I have lived long enough now
that I've seen a lot of people die, both believers and unbelievers. And I'm aware that many of you
are young, some children, some young adults, some not quite
as old as the rest of us, some a little older. And you younger
people seldom think about dying. The fact is, I've preached funerals.
for babies as young as two, and for adults in their nineties,
and most everywhere in between. There is but a breath between
you and eternity. Just a breath. You're not too
young to trust Christ, nor too old. And Christ alone, Christ
alone, is our hope of everlasting salvation. I bid you trust the
Son of God, trust his blood, his righteousness, trust him
alone as your Lord and Savior. In the past two weeks, two very
dear friends have gone home to glory, whether Terry Williams
in Spring Lake, North Carolina, None of you know his name, probably.
He's a member of the Bethel Baptist Church, where Brother Rupert
Rautenbach is pastor. For the last twenty years or
more, he and his wife, running a print shop down there, are
the ones who published our magazine, The Grace Bulletin. He's been
sick for as long as I've known him, and the Lord graciously
took him home last week. Brother Dave Collier's wife pastors
Grace Church in Harrodsburg. died just a couple of weeks ago.
Shelby and I are planning to drive down to Sylacauga, Alabama
Sunday afternoon to visit with Brother Tommy Robbins and his
wife Robin. Tommy is pastor of the Fairmont
Grace Church in Sylacauga. He's been sick for a long time
and it appears that the Lord will soon take him home to glory
as well. Needless to say, my heart and
mind have been occupied with thoughts about death and heaven
and the bliss and glory that awaits God's Saints on the other
side of the grave. As soon as I hear that one of
God's Saints has died, my immediate thought is, he's in heaven. She's
with the Lord now. What a grand thought. What a
blessed, blessed thought. How often we try to console our
children and comfort one another with those words. When a believer
dies, we say, he's in heaven, she's with the Lord. But did
you ever stop to think what that means? Did you ever take time
to find out what God in his word tells us, awaits us in heaven? What the Bible tells us it's
like to be in heaven. give you by way of introduction
a few of those things that are set forth in the book of God
in heaven. God is in heaven. Joshua said, The Lord your God,
he is in heaven above. Nine times while he was dedicating
the temple in 1 Kings chapter 8, Solomon said, The Lord hears
in heaven. God in heaven hears his people
upon the earth. Job found great satisfaction,
great comfort for his own soul before his miserable comforters
when he said, Behold, my witness is in heaven. It doesn't matter
what you think or say. My record is on high. I won't
be bothered by you. God's throne is in heaven. His
covenant is established of old as his witness in heaven. The
book says, Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. How
many times we're told that our Father is in heaven. We pray,
Our Father which art in heaven. Oh, how blessed to know that
our Father is in heaven on his throne. Our treasure is laid
up in heaven. The angels of God are in heaven. Our Savior said, Rejoice, because
your names are written in heaven. The angels of God are before
our Father's throne in heaven. Heaven is a place of joy and
peace unspeakable. In fact, we're told that our
family is in heaven. Ephesians 3.15, our family is
in heaven. Portion here, but those who are
in heaven are, sure enough, our family. Your life is hid with
Christ in heaven. We have a more enduring substance
in heaven. The General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn is in heaven. Our inheritance is in heaven.
In Revelation 4 and 5, we read about a door opened in heaven,
a throne, a bowl, a book, and a lamb in heaven. Christ, our
Redeemer, is in heaven. The temple of God is open in
heaven. Much people are in heaven. And
very soon, it appears, we will have another brother in heaven.
Soon Brother Tommy Robbins will be in glory. And I, like you,
in loss of a friend, a loved one, someone dear, our hearts
sorrow. There's nothing evil about that. I'm often confronted with a wife
or a husband or a son or a daughter, a mother, a father. who's lost
one they love dearly and they apologize for being heartbroken.
That's all right. That's all right. It's all right
to weep, but we sorrow not as others which have no hope. Our
sorrow is a loss, a vacancy, an emptiness in our own lives
because God's taken someone dear from us. Not for them. A sorrow
for ourselves and the loss of those who have been so beneficial
and influential. Turn with me, if you will, to
Revelation 21. I want us to set our hearts and minds on heaven
for just a little while, and maybe God will set our hearts
and minds there with great regularity. In Revelation chapters 21 and
22, we have a passage of scripture in which God the Holy Spirit
describes heaven for us as it was revealed to the Apostle John
when he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Let's read a
lengthy passage for my text, but I want you to read it with
me, and then I'll come to my message. We'll begin in Revelation
21.1 and read down through verse 6 of chapter 22. I saw a new
heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth
were passed away. And there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death. Neither sorrow
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write,
for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me,
It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. he that
overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God,
and he shall be my Son. But the fearful and unbelieving,
the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers,
and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the
lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death." The Apostle Paul gives nearly that same listing of men
in 1 Corinthians 6, and says, And such were some of you. But
you are washed, but you are justified, but you are sanctified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Revelation
21, verse 9, And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which
had seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with
me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's
wife. It carried me away in the Spirit
to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city,
the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having
the glory of God, and her light was likened to a stone most precious,
even a jasper stone clear as crystal. and had a wall great
and high, and twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and
names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes
of the children of Israel. On the east three gates, on the
north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west
three gates. And the wall of the city had
twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles
of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed, to
measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
And the city lieth four square, and the length is as large as
the breadth, and the measurement of the city with the reed twelve
thousand furlongs, the length and the breadth and the height
of it are equal." A city in perfect symmetry. Remember, this holy,
heavenly Jerusalem is the bride, the Lamb's wife. It's a picture,
a vision. It's an allegorical picture given
of Christ's church being full and complete and missing nothing.
Verse 17, And he measured the wall thereof, and hundred and
forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that
is, of the angel. And the building of the wall
of it was of jasper. And the city was pure gold, like
unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall
of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.
The first foundation was jasper. 2 Sapphire, 3 Chalcedony, 4 Emerald,
5 Sardonyx, 6 Sardius, 7 Chrysalite, 8 Beryl, 9 Topaz, 10 Chrysosporus,
11 Jacanth, 12 Amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve
pearls. Every several gate was one pearl,
and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent
glass. and I saw no temple therein.
For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to
shine in it. For the glory of God did lighten
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them
which are saved, that is, all God's elect gathered out of all
the nations of the earth, out of every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue in the world, the nations of them that are saved,
shall walk in the light of the city, and the kings of the earth
do bring their glory and honor into it. That is all that is
glorious and honorable in this world and all of history are
brought into this city. And the gates of it shall not
be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there, and
they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which
are written in the Lamb's book of life." Chapter 22. And he
showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of
the street of it, and only the side of the river, was there
the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and
yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face,
and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be
no night there, They need no candle, neither light of the
sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign
for ever and ever. And he said unto me, These sayings
are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy
prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things
which must shortly be done." In this blessed portion of The
Holy Spirit gives us, in figurative language, many images of heavenly
glory. He's telling us of the state
of God's saints in heaven, both presently and forever. This is
what our brethren and sisters already in heaven enjoy, and
this is the joyous prospect that is set before us, the hope that
is set before us of eternal life. I have no intention of trying
to expound this passage and give you a detailed description of
all the things written in it. I know the impossibility of that.
But I do want to show you something of the blessedness of what is
here revealed to us with these images of heavenly glory that
await us. I'm going to try to describe
as best I can the glorious state of God's saints in heaven. It
is set before us in many ways in the scripture. It is first
described as an unseen glory. The glory of heaven consists,
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, 18, of things not seen. Things that are eternal. We look
for and we have an assured hope of heaven by faith. But no one
on earth has ever seen what heaven is. No eye has ever seen the
things that await us. It's not even entered into the
heart of man. The scriptures are very plain. Now, I know that
there are many who talk about seeing heaven, talk about being
in heaven and coming back. That's nonsense. The scriptures
are very plain. The Apostle Paul went to glory
and came back, and he couldn't tell us what he had seen. He
said, what I saw, words cannot describe. I saw things that the
mind of man cannot comprehend. We recognize that we see heaven
only with glimpses of faith. We live in hope of that which
is not yet seen. This glory, this unseen, eternal
glory of heaven is a future glory. I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that shall be revealed in us. The glory I'm talking
about is a glory in this life that's altogether future. Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be." Now, we don't
have any real concept to this. It's altogether beyond our imagination. Our friends who've gone before
us enjoy the glory of heaven now, but for us it's altogether
future. And it's incomparable glory.
Not worthy to be compared, Paul said, are our sufferings with
the glory that is before us, the glory that awaits us. Nothing
in this world compares to heaven. Nothing. No thought None of the
images, even the images that we've read here, they're just
earthly, mundane, carnal images setting forth that which cannot
really be described in earthly, mundane, carnal language. Even
the sufferings of God's saints in this world, for Christ's sake,
which is the purest, most glorious form of service to him, is not
worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits us. I have
been reading again, just recently, Foxe's Book of Martyrs. It's
not a pleasant read, but it's about the most pleasant read
I've ever had in my life, other than in the Scriptures. It's
depressing in many ways, and yet most encouraging. And we
read about the sufferings of those saints and that glorious,
glorious sacrifice they make, and yet that's not worthy to
be compared to heaven. And if our most glorious services
can't be compared to the glory of heaven, they certainly can't
merit it. The very best things we do for
God from the purest principles can't be compared to heavenly
glory. It is the prospect of heaven's glory that supports
us and sustains us in our troubles and makes us choose to suffer
affliction with the children of God and willing to have the
spoiling of our goods and give up the pleasures of Egypt because
of that glory that awaits us. Ye have in heaven a more enduring
substance. If nothing in this world can
be compared to the glory that awaits us, let us then set our
hearts on things above. not on things on the earth. Lay
not up for yourself treasures on the earth, but lay up treasures
in heaven. Where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. My rest is in heaven. Then why should I tremble when
trials come near? Be hushed, my dark spirit, the
worst that can come that shortens thy journey and hastens thee
home. It is not for me to be seeking
my bliss or building my hopes in a region like this. I look
for a city that hands have not piled, I pant for a country by
sin undefiled. The glory of heaven, Peter tells
us, is an eternal glory. The glory of this world passes
away. The glory that awaits us fades
not at all. The glory of this world is perishing. The glory of that world is unending. The glory here is temporal. The
glory there is eternal. The glory of heaven is an eternal,
immutable, weight of glory. What a way to describe it. A
ton weight of glory. Paul says our light afflictions,
which are but for a moment, our featherweight afflictions, those
things that press us down, those are just a light feather. But this is the eternal weight
of glory. The glory of this world passes
away quickly, but that one never shall. The glory of this world
is soon gone, but the glory of that world is unending. We have a crown of glory that
fadeth not away, an inheritance that's eternal, a house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens, a kingdom that's everlasting,
a city that abides and continues forever. John Gill made this
observation in commenting on Revelation 21. when the kingdoms,
crowns, and scepters are no more, and all that is great and glorious
in this world has passed away, this will endure forever. For
it is eternal glory, the eternal glory of God, the God of all
grace, and he calls his people to it and will put them in possession
of it. Here is the glory of heaven.
It is to be forever with the Lord. It is eternity with Christ. Add to that, heaven is a place,
a real place of glory. Our Savior said, I go to prepare
a place for you. Yes, I know heaven's a state.
I know heaven is a condition. Heaven is a state and condition
of glory. But don't ever imagine that it's
not a real place. I go to prepare a place for you. There is a place somewhere outside
this time world, a place somewhere outside this carnal habitation
called earth, a place where a real man sits in a real body on a
real throne, and that man is Christ our Redeemer. There is
a place where he who loved us and gave himself for us makes
intercession for us at the very throne of God, and that man is
Christ our Lord in heaven. He is going to prepare a place
for us. And he says, if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. Now, this place is set
before us in many, many striking images in Scripture. Images taken
from the most glorious, rich, valuable things known to men. gold and pearls and beryl and
jasper, images of the richest of things in this world. The
imagery used is to describe heaven, not in any literal form, not
to tell of any literal size or shape. but rather to describe
heaven in hyperbole, to describe heaven in majestic way, to set
our minds upon that which is glorious and spiritual and beyond
the reach of carnal mind and carnal reason. have now, or you have had one
of those Bibles that's been messed with, and they had charts and
pictures. I remember when I was in school,
we used to have this book that we referred to often. When I
was in Bible college, I went to one of those schools that
didn't teach anything right. And one of them was called Dispensational
Truths, written by a fellow named Farran Clarkett. And he actually
had pictures, supposed to be pictures of the New Jerusalem.
You know, a picture drawn out, a city coming down. The city
is the bride. It's not a real city. These things
are given to be images, an allegory, a picture of heaven. Those images
drawn of heaven by the inspired writers of God's Word are intended
to show us the surpassing excellence and infinite glory that awaits
us in heaven. Let me give you five of those
pictures, just five of them. First in 2 Corinthians 5, verse
1. Heaven is here described in 2
Corinthians 5, verse 1, as a house. But a house incomparable to any
house found in this world. This house is a building of God.
We know that if our earthly house and this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This house of glory. is not built
by man's hands. It is a house whose builder and
maker is God. There is nothing, not one brick
or timber in heaven's house laid in its place by the will of man,
the works of man, or the worth of man. Our house in heaven is
the construction of God's free grace alone. Its foundation was
laid in eternity. Its walls were erected by the
obedience of our Redeemer unto death. Its title deed was purchased
by the precious blood of Christ, and the door was opened by our
Lord's entrance into heaven. When John was caught up in the
Spirit on the Lord's Day and he saw things, the first thing
he said, Behold, a door open in heaven! What a picture! Christ
risen has opened the doors of glory for sinful men like you
and me. Solomon built a great temple
in Jerusalem. When the temple was laid in ruins,
Zerubbabel rebuilt it and then Herod repaired it. It was grand. It was a glorious structure in
the eyes of men. When our Lord spoke of the temple
being destroyed, his own disciples looked back with astonishment
that this is going to be taken apart so there's not one stone
laid on top of another. They thought of it with astonishment.
But where is that temple now? It's gone. Gone by God's design,
gone by God's purpose, gone by God's work, and gone permanently.
Our house in heaven, though, that's the true holy place. That's
the building of God, the work of God's free, sovereign, effectual
grace in Christ Jesus. This house is in the heavens,
Paul tells us in verse 2. Our present house is of clay,
these physical bodies in which we now live. What a poor word with which to
describe this present existence, better in which we are now dying. These houses are of the earth,
and therefore they must crumble and return to the dust from which
they came. But our house which is from heaven
and in heaven is eternal. It will never age or crumble
or stand in repair. Men build houses on the earth,
and they imagine they've built an edifice for themselves that
will stand to their name in memorial for many years to come, if not
forever. But soon the houses are burnt,
or an earthquake destroys them, or a tornado or a hurricane sweeps
them away, and that edifice they thought was so grand and glorious
is gone and returns to nothing as it rightly should. But time
will not decay this house. Our house in glory abides forever. All its apartments are called
everlasting habitations. Our Savior called it our Father's
house. He said, it's my Father's house,
and because we are one with Him, that makes it our Father's house.
And that makes it all the more endearing and glorious. Oh, let's
morsel over in your heart a little bit. Heaven is called the Father's
house. The Father who chose me. The
Father who ordained all things for me. The Father who sent His
Son to redeem me. The Father who loved me. and
gave his Son for me. The Father who sends his Spirit
to call and preserve me. The Father who runs anxiously
to receive the sinner running home to him for mercy. Our Father
built it, and our Father dwells there. It is this place where
he would have all his children to be. Our Father's house is
a rich, roomy, stately, well-stored house. It's a place of many matches. Many mansions. I don't have much use for modern
translations anyway, but all of the modern translations, they
take the King James Bible and they think they make it more
readable. And they'll translate those words, many mansions, many
dwelling places. Somehow that just doesn't get
it. That just doesn't get it. Many mansions, rich, stately,
roomy, well-supplied, well-fortified mansions. Those mansions are
dwelling places for the king's sons, places of rest and joy
and peace where the sons and daughters of God Almighty want
for nothing. And there are many of them, many
mansions, because many are called many mansions, because many are
ordained to eternal life, many mansions for the many for whom
the Lord Jesus laid down his life, the many who are justified
by his obedience and death, the many whose sins he has remitted,
the many sons whom he brings to glory. And there is room enough
and provision enough in the Father's house for all the innumerable
host of men and women out of every nation, kindred, tribe
and tongue chosen, redeemed and called by his grace. Second,
heavenly glory is called an inheritance. There are numerous places in
scripture where heirs of God, Paul tells us in Romans 8 and
17, are joint heirs with Christ. You remember how Canaan was given
to the children of Israel as an inheritance. It was distributed
by lot to all the sons of Abraham, given to them by lot, a lot that
was arranged by God Almighty before the lot was ever cast.
Canaan was a picture, a type of heaven in many ways. But it
should never be forgotten that Moses could not bring the children
of Israel into the land. What Moses, through weakness
of the flesh, could not do, Joshua, whose name means Jehovah's Saints.
Joshua, the Old Testament equivalent for Jesus. Joshua brought the
children of Israel into the land and divided the land by inheritance
according to the will and purpose of God. So the Lord Jesus does
for us what legal works could never do. He brings His own into
heavenly glory and gives us the inheritance by lot. Our lot is
His lot. because the inheritance belongs
to the firstborn, by Old Testament law. The firstborn is the one
who possesses the Father's heritage. By law, it is rightfully his. And we are made the firstborn
in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. An inheritance is a free gift. It can't be earned by labor. It can't be merited by any diligence. It can't be purchased with money.
It's bequeathed from one person to another. And our inheritance
in heaven is the free gift of God's grace in totality. Turn
to John 17. I want you to look at this. This inheritance is the gift
of God. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life. And eternal life is not just
eternal existence. Eternal life is this life that
awaits us in glory. It is the life of Christ in us
and the life that Christ now enjoys himself. Look here in
John 17, verse 4. Our Savior is praying, I have
glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was." Now skip down to verse 22. And the glory
which thou gavest me, all the glory that you've given me as
a result of my perfect obedience, as a result of fulfilling all
things as your righteous servant, the glory that thou gavest me,
I have given them. that they may be one even as
we are one. Tom Mouton, that means that all
that Christ is and all that he possesses as the God-man mediator
is yours in him. All of it. Nothing lacking. Be sure you understand these
things. Heavenly glory cannot be obtained in any part or degree
by the works of men. All men, by nature, vainly imagine
that somehow we must do something, we must contribute something,
there's something that must be earned by us. That's not the
case at all. Eternal life is God's gift in
its promise, in its bestowment, in its preservation, and in its
everlasting enjoyment. Nothing earned by us. Nothing
dependent on us. Nothing to be gained by our obedience. and nothing to be lost by our
disobedience. I know people think, well, you
can't say that. You just can't say that. Well,
let me see if I can put it another way. Nothing to be gained by
our obedience and nothing to be lost by our disobedience. Nothing to be gained by our faithfulness,
nothing to be lost by our lack of faithfulness. And you just
be honest with yourself. You've got a heapsight more disobedience
to deal with than you do obedience. A heapsight more unbelief than
belief. A heapsight more unfaithfulness
than faithfulness. The whole religious world, all
false religion, operates on the premise of fear, beating folks
in line, threatening or promising on something. Free grace of God
operates on the principle of free grace. Nothing depends on
you. This is God's gift and God's
work. Heavenly glory can't be purchased
by men. If a man should give all his
substance for it, the price is insufficient, despised. Heavenly glory is an inheritance
of grace bequeathed upon sinners by our Heavenly Father from eternity. You can read it for yourself
in Ephesians 1. Before the world was, he blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And this inheritance
belongs only to the children of God. Only to the children
of God. Not the self-righteous, not the
legalist, not the workmonger, not the freewill religionist,
but only to the children of God. And yet it belongs to all God's
children in all its fullness. There are no degrees of glory
in heaven. No back settlements in the New Jerusalem. No second-class
citizens in the heavenly cave-in. Our heavenly inheritance is an
incorruptible inheritance. Incorruptible. It can't be corrupted or diminished
even by us. An incorruptible inheritance.
It's an undefiled inheritance. an inheritance that fadeth not
away, an inheritance reserved in heaven for you, immutably
and infallibly reserved for you, an inheritance kept by God for
His sons, an inheritance for which God keeps His sons. Another
familiar image of heaven is that of a city. Hebrews 11, verse
10. We look for a city whose builder
and maker is God. A city Someone asked me today
what size city Danville is. I said, well, it's kind of small.
How many people? I said, I don't know, but I think
about 14,000, 15,000 people. Heaven is a large, rich, spacious,
fully inhabited city. Like other images, I remind you
the word city is a figurative term, not to be understood in
any carnal, earthly, mundane sense. Heaven is a city infinitely
beyond anything on earth or imagined by anyone on earth. But it's
a city that hath foundations. Not one foundation, but many
foundations, so that it's firm, immovable, can't be shaken, can't
be thrown down, can't be dissolved. The foundation upon which this
city is built, this habitation of glory, the everlasting love
of God. the inalterable covenant of God's
free grace, and the blessed rock of ages, Christ Jesus our Lord,
the foundation of the apostles and prophets. The glory of this
city can't be comprehended, can't be described. I have not seen
nor heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
that God hath prepared for them that love him. The description
of the New Jerusalem by the Apostle John in this passage is a hyperbole. It does exactly what it is intended
to do. It does exactly what it is intended
to do. See, it defies imagination. I read these two chapters, the
closing two chapters of the book of God, and I sit down and I
try to imagine what I've read. I've been all day today studying
this passage, preparing this message. Honestly, I'm just baffled by
it. I'm just baffled by it. John
saw in his vision a city with walls of jasper, gates of pearl,
streets of pure gold, gold like nobody ever described in any
other place I've ever read, as transparent as glass. That's
strange gold. That's strange gold. It's intended
this way. What a place of spiritual wealth,
abundance and happiness heaven must be. What a place of spiritual
excellence and perfection. There they have no value, no
value, absolutely no value for the most priceless treasures
and gems of the world. No value. Those things that we
fight for, those things that we spend our lives trying to
get a hold of. I'm sure a good many of you have
lost money in the stock market recently, and you're probably
being inundated with the commercials on television like I am whenever
I turn the news on. Every other commercial, go for
gold. Folks want to grow more of it.
In heaven, they place absolutely no value on those things. Isn't
that amazing? No value. In that world where
there is no sin, there's no greed, there's no covetousness, there's
no ambition of any kind. In glory land where there's no
sin, material things are looked upon as nothing but useful accommodations. nothing but useful accommodations. No value is placed upon them.
Jasper is nothing but a wall to embrace God's church. Pearls
are nothing but gates to open the kingdom of God. Gold is nothing
but pavement upon which men and women walk to the throne of God. Oh, God, teach me so to value
all things in this world. They're valuable, Matt, only
as they're useful to God's glory and the souls of men. Did you
hear me? They're valuable only as they're
useful to God's glory and the souls of men. For anything else,
they're of no value. No more value than the dust out
here in the yard. Fourth, heavenly glory is compared
and represented as a kingdom. A house is great. An inheritance
is something better. A city is something greater still.
But the inspired writers seem to stretch for words to describe
the heavenly glory, using ever-expanding ideas to describe it. What is
heaven? What is it? It's a glorious house,
yes, but it's more than a house. It's a glorious inheritance,
but it's more than an inheritance. It's a glorious city, but it's
more than that. It's a kingdom. God's saints
in this world are kings, and we are headed to a kingdom, a
kingdom of glory that's everlasting. We've been called into this kingdom
by the almighty, irresistible power and grace of God the Holy
Spirit. We've been prepared and fitted
for this kingdom by the blood and righteousness of God's dear
Son, the kingdom of glory to which we are heirs. This place
where every believer shall be crowned and honored by God and
all his holy angels is a place indescribable. God's people are never honored,
never honored for worshiping and serving God. There, God Himself,
the triune Jehovah, will honor us for His work of grace in us. He will show us to wandering
worlds as the bright trophies of His grace. describing us as
pure and undefiled, as virgins honored by God. The Lord God
himself will give us a crown of life and a crown of righteousness,
a crown of glory that fadeth not away. And fifth, heavenly
glory is set before us under the image of infinite, eternal,
holy pleasure. Turn back to Psalm 16. Psalm
16, verse 11. Thou wilt show me the path of
life, talking about the resurrection, in thy presence, O God, in your
presence, is fullness of joy, When I was growing up, I was raised in a hell hole. And I don't remember, I'm sure
we had some, but I don't remember ever having a pleasant day in
my life as a child. I don't remember a pleasant day
in our household, not one. Christmas was always filled with
a fight, always. And then, just a little while
after God saved me, I married that lady back yonder. And I've
had a life of unceasing joy. I mean, just unceasing joy like
I wish everybody could have in this world. But that's nothing. That's nothing compared to this. Thou wilt show me the path of
life in thy presence. is fullness of joy. At thy right hand are pleasures
forevermore. As for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness. Look at chapter 17, Psalm 17,
verse 50. I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be
satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. What is this joy? Everything
that's pleasing, everything that's gratifying to the renewed mind,
the sanctified heart, everything that's desirable to the regenerate
soul, shall be fully enjoyed to all eternity, forever. Everything that delights your
renewed heart. Everything to which you aspire
in your soul shall be fully enjoyed forever in heaven. There we will
sit down with Christ at his table and drink new wine with him in
his Father's house. We'll pick and eat the fruit
of the tree of life which stands in the midst of the paradise
of God. There we'll drink of the pure river of the water of
life, proceeding out of the throne of God unto the Lamb. And we'll
see what no eye has seen, hear what no ear has heard, and understand
that which has never even entered the heart of a man." An old song I heard a few years ago for the
first time. Brother John Mitchell's daughter sang it when I was out
there preaching for him. It goes like this. We read of a place
that's called heaven. It's made for the pure and the
free. These truths in God's Word he
has given, how beautiful heaven must be. In heaven, no drooping
or pining, no wishing for elsewhere to be. God's light is forever
there shining. Oh, how beautiful heaven must
be. Pure waters of life there are flowing, and all who will
drink may be free. Rare jewels of splendor are glowing. How beautiful heaven must be!
The angels so sweetly are singing up there by the beautiful sea.
Sweet chords from their gold hearts are ringing. How beautiful
heaven must be! How beautiful heaven must be! Sweet home of the happy and free.
fair haven of rest for the weary, how beautiful heaven must be. Oh may God make it yours, in
Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen. Thank you for your attention.