Turn, if you please, this morning
to the book of Ephesians, chapter 3. The book of Ephesians, chapter
3. Let me read verse 14, 15, and
down to the middle of 17. For this cause, I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by
his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ, may dwell in your
hearts by faith. The subject of the family has
been very much up on my mind recently. I want to speak this
morning primarily upon verse 15 where the family of God is
mentioned. I would like to preach to you
today on the subject the family of God. I suppose that it is
a trite statement to say that there is not a man or a woman
on earth who is not the member of some family. The poorest as
well as the richest, the richest have his kith and kin, as the
expression is, and all of them can tell you something about
their family. God is the author of the family. God instituted the home. God blessed Adam and Eve and
brought them together and told them to replenish and to multiply
upon the earth. God is the author of the home. God is the author of the family. Now a family gathering, and we
just had one back in Indiana, a family getting together to
bury our beloved mother. A family gathering, I believe,
is a type of the family of God. The family of God that will be
gathered together over on that other shore someday. There will
be a union of all the members of God's family. I believe that
family gatherings in this world are very natural and they're
right and they're good. I'm always blessed when the family
can come together. I value highly the home, the
family, and I believe that all of us who are members of God's
living family ought to be very industrious toward our families. God has a family. The purpose
of God in salvation is this, that God might have a family,
and that the Son might have a bride, and that the Holy Spirit might
have a living temple. So I am for the family. I am for the family, and I am
for, with all my heart, family gatherings. It does me good to
see them kept up, to see and to hear people say, I'm going
to a reunion. I'm going to a reunion, I'm going
to go out east to a reunion, or I'm going down south to a
reunion, or I'm going over west to a reunion. Does my heart good
to hear of people traveling together with their families. Now, I think
this is one of the very few pleasant things which survived the fall
of man. I see no principle which unites
people so much next to the grace of God in this sinful world as
the family. as the family. The family ought
to unite all of our hearts. Anything which helps keep up
family feelings ought to be encouraged and commended. Now we're living
in a strange day. We're living in a time when the
family, the home, is being undermined in this world. We're living in
a time when the values of family are much diminishing because
of the emphasis that's placed upon the home, or the lack of
emphasis, maybe we should say, by those who are in places of
authority and by preachers who are to preach the Word of God
to us and to our families. It is a good thing, a wise thing,
when this can be done to have family gatherings and when we
can get together on holidays or at any other time, when we
can get together, do it. I encourage you to do it. Now,
I don't have much to do with religious holidays, but they
do give families a chance, don't they? They do give a few days
off. and family's a chance to get together, and so if you can't
find anything else good to say about them, at least you can
say that. Well, the family of which Paul
speaks here in our text is a family of far more importance than any
family on earth. This family of which Paul speaks
of, he says, the whole, of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named. So this family, beloved, is an
important family, and to belong to this family, this family of
God of which Paul speaks, entitles a man, I think, to far greater
privileges than to be the son of an earthly king, to be in
the family The living God now it's the family of God the whole
family in heaven and earth and I want to speak to you About
this this family this morning I want to ask if I can and try
to answer three questions about this important family that we
read about here in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 15 the first
question that I want to ask is and try to answer is this, what
is this family? This family of the living God. The second question is, where
is this family now? And the third question is, what
are the future prospects of this family? And oh, when we think
of that, we think about the prospect of our own family here upon earth. But what are the future prospects
of this family of God? I invite your serious consideration
as I try to unfold to you this morning these three things. Our
family gatherings on earth must have an end very soon. There's
coming a day when these family gatherings that we've been referring
to, that we've mentioned to you, that we've suggested to you,
they will have an ending. Our last reunion, earthly reunion,
it must come and it'll be all over. Well beloved, wouldn't
you like to be a member of a family that yet has a reunion coming,
a gathering coming over by the river of life? Now, happy indeed
if we can be members of the living family of God, and if we listen,
the living family of God that will never know an end to its
gatherings. Now, you and I, like we said,
we sometimes meet for various purposes as families, and sometimes
those gatherings are very sad indeed because they are gatherings
to have funerals. They are gatherings and many
are absent whom we love. But listen beloved, there's coming
a gathering of God's family over yonder and all the Lord's people
are going to be there. Not one of them will fail to
show up at that gathering over on the other shore. Well, first
of all, what is this family which the Bible calls the whole family
in heaven and in earth? Of whom does it consist? This ought to be of great importance
to every one of us here this morning. Who is a member of the
living family of God, of the many? many-membered family of
God. Well, it consists, I believe,
of all true believers in Jesus Christ. Now, when I say all true
believers in Jesus Christ, that's just exactly what I mean. I do not mean that this family
consists of those that have had Jesus weaned off on them. I do not in any way want to suggest
that this family consists of Protestants, of Baptists, of
Catholics, or of other denominations. I'm not saying that this family
consists of the mixed multitude I'm saying that this family consists
of all of those who have been enabled of God to do what they
would have not otherwise have done and that is they have believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. They have been enabled to believe.
Beloved, listen to me. If a man believes on the Lord
Jesus Christ, it's because he has been blessed to believe.
Nobody believes on the Lord Jesus Christ except those who are given
the gift of faith by our God. And if you and I can say this
morning, we're believers. We're true believers. And we're
a member of that many-membered family of God, then it's because
you've been blessed to believe. It's because you've been blessed
to lay hold of Him by saving faith. And I believe it also
consists of all who have the indwelling Spirit of God. We read in Romans chapter 8 and
verse 9, Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of His. Does the Holy Spirit dwell in
you? Now, if the Spirit of God does
not dwell in you, then you do not belong to the Lord. You do not belong to the Father. You are none of His. The Spirit
of God comes down and indwells every soul that is regenerated
by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God lives in and
leads The people of God. It is made up of all the elect
of God. This church here, we believe
the doctrine of divine election. We believe that God has before
the foundation of the world chosen a people in His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and in time He lays hold of them and effectually
calls them by His Spirit and grace and He unites them savingly
to Jesus Christ. It is all of the elect of God. This is the family of God of
every age, of every church, of every nation, and every tongue. It's the elect from out from
among all of the sons of Adam. It is also referred to in the
Bible as the household of faith. It is referred to in the scriptures
as the body of Christ. It's also referred to as the
Bride of Christ, and the Living Temple of Christ, and the Sheep
that shall never perish, and the Church of the Firstborn.
All of these are just expressions of the family of God under other
names. This is the family of God that
we're talking about. Now notice that membership in
this family does not depend upon any earthly connection. It depends
upon no earthly connection. It comes not by natural birth,
but by a spiritual birth. A birth in and of the Spirit
of God from heaven. To be a member of this family,
a man, listen, to be a member of this family, the scripture
says a man, over in John 3 and 27, a man can receive nothing
except it be given to him from heaven. Preachers cannot impart
this membership to their hearers. It'd be wonderful if we could.
It'd be marvelous if we could. Parents cannot give a membership
in the family of God to their children. Oh, wouldn't it be
wonderful if we were able to do that, but we cannot. You can,
listen, you can be born into the godliest family in the land. You can be a member of the soundest
church in the world and experience the means of grace at the hands
of the soundest church in the world and yet not belong to the
family of God. And there are many, many people
who are deceived and maybe some under the sound of my voice.
And you think that because of your affiliation with your parents
and because of your affiliation with the church A sound church,
that you're of necessity a member of the family of God. But it's
not the case. It is not the case. To belong
to it, you must be born again. None but the Holy Spirit can
make a living member of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, none
but the Holy Spirit can make a living member of Jesus Christ. They that are born again are
born, we read in John 1 and 13, not of blood. nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." They are
born of God, people that are in God's family. Well, why are
God's people, the elect of God, those who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, why are they called a family? Well, let me give you
some suggestions as to why God's living family is called a family. True believers are called a family,
first of all, because they have one Father. They have one Father. That's what the scripture says.
For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.
God is our Father. We're called a family because
we are the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. And because
we're born of God's Spirit, as we've suggested already. And
also, we are the sons and daughters, we're specifically told, of the
Lord God Almighty being begotten by Him. We are begotten by the
seed of God, the Word of God, by the Spirit of God, and so
we are the family of God. We have received the Spirit,
Paul said, of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Abba, Father. Now the words, Our Father, which
art in heaven, in the prayer of our Lord, which He suggested
to the disciples, they're not just mere words. In the vocabulary
of the mouth of believers, no beloved, we are indeed children
of God and He is our Father. Paul suggests in Hebrews that
we be subject to the Father of spirits and live. God is a father
and his children, they are his by birth, by his having been
begotten by him. Notice, true believers are called
a family also because they are united by one name. By one name. Just as a common
family name is the uniting link to every member of a family on
earth, so does the name. of our head and elder brother,
even Jesus Christ the Lord, tie all believers together in one
vast family. As living members of Christ,
they all, with one heart and mind, Rejoice in one Savior,
in one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not a heart among the
members of the family of God, but feels drawn to Jesus Christ
as the only object of their hope. Every one of us is common. We
are drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our hope. Christ in you
is the hope of glory, Paul said in Colossians. There's not a
tongue among us that would tell you that Jesus Christ is all. Every one of us that are members
of his family will tell you that there's a name that is above
every name, and that in Him we find all. Sweet and precious
to the people of God is all His doing and all of His dying, His
intercessory work and His coming again. Oh, everything about Him
is sweet and precious to the members of this family. In fact,
you might as well take away a believer's breath as take away the name,
the person, and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ from that dear
soul. To the world there may seem little
in His name, and men may look upon us and think we're out of
our minds to make so much of this one Jesus Christ. But beloved
to a child of God, His name means comfort. His name means hope. It means joy. It means rest and
peace. No wonder We're called a family
because we're held together by one name. That is that name which
is above every name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Next,
a true Christian, I think, is called a family. True Christians
are called a family because there is a strong family likeness. A strong family likeness. When we met together in Indiana
for the funeral, there was some people that I hadn't seen for
over 30 years. And they came up to me, and I
didn't know them. I didn't know who they were.
But some distant affiliations with our family, and of course
they had changed. Time makes a change in everyone,
and certainly made a change in me. But anyway, they came up
and introduced themselves and said, you look just like your
dad. you look just like your dad well maybe that is the case
but I want to tell you this it's a fact indeed that true Christians
are called a family because there is a strong family likeness. Number one, we're all led by
the same spirit and we're all marked by the same general features
of life, heart, and taste and character. And just as there
is a resemblance between brothers and sisters of a family, so there
is a general spiritual resemblance among all the sons and daughters
in the family of God. Listen to me carefully listen
carefully they all hate sin and They all love God that but they
all hate sin you see the salvation of our Lord is It's a salvation
that fixes it up so that you're willing forever to live in sin
after God gives it to you. You can't ever enjoy sin again
after God saves you. You see, he just fixed it that
way. You say, well, I don't know about that. Well, let me read
to you a scripture that really just helped me with this a whole
lot. This is in Romans 7 and verse 15, where Paul said, for
that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do, that
all are sinners, and that there's not a one among us that is justified
who does good and does not sin in the doing of it. hate this thing called sin. All
the family of God hates sin. And we love God. God fixed it
up so that it would be as he said under the law. He said you're
to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your
mind, all of your soul, and all of your strength. And when God
saves a sinner, he puts in a principle of love in the heart. It's universal. We all love God. We're taught
of God. to love God, to love Him. They
all rest their hope on the Lord Jesus Christ. All believers universally
rest their hope on Jesus Christ. If they are taught of the Spirit
of God, tutored by God, they all come to the place where they
have no other refuge, no hope, but the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they have no confidence in themselves. Philippians 3 and 3. They have
no confidence in the flesh. Their confidence is in Christ. And they all endeavor to come
out and be separate from the ways of the world and to set
their affection on things above. Colossians 3 and 2. And they
all universally turn naturally to the same Bible as the only
food for their souls. and the only guide for their
feet. I say it's a universal thing. There's a family likeness.
Isn't it true of all believers? Genuine, true believers. I'm not talking about nominal
believers. I'm not talking about people
going along for the ride. I'm not talking about people
you've got to beg all the time to get them to do what they ought
to. I'm talking about God's living family. I'm talking about people
who've got a real hope. Now these same, all of these,
go to the throne of grace in prayer. And they find prayer
as needful, they find it as needful to speak to God as it is to breathe. I'm talking about God's children.
Every one of us has got to pray. I don't know about you, but I've
got to pray every day to make it. I've got to pray every day.
Every day of my life there's got to be a prayer upon my soul. Now these people, they all have,
universally it's true, they all have two natures. Every one of
the children of God. They all have inward conflicts. Am I talking about somebody you
don't know? We all have inward conflicts. The Bible says in Galatians 5
and 17, The flesh lusteth against the spirit, the spirit against
the flesh, so that they cannot do the things that they would.
Isn't that inward conflict? Well, this is the family of God
I'm talking to. Now listen to me, this family
likeness, among true believers is a thing that I think deserves
very special attention. To me, it's one of the strongest
indirect evidences of the truth of Christianity. It is one of
the greatest proofs of the reality of the work of the Holy Spirit
in a man or a woman in this world. Some of God's true people, they
lived in so-called civilized countries. And some live in heathen
countries. Some are highly educated and
some cannot read a letter. Some are rich and some are poor
and some are in the church and some are out of the church. And
yet notwithstanding all of this, there is a marvelous oneness
of heart and character among those who are members of God's
living family. Their joys and their sorrows,
their love and their hatred, their likes, their dislikes,
their taste and their distaste, their hope and their fears, are
all most curiously alike. Well, how in the world did that
ever happen? Well, you let others think what
they please, but I see in all of this the finger of God. It's His handiwork, and His handiwork
is always one and the same. No wonder the body of Christ
is compared to a family, because we've been begotten of the Father
and we just Curiously, we are all alike. We are alike inwardly
in our souls. Now, it takes just one touch
of grace, not nature, but one touch of the grace of God that
makes all the elect kin spiritual kin. God's people are in the
high sense of family. a family. Now I'll try to tell
you and show you who it is that makes up this family, this family
of God. Now are you a member of the family
of God? Are you a member of God's family? Now the second question I was
to ask and answer is this, where is this family now? Where is
this family now? Well look at the text, verse
15 of Ephesians 3, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth
is named. In heaven and in earth. Now our text there has given
us the answer to the question. Some on earth, yet one family. Some in heaven, some on earth,
yet one family. Now then, listen. For the present,
for the present, the two parts are entirely separated from one
another, but they form one family in the sight of God, though resident
in two places, and their union, as we've said earlier, is sure
to occur one day. These two parts of the family
are going to get together. They are gradually, gradually,
gradually being moved from this side over there. Two places and
only two contain the family of God. There is no third place.
I know that we're told by some that there is a place of purifying,
there is a place of probation, there is a place of purgatory
for those who are not true believers when they die. But I told you
last Sunday, that there is no place, the grave does not allow
a place of repentance. You cannot repent in the grave.
There is no conversion to God after you have breathed your
last breath. So there is no Third place, there
are but two parts of the family. The part that is seen and the
part that is unseen. The part that's in heaven and
the part still on earth. Those not in heaven are on earth.
Two parts, two places, and that is all. Somebody said, well don't
you believe in soul sleep? Don't you believe that there
are some of God's people in the graves? No sir, I don't believe
that. I do not believe that. Absent
from the body, present with the Lord. You go out of this body
and you go yonder to be with the Lord if you are a child of
God. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. Paul said, I've
got a desire to depart and be with Christ. It's far better.
He didn't say anything about, I'm going to lay in the grave
for 500 years and then I'm going to be with Christ. He said, no,
I've got a desire to depart. Sounded to me like somebody that
was just fixing, wanted to get right on the train right then.
I've got a desire to depart and to be with Christ. I'm going
to leave this thing and go yonder to be with Him. There isn't any
such thing as soul sleeping. Don't let anybody tell you that.
Two places for a child of God, in heaven or on earth. Now then, some of God's people
have been gathered already safe home to heaven. They are at rest. They have finished their course.
They have fought their battle. They fought the good fight of
faith. They have done their appointed work. They have carried their
cross. They have passed through this
troublesome world and reached heaven and home at last. They've
already arrived over there. Bless God they've already arrived. Little as we know about them,
there's one thing I can tell you for sure. I know they're
happy. I know they're happy because
the Bible says, blessed, happy are the dead who die in the Lord. They're no longer troubled by
sin. They're no longer troubled by temptation. And I'll tell
you what, the older I get, the more... Listen to me, you say,
Preacher, you're bothered by sin and temptation at your age? My friend, let me tell you something,
that most of the people in the Bible that fell away and sinned
against God, they did it in their old age. They did it after they
were 60 years old. David committed the sin he committed
with Bathsheba after he was 60 years old. Solomon, when he was
an old man, let his wives turn his heart away from the Lord,
and he did not follow the Lord in his old days. The wisest man
that ever lived in this world outside the Lord Jesus Christ,
you see. Preacher, are you bothered by
sin and temptation? I'll tell you this, I used to,
I was, I just was pretty presumptuous, I just wasn't too much bothered.
I didn't think that I'd ever be, that I'd ever, anything that
ever happened, I'd ever fall away. But I'll tell you this,
I'm more and more concerned about it every day I live. The more
I know about my heart, and the more I know about the wickedness
that's in this body of flesh, the more I'm concerned about
it. I know the sheep of Christ are secure in the Lord Jesus,
but the question is, am I a sheep of Christ? How about you? Do
you know positively that you're a sheep of Christ? Well, I'm
telling you here to know I think I've got about every mark that
I can discover that a child of God has in the Word of God, but
I'm still going to pray and seek God's face and cast myself upon
Him and bow every day the best I can to the instructions of
the Word of God in order that I will persevere. The Bible says,
listen to me, the Bible says, they that endure to the end will
be saved. And everybody, I know this to
be a fact, has a spasm of religion sometime in their life, and maybe
that's all you have. Just a spasm of religion, and
then maybe you will fall away. Maybe you will not endure. But
these people, I mean they're past that. They don't have any
sin any longer to deal with and no temptation. They have said
goodbye forever to trying to make ends meet in this world.
They've said goodbye to worry. They've said goodbye to pain,
to sickness and sorrow and disappointment and tears. These people have
said goodbye to all of that and they are with the Lord Jesus
Christ who loves them. and gave himself for them. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, and there
with him who lay down their lives, or his life for them. Now there
are three things that I think that, that it just blesses me
to think about that these souls that are in heaven, part of the
family that are in heaven, they're waiting. They're waiting. Three
things that blesses me. Number one, they're waiting for
the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. because at his
advent when he comes back down here to this earth he's going
to bring them with him and there's going to be, listen, there's
going to be a resurrection of bodies out of the grave and uniting
of bodies, glorified bodies the Bible says with our souls, with
our redeemed souls and they're waiting that day when our Lord
is ready to come back and when the trumpet, when the angels
are practicing on the trumpet and I can just see the great
anticipation we're going down, we're going down and our bodies
are going to be raised I can just feel the power of that anticipation
and I know they're waiting for that and then they're waiting
for that gathering together of all the saints of God all believe
they're waiting Ah, listen, there's an old song that says, we may
never meet again this side of heaven, but we're going to meet
over there on that shore. We're going to meet. God's people
and these people are anticipating the coming of other members of
their family. Oh, we think about it every once
in a while. Sometimes, you know, a family, here they start out
and they're all present. And they're all around the table
and around the far side. But one of them's gone. Another. Another few years and another
one gone. Another one gone. And first thing you know, there's
more gone than what's still here. And then first thing you know,
it's all over. The last one is gone. gone out of this world,
gone to glory. You think there's not anticipation
for the time when there will be this gathering together, the
coming together, the reunion of this one family? Well, those
are three things that I'm sure are going to come to pass that
these people are awaiting. Now I told you that some of God's
family are still here up on this earth. You say, Preacher, you
got to get to that. Oh yes, we're still here very much. We're scattered
to and fro in the midst of a crooked and perverse wicked world. A
few here and a few there. We're here. We're still here.
All of us are running a race. We're all doing a work. We're
warring a warfare. We're carrying a cross. God knows
what yours is and God knows what mine is, but we're carrying a
cross. Listen, we're striving against sin. We're resisting
the devil. We're crucifying the flesh. We're
struggling against the world. We're witnessing, trying to,
for the Lord Jesus Christ. We're mourning over our own hearts.
We're hearing and reading and praying according to the measure
of the grace of God that's been given to us. That's what we're
doing. That's what we're about. right
now in this world. But however divided God's family
may be at present in place and habitation, it is still one family. One family still. Well, both
parts of this family we've said loves the Savior and they delight
in the same perfect will of God. Will they be in heaven? Will
they be on earth? The part on earth they love with
much imperfection. I think all of you know what
I'm talking about. We love with much imperfection.
We love with infirmity. And we live by faith and not
by sight, but the part that's already in heaven. Now listen
to me. There's some people over in heaven
that I love, but I don't want them back here. I don't want
to bring them back. I would bring them back for anything. The part over in it because they
love without weakness. They love without doubt. They
love without distraction. They walk by sight and not by
faith over there. And they see over there what
they once believed. They see it now. They see it. Why would we want them back?
Why would we desire that they would come by. We on earth are
weary pilgrims, but these over there, the part of the family
that's over there, they enjoy perpetual rest. One old brother
said they've begun an eternal holiday. An eternal holiday. They are called the spirits in
Hebrews 12 and 23 of just men made perfect. That's what the
Bible calls them. Both parts of God's family are
alike in many ways, but another way that I wanted to suggest
to you is that they're alike as soldiers of the cross. Now
the soldiers on earth, here we're yet militant because the fight
is not over for us. The fight. We still fight that
good fight of faith every day. Gotta believe God new every morning,
don't you? Gotta believe God anew every
day that you live. And we need every day to put
on the whole armor of God here in this world. You gotta do it.
Because if you don't, listen, the soldiers in heaven, they're
all triumphant. Every one of them. They conquered
through the conqueror, the Lord Jesus Christ. They're more than
conquerors through Him. No enemy can get to them now.
The enemy is shut out. He can't get to these folks.
No fire dart can reach them. Helmet and shield laid aside.
They don't need it any longer. They have sat down. They need
not watch any longer. They need not stand on guard
any longer. No, my friend. They are safe
forever shut in to eternal glory. Now, last under this head, but
not the least, both of the families of God also, I want to say both
parts of the family of God are safe. They're safe and they're
secure. I didn't want you to get the
idea that only those in heaven are safe and secure. Would it
be wrong for me to suggest that Jesus Christ cares as much for
his members that are on earth as his members in heaven? I don't think it's wrong. I think
the Lord Jesus cares as much for the part of the family that's
still over here as he does for the part of the family that's
already in heaven. And you might as well as try
to pluck a star out of God's heaven as to pluck the feeblest
and the weakest family member out of his hand. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, I give my sheep eternal life, they'll never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my head. My Father which
gave, He's greater than all, no man. can pluck them out of
his hands. So both parts of the family are
a lot. They're secured by an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things insure, 2 Samuel 23 and 5. The members on earth,
though through the burden of the flesh and the dimness of
their faith, they may neither see nor know nor feel their security
and their safety. But they're safe whether they
know it or not. Is that alright? They are safe. whether they know it or not because
the Bible says in Peter that the whole family the whole family
is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation and so it
delights me to say that not one of the living family of God shall
come up missing at the last day. The poet said more happy but
not more secure the glorified spirits in heaven Ha, that's
good. Now the greater part of the family
of God, I think, I don't know how you see it, but I think that
the greater part of the family of God, I think we're living
in the day of the winding up of the ages, and I think the
greater part of the family of God is already over there. That's
what I think. And we just see a little of the
family left. Just a few believers here and
there, dotting the land as we said earlier, some here and some
there, but I think the greater part has already gone on and
they're already waiting there for the rest of the family. Well
that brings me to the third and last question and that is what
are the future prospects of this family, this important family
that we've been talking about? Well the future prospects of
a family, think of that statement, Think of that statement. What
great perplexing uncertainty these words open up when we look
at any family now in this world. What are the prospects, the future
prospects of the families seated here this morning? Well, who
can tell of the things that are coming on any of our families? As I suggested earlier, We're
living in a very difficult time, a very trying time. What a mercy
that we do not know the sorrows and the trials and the separations
through which our beloved children may have to pass when we have
left this world. Only God knows what our children,
our grandchildren, are going to face in the years to come. We must look to God. to persevere
the institution of the home. Ask God to undertake. Ask God to undertake. I mean
spend time in weeping and prayer before God that he will preserve
your family and bless it in the future. What will become of your
boys? What will become of your boys?
Will they be a prodigal? Will they turn out to be prodigal?
Will they end up in a hog pen somewhere? Where will they end
up? Your boys, future prospects of
your family. What about your girls? Will your
girls end up in a bad marriage? in a marriage where somebody
is abusing them, where somebody is mistreating them, your precious
daughters, brothers, where will your family, what's the future
prospects of your family? Well, I think that every one
of us are aware that we live next door, even though we live
in Montana, next door to Sodom and Gomorrah. Every one of us
were there. I think that maybe Montana is
the last best place on earth, but it's still a long ways from
heaven, isn't it? It's still a long ways from heaven. I don't
know too much about my neighbors, and really and truthfully, I
don't want to know a whole lot about it. I don't know what's
going on. Mike's got a neighbor that got drunk the other night
and killed a lady. We don't know too much about
our neighbors, but there's We just don't know. But what are
the future prospects of your family? You think of it. You
meditate on it. It ought to drive you to prayer.
Well, whatever the prospects of our family are, there is one
family, the one I've been talking to you about this morning, the
future prospects, there is no, there is not any uncertainty
as to what's going to become of it. There is no uncertainty
because, listen to me, They're all good. All of the prospects
for the family of God is all good. I don't know how to preach
this. I wish I could, but I know the
Lord is good to all that trust Him. And He knoweth them that
trust Him. The Lord is good. I know He's
good. And He's only good. He's only
good. Now, the Lord's living family
are going to be happy. They're going to be happy in
this life. We may be the happiest, most
miserable people on earth, but we are happy as God's children
here in this world. We're happy in the Lord, and
then we're going to be happy in eternity. And the old song
says, I mentioned it to you I think last week, but it said, I want
to be happy in eternity. I want to be happy. And God's
people are going to be happy. Now we already have told you
about all the members of the family of God being saved And
that all of them are secure and all of them are going to be brought
home at last. The members of God's family, listen, we already
mentioned too that they're going to have a glorious body one of
these days. But I gotta say just a word or
two about that. The dead are going to be raised
and the living, they're going to be changed. We're not going
to have these vile bodies in heaven. They're going to be changed
according to the power of God, that power by which He is able
to subdue all things unto Himself. God's going to change these old
bodies. We're going to have a glorified body, a body like Him, without
the slightest liability to sickness and pain. Glory to God! The older you get, the more you
ought to appreciate that. The former things will all have
passed away. The Word fulfilled. I'll make
all things new! Everything new. I'm talking about
the future prospects of the family of God. And there will be, as
we said, no more separation. The earthly partings of God's
family are only for a few days. And the meeting, their meeting,
is for eternity. You know, it seems to me like
I've done an awful lot of saying goodbye since I moved to this
state. Seems like to me that always
one of the kids leaving, going away, somebody out of the church
or something, somebody you have to say bye to, goodbye, goodbye,
goodbye. And I'll tell you what, in that,
the meeting of the people of God over yonder is forever, forever. No more separations. Glory to
God. And how much separation You're
going to have to deal with, brother, sister, your family. Bigger your
family, more it is. More it is. I've raised seven children over
and over again. Goodbye. Goodbye. See you later if God wills. See
you down the road if God wills. But over there, you're going
to have to say that again. Never, never have to say it again. And then also our destination. in our destination we'll be united
in mind and judgment on that day now most of you have done
a little fighting in your time you've done a little disagreeing
a little arguing a little disagreeing but I want to tell you this over
yonder there won't be any more arguing there won't be any more
disagreements we're going to be one in judgment and in mind
everybody is going to think alike over there Everybody's going
to be dressed alike. I told them at the funeral, I
said, we're all going to be dressed alike in eternal glory. Oh, we're
all going to have on that wedding garment that's woven from the
top to the bottom with the doing and dying of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. And we're all going to be the
same in mind and in judgment. And we're just going to be able
to rejoice and we're going to be able to to have unbroken fellowship
over there. And then our destination is one,
I thought you might like this, it's one of perfection, literal
perfection. You know, the Bible says we're
complete in Him, but over there, our state is going to be where
our position is now. We're going to be perfect, perfect
in holiness. Not a single evil temper Now
you children, you've seen maybe a temper in your parents. Maybe you've seen mama or daddy
get a little bit frustrated and have a temper here in this world. But over there, complete perfection. I'm talking about the future
of this family. Ain't going to be no more tempers. No more evil
tempers. Ain't going to be any more hard
and unkind words going to be spoken over there all listen
to me we're going to be we're going to be without spot or wrinkle
or blemish no more corrupt inclination will ever be found in this family
over there nobody trying to get the best of one another perfect
harmony unity that's the future prospect of the living family
of God well the Lord said he's going to present us faultless
with a static joy before the Father and if that don't mean
perfection I don't know what it means. Flawless means perfect. God's going to present us flawless
Carl before the presence of his glory. Now we shall also be eternally
provided for in that day. A lot of us are worried about
our families here, how we're going to make it. Some of us
don't have two nickels to rub together most of the time and
we wonder how we're going to do it. How are we ever going
to make it? How are we going to get by? But
I'll tell you what, that family over there, they won't have to
worry about that no more. They're going to be eternally provided
for when the affairs of this old sinful world are finally
wound up and settled. There will be an everlasting
portion for every one of the members of the family of God.
Listen to me, all the sons and daughters of God will be equally
provided for. The smallest vessel of grace
as well as the greatest shall be filled with glory for all
eternity. All of us provided for. Listen,
we will all be satisfied over there. You know the Bible says
hell and destruction are never full. The eyes of man never satisfied,
but over there, everybody going to be satisfied. Go be satisfied. He said, Preacher, if I could
just be satisfied. Well, you're going to be. You're
going to be if you're a member of this family. Because God's
going to fix it up so everybody... David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake in your likeness. When I wake up and I'm like you
are, I will be satisfied. And so, that's a glorious prospect. The prospect of God's family. And I want to say this clearly.
They're great realities. They're great realities. I told
you last week that if you want to deal with realities, you've
got to deal with them.