Turn back to Genesis 1, please. Evan Wright is in the hospital
right now. At UK, he's got a viral infection,
but he's getting better. So everybody remember him. And tonight, I'm going to be
speaking on Samuel. And the main text will be out
of 1 Samuel chapter 7. I have entitled the message for
this morning, The second day, heaven. The second day, heaven. Now I do not pretend to fully
comprehend what I'm talking about. I'm simply giving the Genesis
account of creation, which I believe. The Bible is the inspired word
of God without error, and I like saying this. If the Bible said
that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe it. I believe
what the Word of God says. It's the inspired, inerrant Word
of God. Now look in verse 2 of Genesis
1, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was
upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. All there was at this time was
water. It could be at the first of the
creation, matter was created without substance and without
form, water, unstable chaos, and the six days were used to
do whatever God was doing during those six days. This is what
God brought from nothing. But all we have in verse two
is water. The first day, there was light. And I believe that's the uncreated
light, the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, I am the light of the
world. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4,
6, God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And the second
day, God created the firmament, a solid expanse, the first stable
thing he created, unlike the water. Now let's read verses
seven and eight again. And God made the firmament and
divided the waters which were under the firmament from the
waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called
the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning
were the second day. God called the firmament heaven. Now some think this refers to
the creation of the atmosphere, perhaps. But this I know, there
is a place called heaven where God dwells. God created heaven. Heaven's a creation. There was
a time when all there was, was God. And God created heaven. God is omnipresent, cannot be
confined to any place. Solomon said, the heavens cannot
contain thee. Understand, God is not a part
of the universe. God created universe. He made the heavens, but heaven
is said to be a place where God dwells. It's where the Lord Jesus
Christ is. It is where the unfallen angels
are. It's the place of his reign. Turn with me for a moment to
Psalm 2. I love this Psalm. Verse 1, why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves
And the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder and
cast their cords from us. We will not have this man reign
over us. Verse four, he that sitteth in
the heavens. Notice he's sitting. He's not
standing wringing his hands in frustration because men won't
let him have his way and men are going to cast his cords away.
What's he doing? He's sitting undisturbed by any
kind of opposition, absolutely in control. He that sitteth in
the heavens shall laugh. He laughs at this opposition. The Lord shall have them in strong
derision. How many times do we read, particularly
in the Old Testament, the Lord looked down from heaven? You'll remember when Paul said
he was brought into the third heavens. in 2 Corinthians chapter
12 where the Lord taught him the gospel directly. Now the
first heavens is where the birds fly, the atmosphere. The second
heavens are outer space, the stars, the galaxies, the universe. The third heaven is the place
where Christ dwells. Now do we fully comprehend any
of this? No, but we believe it. The third
heavens Paul said, I heard unspeakable words which are not lawful for
a man to utter. Psalm 11 for the Lord's throne
is said to be in heaven. The place of his kingly reign,
the place from which he exercises his sovereign rule. Isaiah 66, one, thus saith the
Lord, heaven is my throne. Heaven is my throne. The earth is my footstool. Where is the house you build
unto me? And what is the place of my rest? Listen to this scripture, Psalm
115, two and three. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? Come on, give us some proof.
Show us some evidence of your God. You talk about him, show
him to us. I love the reply of the psalmist. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done. You see, everything he does is
a hath done. All the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. Our God is in the heavens, he
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Nebuchadnezzar, after
the Lord turned him into a beast for seven years, and his hair
grew out like eagle's feathers, and his claws like his fingernails,
and like claws, the Lord gave him this disease, and he turned
into a beast for this reason. After that, he shall know that
the heavens do rule. Whatsoever the Lord pleads, that
did he in heaven and earth, in the sea and in all deep places. He doeth accordingly his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or saying to him, what doest thou?
The heavens are the place where he exercises his sovereign, absolute
sovereign rule. Absolute sovereign. Now what's
that mean? The heaven is where he dwells. He made it. He's not
confined to it. You can't confine him to any
place because he's omnipresent. But yet he describes himself
in the Scriptures exercising his rule from heaven. Now, what
is God's absolute sovereign rule? It means his will is always done,
and only his will is done, and his will is done all the time. That is God's absolute sovereign
rule. His will was done in creation
when He willed this universe into existence. His will is done
in providence. Everything that happens, He is
the cause of. I don't care what it is. You
say, are you saying that God's the author of evil? I'm saying
everything there is, God is the cause of. You can do with that
whatever you want, but that's so. He is the cause of causes. And if you're saved, it's because
he willed your salvation. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? And the heavens also represent
the place of judgment. When the earth was flooded in
Genesis chapter seven, verse 11, the scripture says the windows
of heaven were opened. Psalm 14, three, or 11, four,
excuse me. The Lord is in his holy temple.
The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold. His eyelids
try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked, and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain
snares, fire and brimstone, and horrible tempest. Now in this
scripture where he rains from heaven, we read of two kinds
of people, the righteous and the wicked. There are only two
kinds of people. the righteous and the wicked. You and I are in one of those
two groups. And let me remind you of this.
All the righteous, without exception, believe themselves to be wicked. And all of the wicked, without
exception, believe themselves to be righteous, or at least
have the potential to be righteous if they do whatever it is that
they think will make them righteous. Psalm 14.3 says, the Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men. I love to think that
the Lord looked down from heaven. Think of that. He's doing that
right now. The Lord looketh down from heaven to behold the children
of men. to see if there were any that
did understand. If there were any that did seek
God, they've all gone out of the way. They've together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Now, one of the names of the
gospel is the kingdom of heaven. How many times do we read that
in the New Testament? The kingdom of heaven. Now the Lord said,
my kingdom is not of this world. You can't look at any human kingdom
and compare it to the kingdom of God. He said of himself, I
am not of this world. And he said of his people, they
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. The lineage
of the people of God is not of this earth, it's heavenly. this eternal union they enjoy
with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where I'm from. How many times a parable are introduced by these
words, the kingdom of heaven is like. The kingdom of heaven
is like. Turn with me for a moment to
Matthew chapter 20. Remember this firmament represents heaven
on the second day. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
20. And this is a demonstration of how the kingdom of heaven
is like no earthly kingdom. Verse one. But the kingdom of
heaven is like unto a man that's an householder which went out
early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And
when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them
into his vineyard. And he went out about the third
hour, 9 a.m., and saw others standing idle in the market,
and he said to them, go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever
is right, I will give you. Don't miss that. Whatsoever is
right, I will give you. God always gives that which is
right. Four, and he said unto them,
go ye also into the vineyard, whatsoever is right I'll give
you. And they went their way. And again, he went out about the sixth hour,
noon, ninth hour, 3 PM, and did likewise. And about the 11th
hour, 5 PM, he went out and found others standing idle and said
unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto
him, because no man hath hired us. He says, go. And he said
unto them, go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right
that shall you receive. So when the evening was come,
the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, call the labors
and give them their hire beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were
hired about the 11th hour, they received every man a penny. That's
the same thing that the men who worked 12 hours agreed for. But when the first came, they
supposed that they should have received more. Would you make
that supposition? If you worked 12 hours and somebody
else just worked one hour, wouldn't you suppose you would get more? I know I would. And every man
received a penny. And don't forget that penny is
what is right. God always does what is right. And when they received it, they
murmured against the good man of the house, saying, Thou hast,
these have wrought but one hour, and Thou hast made them equal
unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. This
is not fair. Now wait a minute. This is right. This is right. Whatever God does
is right. And if he saves a man, his righteousness
demands it because that sinner has been justified by him. He's
given what is right. Verse 13, but he answered one
of them and said, friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not
agree with me for a penny? Yes, they did. Take that thine
is, and go thy way. I'll give unto this last, even
as unto thee is it not lawful for me to do what I will with
my own? Is I naive because I am good?
So the last shall be first, and the first last for many be called,
but few be chosen. Now, there isn't a kingdom here
like this, is there? The kingdom of God is like. how we instructed to pray. Our
Father, which art in, where? Heaven. I'm not saying something
about the man upstairs, that's blasphemous. Our Father, which
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. Now, five times in that memorial
sermon in John chapter six, where at the end of it, the 5,000 people
who were listening to him, they left him. You remember that.
After that message, they left him. Five times in that sermon,
he said, I came down from heaven. Now, what would you think of
me if I looked at you and said, I've come down from heaven to
deliver this message to you? Well, you'd think I'm a cult
leader or some kind of idiot, somebody crazy. And you would
do well to think that way of me if I made this statement trying
to show that I've got some kind of power. I came down from heaven.
Why, you must be some kind of cult leader. And I'm sure people
probably felt that way somewhat about the Lord Jesus, but here's
the difference. He really did come down from heaven. Look in
John chapter six. Verse 41. The Jews then murmured at him,
Because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it that he saith, I came
down from heaven? Look in verse 38. For I came
down from heaven. not to do my own will, but the
will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which has sent me, that of all which He has given me, I should
lose nothing." There's a people that he came to represent, those
the Father gave. And he said, I will not lose
one of them. There will not be anybody in
hell that Jesus Christ died for. Everybody he died for must be
saved because of who he is. He's the son of God that came
down from heaven. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the will of him that sent me that of all which he has given
me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone
would seeth the Son and believeth on him. Now, do you see, I'm
not talking about visually, but do you see that he is the eternal
Son of God? Do you believe that? That he
is the second person of the Trinity, the creator of the universe.
Everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on him. That doesn't
simply mean you believe in his existence. You are relying on
him only to bring you into heaven. Now, if that describes you, you may have everlasting life
and I'll raise him up. The reason you do that is because
you have everlasting life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. Now we also read in the book
of God of some names that are literally recorded in heaven. Written in the book of life of
the Lamb slain, from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13,
eight. The Lord said to his disciples
in Luke chapter 10, in this rejoice not that the devils are subject
to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. The church is called in Hebrews
12, the general assembly and church of the firstborn. whose
names are written in heaven. There are some literal names
written in heaven. And you know these names were
written before there was a heaven. These names were written before
the foundation of the world. These are the names of God's
elect. names written in heaven. If I'm one of God's people, my
name, my name is written in heaven and has always been there in
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If you're a believer,
your name right now is recorded in heaven. You know why you have
the name you have? It's not because your mommy and
daddy named you that name. It's because that was the name
inscribed in the Lamb's Book of Life from the very foundation
of the world. Now, the Lord came down from
heaven, the place we read of in Genesis 1. The eternal word
was made flesh and he came to this earth. He said, I came down
from heaven. Now, I love that scripture that
It is the touchstone of truth. Whoso confesseth not that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. Now, everything
we believe is found in that statement. He was before he came. He is the eternal, uncreated
Son of God, the second person of the blessed Trinity. Now,
we only know that God is one God in three persons because
it's what the scripture reveals. We'd never figure that out. It's
never something we'd come up with, but it is the revelation
of who God is. Christ Jesus is the second person. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. He was before he came. And he
came to this earth in the flesh. The word, the eternal word, which
was with God and was God, The Word was made flesh. The eternal God, a human being. The Word was made flesh. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh.
And listen to this. He was before He came, He came
in the flesh, and He did exactly what He came to do. Whatever
it was he intended to do, that is precisely what he did. Matthew 121, one of my favorite
scriptures. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people, those whose names are written
in heaven. He shall save his people from their sins. And beloved, that's what I need
saved from, from my sins. I need to be saved from myself.
I need to be saved from my sins. My sin is ever before me. How did he save his people from
the sins? Well, first he saved his people from the penalty of
sin. It's what the Bible calls justification. Now let me tell
you why I won't be condemned. There's nothing to condemn me
for. I've been justified. I've been given perfect righteousness.
I don't have any sin to be condemned for. He shall save his people
from the penalty of their sins. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. He shall save his people from
the power of their sins. Now how's that? Well, I know
that there was a time when I could not believe. I can remember saying to myself,
well, I'd believe if I knew what it meant. I don't even know what
it really means. I don't know what it means to
repent. I hear the preacher say, repent. What's that name? There
was a time when I could not love God. As a matter of fact, I had
no love for God at all. Not the God of the Bible. I couldn't
do these things. I was under the dominion and
power of sin. But when I was given a new nature,
a holy nature, That which is born of God. I was delivered from the power
of sin. I can now believe. I couldn't
used to. One day I found myself believing.
One day I found myself in a state of repentance. One day I found
myself loving God as He is and being thankful for His way of
salvation. Saved from the power of sin. Saved from the penalty.
Saved from the power and saved from the presence of sin. Now,
what do you mean by that? Well, I mean the same thing that
Paul meant when he said, whom he did foreknow, them he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of the Son. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Whom he called,
them he also justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. In Christ, I'm in glory right
now, glorified. Somebody says, explain that to
me. How am I going to do that? I just believe it. It's what
the Bible says. Whatever it was he came to do,
that's what he did. He came to keep the law for me.
Keep the law for me. Remember what he said to John
the Baptist, thus it becometh us? to fulfill all righteousness. Everything he did was as an us.
When he kept the law, I did too. That's why I stand before God
without guilt with a perfect righteousness. I kept the law.
When he kept it, I kept it. He came to put away sin. Hebrews 1.3 says when he had
by himself. Don't miss that. It doesn't just
say when he had purged our sins. It said when he had by himself,
no help from mere you, no contribution, this wasn't a cooperative effort,
he by himself purged, put away our sins. He sat down at the
right hand of the majesty on high from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool. You see, he died for
those sins. He died for those sins. Now,
this is one of the great mysteries of the gospel, the fact that
the God-man could die. But he died. He died on Calvary
Street. What's the reason for death?
One reason for death, sin. My sin became his sin. And I say that fearfully. But
when Christ died, it wasn't the innocent dying, it was the guilty
dying. My sin became his sin. He took my sins and my sorrows,
he made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, for
he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. that we might
be made the very righteousness of God in him. He died for his people, but he
didn't stay dead. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Now understand this. He came
down from heaven. The place we read of in Genesis
chapter two or Genesis chapter one. He made the heaven. He dwells
in heaven. He came down from heaven and
he did exactly as he intended to do. He saved his people from
their sin. Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter nine. Now he ascended back to heaven
after this. He stayed here on earth for 40 days and then he
ascended back into heaven. Look at Hebrews chapter nine. Verse 24. For Christ is not entered into the
holy place made with hands, which are figures of the true, but
into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence
of God for us, nor yet that he should offer himself often as
the high priest entered into the holy place every year with
the blood of others. For then he must have often suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin. by the sacrifice of
himself. And my dear friends, that's exactly
what he did. And as it's appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many, and unto them that look for him. And that's what
I'm doing right now. You know, when my name is called
in judgment, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna look for
him. I'm gonna look for him to answer for me. And to them that
look for him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. While you're in Hebrews, turn
to Hebrews chapter four. Verse 14, seeing then that we
have a great high priest that's passed into the heavens. He's there now. Jesus, the Son
of God, Let us hold fast our profession, for we have not a
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
Now, how many times or how often are you overcome with the feeling
of your infirmities? You're so sinful. You're so sinful. You're so weak. Jesus Christ is touched by that. You say, how? He never sinned.
That's true. He never sinned, but he was made
sin. And he understands those feelings
much more acutely than you do. And when you feel that, he's
touched. For we have not in high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are. Yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
under the throne of grace. That we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. There's a man in glory. Now, he was here on earth, he
accomplished what he came to do, he went back to heaven, and
he intercedes for all his people. Peter, I've prayed for you. Oh, if the Son of God is praying
for you, what else needs to be said? And we read, of the hope that's
laid up in heaven. Paul said in Colossians 1.15,
of the hope that's laid up for you in heaven, where have you
heard in the word of the truth of the gospel? Peter said in 1 Peter 1.4, he
tells us of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, reserved, reserved
in heaven for you. Have you got a reservation? Yes,
I do. Yes, I do. Reserved in heaven for you who
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. There's a place reserved for
you, a place of no sin, no sorrow, no tears, No pain. I love what John said in Revelation
chapter 14, verse 13. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. The best day of your life, believers,
the day of your death. You believe that? Blessed are
the dead that die in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the
Spirit, they may have rest from their labors. Now that doesn't
mean they're laboring in order to serve God and now they don't
have to do it anymore, now they get to rest instead of all this
stuff they're doing. That's talking about the labor
of sin. If you're a believer, you labor
under the heavy burden of sin. But it will be no more then. He says, and their works do follow
them. Now their works don't lead them
as the cause of their salvation, nor do their works walk alongside
in them as the evidence of their salvation. But their works do
follow them. There will be evidence that they
really believed what they said they did. The Lord said to the
seven churches, I know thy works. And when the Lord returns from
heaven to this earth, listen to this scripture from 1 Thessalonians
4, 16 and 17. The Lord shall descend from heaven
with a shout. Can you imagine how loud that
shout must be? Everybody will hear it. and with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ arise first,
and then we which are alive and remain will be caught up with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall
we ever be with the Lord. In closing, until then, Our cry is return,
we beseech thee, O Lord God of hosts, and look down from heaven,
and visit this vine. In Genesis 11, we read of some
men who tried to build a tower all the way to heaven. Now you
know they didn't think they could build a tower that would reach
the stars. This represents salvation by
works, Babylon religion, the religion of confusion, and God
confused the languages at that time. We also read in Ecclesiastes
chapter three, verse one, to everything there's a season and
a time to every purpose under heaven. The things done under
the heavens here on earth are all according to the purpose
of God, everything. In Ecclesiastes chapter five,
verse two, we read, be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy
heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven
and thou on earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. Now, this heaven that was created
on the second day is going to be done away with. And there's
going to be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness, the city of God. And this heaven is eternal. It's eternal. Now, I'm asking this question, will
you spend eternity in heaven? or will you spend eternity in
hell? That's a sobering thought, isn't
it? There is a place called hell. It's the place of absolute justice. Everybody will be getting exactly
what they deserve. Somebody says, how can a loving
God send somebody to hell? A loving God doesn't, but a just
God does. Well, who's going to be in heaven?
Everybody who looks to Christ only. as everything in their
salvation. They don't have anything but
Christ. If you have something more than Christ, you won't be
there. But if all you have is Christ, you will spend eternity
in heaven. Let's pray. Lord, we confess that you are
in the heavens and everywhere else. And you have done whatsoever
you've pleased. And we're so thankful you sent
your son down from heaven to this earth to accomplish the
salvation of all your people. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you will give everybody in this room the grace to believe
on thy son only. as all in salvation. In his blessed
name we pray, amen.