You'll find the first scripture
in Galatians chapter 1. The epistle of Paul to the Galatians
chapter 1. Let's read verses 3 and 4. Galatians chapter 1 verse 3 and
4. Grace be to you and peace from
God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself
for our sins in order that He might deliver us from this present
evil world according to the will of God and our Father. I want you to turn to Luke's
Gospel, chapter 18. The Gospel of Luke chapter 18. And look in verse 28. Luke's Gospel chapter 18 in verse
28. Then Peter said unto the Lord
Jesus, Lo, we have left all, and followed Thee. And he said
unto them, the Lord Jesus said to them, Verily I say unto you,
There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren,
or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall
not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the
world to come, life everlasting. And one more passage over in
the 20th chapter of Luke, in verse 34. Just over to your left
in the 20th chapter in verse 34, Jesus answered and said unto
them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage.
But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world,
and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given
in marriage, neither can they die any more. For they are equal
unto the angels, and are children of God, being children of the
resurrection. It seems like so many places
in the scripture that you and I read, we find these two worlds. I read to you in Galatians 1-4
about this present evil world. And then I've read to you here
in the book of Luke about a world that's to come. A present evil
world and a world that's to come. This present world is passing
away. The present things that you and
I see, they are almost gone. They are ready to fade. There is a temporal life and
there is an eternal life that is to come. This present world
and Everything associated with it, everything that you and I
see, everything that we hear is passing away. It's temporal. The things which are seen, the
apostle said, are temporal. But the things which are not
seen are eternal. And my first text reminds us
that this world that you and I live in now is evil. We saw it last week when we preached
from that text. It's full of evil. Evil is everywhere. Evil is around us. It's behind
us. It's before us. It's a world
of sorrow, isn't it? It's often been described as
a veil of tears. And in the end, it's death. We all die. It's an evil world.
Job said a man that's born of a woman is just a few days and
full of trouble. That's been my experience and
that's been the experience of most people that I know. Born
full of evil in just a few days. And this world is usually a miserable
world because it's a present world of evil. There's nothing
good in it and nothing good about it. The believer's hope is fixed
upon a better world. That is the world that's to come
that our Lord Jesus talked about. It's not an evil world. It's
not like this world at all. It's a holy world. Somebody wanted
to know why our Lord didn't tell us more about that world that's
to come. We couldn't grasp it if He did.
He's given us enough to know there is a world to come, but
we know so little about it. Paul said, I was caught up into
the third heaven and I heard things there and no doubt he
saw things there that he could not come back and relate to you
and to me. It's too far above our apprehension,
but we know this, that it's holy. It's not a world that's passing
away. It's a world that is eternal. It's not a sad world at all. It's a happy world. And this
hope that a believer has supports him in the midst of his present
conflicts and distresses and uncertainties. How would you
feel this morning if somebody could take your hope away from
you? Well, your heart would break, wouldn't it? It would break.
One of the things that cheers you along is this hope that you
have of a better world that's to come. If we hope for that
that we see not, then do we eagerly, patiently wait for it. Wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage and He shall strengthen your heart. And while we wait,
we have a support, don't we? We have a foundation to rest
our hope upon. And what is that? It's the written
word of God. We have hope. because the Word,
the Gospel, gives us hope. David said, My soul had fainted
unless I had believed to see the salvation of the Lord. My
soul faints for Thy salvation, but I hope in Thy Word. His Word, our hope, secures. How firm a foundation, you saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith and laid for your hope
in His Word. The Scripture says the wicked
is driven away in His wickedness, but the righteous has hope even
in His death. And what do we hope for? That
world that's to come. A world that's to come. Someone
said as the old mariners were tossed by the storm and tempest,
hoped to see the blue skies and entered enter into their desired
haven. That's how we hope for that world
that's to come. Or as a traveling man is worn
out by the pearls and toils of his journey, he desires to come
to his home where he can rest. Or as soldiers, harassed by the
conflict of battle, hopes to conquer their enemy and wear
the victor's crown. So the believer, in the midst
of the fight and the darkness, and this present evil world,
we hope to conquer at last, don't we? And come to our desired haven. And where is that? It's a world
that's yet to come. We've never seen. We've tasted
something of it, haven't we? The powers of the world to come.
The Apostle Paul said it like this, the time of my departure
is at hand. If you look up that word departure,
it means the time of my release. The time of my release. It's
like a man who has been sentenced to prison and he's getting out
of jail. The time of my release is come. I have fought a good fight. Boy, we're in a battle, aren't
we? As soon as the Lord saves you, He puts you right down in
the middle of an active Battle. Well, there's shells going off.
There's fire all around us. There's deadly arrows. There
are fiery darts. We wrestle against principalities
and against powers. We're in a wrestling match. We're
in a struggle. Rulers of the darkness of this
world. We must endear hardness as good
soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I fought. I fought
my fight. And he said it was a good fight.
And that's what he tells us to do. And then he says, lay hold
upon eternal life. Fight the good fight of faith.
Lay hold upon eternal life. And he says, I have finished
my course. And what did he say then? I've
kept the faith. That's what the Lord does when
He calls us. He opens our hearts to the truth. That we know the truth, and we
love the truth, and we never let it go until death comes. Then we can say, I've fought
a good fight. I've finished my course. I have
kept the faith. And then what did He say? There
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. That's in that
world that's to come. I'm hearing something. Am I getting
back feed? David? David, I'm hearing you
up here, buddy. I can't compete against myself,
I'm sorry. Okay, I knew you were. But Paul
said, I have fought a good fight and there's laid up for me a
crown of righteousness and not to me only. but all who love
His appearing. In that world that is to come,
the battle is over and there is nothing but victory. The darkness
is past and there is nothing but pure light that will shine.
The labors are finished and there is nothing but rest. The tears
are dried and there is nothing but laughter. Death is annihilated
and there is nothing but life. Life. Everything that pertains
to that world to come is life. I read it to you, didn't I? In
the world to come, life everlasting. In that world to come, there
can be no death, and there can be nothing that's associated
with death. Sin brought death. And sin brought
sorrow. There are three things that go
together in Scripture. Sin and sorrow and death. And you remember when the Lord
told Adam, Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. The day that you eat, you shall die. And in the aid of
that, he died spiritually. And then when the Lord pronounced
judgment upon him, what did he say? Now is the ground cursed,
and in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life. Sin brought death, and death
brings sorrow. I imagine as Adam lived his life
in the world, he looked back on what he had done to himself
and the human race? And don't you imagine he said,
I am so sorry. Every time somebody got sick,
every time somebody came into some awful calamities, every
time a friend died, he went to visit the dead and what did he
say? I am so sorry. And then the potential of his
own death, the death of his own wife and his children, and what
did he tell them as he looked to death? I am so sorry. If you
and I had one word, brothers and sisters, to describe this
present evil world, I think it would be this, sorry. Sorrow
fills this world because you have done this thing. You shall
eat your bread in sorrow all the days of your life." How many
phone calls have you and I answered only to hear somebody on the
other end say, this person is dying, or this person is dead,
or this person is sick? And we always say, I am so sorry. How many times have we said that?
I am so sorry. And it is because sin brought
death, and death brought sorrow. And that is what this life is
full of, isn't it? Sorrow and sorrow and sorrow. But listen to Revelation chapter
22 and verse 4. There shall be no death there. This present world is nothing
but death. Everybody is dying. It is appointed
unto men once to die and after this the judgment. But that world
that's to come knows nothing about death. Death will not be
there. Revelations 22.4. There shall
be no more deaths. And what's the next word? Neither
sorrow. Well, if you get rid of sin, then you've got rid of death.
If you get rid of death, you've got rid of sorrow. In that world
that is to come is nothing but life, and life will forbid any
sorrow. There will be no death nor anything
associated with it. In the world to come, life is
eternal. This present world has nothing
to do with anything but death and dying. That is the end of
all of us. in the day that you eat thereof,
you shall die. But that life to come has nothing
to do with the death at all, but only life. He that hath the
Son hath life. And it begins here, doesn't it?
He that hath the Son, he hath life. If you and I were reduced
to just Christ and He's all we've got, we've got life. And it's
not just the duration, it's the quality of life. Whose life is
it? The life of God's dear Son. And
that's life. And that's life eternal. That
third text I read to you, the Lord Jesus Himself said, neither
Can they die anymore? Can't die again. If you would have asked of me,
he told that woman at the well, I would have given you living
water. The water that I have given you
shall be unto you a well of water springing up unto what? everlasting life. The true saints of God have the
pure water of life in them now. If you have got the Son of God
abiding in you, then He has given you His life, and that life is
pure life. It is like a river flowing into
your bosom. springing up into life everlasting. But in our own apprehensions,
this stream of life seems so dingy, doesn't it? And it seems
almost ready to dry up. But in that world that's to come,
the saints will experience that life in all its absolute purity
And in its abundance. John got a vision of heaven in
Revelation 22. And he got a vision of that water
of life. And here's what he said about
it. He showed me a pure river of water of life. What happened
to the dinginess of it? That was in our apprehensions
here. It seems dingy now because of
our unbelief. It seems dingy now because we're
so earthbound. We can't see clearly. We see
through a glass darkly. But John said, in reality, that
is a pure river of the water of life. And then he added this,
it's as clear as crystal. What's that world to come made
up of, brother? It's not a dingy fountain. It's
not a stream that's ready to dry up. It's a pure river. It flows abundantly. It's the
life of God Himself. And in that world to come, we'll
experience that life. The world to come is nothing
short or nothing else but heaven itself. It is indescribable. Everything there will be pleasant
to the senses, a place of bliss, a place of delight, for it is
called the paradise of God. Today you shall be with me in
paradise. Did you ever look up the definition
of paradise? You ask most people and most
people will say no. And you know why you don't have
to look it up? It's ground into our senses. It's in our vocabulary. Ask anybody
what paradise is and they imagine this beautiful world, this comfortable
world, this rich world. Worldly people imagine laying
on a beach somewhere with the white sand and 80 degree weather. This is paradise, they say. Heaven
is paradise. And we can only imagine what
that would be like. Paul said, I was caught up into
paradise. That's what heaven is. That's
what that world to come is. Paradise. It's a most welcoming
place and it's the most safe place because it's called the
Father's house. Were you ever afraid to go to
your Father's house? Won't you always safe and protected
and comfortable in your Father's house? It's a place of eloquence. It's
a place of comfort, that world that's to come. Because it's
a place of mansions. And as many poor sinners as will
come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and lay hope of this hope of
that world that's to come, he will find himself welcome in
that place. He'll never find himself shut
out for lack of room. For the Lord Jesus said, in my
Father's house are many mansions. Many dwelling places. There's
room at the cross for you. And if there's room at the cross
for you, then there's room in heaven for you. But you can't
go to heaven except by the cross. If you want to go to heaven,
you must come by the cross because that's the straight gate that
leads to heaven, that world that's to come. The world that's to
come is called a heavenly city, I guess, as opposed to this underworld. It's called a better country
as opposed to this present evil world. It's an everlasting kingdom,
an eternal inheritance, an unfading crown of glory as opposed to
this temporal and perishing earth. Who can describe that world that's
to come? I can't. Even when I'm reading
these things to you, I feel so inadequate. You just feel like
you missed the mark. that world that is to come. Who
would not want an interest in that place? And every true believer
has been given a good hope in that place by the grace of God. A good hope that will never fail
him. That world to come is a place
of perfect purity because sin can never enter that place to
defile it. I don't know what it would be
to live somewhere where there was no sin. It's all in me now. Everything I do is mixed with
it. I look behind me, sin. Look around me, sin. Look ahead
of me, sin. Everything is sinful. It's not
so in that world that's to come. Nothing will enter there that
in no wise defiles that place. No lies will go there. No sin
at all will enter that place. It is called a new heaven and
a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And those who are blessed or
inherit that place are said to be faultless. They are said to
be without spot or wrinkle. They are holy and without blemish. They are said to be in the perfect
likeness and image of our Lord Jesus Christ. David said, I'll
be satisfied when I awake in that thy likeness. Oh, who would not want to go
to a world where everybody there looks just like Jesus Christ?
As holy as Christ is, as pure as Christ is. That world is a place of perfect
happiness and continued happiness. There is no perfect happiness
in this present world. We have blue skies one day, but
there are clouds on the horizon. We have fair weather, but sooner
or later we know the storms are coming. Our joys are mixed with
sorrow, our laughter with mourning, our gladness with sadness. and are smiled with tears. But
brothers and sisters, it won't be that way much longer. Because
there's a world to come. And in that world to come, there
is nothing but life. And everything that's associated
with that life. Some are under the chastening
hand of the Lord. Some are afflicted and weeping
over their sins. Parents weeping over their children,
pastors weeping over their flocks, Christians weeping over the sins
of the world, rivers of waters run down my face, the old prophet
said, because they keep not thy law. My heart is full of heaviness
and continuous sorrow for my kinsmen, according to the flesh,
that they might be saved. But in that world that's to come,
all the causes of evil will be banished and there will be nothing
but perfect and eternal happiness. Sin will distress no more. Satan
will tempt no more. Sickness and pain and dying will
be felt no more. Death will never be felt in another
mortal body because immortality has turned to immortality. They
shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more. The
sun shall never light on them or any heat, for the Lamb which
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and lead them
unto fountains of living water, and God shall wipe away." What? All tears. God must have a big
handkerchief if He's going to wipe the tears away from all
His saints. And we've got them, don't we?
We've got tears. And not in that world that's
to come. Not in that world. Tears are associated with sorrows
of some kind. And think of this. Heaven is
a place of great honor. For it's a place of a kingdom. And it will be given to the saints. I don't know if anybody's got
a kingdom, do you? Everybody there will have a kingdom. Fear
not, little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. Every saint, no matter how poor
or despised he is in this present world, will be given a kingdom
in that world that is to come. Fear not, little flock. Fear not, little faith. Fear
not, ye doubting saints. whose all your trust is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. Could we ask for any more assurance
than God's promises? I love His shalls, don't you?
Fear not, little flock. It's your Father's good pleasure.
He shall give you the kingdom. Can it be made any surer than
that? There were those poor saints
of old that we mentioned the last couple of services in Hebrews
chapter 11 who endeared trials of cruel malkins and scourgings. They bound them with fetters
and chains. They had to live in caves and
dens of the earth and wear sheepskin and goatskins, sod some of them
in two. But where are they now? Where
are those saints now? They have a kingdom. In that
world that they entered, they have been given a kingdom. They are not living in caves.
They are living in the Father's house. They are not wearing goat
skins and sheep skins. They are wearing the garments
of salvation, pure and white. That world to come for the saints
is a world where everyone there will wear crowns. There is laid
up for me A crown. A crown. Never had a crown on my head,
have you? Everybody there would wear crowns. Poor saints in this
present world may wear a crown of thorns like their Lord did,
but in heaven they will wear crowns of glory, incorruptible
crowns that will never fade or tarnish. They will reign forever
and ever. The crown will never be taken
from their head. Paul said they will have crowns
of righteousness which will be given to them. A righteousness
which Jesus Christ has purchased Himself. It is a robe, a white
robe, a pure robe. It is the garments of salvation
and no spot can ever be found in it. God Himself with His all-seeing
eye can find no spot and that righteousness that's given to
the saints. It's not theirs. They didn't
work it out. They didn't produce it. They
don't merit it. It's given to them. It's the righteousness
of their Lord and their Savior. And it's called a crown of righteousness. The saints in that world to come
will wear crowns of gold. Boy, they'd be advanced in that
world, won't they? The richest saint down here has
nothing compared to what he'll have in heaven. He'll be crowned
with crowns of gold. Here the world may count them
the offscoring of all things, but there they're crowned with
priceless honor, crowns of gold. Around about the throne were
the four and twenty elders seated upon their seats, clothed with
white robes, And they had on their heads crowns of gold. Lazarus sat at the rich man's
seat begging. He was a poor pauper. He's not
begging now. He's honored now. He has crowns
of gold on his head now. In heaven, in that world to come,
the saints will sit upon the throne This is amazing to me. The Lord Jesus Christ said, to
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. How can you grant such a thing?
That's a sovereign throne. It's a throne that's above everything
and over everything and over everybody. And he says the poorest
saint shall come and sit down with him in his throne. And oh, don't you imagine there'll
be some wonderful company there? That's called a place of the
feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb. And all the saints
throughout the history of this world will be there. They'll
come from the north and south and east and west and sit down
with Abraham. You'll know Abraham and you'll
know Isaac and you'll know Jacob and you'll know King David and
Noah and Sweet Hannah and all the Marys that we can't already
figure out now who they are. We'll know them there. All the
apostles, all of you will know one another. What company that
will be. And we'll sit down and sup forever
there in that world to come. Beautiful thought, isn't it?
One of the men I want to talk to is the thief on the cross.
I want to talk to him. He'll remember how the Lord delivered
him. And I'd like to find what he
felt when the Lord first said to him this day, you'll be with
me in paradise. I want to talk with the saints,
don't you? I want to talk to them now. That's what we're doing
here this morning. Visiting with one another and
worshiping the Lord together. And that's what we'll do there.
in heaven. Heaven, that world that is to
come, is a place of perfect vision. Revelation 22 verse 4 says, They
shall see His face. Oh, what a perfect vision. Here
we see Him through a glass darkly, don't we? We open up our Bibles
and we see Him in shadows. We see Him in types. We see Him
in prophecies. We see Him in His promises. But
we don't see Him very clearly, do we? But we'll see Him there. We'll see His face. Oh, we've seen God's frowning
face a few times, haven't we? We sure have. But we'll see His
smiling face there. I shall see Him face to face
and tell the story saved by grace. And when we see Him, all the
mysteries of this life will be cleared up. The mysteries of
creation, I've got so many questions. I want to know so much about
creation. We'll know it there. About God's
providence? What a mystery this providence
of God is as He rules all things and leads His children along.
The mysteries of the kingdom of grace? All of these things
are mysteries. But there we'll see perfectly. We'll know as we're known. And
when we see perfectly, you know what we'll say? We'll go right
up to our Lord and we'll say, You have done all things well. Everything that you've done.
Look how it's turned out. Well. I heard it. Well, all of us have heard this
so many times. Somebody wants to know why God
allows evil in the world. And why God allows suffering
in the world. And you've got your free willers.
And here's the way they answer that every time. Well, God has
given us a free will. And because we're not obeying
God in all of this, then God is helpless to do anything to
stop it. And here God in His sovereign,
eternal rule is allowing even evil to exist. And He's doing it for His glory. If there was no evil, you and
I would never know the grace of God, would we? We'd never know forgiveness.
If there hadn't been a fall in the garden, we would not have
needed a Savior. We'd have never known anything
about the joy of reconciliation. The Lord allowed evil to come. He allows this evil world to
exist. that he may deliver his people
from it, and take them to glory, and there they will praise him,
even for the evil that he allowed, because he saved them from it."
It is not about the free will of man and the power of his free
will, is it? Joseph told his brother, you
hated me, and everything you sought to do against me was evil. And that's how you meant it for
evil. But God took your evil and He brought good out of it.
And here we are in this miserable, present, evil world. But God's
going to bring good out of it. He's going to save you from it
and take you up to His house in a world that's to come. All that that world is, is indescribable
in its glory. And the saints will enjoy it,
not for time, but for eternity. That world to come will forbid
any change. Life and everything associated
with life, and there can be no change. Not only happiness, but
everlasting happiness. Not only joy unspeakable, but
joy unending. Not only a peace that passeth
all understanding, but a peace that can never diminish. That
abundant life that knows no end in the world to come everlasting
life. Neither can they die anymore. Oh, thank God for that. They'll
never die again. You know you can only find a
hope like that in the gospel. You go to your philosophers.
You go to all your other religions apart from the religion of God
in this Bible. You can't find a good hope. Muslims don't have a good hope.
The Hindus don't have a good hope. Cults don't have a good
hope. False Christianity has no hope. What's their hope based upon? What they're doing. Hoping for
mercy without any sense of justice. Hoping for mercy apart from the
blood, the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But all those who are in Christ,
they have a good hope. And lastly, is there not a third
world also, if it can be called that? There's this present evil
world. There's that world to come that's
life. But isn't there another world?
It's called a place. Judas hanged himself and went
to his own place. It's called a man's long home. It's a world like no other. because
it's a world of misery. It's a lake of fire. It's a bottomless
pit. It's an outer darkness. It's
a place of torments, a place of weeping and wailing and gnashing
of teeth. It's a place where the worm of
a man's conscience will never die and the fire will never be
quenched. It's a place where hell resides. That's a world. It's a world
where an unsaved, unregenerate humanity will keep company with
black, damned spirits. It's a world, a place of untold
and incomprehensible sufferings, a place where God's wrath against
sin and sinners will be revealed than all their horror. These
shall go away, the Lord Jesus said. Him that knows the place
of the righteous and the one who knows the place of the wicked.
He says to the wicked, depart from me. Depart from me. These shall go away. But Lord, where can they go? They can't go to the present
evil world. You burn it up. They can't go
to that world that's to come that's full of life because they're
unsaved. Lord, where can they go? These
shall go away, but where? Where can they go? Is there a
place provided for the unconverted? How many times do preachers stand
in their pulpit and bid people to come to Christ? How many times
does the Holy Spirit search out a man's conscience and says,
come? How many times does the Bible say, come? And men say,
no. We have no interest in that.
Our interest is in this present evil world. We will not have
Him. We will not come to Him. So now
Christ says to them, thee shall go away. But Lord, where can
they go? Into everlasting fire. Into everlasting torment. If a man will not be saved by
Christ, then he'll be damned by Christ. Aren't you thankful, brothers
and sisters? that 2,000 years ago on the cross of Calvary,
God punished sin. Sin has to be punished. Thank
God it has been. And it has been sufficiently
punished, eternally punished. God is satisfied. His law is
satisfied. But for those who refuse and
rebel and will not believe the gospel message, They must suffer
for their own sins, and that will take eternally. Eternal
damnation. Eternal sufferings in the lake
of fire. Don't it show man's total depravity
that he hears of these worlds, and yet he chooses to cleave
to this present world? Oh, we're so bound, aren't we?
We're so bound to this present world. All of us are. Lord, give
us grace. Wean us from this present evil
world and give us grace to set our eyes and our affection upon
that world that's to come. May God do it to all of us that's
gathered here this morning. the same page 44 if we can.