A Place / Perfection of Soul and Body

Introduction to the Series and the Question of Heaven

0:05 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, October 23rd, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 Now let us again bow before the Lord and ask His help as we turn to the ministry of the Word of God together. Our Father, we read in Your Word that though we have never beheld Your Son with our physical eyes, whom having not seen, we do love and rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. We thank You for the sheer joy of confessing our love of the Gospel in the words of this hymn. We thank You for the transforming power of the Gospel which many of us have not only known in our individual life experience, but have seen in the lives of multitudes of others. And, O God, tonight as we turn our minds to that great and glorious theme of the age to come and those things which never would have entered into the heart and mind of man to conceive, but which have now been revealed in Christ, who has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, may the Holy Spirit make us strong to grasp the wonder and the glory of our final inheritance, the inheritance in Christ.

1:43 And those who sit amongst us, strangers to Your grace, strangers to the power of the Gospel, may the very glimpses, even an oblique glance, at these glories make them insatiably thirsty to know the blessedness of the hope that is ours because of Christ. Bless us then in our study together, we pray, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Now, in the middle of June of this past summer, I began a series of Sunday evening studies with you on the awesome and yet glorious themes of heaven and of hell. In the seven previous studies, I attempted to answer from the Word of God two very basic but vital and important questions that I have been asked to answer today. Number one, what is hell? And number two, who is going there?

2:55 In answer to the first question, we collated the biblical materials and saw that it is proper to affirm that hell is. And then we categorized the teaching of the Bible under five major headings. And then with reference to the question who is going there, we again collated many passages of the word of God under two major headings, the general description of those who are going there and the specific descriptions of those who are going there.

3:30 Now, although God has stamped upon the consciousness of all of his creatures as image bearers, the fact that this world is not all there is to our existence, we are absolutely dependent upon special revelation, that is, the book of God, the embodiment of his mind in the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments, if we are to affirm anything with certainty about these great themes of heaven and of hell. And having spent some weeks on the questions, what is hell and who is going there, we now move to address those questions to the subject of heaven. And tonight we begin to... We begin to take up the first of those questions, what is heaven?

4:21 And then, after spending several Lord's Day evenings on that subject, we will take up the question, God willing, who is going there? What is heaven? And as we attempt to answer the question tonight, just looking at two parts of the answer, I would remind you of a point made in the introductory study on this subject, that we are concerned primarily not with the intermediate state, that is, not that dimension of heaven that is the portion of every believer the moment his soul leaves his body. There are three texts in the New Testament which speak very clearly of the intermediate state of the believer. Philippians 1.23, I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far beyond. Or better, 2 Corinthians 5.8, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord,

5:23 and Hebrews 12.23, which speaks of the spirits of just men made perfect. But we are concentrating our attention upon heaven in terms of the eternal state, the heaven that will exist after the return of the Lord Jesus, after the resurrection of the bodies of all the world. All men, saints and sinners, and the reuniting of their souls with those bodies, and their being fixed in their eternal state with body and soul joined forever.

Heaven as a Place: Scriptural Evidence for 'Out There'

6:03 So we take up the question then, what is heaven, with our concentration upon heaven in terms of the eternal state? And the first assertion that I will make, and then we will look. The number of scriptures which force this assertion upon us is this. Heaven is a place as well as a state or condition of existence.

6:30 Heaven is a place as well as a state or condition. When the Bible speaks of heaven, some passages clearly point to a place outside of this place. Heaven is a place as well as a state or condition outside of this present world order, particularly the place where our Lord now in his glorified body resides. It is called the right hand of the Father.

7:01 Let us look at several passages which would seem to point to the fact that heaven is a place as well as a condition outside of this present world as we now know it and exist within it. Let us look at John chapter 14 verses 1 through 3. John 14 verses 1 through 3.

7:28 Our Lord has told his disciples that he is about to leave them. And this of course has caused great grief to their hearts and so he is seeking to comfort them and he says in John 14 1, do not let your heart be troubled, you believe or it may be the imperative in the original. The actual wording, the actual spelling for the imperative or the indicative is exactly the same. Believe in God, believe also in me.

8:01 In my Father's house are many mansions or many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will go to prepare a place for you.

8:19 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will go to prepare a place for you. And 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. Here our Lord says, I'm about to leave you. And in leaving you, I am going to prepare a place for you in my Father's house.

8:42 And the contrast is their present place of dwelling and the Father's house. I'm leaving. But I'm leaving you to do a work of construction. I'm leaving to prepare a place for you in my Father's house.

8:59 And in my Father's house, there are many dwelling places. And if I go to do that work of preparing the dwelling places, I give you my pledge that I will come back again to take you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And if this were true, I would have said, were the only passage in the Bible with some explicit teaching on heaven, we would be rightly led to think that heaven, whatever it is, is a place up there, out there, beyond this present state of affairs, this present place of dwelling as we now know it. The same pressure is on a text such as Philippians 3 and verse 20. Philippians 3 and verse 20. For our citizenship is in heaven, whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory. Our citizenship is in the heavens,

10:18 from heaven to heaven. From the heavens we wait. We wait for our Lord Jesus to come and to fashion anew our bodies like unto the body of his own glory. And the pressure again seems to be pointing to heaven as a place and a condition out there, up there, beyond here. And likewise with Colossians 3 verses 1 to 4.

10:47 If you then were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, outside of you, above you, beyond you, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, that is the place where Christ is seated on the right hand of God, not on the things that are upon the earth. You see the contrast? Where Christ is seated at the right of God is the place above in contrast to the earth. For you died and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall you also with him be manifested in glory. Now, I say the pressure of these texts, not the clear, undeniable, subtle, explicitly etched out teaching, but certainly the pressure of these texts is that heaven is a place out there, up there, beyond this present earth. However, there are other

Heaven as a Place: Scriptural Evidence for 'Here on Earth'

12:02 passages which clearly point in the direction of this present earth, renewed and renovated at the coming of Christ. As the place called heaven, that heaven will indeed be found here on this earth. And two such clear texts are Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, and I begin the reading at verse 18. For I reckon that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed to usward. For the earnest expectation of the creation of the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man, that is, this created world order, waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation, this world and all that pertains to it, was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

13:29 And here is the picture of this world having come under the curse, and longing to be released and delivered from that curse in conjunction with the final installment of redemptive privilege with respect to the children of God. That comes, of course, at the return of the Son of Man. The return of Christ, when at his return he summons dead believers out of their graves, living believers are transformed in the moment, and they come into the full possession of redemptive privilege in their glorified bodies. And according to this passage, the whole creation in that same complex of events will be delivered from the bondage of corruption under which it is labored from the fall of man. For you remember when man sinned, God said, Cursed is the ground for your sake. And so this passage clearly points in the direction of a heaven that is here. This very earth on which this building rests, this very earth which supports the walls and the trusses and the concrete floor on which you sit, this very creation is given the picture here of one in travail. It's groaning and travailing,

14:50 longing for its true birth into the liberty of the sons of God. And then the second key text is 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter and chapter 3. Now remember our question is, what is heaven?

15:07 And I have said that heaven is a place as well as a state or condition. Well, what is that place? Where is it to be found? Some texts point out there, up there, outside.

15:20 Outside of this present order. Now we've looked at a text that says, down here, in this situation, within this present order. And now 2 Peter chapter 3, and beginning with verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth's earth, and the works that are therein shall be burned up, seeing that these things, the heavens and the earth, are thus all to be dissolved. What manner of persons ought you to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved? and the element shall melt with fervent heat. But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness.

16:42 Well, you see, the Bible is all full of contradictions. Anyone can see it. Jesus said, I'm going out there to prepare a place. I'm going to come and take you to Myself.

16:51 Heaven is up there and out there. And now Peter says, we're supposed to look for a new heavens and a new earth. Heaven's down here. Well, is it out there or down here?

The Synthesis: Heaven as a Renewed Earth and Universe

17:02 Is it up or is it down? Is it out or is it here? Well, there is no contradiction, but there is a beautiful synthesis. And it is wonderfully brought together in a passage such as Revelation 21, verses 1 to 3.

17:18 There is no contradiction. There is a beautiful and glorious synthesis of these various strands of biblical teaching. In vision, John writes, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth are passed away and the sea is no more.

17:46 And I saw the Holy Spirit, the city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And then, further on in the chapter, the identity of this holy city, New Jerusalem, is none other than the glorified church. Verse 9, There came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls laden with the seven last plagues, and he spoke with me, saying, Come hither, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. That's the church. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem. Do you see it?

18:54 He says, Come. I'm going to show you a beautiful bride. And then he takes John and carries him away. And what does he see?

19:01 A gorgeous woman in a bridal garment? No. He sees a city coming down out of heaven. And that city is the perfected church coming down out of heaven to earth.

19:15 So what is the answer to the question, Where is heaven? The answer is, according to these scriptures, that heaven is the place and condition that will involve this present world that now groans and travails under all of the many effects of sin, purified by the fire of the returning Lord who renews it in judgment, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, And who knows how far out beyond us to the farthest galaxies the entire universe with its focal point being this little speck on the outer edge of this galaxy will constitute heaven as to its locality. So we are warranted in asserting what is heaven? Heaven is a place as well as a state and a condition, a place involving this present earth, but this earth as paradise restored and renewed and made fit for the new condition of the people of God along with the created universe.

20:44 And beyond that, all is speculation. Scripture casts a veil of silence over those particulars. But did not our Lord say, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit, what? The earth?

21:01 Matthew 5, 6. And think of the many billions of times the prayer has gone up, not as an empty form and ritual as it is with many, but as an earnest cry to God from the hearts of obedient disciples, thine be done upon, earth, even as it is in heaven. And that longing and holy passion in the hearts of the people of God will be answered when our Lord Jesus at His return ushers in the full glory of heaven. Think of it.

21:44 This very globe, and I love to think of it in these terms, this very earth that has soaked up the blood of multitudes upon battlefields. This very earth where the sod is stained with innocent blood. This very earth that supports the footstep of the tyrant and the lecher and the murderer and the thief and the tyrant. This very earth that supports the revel activity of the multitudes of the unconverted.

22:20 This very earth in which Almighty God is denied. This very air that surrounds us that men breathe into their lungs that they might force some of that air up over the larynx and speak words of blasphemy and denial of God that this and its total life support system will be renovated by the fire of judgment at the return of Christ and when He's through every particle, every atom of this earth and its support will be permeated with nothing but righteousness. It will be the new heavens and the newer righteousness and righteousness alone has its home. You want to get shouting happy driving down a busy freeway thinking of all the cussing that's going on because people are banging into one another and cutting one another off and you go into that office and you're like, your eyes burn with people blowing smoke into them and your ears are defiled with a cursing child of God. Do you want something that will make you shouting happy in the midst of it? Look at every square inch of the Garden State Parkway.

23:41 Every square inch of that office room. Every square inch of that classroom and say, one day nothing but righteousness will occupy you. Nothing but righteous feet will occupy you. Over that square inch of that classroom.

23:58 Over that square inch of that classroom. Over that square inch of that classroom. Over that square inch of that classroom. Nothing but righteous words will send out vibrations to be picked up by human ears.

24:06 Nothing but righteous sights will ever enter these eyes. Oh, child of God, you want to get shouting happy. You just fix your mind upon that great reality. What is heaven?

24:18 Heaven is a place as well as a condition. And that place will be this present world renovated and renewed paradise restored and all of the heavens above us. And I say beyond that we must speculate. And I don't think God is at all disturbed with holy speculation just so long as you don't preach it.

Heaven as a State: The Perfection of the Soul

24:44 And I'll not preach my speculations though I have great joy in turning them over in my mind. But in the second place and this is all we're going to touch upon tonight the second thing that we are warranted to say about heaven is this. Heaven is a state of the personal perfection of soul and body. Heaven is a state of the personal perfection of soul and body.

25:23 Let us consider first of all the perfection of the soul. When God begins His work of grace He begins His work of grace He begins His work of grace He begins that work by breaking the dominion of sin over the soul of an elect sinner. Romans chapter 6 is the watershed of biblical teaching on this point. Paul says in that chapter when you were the slaves of sin you obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine unto which you were delivered verse 17 and being made free from sin that is its dominion its lordship ye became the servants of righteousness and in verse 22 servants to righteousness is changed to servants of God and I love the fact that both are used. You see if we became servants of righteousness in the abstract that would be mere legalism and moralism but if it simply said servants to God it might leave the door open to the mystic flights of an unethical pietism and someone says oh I'm a servant of God who still lives like the devil but being made servants to God we are made servants to righteousness and one is never true without the other. The dominion of sin is broken

26:49 and in the deepest recesses of the soul we are delivered from the clutches of the devil and the principle of living for self and for sin. We are given the gift of the Holy Spirit and in these souls of ours God implants what the Bible calls a down payment of a completed redemption and within our hearts we have a longing to be here and now what we one day shall be by the grace of God. We shall have souls with all of the faculties of the soul the intellectual the physical the thinking faculties the affectional the feeling faculties the volitional the willing faculties and all the mysterious faculties of the soul to think that as surely as sin has entered and twisted and marred and scarred and warped every faculty the God who has broken its dominion will one day scour every last remnant of sin from every atom of the soul if I may materialize the soul into a collection of atoms until the very eye of God with a God-made microscope cannot find

28:17 one single remnant of sin left in the human soul completely and wholly sanctified by His grace. Now for those who die before the return of Christ that's what the Lord does the moment the soul leaves the body and before it enters His presence. That's why Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 23 says you are come unto the spirits of just men made perfect. So the soul is perfected at the moment of death to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

29:00 That's why John can say in John 14 13 blessed are the dead who die in the Lord and their works do follow them. They have the perfection of the soul at the moment of death but God did not make us to be disembodied souls even perfect disembodied souls. And when the Bible says that in the resurrection they shall be as the angels it's only speaking with reference to the institution of marriage. It's actually it doesn't mean we shall be disembodied spirits.

29:37 May I say it reverently? Do you know you could never be happy as a human being existing for eternity with a perfect soul without your body? Because God didn't make you to be a disembodied soul. He made you a human being.

29:55 He made you a body soul entity. And you can never be totally happy in God unless you are totally what God wants you to be. That's really what God wants you to be. That's really what God wants you to be.

Heaven as a State: The Perfection of the Body

30:07 A holy man body soul. A holy woman body soul. And so heaven will realize for us not merely bless God not merely the perfection of the soul but the perfection of the body as well. And according to 1 Thessalonians 4.14 this will be brought about at the return of the Lord Jesus. Look at the passage familiar to many of you that we as elders are constantly reminding ourselves that we have those of you who are very new to the Christian faith and some of the text that some of us received almost as it were at our mother's breasts are as new as tomorrow morning's sunrise to some of you. 1 Thessalonians 4.14 Some silly notions have been floating around the church at Thessalonica.

31:05 That there was some kind of special privilege that awaited those who would be alive when the Lord came and that those who died before his coming would be sort of second class citizens in the kingdom. So Paul addresses himself to that notion. Verse 13 of chapter 4. We would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them that fall asleep that you sorrow not as the rest who have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him that is he will bring their souls with him at his return for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and are left under the coming of the Lord shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. You see his masterful stroke. He says we won't be found the first class citizens. He said I got news for you.

32:00 You know who's going to get preferential treatment? Not living saints dead saints. Look we who are alive will in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then adverb of time then we that are alive that are left shall be together with them caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we be shall we ever be with the Lord. The Lord Jesus at his return is going to show preferential treatment to the dust of his departed saints whose bodies have long since been eaten by the worms. Return to dust they will have preferential treatment and when he raises them to life with what kind of body will he raise them? Well Philippians 3.21 the passage we've already looked at in another connection now let's look at one point part of the verse what kind of body will we have?

33:12 This is the kind of body the returning Lord will give us. Verse 21 who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory. Think of it. Try to meditate for a moment tonight.

33:34 Gird up the loins of your mind and think what kind of body will we have? What kind of body is that body like that our Lord now has subsequent to his resurrection? That body in which he moved freely in and out amongst his disciples for forty days subsequent to the resurrection. That body that could pass through walls and yet had substance and could prepare a lovely fish breakfast by a seashore.

34:02 The body that they could see and discern and yet it could appear the doors being shut that body that they saw ascending up before their very eyes Acts chapter 1 while they were gazing upon him he was taken up from them into heaven with his hands outstretched in the posture of priestly blessing. The body of his glory the body of the outshining of the perfection of his own glorious person as the exalted majestic son of God who came obediently through the course of humiliation and now is seated at the right hand of the Father that body of tireless energy he day and night intercedes for his own in that body with which he carries on his high priestly heavenly ministry. This passage says he shall fashion this body of our humiliation this body of our present lowly state with its aches and its pains and its constant tendency to press as it were its own state and indispositions in upon the soul and hindering and constantly keeping us from carrying out the longings of our renewed hearts it shall be fashioned like unto the body of his own glory. What is heaven? Heaven is a state not only of the personal

35:32 perfection of the soul but the personal perfection of the body and for a more extended treatment I commend to you 1 Corinthians 15 the entire chapter let's look just at a couple of verses that capture the essence of the glory of the body that awaits us. 1 Corinthians 15 42 to 44 1 Corinthians 15 42 to 44 So also is the resurrection of the dead it the body is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor.

36:17 It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown in a natural body.

36:29 It is raised a spiritual body. It is raised a body. Spiritual does not mean it is raised as a family as a kingdom. Whatever the spiritual body is it is a spiritual body.

36:46 Body. There is the resurrection of the body.

36:53 Now at this point when the Lord returns and brings with Him those perfected spirits and souls that have been in His presence to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord which is far better. The souls of all that is redeemed that have beheld His presence face with joy that have in the disembodied state known blissful communion with Him all stain of sin removed from the soul those souls brought with Him joined to these bodies sown in weakness now raised in power sown in dishonor raised in honor sown in corruption raised in incorruption at that point God's eternal electing purpose for every one of His people will be realized for whom He did foreknow He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. And at that point in time the humblest believer someone like that thief on the cross who got sanctification begun and continued in a matter of a few moments to the one who has served Christ for decades in the language of John we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is and then the purpose for which Jesus

38:22 died will be realized He died that He might perfect the church taking out all of its wrinkles and its spots and present the church to Himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Heaven is not only a place and a condition Heaven is a state of the personal perfection of the body and of the soul. Now as I close let me try to bring this home by way of application can you begin to think what this will mean? Now in this present state there are times when the dynamics of grace so work in our souls that we feel we could pray pray for hours on end we could go out and witness to everything with legs upon it and ears to listen there are times when the soul is so suffused with the influences of grace that we can really feel that if we had a thousand tongues they would be too few to sing the praises of our God do you know what it is Christian to have the dynamics of grace so pulsing within your breast at times that you do feel if you had a thousand legs you couldn't travel enough places to speak of your Savior

Application: The Glory of Perfected Soul and Body

39:51 if you had a thousand voices you couldn't say enough of His praise and yet when you begin to attempt to carry out the impulses of that renewed soul throbbing under the impulses of grace it isn't long before you're very conscious you don't serve Christ as the angels do you don't serve God you don't pray confession in the spirit baptism this embodied spirits you try to pray for an hour and what happens weariness comes over your body and when you would do good and when that heart and soul throbbing with longing for communion with Christ sets itself to engage Christ in earnest fervent prayer it isn't long before you're utterly exhausted in the very effort to pray before long the soul bubbling and bursting with the pressure of the dynamics of grace. Now is a soul that groans being burdened. It's exactly what Paul meant when he said, We that are in this tabernacle groan being burdened, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation from heaven. When, O God, when will I have a body that can serve the soul that has known the touch of your grace?

41:18 You come sometimes into a gathering like this, and God, by the gracious operations of the Spirit, gives you such a felt taste of the reality of Christ. You say as you sit there, O Lord Jesus, Sin will never be attractive to me again. With such a sight of your glory, sin will be seen in all of its sordid and ugly reality, and I will be nerved in every fiber, every pore of my being to resist it. Ten minutes later, some appetite, ultimately rooted in the soul, but finding a powerful channel through a physical passion, begins to appeal, and within an hour you've succumbed and bloodied your conscience, and all of that blissful communion with Christ is but a memory. Oh, I was reminded of it this past week, when, in the very act of preaching, there were times when I felt my soul would burst under the pressure of truth, and I felt that this mortal frame, the lungs and the larynx and the diaphragm and the hands and feet, were not enough to even give a tithe of the expression of which God's truth was worthy.

42:41 That's why a man whose heart is impregnated with truth is not fooling around with the tricks and the arts of the stage, and the history of the world. When he preaches with his hands and his feet and all of his being, he's trying to find some outlet and moves and feels as his soul is quickened by grace and the operations of God's Spirit. I tell you to think of a heaven where the soul in its perfected state will have a vehicle that's up to all of its demands. That makes the thought of heaven glorious to me. Does it make it glorious to you? No more weariness in communion. No more weariness in service.

43:35 No more distractedness. And then let's reverse it. There are times when the body is healthy and strong and there are no or few aches and pains, no headaches. You've had plenty of sleep and good food, and the body is healthy and vigorous, and you ought to be the epitome of someone rendering active, joyful service.

44:01 But what's the problem? You've got a dull soul that is a stranger to communion with Christ, a soul that has entertained sin that's been unconfessed and unrepented of, a soul that is shriveled and sick, a soul that is poisoned. And though you have a body which should be able to render so much more service, the problem is not the body. The problem is not the body.

44:28 The problem is not your body and its limitations. It's the imperfections that still cling to the soul. What is heaven? Heaven is the perfection of both departments of our humanity so that joined to that perfected soul will be not a body that can perform what only God can do.

44:53 It will still be a human body, but a body capable of all the ways of life. It will still be a mind that will be able to carry all the wonderful and glorious tasks that will be assigned by God Himself in a state and a condition that defies present description. What would it be to have a mind full of clear light? No longer to be chasing the shadows of indistinct views of God and of His truth and who I am and what my duty is.

45:24 A mind that will be full of the pure light of God's truth. The mind that will be full of the pure light of God's truth. A heart that is pure, undiluted love to God, zeal that will be constant and always wise, a conscience never stained but ever full of light, emotions all in constant, full-blown engagement with God in truth but never out of balance. The thought of a perfected soul and then to join to it a body that will be its perfect vehicle to serve and glorify God. No wonder the Bible closes with the prayer, even so come Lord Jesus, a man would be a fool to know that that's what he's destined for and not be sick unto death longing for it. My unconverted friend. Do you pity us poor Christians who've spoiled all our fun in life because we've turned our back upon the trinkets and toys that you cling to and it will take you to hell?

Application: Warning to Unbelievers and Encouragement to Believers

46:39 My unconverted young man, young woman, boy or girl, adult, don't pity us. You're to be pitied. All you're doing now is through those sensory abilities of your body, your nerve endings, your capacity to enjoy things with your taste buds. The nerve endings of your...

46:59 Your sexual capacities and your auditory nerves that can enjoy pleasant sounds in your nose that can enjoy pleasant smells. All you're doing is sucking a little sweetness here and there only to have that body sent into hell where all of its capacities of sight and sound and feeling will be tracks upon which the wrath of almighty God will run into the very citadel of your soul. citadel of your soul forever. You will weep and wail and gnash your teeth. Oh, my unconverted friend, pity yourself that you would trifle away your never-dying soul and make that body fodder for the anger of God in hell forever. Oh, I appeal to you by the loveliness of heaven to turn from your sins, turn from your pride, turn from your self-righteousness. I appeal to you on the basis of all that is noble and glorious in the capacity of that soul that God has made in His own image marred by sin, but a soul that can be renewed in Christ.

48:15 I appeal to you in Christ's name, turn from your sin, run to the Lord Jesus. Who, as we heard this morning by His work on behalf of sinners received by faith, is able to bring you amongst the number of those who are marked for heaven. People say derisively of us, ha, you Christians, with your pie-in-the-sky, by-and-by religion. My friend, that's some wonderful pie that's waiting out there. You can call it pie-in-the-sky, by-and-by. But if having a perfectionist, if having a perfectionist, if having a perfectionist, if having a perfectionist soul joined to a perfected body in a perfected heavens and earth, if that's pie, give it to me, Lord, and give it soon. It costs the Son of God His blood to provide such rich fare for needy sinners. Don't despise that blood, but flee to Christ. And child of God, remember Bunyan's perceptive comment in the dialogue that's going on between the two pilgrims and the way they're being treated.

49:25 When the question is asked, when do you find yourself in your most wholesome and most vigorous spiritual state, you remember what the answer was? When I think of the place to which I am going, that will do it. Think of the place to which you're going if you're in Christ. That will give vigor and renewed energy in the pursuit of holiness and obedience and consistency and living to the praise of Jesus. Heaven's a wonderful place, children. When the world comes and tells you what it has is wonderful, you ask the world, what can you give me to compare to heaven? When the devil comes and beckons to you and says, give yourself to me a little more, you ask the devil, what can you give me compared to what Jesus gives those who trust Him and love Him? Let us pray. Our Father, as we have sought to bring our minds to Your Word and Your Word

50:49 to our minds, we have become convinced again that this side of the perfection of our bodies and our souls, we can only see through a glass, darkly. But we thank You that we can see. What we see through a glass, albeit darkly, we praise You as we see through a glass, darkly. So we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, and your grace, we ask that you would bless us in Jesus' name. We pray for this day. God, warn us by Your word, Lord. That it may lead us to the promised land. Kindle our hearts with Your word. In Your name we pray, amen. Love and thine hand, O Lord, fire, the holy fire.

51:22 I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, O Lord, may you show us your image, o Lord, who has wetted our appetites and made us belong to the day when we shall see face to face. O God, seal Your Word preached tonight to the encouragement of every weary, battle scarred Christian. Seal Your Word to the encouragement of the weakest amongst us. Lord, for those who are not in Christ, may Your word be sealed to their salvation. May your Word be shone May they see the emptiness and the hollowness of this life apart from Christ and the horror of facing eternity without Him. May the great day of His return reveal that this night some boy, girl, man or woman turned from sin and laid hold of Christ and His salvation. Hear our cry, O God our Father, hear our cry and receive our thanks for Your gracious presence with us. May the blessings of that grace that we have known today rest upon us throughout this week that we may so live with our affections in heaven, with our longings in heaven,

52:26 that our patterns of life upon earth may help us to be a good witness and that many will ask a reason of the hope that is in us and may we be bold and winsome to tell the truth of our lives and may we be bold and winsome to tell the truth of our lives. Tell them of Christ who is our hope. Hear our cry, receive our thanks and may the blessings of Your grace rest upon us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.