Let us open our Bibles, if you
will, today to Matthew chapter 25. I want to speak to us today on
the subject of heaven. We sang about it in one of the
hymns that we just finished singing at City of Gold. If you will,
let's begin our reading in verse 31. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be gathered
all nations, that is, all peoples, And he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, come, ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was in hunger, and you
gave me meat, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was
a stranger, and you took me in. Naked, and you clothed me. I
was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee, and hungered, and fed thee,
or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in? are naked and clothed thee? Or
when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And
the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, you have done it unto me. Then shall he say also
unto them on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was in
hunger, and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me not in, naked, and you clothed me not, sick and in prison, and
you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered, or thirst, or a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister
unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the
least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall go away
into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. heaven. And I want to take one
word in verse 34 to build the message around this morning.
And that word is the word prepared. Notice in verse 34, then shall
the king say unto them on his right hand, come you blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. And let's look this morning at
three things that the scriptures teach about the Father preparing
in relation to this kingdom. First, the Father prepared the
place. God has prepared the place, which
is here expressed by the word kingdom. John Gill commented,
and I quote, It is here expressed by kingdom because of the glory,
riches, grandeur, and magnificence of it. We call this place heaven. This kingdom, we call this place
heaven. The point I wish to make is that
it is a place. It is a place. Listen to these
words of the Lord Jesus Christ, because some people have the
idea that heaven is just some floating around on clouds with
a harp or something like that. No, heaven is a place. The Father
has prepared the place, heaven. These words of the Lord Jesus
Christ clearly point out that this is a place, that heaven
is a place. to one of the thieves who was
crucified alongside him, that one thief looked to him in faith
and said, remember, remember me when thou comest into thy
kingdom. And the Lord Jesus Christ responded
unto him with these words, verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt
be with me in paradise. In paradise, today thou shalt
be with me. Paradise is a place. And when
you compare what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter
12, he tells of an experience that he had, whether in the flesh
or in the body or out of the body, he said he did not know,
but that he was caught up into the third heaven, or into paradise
rather. But two verses before that, He
called this same place, this place called paradise, he referred
to as the third heaven. Now among the Jewish people,
they spoke of three heavens. They spoke of the heaven in which
the birds fly, and we would say today in which the planes fly. They spoke of a second heaven
of the stars, And there's millions of those. And then the third
heaven, the place that God has prepared, where God has set His
throne. Heaven is a place. It's referred
to as paradise. The Lord Jesus Christ in John
chapter 14, the night before His crucifixion, you remember,
He referred to heaven as the Father's house. He said, in my
Father's house are many mansions or dwelling places. Heaven is
a place. And the Apostle Paul, again,
in 2 Corinthians 5, tells us that when a child of God dies,
we have a building of God and house, not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. The Old Testament scriptures
speak of heaven. Remember when Elijah was taken
up by horses of fire in a chariot of fire, the scripture says that
he was taken where? Into heaven, into heaven. You might say, well, what do
horses and chariots of fire signify? Well, in Hebrews chapter one,
we are told that angels or his ministers of fire. And just as
the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about Lazarus, that beggar who lay
at the rich man's gate, when he died, he was carried into
Abraham's bosom by the angels. Though chariots of fire and horses
of fire are angels who transport or who take the souls of believers
when we leave this world into the presence of God, and that
presence is a place. They call it Abraham's bosom.
We refer to it most often as heaven, the prepared place, heaven. It's many times referred to as
a city. Let me give us a few examples.
You want to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11. It's referred to as a city. And I'm
going to tell us in just a moment why I so much like that term,
calling heaven a city. But in Hebrews chapter 11 and
verse 16, speaking of those who admit he
had mentioned before, But now they desire a better country,
that is, and heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. Heaven is many
times referred to as a city, especially in these last few
chapters here in Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse
10, we read concerning Abraham, for he looked for a city. God
told him to depart, to get out of Ur of the Chaldees, to a place
that He would show him. Yes, it was into the land of
Canaan, but ultimately Abraham was looking for a city, and not
just any city, but a city which hath foundations, whose builder
and maker is God. This is a city. Heaven is. And in Hebrews chapter 12, it
is called the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. I said a minute ago that I like
the word city because of its original meaning. Do you know
what the word city originally meant? It meant fullness. It meant throng, T-H-R-O-N-G. I noticed as we were singing
that first hymn this morning, one line, I believe the last
line was, oh that with yonder sacred throng. The word city
originally, that's what it meant, fullness, throng. Heaven is a
city and it is a place that is full. It's full, first of all,
of inhabitants. In my father's house are many
mansions, many dwelling places, not just a few, not just several,
but many. And when the apostle John, in
the letter of Revelation, book of Revelation rather, he saw
into heaven, and he said it was a great multitude which no man
can number. Now, it's not an infinite number.
Only God is infinite. It is a finite number. But the
point is, heaven is a place that is full of inhabitants, a great
multitude, which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds and
people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb
clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. It is full
of inhabitants, both angels and saved sinners. Full, full of
inhabitants. You see why I like this word
city? Because it means fullness. And heaven is a place that is
full of inhabitants. And secondly, heaven is not only
a place full of inhabitants, but it is a place that is full
of joy. Full of joy. The psalmist wrote,
in thy presence is fullness of joy, fullness of joy, and at
thy right hand pleasures forevermore. It is a place of joy because
Christ is there. The apostle John, again in Revelation,
wrote these words, There shall no wise enter into it anything
that defileth. Nothing that defiles is going
to enter into heaven. Heaven is a place where sin cannot
enter. Heaven is a place where God and
the Lamb are its center and worship, all worship is directed unto
Him. And the thought occurred to me
this morning. One day, one day, by the grace of God, I'm going
to be in that great throng singing praises unto the Lord. I like
to sing, and the Lord did not bless me with a good singing
voice. He did many of you, and I'm thankful
that he did. But one day I'm going to have
one. and every other believer. We're all going to be there.
There's not going to be a discordant chord. No one's going to be off
note. We're all going to be singing
the same song, and it's the same song that we learned while we
were here upon this earth. Worthy is the Lamb who hath redeemed
us by his blood out of every nation, kindred, tongue, and
people. Worthy. is the Lamb to receive
honor and glory and praise forevermore. So heaven is a place, first of
all. It is a prepared place. The Father
prepared the place. Now my second point is the Father
prepared the way. You know, there are always ways,
and I use that plural, there's always ways to cities in this
world. You can get to the city of Houston,
for instance, from the west, and from the east, and from the
north, and from the south, and many ways all around the city.
There's ways into the city. But the way into the city of
heaven is singular. The way is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He, the way, was prepared by the Father. Now when I say
the Father prepared the way, I mean God. The eternal God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they prepared the way, the only
way, into this heaven. When our text speaks of prepared
from the foundation of the world, that means that when God created
the earth, when time began, when time began, When God created
the heavens and the earth, He had already prepared the place
and He had already prepared the way. That is Jesus Christ, our
Lord. This was not an afterthought.
Some people have suggested, who do not know the Lord, who have
suggested that after Adam's sin that took God somehow by surprise
and He had to come up with a remedy. No, no. The Lord Jesus Christ
is a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I want you to look
back with me if you will to the book of Proverbs just a moment.
Proverbs chapter 8. We will not read but two verses
here but this passage of scripture here in Proverbs chapter 8. is a wonderful testimony to the
son of God, of God preparing him. In verse 22, we read, and
this is wisdom speaking, wisdom speaking. The Lord possessed
me in the beginning of his way before his works of old. Now, what does that mean? That
means that the eternal Son of God has always existed. He has always been. He is the
only begotten Son of God. Now God has other sons. Sometimes angels are referred
to as sons. Believers are referred to as
sons. Sons by creation. Sons by adoption. But he only has one son who is
his only begotten son. That is from eternity. He has always existed, or as
they like to say, in the bosom of the Father. Eternal generation
of the Father. You say, I can't understand that.
You don't have to understand it. You believe it. because it's revealed in the
Word of God. If you could understand everything
about God, you would be like God in the sense of knowing as
much as He knows. He possessed me in the beginning
of His way and noticed before His works of old. Now, we read
in the New Testament that He created all things. He existed
from eternity just as the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He possessed
me in the beginning of His way before His works of old. All
things were created by Him, we read in John chapter 1 and verse
2. All things. Because God chose
to create the world and everything in it through the Son. Through
His Son, Jesus Christ. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, or ever the earth was. He was set up from
everlasting. That means in the purpose, in
the plan of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, was set
up in God's purpose from the beginning, from the beginning
of His way. You know, in the New Testament,
the Apostle Paul declares that Christ is the wisdom and the
power of God. In Christ, in Christ, all of
God's purpose and plan is found in Him. It all focuses in Him,
in Christ. Now I'm not saying, now listen,
listen to me carefully. I'm not saying that He already
had a body. No, that would come in the fullness
of the time. But He always, from the beginning,
had a subsistence in the purpose and in the plan of God. It's
always from eternity, God's purpose and plan, that all fullness should
dwell in His Son, that He should come into this world as a man,
and redeem his people. The way that the Father prepared,
I said there's one way, the Father prepared the way, and the way
that He prepared is the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember I quoted
that verse out of Revelation, that none or nothing can enter
heaven that defileth. Well that excludes all of us. That excludes every man that's
ever been born in this world except the Lord Jesus Christ. No one can enter heaven that
defiles or that is defiled and everything that we touch we defile. You remember how God told this
to the nation of Israel when he told them at the very beginning
at Mount Sinai, if you build me an altar, That would be good,
wouldn't it? To build an altar, to offer a
sacrifice unto God. No, but if you build me an altar,
don't you put your hand to it. Don't you take a hammer and a
chisel and make it all so pretty. Because when you put your hand
to it, you have defiled the altar. Why? Because we're defiled. By nature, we are sinful. We are depraved, the scriptures
teach. And if we were to enter heaven
without or in any way other than through Jesus Christ our Lord,
heaven would be defiled. But nothing can enter there that
defileth. Christ is the way. That is by
His work of redemption that God prepared. God appointed the time. We read in the fullness of the
time. That is God's time. God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law that He might redeem us from
the curse of the law. Why did the law curse us? And
make no mistake about it, it does. It curses everyone that
does not completely, fully, in every way obey its precepts. It doesn't allow for any excuses,
not even for repentance, not the law. The law says do this,
and because we haven't done this perfectly, absolutely, what is
it? To love God with all your heart,
all your soul, and all your being. To love your neighbor as yourself.
And because we haven't done that, then the law pronounces a curse
upon us. And that curse is death. Death. Eternal death. But the Lord Jesus
Christ, in the fullness of the time, He came into this world,
made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem us
from the curse of the law. How did He do that? Well, first
of all, He obeyed that law. That chapter in Isaiah, chapter
42, God's righteous servant, his obedient servant, he honored
God's law. He obeyed God's law perfectly. And not only that, he fulfilled
every jot and every tittle. Our Lord told those when He was
here in the flesh, think not that I am come to destroy the
law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. He fulfilled that law. That law,
now listen, I hope if you haven't paid attention to anything I've
said thus far, now hear me. You have broken God's law. I have broken God's law. And
that law pronounces a curse upon all of us. I don't feel it. Whether you feel it or not, my
friends, this is God's word. And it pronounces a curse upon
everyone who disobeys God's law. Christ honored that law. Christ
fulfilled that law. Why did he do that? He did that
that he might give you and I a righteousness, a righteousness, which we cannot
manufacture. We cannot obey that law, but
he did. And he did it perfectly. And his obedience, this is a
wonderful thing about the teaching and the word of God of imputation. His righteousness is imputed
unto everyone that believes. So that before God we are justified
and in His righteousness we are as holy as He is before God's
holy throne. But not only did He obey God's
law, every jot and every tittle fulfilling it, but He suffered
at the hands of that law. He had not broken that law, but
his people had broken that law. And seeing that he was being
crucified in the place as a substitute in the stead of his people, he
suffered at the hands of that broken law. When he was there upon the cross,
one of the last words that he said were, I thirst. I thirst. Now, his pain, his
physical pain is unimaginable. I understand that. And I know
that part of that pain was that thirst. That thirst, that mouth
completely dried up and tongue. He said, I thirst. But you know,
he knew that there was another scripture that he had to fulfill,
that had to be fulfilled. And so before he gave up the
ghost, before he cried, it is finished, he said, I thirst. Why? Because there was one last
prophecy concerning him that had to be fulfilled. What was
it? They gave me vinegar and gall to drink. And when our Lord
Jesus Christ said there on the cross, I thirst, one of the soldiers
reached up to him, vinegar. And when he tasted that vinegar,
then it was, knowing that all scripture, and there was plenty
of them, prophecies, all scripture that had foretold him and everything
about him, from his birth, the place, his mother, born of a
virgin, everything about him was foretold. And when that last prophecy was
fulfilled, he said, Father, it is finished. Does that give you any joy? It
sure does me. It's finished. All that God requires
to save a sinner is finished. It's done. And don't you dare. Put your hand to the work. Don't
you dare trust in your free will or anything else that you think
you have to offer unto God so that you would be accepted. No. He finished the work completely. Heaven is a prepared place. Heaven
is a prepared, the way to heaven rather is prepared. And lastly,
The Father prepared the people. Now I'm saying this in the past
tense. The Father prepared the people.
But we must not forget the present tense. God did prepare the people
in the past tense. That is from old eternity. God
set His love, His eternal love upon these and chose them in
Christ from before the foundation of the world. God did prepare
the people, past tense, but let's not forget the present tense. We must remember that He not
only has ordained the end, and He has, but He's also ordained
the means to the end. Sometimes people will say to
me and other preachers who believe the scriptures, well, if I believed
that, I wouldn't preach. Well, I don't know why you would
say that. I believe this and I love to
preach the gospel. I love to preach the gospel.
Yes, just as it was necessary that he come and die. Was that
necessary? Absolutely. Absolutely, sin had
to be punished. Sin had to be paid for. He had
to come and shed his blood and give his life as a ransom for
his people. It was necessary. That was part
of the means ordained to the end. But also, my friends, man
must believe the gospel. He must hear the gospel and believe. This is the work of God. especially
the work of God the Holy Spirit. In Romans chapter 10, the Apostle
Paul, you know, he gives that chain there. And he said, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then
shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? God sends, God anoints men to
preach the gospel. And men hear, and faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. This preparation
is God's work with the heart, giving a new heart, being born
of the spirit of God. It is a work of the heart, but
it is manifested outwardly in faith and obedience. For everyone that the Father
chose in eternity, there is a time, we like to refer to it from the
16th chapter of Ezekiel, that infant that was cast out, unwashed,
unwanted, uncared for. What a picture of lost man. But
God passed by, and God said it was a time of love. Somewhere from the cradle to
the grave, there's a time of love for every one of God's chosen
people. And they're going to hear the
gospel. And somehow or other, they're going to believe. They're
going to believe. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been given faith
to believe, repentance to turn from your sin, and to believe
in Christ? If you have, you'll be like these.
You'll be one of these, I should say, here in Matthew chapter
25. They're not saved. They don't
enter into heaven because of their works, but their faith
is manifested by their outward life. If any man be in Christ,
he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Our Lord in John chapter 5 said,
They that have done good in the resurrection They shall be raised
into the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil
to a resurrection of damnation. Have you come to trust in Christ
as your Lord and Savior? Do you know him this morning?
I wouldn't ask the person, are you saved? Everybody in the U.S. is saved. Do you know God? That's the question. Do you know God? If you do, then
your life is a testimony and a witness to his saving grace. We're going to sing a hymn in
just a moment. Jesus paid it all, all to him
I owe. Can you say that this morning?
All to Him I owe. I owe everything to Him. And
I'm so thankful, aren't you? I wouldn't want it any other
way. To Him be praise and honor and glory both now and forever
and ever. Amen? Let's turn to hymn number
125 and we'll sing this hymn.