heaven, we
enter into the immediate presence of the triune God. Look at verse
11. Thou will show me the path of
life in thy presence is fullness of joy. That's called satisfaction. Fullness of joy at thy right
hand. There are pleasures forevermore. Nothing in this world makes the
worship of God more desirable and satisfying than the presence
of God with us. We choose with Moses not to go
anywhere without his presence. our Lord's presence the ordinances
of the gospel as he as he manifest himself with us as he meets with
those two or three who are gathered in his name when we observe the
ordinance of baptism as we shout this morning are the ordinance
of the Lord's table as we do every Sunday evening when he's
present with us then the waters of baptism have meaning Then
the bread and the wine has meaning. Then we set forth Christ crucified
and we remember our Redeemer with great joy. It's his presence
that gives meaning to everything. His presence is that which sustains
us as we walk through this world and seek to serve him, proclaiming
the gospel. His presence with us sustains
us in trouble and in trial. When we go through the deep waters,
when we pass through the fire, when we're in the furnace of
affliction, it is his presence going with us that makes everything
acceptable and pleasing. How gloriously happy then How
satisfied those saints must be who have entered into the immediate
presence of the triune God never to be separated again. Never, never again to lose sight
of his beaming face. Never, never again to not be
able to discern his voice. Never, never again to speak and
it appear that they're not heard ever in his presence. There's
nothing in this world so delightful for our hearts as to sit with
Christ at his table, be brought into his banqueting house, smell
the sweet spikener of his grace, have the banner of his love displayed
over us. Imagine what it'll be. when we
sit with him in glory. Turn to Luke 23. Luke 23. Let me show you the promises
of our Redeemer. The promises of our dying Savior
to a dying sinner. Verse 43. Jesus said to this
dying thief. Verily, verily, verily, verily. Surely, amen, truly, I say to
you, to you, I, the Redeemer, say to you, the redeemed, today,
just as soon as this is over, just as soon as the sun sets
today, today, thou, you personally, A sinner loved of God, chosen
to life, redeemed by precious blood, called by free grace,
saved by the mighty God. Today, thou shalt absolutely,
certainly, no possibility of anything hindering this. Thou
shalt be with me. Thou shalt exist with me. live with me, be with me, your
Redeemer, your surety, your brother, your friend, your husband, your
companion, thou shalt be with me in paradise. In paradise. Now, if you want
to do a lot of investigating and Try to figure out why the
Lord used the word paradise instead of heaven. Paradise instead of
glory. Why he used this word paradise
here and miss all the blessedness of it. You just go ahead and
chew on paradise as long as you want to. Paradise. What's that? That's where he put Adam when
he made him. Paradise. What's that? That's
God's creation without sin. Paradise. Where is that? That's where man and God walk
together in sweet communion. Paradise. Where is that? That's
where the sun always shines and darkness can't creep in. Paradise. Where is that? That's where there
are no clouds, and no darkness, and no doubts, and no fears,
and no roaring lion, and no temptation, and no trouble. Verily I say
unto thee, today thou shalt be with me immediately in paradise. All right, here's the second
thing. In that glory world we call heaven, all who now long to be like Christ
shall be satisfied. For we shall be perfectly conformed
to the image of God's Son. Conformed to Him in His death. Perfectly like Him. For we shall
see Him as He is. And when we see Him as He is,
we're told in 1 John 3, 2, we should be like Him. He was the
object of God in predestination. to make us in the image of his
son, and that which God predestined shall come to pass. We shall
be like Christ perfectly. Now I realize I'm in waters way
over my head, but that's all right. I like to be in waters
over my head. Every power, every faculty of
our souls shall be a perfect reflection of our glorious Savior. I often hear folks say, I want
men to see that I'm following the
Savior. I want men to see Christ in me.
I want people to see that I have faith in Christ. And I have to
acknowledge I've been there. And sometimes still am. But it's
horrid. It's horrid. I really don't give
a flip what men think of me in my relationship with God. I'm
not interested even in impressing you with my relationship with
God or her. But oh, I want to be like Him. I want to be like Him. And soon,
I'm going to have what I want. My understanding will have a
perfect clear, unclouded view of Him. The thoughts of my heart will always be toward Him. My
will will be entirely submissive to Him, conformed perfectly to
His will. The affection of my soul will
be set upon Christ alone and things above. My memory will be fully stored with heavenly
spiritual things. I'll have memory not of sorrow
and pain, but of mercy and grace. Isn't it amazing how easily and
readily we remember and get wrapped up in discussing sorrow and pain. Shelby and I, the other day,
were discussing miserable childhood memories. And we're sitting back
here in the office, just after eating lunch, and had such a
good morning, and then started thinking about stuff that's just
painful. It's just painful, miserable
pain. And she said to me, she said,
that's enough of that. That's enough of that. That's
enough of that. God, I've had enough of that. I've had enough of that. In heaven's
glory, John Gill put it this way, there will be nothing irregular
and disagreeable in the soul, in its motions, thoughts, and
actions. There'll be no thought of sorrow. and pain, but only of mercy and
grace. Number three, our souls will find satisfaction
in heavenly conversation. There, there will be much talk. I suspect very, very little silence. We'll speak with the angels of
God, with the spirits of just men made perfect. I don't know
how we'll communicate in that state. I don't know what the
language of heaven is. But we will communicate with
one another freely, profitably, and spiritually. Oh, I suspect
we will, like Moses and Elijah standing on the Mount of Transfiguration
as we are gathered in Mount Zion, speak to one another a great
deal about the decease our Redeemer accomplished at Jerusalem. Fourth,
our souls will be satisfied with perfect knowledge. Again, this is beyond really
grasping, but we will forever learn. And yet all that we learn,
we will see and know clearly. We'll see God. in all His majesty and wonder
and glory, in all His works, in all His grace, in all His
purposes, in all His wisdom, in all His goodness, in all His
holiness, manifested and revealed perfectly in the God-man, our
Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
all dwelling in Him, we will see and know God clearly and
perfectly with understanding of things with no doubt and no
misunderstanding. We will know the angels of God as they unfold to us their secret
mission, as they were created by God and sent forth before
the sun was made to shine. to be ministering spirits to
minister to those who should be the heirs of salvation. And
we will understand and know one another. That'd be good, wouldn't it? Oh, I wouldn't want you to know
me that good here. Yeah, but then I'm going to be
different. And you too. And we'll know each other. Number five, in that day, we will be satisfied
with perfect holiness. The guilt of sin has been removed
from us by the blood of Christ, removed from our consciences,
sprinkled with that blood by the Spirit of God. But when we
stand before God's throne, we will be free from the pollution
of sin, the dread of sinning, the very body of sin, and the
being of sin, and all the consequences of sin. God shall wipe away all
tears from our eyes. There will be no sorrow, no pain,
no crying, no death. How come? Because there shall
be no more sin. And six, turn to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. When we have no more sinful thoughts
and impure desires, no evil inclination, no wicked will in heaven we will be satisfied
with perfect eternal peace Psalm 37 verse 37 mark the perfect
man behold the upright for the end of that man is peace he shall enter into peace And she'll rest, each one walking
in his uprightness. The Lord Jesus said in that day,
the Lord will say, well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Oh, peace. Peace all around. Peace within. Peace that can't
be disturbed by anything. The peace of guiltlessness. The peace of sinlessness. The peace of absolute contentment. The peace of being free from
lasciviousness and covetousness and envy and strife. Peace. Oh, peace. My brother has entered
into peace. Who would take that from anyone?
Peace. Peace. When I kiss you goodbye for the
last time, and we close the coffin and stick your body in the dust
and wait for the resurrection. It doesn't matter how painful
it is to me. I wouldn't want anything else
for you. Oh, no. Our loss, the Lord's gain. The Lord's gain. But then I saw
him speaks of something else. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. These bodies sown in corruption must be raised
in incorruption. Sown in mortality must be raised
in immortality. Sown in weakness must be raised
in strength. Soul and natural body must be
raised to spiritual body. These bodies raised from the
dead. We talk about the Lord saving
a man's soul. This book never talks like that. This book speaks
about the Lord saving you. He redeemed the very dust of
his people. He saves a man. He saves a woman
in the totality of their being. These days it's becoming acceptable
in some circles. for folks who profess to be believers,
for folks who are believers to be cremated like the heathen. Hello, Oscar. Have you ever taken
perfectly good seed and thrown it in the fire and burned it
up for nothing? Why, no, you don't burn seed up. You plant
it. You plant the seed so that the
seed will go to the dust in death and germinate in life and spring
forth something better than the seed put in the ground. There were some just men who
took Stephen and carried him to his burial. There were women
who came and prepared the body of our Lord Jesus for his burial.
Joseph demanded that his body not be buried in Egypt. And so
the children of Israel carried his bones out of Egypt just as
he had commanded. We sow these bodies in the earth
in anticipation of resurrection. And when Christ comes again and we're raised In these bodies,
though the skin worms devour this flesh, yet in my flesh shall
I see God. You see these round, puffy, dark
brown eyes? With these eyes, I'm going to
see Him. With these eyes. Surely you don't
believe that. Surely I do. Oh, yeah. He will raise us from the dead
and we'll see all his holy angels. Somebody asked Martin Luther
one time, said, Sir, will we know one another in the other
world? Luther answered as Adam knew
Eve to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh by the revelation
of God, though he had never seen her before. So shall the saints
of God know one another in heaven. Will we know one another? Man,
I sure hope I don't meet any strangers there. I've been for
four weeks among strangers. Speak to folks on a crowded bus
and they look at you like, what fool are you talking to me? Strangers. Strangers make place uncomfortable.
They make things uncomfortable. There won't be any strangers
in glory. How will we know one another? I don't know. But Moses
and Elijah knew each other, and the disciples knew Moses and
Elijah, and they had never even been described to them. They
knew them when they saw them standing on the mount with the
Redeemer. Yes, we'll know each other. You reckon you'll know your wife
in heaven? I'm sure I will. Reckon you'll know she was your
wife? I know it now. I'll be smarter then than I am now. Reckon
you'll know your children? I expect I will. You reckon you'll
know they're your children? I'm sure I will. But it won't
matter. It won't matter. Because I love
your wife and your husband just like I love mine. And I love
your sons and daughters just like I love mine. I love you just like I love me. And I can't do that till in glory. Oh, then shall I be satisfied
when I awake in thy likeness and possess everything that's
worth having. Read Revelation 22. Everything,
everything that God the Father gave to God the Son, our mediator,
because of his obedience unto death. All the glory of glory
he gave to his son. His son said, I've given it to
them. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven satisfied at last. Soon. Soon we shall be. Amen.