Martin Lloyd-Jones made this statement. He said,
my whole outlook upon everything that happens to me should be
governed by these three things. Number one, my realization of
who I am. I'm a child of God, chosen, redeemed,
and called by the grace of God. Secondly, my consciousness of
where I'm going. The Lord has promised good to
me. His word my hope secures. He will my strength and portion
be as long as life endures. And when this heart and flesh
shall fail and mortal life shall cease, I shall possess within
the veil a life of joy and peace. And thirdly, he said, this ought
to govern my outlook on everything, my knowledge of what awaits me
when I get there, a life of endless, perfect joy and peace with Christ
my Lord. I think I will read my text to
you as the last text we'll look at this evening. It will be something
to look forward to. But if we could see by faith
that which the Apostle John saw by revelation, if we could grasp
the glory and the happiness of God's saints in heaven, even
now at this moment, at this present time, between death and the resurrection,
we would say with John, Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord. Blessed, blessed, blessed. Those who die without Christ,
some of you are here without Him. Some of you may take your
last breath before I finish preaching without Christ. And if you die
without Christ, without His righteousness to close you, without His blood
to atone for your sin, without faith in him, without his grace,
without knowing him. If you meet God without Christ,
eternal torment in hell shall be your everlasting portion. But those who have faith, those
who have died in the Lord, those who are born of God and shall
die in Christ Jesus are forever blessed. Now tonight I want to
talk to you, if God will enable me, about the blessedness of
those saints of God who are now in heaven. Indeed, in doing so,
about the blessedness that awaits us in heaven's glory. The title
of my message tonight is, What Are They Doing? I want to show
you from the Word of God that God's saints in heaven our departed
friends, are alive and well. Though their bodies have died,
though they are laid in the earth, and there must rot, decay, and
return to the dust, they are themselves more alive, more happy,
more full of life, more full of happiness than ever before. Now I want to show you three
things. First, let me show you from the Scriptures what the
Word of God says about a very heavy burden. Turn with me, if
you will, to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We will begin here. I remind you one more time of
this fact. In this tabernacle of clay, in
this body of flesh, all believers groan under the burden, the weight
of the heavy, heavy burden of sin. While living in this world,
we seek to be content with God's providence and his purpose. We
seek, as Rex said in his prayer a little bit ago, to emulate
our Savior and ever say to our God, not my will, thy will be
done, even when it seems so contrary to what we would desire by nature.
We endeavor to do the will of our God, to glorify him by living
before him in faith and resigning all things to him. Our Heavenly
Father, we know, always knows what is best, and he always does
what's best. He makes no mistakes. Oh, how
our souls find blessed, blessed peace and dissatisfaction. Our
God does all things well. But here in this world of time
and sense, this world of sin and sorrow, those who know the
grace of God, those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ and love
him, labor under a load of heavy, heavy, galling, galling burdens. And the burden which causes us
to grow is sin. This is what Paul tells us here
in 2 Corinthians 5. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle What a word. Tabernacle. If you had
a literal translation, it'd read tent. And not much of a tent. It'd just be a kind of a lean-to. Something that shades you from
the sun and shades you from the rain. That's about all. This
tent. This worthless tent. That's what this body is. We
know that if this temporary shelter for our souls were dissolved,
We have a building. We've got something substantial,
something worthwhile, something permanent, a building of God
and house not laid with hands eternal in the heaven. For in
this, in this tabernacle of clay, we groan. You know what a groan is, don't you? That's a sigh without words. That's a pain expressed without
words. That's a grief that's heard but
not expressed in words. We grow earnestly desiring to
be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be
that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that
are in this tabernacle do grow, being burdened. Not for that
we would be unclothed. It's not that we're frustrated
with life. It's not that we're frustrated with God's providence. It's not that we just want to
be out of this world, but rather clothed upon that mortality,
this dying body. mortality, this life of death,
this existence that is death in the process, that mortality
might be swallowed up of life. I have, for the last couple of
weeks, read and re-read and re-read several portions of the Book
of Ecclesiastes, and I sat down this morning and read those twelve
chapters together one more time. And I'm convinced that this is
what Solomon is saying throughout the book. Many seem to think
that Ecclesiastes expresses the frustrations of an old man who
wanted a lot, had a lot, but wasn't satisfied with anything.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The wise man Solomon
was the wisest mere man who ever lived upon the earth. And after
investigating all the sciences, after studying all the technologies
of his day, After investigating everything that makes men tick
in the day in which he lived, he said, vanity of vanity, all
is vanity. This is what he said. In this tabernacle, we grow. We grow. I recall several years
ago, Shelby and Faith and I went to Memphis, Tennessee for a Bible
conference. That's where I met Brother Scott
Richardson, Brother Bill Clark, for the first time and during
the afternoon one day we went to the Memphis Zoo out in Memphis,
Tennessee and I was somewhat taken by a raven that was out
in the open just sitting on a cross piece because I didn't at first
see how he was sitting there. That raven was sitting there
and folks come by and he didn't move much, he just kind of looked
around. And then I saw the raven try to fly. They had that raven
tethered to his feet so that he could just fly just a little
ways and he'd come right back down on that thing. And he'd
sit there and look up. Once in a while, look down, just
look around. That's a pretty good picture
of the heaven-born soul. We are tethered to this earth,
but we can never be satisfied. We long to soar and be free. J.C. Ryle said, when an eagle
is happy in a cage, when the sheep is happy in mud, when a
fish is happy on dry land, then and not till then will my soul
be happy in this body of flesh. Like Paul said, O wretched man
that I am. who shall deliver me from the
body of this death." In this tabernacle we grow. The psalmist
said, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy light, but not to live. Oh, I pray that God will fix
it. so that I will never ever be satisfied living here. But rather always long like that
tethered raven to soar into the skies to my home which awaits
me in heaven's glory. All right, secondly, here the
scripture speaks of an immediate transition. This fifth chapter
of 2 Corinthians displays this fact as well. As soon as this
tabernacle of clay is dissolved, as soon as this tent is torn
down, mortality shall be swallowed up by life and we shall be present
with the Lord. As soon as the believer closes
his eyes in death, he opens them in heaven. As soon as we leave
this world of woe, We enter heaven's world of bliss. As soon as we
cease from this life of grief, we enter heaven's life of joy. As soon as we cease from this
existence of groaning and burden, we enter heaven's state of glory
and blessing. Turn to Revelation 14. Hold your
hands here in second Corinthians. I want to come right back here.
In Revelation chapter 14, John gives us a picture of the dead
which have died in the Lord. He says in verse 13, and I heard
a voice from heaven saying to me, write, write this thing for
the benefit of you men and women who yet live on this earth. Write
this thing for the benefit of you who wonder what things are
like for God's saints in heaven. Write this for you who are making
your pilgrimage through this world. Write, blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, sayeth the Spirit,
that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow
them." Now this is what John tells us. Our departed brothers
and sisters in Christ are with Christ now. Those who have left
us are with Christ in heaven. They're not in purgatory or anything
like that nonsense. Their bodies sleep in the earth,
but not their souls. Their bodies, as Solomon tells
us in Ecclesiastes, have grown to the earth just like a brute
beast. But as the beast goes down to the earth, man rises
up to heaven, and the souls of God's elect are with him in heaven's
glory right now. I don't have any doubt that you
have asked yourself, as I have myself many times, well where
is heaven? The scoffers and the infidels
like to poke fun, you know, and they say, you're going to talk
about heaven. Where is it? I don't know. I don't know. I really
don't have any idea. Heaven is a place somewhere outside
this world. Somewhere outside time. somewhere outside our ability
to apprehend it. But this I know, whatever and
wherever heaven is, it is a place, a real place. I started to use
the word literal, but literal won't quite get it. Heaven is
a place beyond anything literal we understand in this world.
Let me show you. Look in Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews
9. You remember in verse 12, our
Lord Jesus with his own blood ascended into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. Well, what is that holy
place? Look in verse 24. For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which
are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself. Where
is Christ? That physical body that arose
from the tomb? That physical body that the disciples
saw ascending up into heaven accompanied by the angels of
God? Where is He? He's yonder in heaven
itself. At the right hand of the majesty
on high. At the right hand of the throne
of God. Setting Himself, a man, in glory on the throne of God. There to make intercession. for you and I who are his." Look
at this. He has entered into heaven itself
now to appear in the presence of God for us. Turn over one
page to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 11. Every high priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin. All the sacrifices offered by
priests on Jewish altars could never take away sin. And all
the sacrifices offered by imaginary self-appointed priests on altars
of men can never take away sin. But this man, this one man, this
one high priest, Jesus Christ the Son of God, after he had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty of high, sat right down on the right hand
of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified." Jesus Christ took his seat yonder in heaven
at the right hand of God on the throne of God because his work
was finished as our high priest the blood atonement was made
righteousness was brought in and now sin had been put away
by his sacrifice and he sat down because he got nothing else to
do his work is over never was there a high priest in the Old
Testament who sat down in the Holy of Holies because his work
was never over he could never atone for sin Jesus Christ did
Heaven is the place where Christ is, and it is the place to which
he has promised to bring us. You're familiar with John chapter
14, our Lord giving his valedictory address to his disciples, and
he says, let not your heart be troubled. They were all in a
stir. They now began to understand
what the Lord said. He was going away. He was going
to the Father, and what are we going to do? He said, stop, Stop
worrying yourself. You believe God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. I know that probably is talking
about his second advent, his coming in glory to receive all
his own into heaven. But I think, most likely, it's
talking more specifically about him coming for each of us at
the appointed hour. This is what he means, Bob. He
said, Bobby, when your place is prepared and your time's come,
I'll come take you to it. When your house is built, when
your tabernacle is ready to be dissolved and your house not
made with hands, each tunnel into heaven is fixed. I'll come
take you to it. Then in Hebrews chapter 12, heaven is the place where Christ
is and the place where he has promised to bring us. And that
is the place where our departed friends are right now. Ye are
come unto Mount Zion, verse 22, the city of the living God, unto
the New Jerusalem, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn,
whose names are written in heaven, to the spirits of just and perfect. Now then, turn back here to 2
Corinthians 5 again, and understand what Paul tells
us. is just the dissolving of this
body. You see, this body is of the
earth, and it is suitable only for the earth. This present state
of existence is suitable only for this present life. And this
body must return to the earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
as Ecclesiastes And this ought not be any cause for great sorrow
to any believer. You see, death will be, it'll
be like taking down a tent to move into a house. Shelby and
I once stayed with a family down in, just outside of Jacksonville,
Florida. I was preaching down at Dr. Zenlick.
Joe Desmuke and his wife built just a nice, nice, nice brick
house spacious large house and while they were building it they
lived in an old camper and I'll guarantee you something that
camper after they got that house built was taken just as far out
of sight as they could get it because they didn't want nobody
to look at that camper. That camper was gold. We live over
here now. What about the camper? Well,
sometimes we take it down to the lake, but we don't live there
anymore. The camper is no longer meaningful. You understand what I'm saying?
The dissolution of this body is just dropping the tent to
move into a palace. That's all. In heaven we shall
have another house for which our souls now grow. Look in verse 2 of 2 Corinthians
5. In this we grow earnestly desiring
to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. I really don't know what all
the scriptures are saying here. I can't say much about this house
other than this. Our Lord has prepared another
body suitable to that state between death and the resurrection in
which the believer shall serve him when we leave this world. In other words, our souls will
be clothed with the body while we await the resurrection of
this body of flesh and the resurrection glorious. Somehow people had
the idea that when the body goes to the earth, when we close our
eyes in death, our spirits just kind of float around like ghosts
in the air. That's not the teaching of Scripture.
Our Lord said, in my Father's house are many mansions, many
dwelling places. We have a house not made with
hands. prepared by Christ himself, eternal
in the heavens, that is suitable to our glorious life with Christ. And as soon as this tabernacle
is dissolved, we will enter that house. There'll be no lapse of time,
no delay between taking my last breath in this world and singing
his praise in that world. be no lapse, no delay between
closing these eyes in death and opening the eyes of my soul and
life. Now this is not a matter of conjecture.
It's not a matter of speculation at all. The apostle says in verse
one, we know We know this is something we're dead sure of.
It's been revealed by God. We have the earnest of the Spirit.
Now he that hath wrought for us the selfsame thing as God,
who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit, he says in verse
5. And we know it because we live by faith in Christ. We believe
him. What happens when the believer
dies? He asks me, where have our departed
friends gone? They'd gone to heaven, they'd
gone home, they'd gone to be with the Master. Now then, what
are they doing? Let me spend just a few minutes
talking to you about a blessed occupation. The Scriptures speak
sparingly with regard to the employment of God's saints in
heaven, but there are four or five things clearly revealed
in the Word of God. We don't know much about the
glory that awaits us, the glory that our family in heaven is
presently enjoying, but we do know a little. Number one, God's
saints in heaven are celebrating and adoring the perfections of
Christ our Redeemer. Turn to Revelation 5, Revelation chapter 5. Actually, it's very difficult
to break in here anywhere. Revelation chapter 5 really begins
in chapter 4, verse 1, and runs all the way through chapter 5.
It's the vision John has of Christ in heaven. He sees the throne
of God, the bow around the throne, the sea of glass, everything
being ruled by the throne. He sees the living creatures,
God's preachers, those who preach the gospel to his people, and
those to whom they preached it, the 24 elders, the church of
God's elect, and he sees the throne and he cries, Who's worthy
to open the book? And the Lamb of God stands up
and opens the book. He takes it and opens the seals
of God's book of his purpose and predestination. And then
in verse 11, And I beheld and heard the voice of many angels
round about the throne, and the beast, the gospel preachers,
and the elders, the church of God, And the number of them was
10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud
voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and
riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
Now this is what I'm saying. Yonder in glory lay, where the
lamb is in the midst of the throne. in the midst of his church, where
he delights to call us his brethren, those who are gathered round
his throne, incessantly celebrating. They speak of his holiness and
goodness, his wisdom and power, his goodness and grace, his faithfulness
and love, his redemption, his blood, his atonement, and his
salvation. Secondly, God's saints in heaven
are incessantly, delightfully employed in beholding his glory. Listen to this, John 17. Should it be the pleasure of
my God tonight to take me out of this world, understand why
Should it be his pleasure, Rex, to take you or your wife out
of this world, let us understand why he does it. One of these
days he's going to. It is his pleasure to take us
out, just a matter of time, whatever he's appointed. This is what
our Savior said, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast
given me be with me where I am. He bought her, because he wants
her, and he's going to have her. Be with me where I am that they
may behold my glory. Oh my soul, what will it be to
behold the glory of our Redeemer? We shall forever behold him as
he is, with a constantly increasing knowledge of him. Heaven is the garden of God.
There the rose of Sharon is always in full bloom, and the fragrance
of it perfumes everything. Heaven is to behold Christ forever,
never taking our eyes off of him, and never wanting God's saints in heaven are employed
in the constant exercise of every spiritual grace. There is a sense
when faith and hope shall all cease, but God's saints in heaven
as yet live constantly in faith. They believe God, anticipating
the resurrection of their body. They live in hope. Our brethren
wait with hope. There's a patient hope. of faith
in the resurrection, and they live in love. There they truly
love one another. Someone made this observation. I can find it here. One of the great felicities of
heaven is that the saints no longer misunderstand each other's
acts. They live in perpetual love,
one for another. God's saints in heaven are employed
in the unending service of Christ. They are engaged in prayer. It's
wrong that we pray to the saints, that's idolatry, but it's altogether
right that they should pray for us. It's wrong that we pray for
the dead, that's superstition. It's altogether right that they
should pray for us. And in Revelation 6.10, the saints
of God are described as constantly crying with a loud voice, How
long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge
the blood of them that dwell upon the earth? The saints of
God are engaged in songs, songs of grace and praise unto God
our Savior. singing constantly of electing
love, redeeming grace, regenerating mercy, justifying goodness, sanctifying
righteousness, and the preservation of God's thanks by his power.
Robert Murray McSane, speaking of this, said, we shall not rest
from our work, but from our labors. There we shall toil and pain
no more in our work. Make certain that you're in Christ. take comfort in the blessed promise
that's given us of heavenly glory, and be assured that our weary,
troublesome lives will soon end, and end for the better. There
is no sorrow here that heaven will not heal. Apostate said,
one breath of the air of paradise will more than make up for all
the sorrows of this world. Amen.