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 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, 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 of people saying, 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 families 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 of the living God. Now it's the family of God, the
whole family in heaven and earth. Now I want to speak to you about
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 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 purposes as families and sometimes
those gatherings are very sad indeed. Well, first of all, what is this
family which the Bible calls the whole family in heaven? true believers in Jesus Christ. Now when I say all true believers this family consists of Protestants,
of Baptists, of to do what they would have not
otherwise have done and that is they have faith by our God. And if you
and I can say this morning, we're believers, we're true believers,
we're believers in the spirit of God. We read in Romans chapter
8 and verse 9, now if any man have not None of his. The Spirit of God
comes down and indwells every soul. The doctrine of divine election.
We believe that God has before the foundation of the world of the elect of God. This is
the family of God of every age, body of Christ. It's also referred
to as the bride of Christ and the This is the family of God that
we're talking about. 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 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? 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,
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. 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. But they
all hate sin. You see, the salvation of our
Lord is a salvation that fixes it up so that you're ruined 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 I not,
but what I hate. But what I hate, that do I. Now beloved, any man or woman
in this world, any Christian, any believer, anybody who knows
the Lord will tell you that there is no good thing in them. They
will tell you that in their flesh dwelleth no good thing, 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. All of us
sin daily, but we hate it. We hate it. What we allow, we
hate. What we do, we hate. We 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're 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
got to pray every day to make it. I 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 country. 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're alike
inwardly in our souls now it is just 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 highest
sense a family. family. Now I've tried 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 then 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 younger to be with the Lord if you're 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 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 loved them gave himself for them greater love hath no
man than this let a man lay down his life for his friends and
there with him who laid down their lives or his life for them
now there are three things that I think that that 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 a
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 believers, they're waiting. Ah, listen,
there's an old song that says, we shall never, we may never
meet again this side of heaven, but we're gonna meet over there
on that shore. We're gonna 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 few
years and another one gone. Another one gone. The first thing
you know, there's more gone than what's still here. And the 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
gotta 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 wouldn't bring them back for
anything. The part over in heaven, 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 back? 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 thing I'd like 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 anew 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. We 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 or dark can reach them. Helmet and shield laid aside.
They don't need it any longer. They have sit 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. 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? Now, I don't think that'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 hand. My Father which gave, He's greater
than all, and no man can pluck them out of His hand. So both
parts of the family are alike, 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 Hamlet 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? Ah, 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, brother, 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. 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 them. 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, 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, it's 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! 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 we 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've
got to 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 into 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
that I've done an awful lot of saying goodbye since I moved
to this state. Seems like to me that I was 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 separation. Glory to
God. And how much separation you gonna
have to deal with, brother, sister, your family. Bigger your family,
the more it is, the 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. And over there you won't 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.
little arguing, 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's 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 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 what
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, 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. Oh, listen
to me. 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. Faultless means perfect. God's going to present us faultless,
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. 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 don'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.
Going to be satisfied. Say preacher if I could just
be satisfied. What are you going to be? You're going to be a pure
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 eternity. The things in eternity are real. The things in time are temporal. And so these prospects... You
say, Preacher, it sounds too good to be true. Well, these
prospects that I'm talking about are realities. They're realities. Well, the question is that we're
to ask ourselves every time we assemble around the table as
a family, Every time we assemble around the far side or otherwise,
the question we need to ask ourselves is a very serious question and
that is, am I a member of the family of God? That preacher
talked a whole lot about that. Now I know some things about
your families and you know some things about my family. There
are some things that you don't need to know about my family
and there are some things I don't need to know about your family.
But the things I've told you today about the family of God,
you need to know about. You need to know about. Now listen,
we are to live worthy of the family to which we belong. Paul
said down here in chapter 4 and verse 1, he said, I therefore,
the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you were called. And I say that we ought to live
worthy of the family to which we belong. Do we belong to the
family of God? Then live worthy of it. Let us
do nothing that may cause our Father's house to be spoken against.
Let us behave as if the honor of the family depended on our
behavior. So living by the grace of God
that we shall recommend our Father's family to all, to others, and
perhaps by God's blessing incline them to say, We will go with
you. We will go with you. Those are
the words of J.C. Ryle. He said that we ought to
live as members of God's family by the grace of God that we shall
recommend our Father's family to others and perhaps by God's
blessing incline them to say we will go with you. We will
go with you. Over there on the other side.
We'll go with you. Well may the Lord add His blessing
to those thoughts that we've expressed today, and I hope that
God will use them in your heart. There's
been an unusual alertness, and you've listened
so well, so very well, and I do appreciate that. That makes all
of the effort worthwhile, and I do believe that if God enabled
you to hear that you've heard something today that will be
of eternal worth to your soul.