I want you to look in Revelation
chapter 19 with me. Revelation chapter 19, just for
a few minutes. Revelation chapter 19, and begin
reading in verse 1. And after these things I heard
a great voice of much people in heaven, saying hallelujah,
salvation, and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are His
judgments. For He hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath
avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. And again they said,
Hallelujah. And her smoke rose up forever
and ever. And the four and twenty elders
and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
And as the voice of mighty thundering said, Hallelujah for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His
wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. And He said unto me,
Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And He said unto me, These things
are the true sayings of God." I was just noticing there in
verse 1, I have looked at this and probably shared something
of it before with you, but it says here in verse 1, people
in heaven. Did you notice that? Sometimes
we get a little verse like this that just has something in there
that jumps out at you. And a few years ago this jumped
out at me. After these things I heard a
great voice of much people in heaven. People in heaven. Now, it wouldn't be amazing at
all if we said God was in heaven because that's His throne. and
we are taught to pray our Father which art in heaven. And if it
said Christ was in heaven, that would not be a great marvel to
us because the Bible tells us that when He left this earth,
He went up into heaven and sat down on the right hand of God.
It would not be so amazing if we read there were angels in
heaven because the angels of heaven are always beholding the
face of the Father. But that is not what it said,
was it? Much people in heaven. I was taught all my life to believe
in heaven. Some of the things I was taught about it was wrong,
but some things was right. I believe in heaven, don't you?
And now we come here to the Bible, to God's Word that cannot lie,
this infallible truth, and He says there is a heaven. There
is a heaven, and there's much people there. You know they say
that even among the heathen in the darkest places of this world
that have no Bibles, they've never read their Bibles, and
yet they believe in an afterlife. They believe that something takes
place after they leave this world. They don't know what. But they
say an overwhelming majority that they've talked to show that,
yes, this life is not it. There's something beyond this
life. Sometimes they're afraid, other times they have some hope.
But we come here now, and what has borne witness to the conscience
of men throughout the endless ages, the Bible tells us about,
and it says it's heaven. It's heaven. There is a heaven,
and there's people there. people that lived in this world
just like you and I have. They were born just like you
and I were born, and now they're up in heaven. You know, we read
about them in the Bible, don't we? We know some of the people
that's in heaven that lived in the Bible days. Noah is in heaven. Enoch is in heaven. Elijah is
in heaven. Moses and Aaron and David is
in heaven. Peter and the apostles, these
men are in heaven. And men that you and I never
know of, and women that live from that time through the dark
ages, so many of them are in heaven. But you know, I bet you
and I know some people that's in heaven. We're associated with
them. We often call them brothers and
sisters in Christ. And the Lord has saved them,
and we believed their testimony when they told us that. And they
died, and we buried them, and we said goodbye to them. But
this morning, they are in heaven. There's people in heaven, much
people in heaven. What a wonderful thought, heaven. You know, heaven is another world,
isn't it? It's another world. It is fully
apart from our low world. Heaven is a place of glories,
indescribable glories. Nothing that is evil will be
allowed to dwell there. No sin is welcome there. Nothing
to disturb or molest the senses. Nothing but that which is perfectly
good will be there in heaven. God created heaven and it exists
in the perfection of its created glory. It's just like it was
when He made it. This world has fallen. The creation
has been marred by sin. But heaven is there existing
in its created glory. And there's people there in heaven. And I doubt if eternity will
make any changes in that holy and happy place. And think of
this, heaven has been mindful of humanity. It's been mindful
of you and me. It's not adapted itself for a
fallen humanity. A fallen humanity can't go there. But listen, through heaven's
Savior, it's adapted a fallen humanity to itself. No, He can't take us there like
we are, but He saves us, and then He can take us there. Heaven
has been mindful of humanity for as long as there has been
a humanity. No, even longer than that, hasn't
it? Before the world was, before
time, before there was a heaven, heaven's been mindful of us.
Why do you say that? Because there is a book that
contains the name of everybody who will be blessed to inherit
that holy and happy place. Look here in Revelation chapter
17, just back in your Bibles to chapter 17, and look in verse
8. Revelation 17 and verse 8. And the beast that thou sawest
was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and
go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth
shall worship, but thank God not everybody is going to worship
that beast, whose names were not written in the book of life. Look at this, from the foundation
of the world. There is a book of life. You
know it is called the Lamb's Book of Life. Listen to this,
"...there shall 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." Heaven has been mindful
of us. It has a book. Before the world,
the names were written down in that book, and it is called the
Lamb's Book. Because it's a book of redemption. The names of people were written
in there who were to be redeemed. And it's a book of life. That
means they'll never die. Those who go to heaven will never
die. They're in Jesus Christ who is life. Don't that make you happy? That
makes me happy. I think one of the reasons I
wanted to look at this today was, and just think about it,
is sometimes I get tired. I get tired in my body, I get
tired in my mind, and I can't think. And I start thinking,
you know, there's the end. This is not everything. This
is just like a little holding place. This is a temporary abode. But just to think about that
place. If you've got a real hope in that place, it causes you
some rejoicing in your heart, and to have some hope that your
name is written there. You remember when the Lord sent
His disciples out to cast out devils in His name, and they
came back to Him, and He said, Fellas, how's it going? And they
said, Lord, we just can't believe it. These devils are subject
to us in Your name. We just speak Your name. And
through Your authority, they come out. And they were laughing. They were so full of joy about
that gift that He had gave them. And He said this to them, Don't
rejoice because of this. This is just a temporal gift
that I've given you. It's going to cease. But rejoice
in this, that your names are written in Oh, isn't that wonderful? Heaven
has been mindful of the fallen humanity. And before we ever
fell, He put the names in His book of all that was going to
heaven. And when you get up to heaven,
dear child of God, you may see this book. You may see your name
written in this book, if there is really in reality such a book. But it's in His mind. It's in
His mind. Peter wrote of it like this.
He said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again
unto a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, to an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled,
and that fadeth not away," listen, reserved for you, were in heaven. And what was the very next word
he said? Were in you rejoice. You rejoice. The angels of God
rejoices. over one sinner that repented.
There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels in heaven over
one sinner that repented. I tell you, heaven is a cause
for rejoicing. Being there, they rejoice. And
having hope of being there, Peter says it causes us to rejoice. Much people in heaven. Do you believe in heaven? I believe
in heaven, brothers and sisters. I believe in heaven. I believe
that people are there. No small number are there. Many
people are there. Where God is and where Christ
is, where holy angels are and those glorified spirits, they
are there. Will there be no more tears,
no more burdens, no more long nights, no more hot days? How would it affect you and me
if we lived in the faith of heaven. How would that affect our daily
life? What in this world could possibly discourage you or distract
you or attract you if you lived every day in this world, this
temporal place, with a God-given assurance that you would soon
be in heaven? That's for all eternity. How
would that affect you? How would it affect you ladies
How would it affect you men? And as you went to school, how
would it affect you to live in the hope of heaven? What contempt
would you have for this world and its temporal advantages and
its fading glory if you lived in the God-given hope that in
the next moment you would enter the glory of heaven? How would that affect you? Listen
to what the Apostle Paul wrote about this. He said, "...our
light afflictions, which are for a moment, worketh for us
a far more and exceeding eternal weight of glory, while we look
not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen, for the things which are seen are temporal." They are
fading things. But the things which are not
seen are eternal." And then he said, we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, and a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And because of this, we groan
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven. What kind of house is that? I
don't know. But it's got to be glorious because it's from heaven.
And everything in heaven is glorious. The Lord Jesus said, Father,
I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me. That's heaven, ain't it? That's
heaven. Be with me. That's heaven. He's with us now, isn't He? He
is with us. He lives in our hearts. Christ
dwells in our hearts by faith. Soon we will be with Him where
He is. He came down here and dwelled
where we were and where we are at. We are going where He is. And I will be honest with you,
I would much rather be up there with Him as to be down here,
wouldn't you? In heaven. Much people in heaven. The old Fannie Crosby wrote that
song, When by His grace I shall look on His face, that will be
glory for me." That will be heaven for me. Listen, heaven doesn't
exist in our imagination. Heaven just doesn't exist in
our mind. Somebody said, if you believe
it, it's real. It's real where anybody ever
believed it or not. There is a heaven beyond this
world. It's a real place. It's another
world, a heavenly country that God Himself has prepared. Listen to Hebrews 11, 13. These
all died in faith. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and
Sarah and all of those patriarchs, they all died in faith, having
not received the promises of the coming of Christ. They never
saw Him. But they saw them afar off, and
were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they
were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. For they that say
such things declare plainly," listen, that they seek a country. They seek a country. It wasn't
Canaan. They loved it. Moses wanted to
go to Canaan, Randy. Boy, you wanted to go there bad,
didn't you? But there was something beyond Canaan, and they knew
it. Canaan was just a type of that place that they sought.
It's a country. And truly, if they had been mindful
of that country from which they came out, they may have had opportunity
to return, but now they desire a better country. That is men
heavenly. Wherefore, God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them. a city. It's sometimes called a city,
sometimes called a country, sometimes it's just called heaven. It's
called the Father's house. It's got some wonderful names
to it. But He has it prepared for them. I don't even know if
He prepared it for the angels. They'll be there, and they're
happy there. But I don't know that I've ever
read that He prepared it specifically for them. But we know that He
prepared it for His children. He has a relationship with His
dear children He don't have even with His angels. A union, a redemption,
a husband and wife He shares between Himself and the church. He didn't have to purchase the
angels, did He? He made them. But He had to purchase us. And
He created heaven for them. Or how concerned and afraid someone
should be if they don't have a God-given hope of heaven at
last. And heaven is not a place for
a select few prophets or apostles or imminent saints or a few hundred
thousand people. It's a place that's prepared
for much people. Much people. I remember when
I was a kid, the Jehovah Witness, they said there was only 144,000
people going to heaven. You remember that? You know,
they sort of had to change that somewhat now. They said, well,
there may be more than that coming and going. They used to say the
144,000 were going to heaven and everybody else would be confined
to the new earth. Then they realized, man, we can't
offer nobody much hope because you know 144,000 are already
there. So they had to revise their theology
just a little bit. But you know there's much people
in there. And the Bible says, we'll look
at it in just a minute, there's a number that no man can number. There's many. He gave His life
a ransom for many. He's bringing many brethren into
glory. Many shall come from the East
and the West. and sit down with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Many will be there in heaven. How did they get here to heaven?
How did all these people get to heaven? Look over here in
the seventh chapter of Revelation. Look here in chapter 7 and look
in verse 9. Revelation chapter 7 and look
in verse 9. This tells us how they all got
there. Revelation chapter 7 and verse
9, And after this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which
no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues. Boy, they just came out of every
place all over the world. And they stood before the throne
and before the Lamb. And they were clothed with white
robes and palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which setteth upon the throne
and to the Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts. And
they fell down before the throne on their faces and worshipped
God. And they said, Amen, blessing
and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor. and power and might
be unto our God for ever and ever. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are thee? Who are they which are arrayed
in these white robes, and whence come they? And I said unto him,
Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night
in His temple." How did they get there? They washed their
robes. Now this is a metaphor. We don't
know how they're dressed there. But it's a metaphor for the conscience.
It's a metaphor for the heart. They washed their conscience.
They washed their heart in the blood of the Lamb. Doesn't this
tell us something? That they were defiled. That they needed to be washed. Their hearts were burned into
sin. Their conscience was defiled
by what they did by sin. And they were made to see that.
They were made to smell it. Have you ever had a job where
you just got dirty and stinking and you couldn't stand to smell
yourself? Our son used to work on a hog
farm. And I'm telling you what, when he'd come in, you'd have
to hose him down before he'd come out. It was awful. It was awful. Stinking so bad you'd never go
into somebody's house smelling like that. That's the way these
fellas Were. They were defiled. They were
filthy. And they knew it. And they said,
we can't go up to the Father's house like this. So they were
made aware that there was a fountain they could wash in. And they
washed in that fountain. And it made them whiter than
snow. Even so white that they could
stand before the Father in heaven. Now isn't that encouraging? That's
so encouraging, brothers and sisters, to me. When I think
that the people that's there in heaven, and everybody that's
going to be there, was born just like I was born. They was born
in sin, defiled by their very nature. And they're there now
in heaven. How in the world did they get
there? The same way you hope to get there. And they were sinners. They were
sinners. They knew all about sin. And
they knew all about the burden of it and the smell of it and
the filth of it. But they washed in this fountain,
open for sin and uncleanness. And it made them so white they
were fit for heaven, even standing before the presence of God. You
say, Bruce, you're telling me that's all it takes? I'm telling
you that's all it takes. That's all it takes. He loved
us and washed us. from our sins in His own blood. Something else was said of these
people here. These are they which came out of great tribulations. Those in heaven today struggled
to get there. They struggled to get there.
Their struggling did not merit it, but they struggled on the
way there. They went through some dark valleys
of humiliation just like some of you have gone through. They
know what it is to go up those long hills of difficulty. Their souls were tried. Their
hearts were tried. This world tried them. Satan
tried them. Circumstances tried them. They
had trials in their family, tribulations. There were times when they thought,
I will never make it. I ain't going to make it. And
they almost despaired. They thought to themselves, Heaven's
too high for me, I'll never make it. I'm too low for Heaven, I'll
never make it. But then another thought came
to them. O soul, hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him. And what did they do? They went
on. They struggled on. Jesus was
their strength. And by His grace, they endured,
as seeing Him who was invisible. And they had one more tribulation
they had to face, and that was death, sickness and death. And they got through it. And
then they went up to heaven, and they're there in heaven.
And somebody said, how did they get here? They were washed. They washed their robes. And
they came out of all the tribulation through their life. And they
got through it all. Much of it with much difficulty.
But now they're here in heaven. Now brothers and sisters, that's
encouraging to me because that's exactly how I'm going. I've been
washed. And sometimes I fall. And I feel
my conscience defiled. And what do I do? Just what you
do. You go and confess. And he that
confesses his sins shall have mercy. And we're washed again. Aren't you glad that the fountain's
continually running? And when you've dirtied yourself,
you go back to the fountain again. And you go again. And you go
again. And you just keep going to the
fountain until someday you won't need the fountain anymore. And
when will that be? In heaven. In heaven. Oh, we'll still see the scars
there. He'll still have the scars in
His hands. He'll still have the hole in His side. Somebody said
He'll lose those when the end comes. Oh, why would He do that? That's His glory, isn't it? And
we'll spend eternity looking upon His scars and maybe putting
our hands in the prints of the nails. thrushing our hands into
His side. This is my Savior. He's why I'm
here. Look what it cost Him. But we'll
never need to be washed there. It's here we need the fountain,
isn't it? It's here we need graves to get
us through our trials. But I tell you, everybody whose
names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, they'll get through
these troubles. We must through Much tribulation
enter, and we will go through it, and we will enter by His
grace at last. Much people in heaven. Brother Jack Shanks, an old man
that's dead now, blessed old man, he was a blessed old preacher.
Lived out in Houston, Texas and pastored a church for years and
years. He's so slow. Have you ever heard Jack preach?
Man, he just, he just, I mean, he just drug a sermon out. He's one of them old timers.
But I've never known a man that could tell a story like Jack
Shanks. And he told about some of the
struggles. When you get in a battle, boy,
when you get in a struggle, tribulation. He told about the old mule falling
down in the big dug well. And they said, well, we can't
get him out. There's no way we can get him
out of there, so let's just cover him up. So they begin to bring
loads of dirt, wagon loads of dirt. And all of them would get
their shovels and scoop off the dirt. Down in the well it would
fall on the old mule. And he would just shake it off
and step on the dirt. They'd bring another load in
and dump it on him, and he'd just shake it off and step on
the dirt. And after a while, he stepped out. And that's the
way it is, isn't it? We go through these trials, shake
them off, shake it off, look to the Savior, shake it off and
look to the Savior, and someday we'll step out of all of this
life of trials and heartaches and doubts and fears, and we'll
step into heaven. We'll step into heaven. They
shall, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom of heaven.
Look back over one more time in our text in chapter 19 and
look at this. What do these people do in heaven?
Well, we're told that. Look in verse 1. That question
has often been asked. What does people do in heaven?
We don't know what all they'll do. There's no telling what all
they'll do. I mean, heaven, heaven is there
and there'll be a new earth. And it's there because our God,
the Creator, has made it. And that's one of His names,
is the Creator. He loves to create. When He made this world, He made
streams, He made beautiful trees, He made a beautiful world that
could occupy our time, our affections, What will a new heaven and a
new earth be? There's no telling what there'll be to do. What
will we do? I don't know what all we'll do.
We'll never get bored. You'll never hear a little child
say there, I'm bored. Nobody will ever say that. There'll
be no boredom in heaven. But I tell you the main thing
we'll be doing. And that's what He tells us right
here. Look in verse 1. After these things I heard a
great voice of much people in heaven saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God. What will they do there? They'll
worship. They'll just worship to their
heart's content. If you fellows get tired, you
can go on and do something else. I just doubt if they'll get tired
of worshiping there. I tell you, we long to worship
here, but we seldom do it, though. We're so hindered. We're so hindered
in our worship. We can't help it, and I'm so
glad the Lord knows it. But there, there'll be no hindrance.
We don't say hallelujah much here. If I start raising my hands
in harmony, praise the Lord, hallelujah. After a while, you
say, Bruce, you're putting on a show. But there, we'll sing
hallelujah. Oh, we'll be jumping. We'll be
singing, we'll be so joyful, and it won't be put on. It'll
be real. It'll be real. We're not Pentecostals
here, but we'll turn into Pentecostals up there. It'll be amazing to
watch us shout and run and sing, praising our Lord. That's what
we'll do, worship Him. And I'll tell you something else.
The Lord's judgment upon this wicked world. Verse 2. For true
and righteous are His judgments, for He hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication. And on
and on they go, verse 3 again, they said, Hallelujah, while
the smoke of her torment rose up forever and ever. Here we
are somewhat fearful, even when God's judgment falls upon the
most wicked person. I tell you what, we have a degree
of sympathy, don't we? We do. They, I saw, I saw, you
may have saw the video when they hang Saddam Hussein. I saw the
video of that and they were, finally got him and put a rope
around his neck and they was going to hang him. They slipped
and just decapitated the man, jerked his head right off his
shoulder. And that was a wicked, wicked man. But when I seen that,
I thought, my poor soul, poor man. But you know when we're
there in that glorified state and we see the wrath of God upon
the wicked, you know what we'll say? Amen. Bless God for His
justice. Bless Him for His holiness. All
of these flashy sympathies will be turned away. Sanctified holiness. Justice. And look in verse 5. Look here what we'll be praising
the Lord for. We praise Him for this now. The world hates this,
but we praise Him. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye servants of His, ye that fear
His name, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and
as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth. That's what we talk about all
the time. Randy this morning was talking about our sovereign
Lord. That's what we'll talk about
there. He reigns. He reigns. And I noticed here as I was reading
that just now, did you notice this great multitude? And it
didn't say, as the voices of many waters, but it's always
as the voice of many waters. And as the voice of mighty thunders... I've never been to the Niagara
Falls. Has anybody ever been to the Niagara Falls? I've never
been up there. Have you been there? They say it's amazing
to listen to those waters as they thunder over that fall. Well, Niagara will have nothing
over the saints in heaven. And it's just like one voice.
Much people in heaven lifting up their voices, but there is
so much harmony in it. It is just one voice thundering
out, the Lord God Omnipotent. And he says this last of all
in verse 7, And let us be glad and rejoice
and give honor to Him for the marriage of the Lamb is come,
and His wife hath made herself ready." By His grace she made
herself ready. By His grace she believed on
Him. By His grace she washed. By His grace she was robed in
His righteousness. She made herself ready. And to
her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white, For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And it was said unto me, Right
blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb." There will be a marriage there. I don't know how that's
going to be. But there will be a marriage.
The Lamb marrying His wife, His bride, the church in heaven. I want to go there, don't you?
I really want to go to heaven, brothers and sisters. I want
to get out of this sin, to be honest with you. I want to get
out of this body of death. I want to be where I'm free.
I want to see His face. I want to get down at His feet
and worship Him. Don't you want to do that? And
I hope all of us live in the hope of heaven, heaven at last,
because I tell you, if we miss We ain't missed it all. If we
miss heaven, we've not missed it all. There's a hell. There's eternal torment. There's
a lake of fire. And there'll be much people there,
too. I hope, and Mr. Spurgeon hopes, that there would
be more people in heaven than there was in hell. When you consider
all the little infants and the little children that have died
and been killed through the ages, I don't know. I don't know. But
I want to go to heaven. I want to go to heaven. And by
God's grace, I'm going. That ain't bragging. That's just
a fact. By God's grace, I'm going. I'm
going to heaven. And if I don't, I'll be disappointed
because I'm living in hope of that place. And if I make it,
I'll be surprised because it'll be more glorious than I could
ever imagine. And here's what I'll say. I know I'm going to
say this. When the gate is open for me
and the Lord says, enter in, you know what I'm going to say?
I made it. I made it. Poor me, I made it. And once you've made it, you've
made it. Things will never change. Nobody will ever drag you out
of that place. And you'll never leave that place.