Service / Rest / Communion w/Redeemed

Introduction: Heaven as a Place and State of Perfection

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, October 30th, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:16 Our Father, how we thank you you have made us a singing people, and that this exercise of praise in song will follow us beyond the grave and into the life to come. How we praise you for the peculiar way in which the deepest feelings of the soul find expression in song, and that we shall join the company of the redeemed of all ages and sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb forever and forever. O our God, as we anticipate that glorious privilege, we pray that while we are yet in this presence, state that the door of opportunity stands open, and the great concerns of eternity stand in the balance. O God, come to us by the Holy Spirit, that we who are your people may see more clearly that for which we are destined by grace, and being strengthened by a clearer vision of the inheritance of the saints in light, may serve you with greater zeal, while we are yet here. And O God, for those who've already been the burden of our prayer tonight, we pray for them again,

1:40 whose eyes can only see glory in this present life. O Spirit of God, come, and may they taste the powers of the world to come, and may they flee from all that which is slated for judgment, and fix their hopes upon him who alone can bring them into that new heaven and new life, and into that new earth wherein dwells righteousness. Speak to us, pull back the veil, give us eyes to see, and may our hearts burn within us as the Spirit takes of the things of Christ and reveals them to us through the Scriptures. Amen.

2:21 We continue tonight our series of studies in the biblical themes of heaven and of hell. And having spent some seven seasons, of exposition on various Lord's Days in the past month, seeking to answer from the Bible these two questions, what is hell and who is going there, we began last Lord's Day evening to consider this question, what is heaven? And as we began to answer that question from the word of God, I made two affirmations in your hearing, and then we saw that the Scriptures warrant, even necessitate these affirmations, and the affirmations are these. Number one, heaven is a place as well as a state or condition of blessedness. And number two, heaven is a state of the perfection of the soul and body of all the redeemed of God. Amen.

3:42 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:43 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:43 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:43 Amen. Amen. Amen. Now tonight, time permitting, we shall examine two more parts of the Biblical answer to the question, what is heaven?

Heaven as a Place of Perennial Rest and Refreshment

3:52 At this stage, I anticipate six parts to that answer altogether, completing the remaining two next week, God willing, unless I get some fresh light in my study throughout the week. Tonight, we move on from the assertions that heaven is a place as well as a condition of perfection of the soul and body of the redeemed to assert in the third place that heaven is a place of unwearied service joined to perennial rest and refreshment. Heaven is a place of unwearied service joined to perennial rest and refreshment. Now, let's look at two texts which underscore the rest dimension of heaven. In the book of the Revelation, chapter 14 and verse 13, we read Revelation 14 and verse

5:03 13, and I heard a voice from heaven saying, write, and this is what he was to write, blessed are the dead who die. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, yes, says the Spirit, in order that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them. And this word that was to be written is one in which the blessedness, the happiness of those who die in the Lord is to be proclaimed, and that happiness. It is proclaimed in this context with a specific reference to this great reality of what the intermediate state will hold for these departed spirits, namely, in order that they may rest from their labors. And the word for labor used in this context is the word which means labor unto pain, toil, unto weariness.

6:26 The kind of labor that causes a man to come home through his front door, plunk on his favorite easy chair and sigh and say, I am bone-weary. God says, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord that they may rest from their bone-weariness, that they may rest from their labor unto pain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6:54 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7:24 men from a hostile society, and the apostle is seeking to comfort them in that present state of distress. And so he writes to them and says in verse 7 of chapter 1 in 2 Thessalonians, And to you that are afflicted, rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power, in flaming fire rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to those who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here the apostle Paul points to this tremendous blessing that will be ushered in at the return of the Lord Jesus. Not only will there be this destruction of the ungodly, and it's that part of the passage that we call, But now our concentration is upon verse 7. To you that are afflicted, you that feel the pressure of a hostile world, you that feel the squeeze of a society that is no friend of grace to help you unto God, you that are afflicted, fix the gaze of your soul upon this tremendous blessing that awaits you at

8:49 the return of the Lord. Not only will your enemies and the enemies of Christ be destroyed, that's negative, but you will be ushered into this state of blessed and perfect rest. You that who are afflicted, rest with us at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so these two texts point undeniably to the fact that heaven is indeed a place, a state, a place of peace.

9:20 A place of peace. A place of peace. A state, a condition of perennial rest and of refreshment. And yet the same scriptures that teach us that truth teach us that heaven will be a place of unwearied service.

Heaven as a Place of Unwearied Service

9:35 Turn to Revelation chapter 7. Revelation chapter 7.

9:46 And I begin the reading in verse 13. One of the elders answered, saying unto me, These that are arrayed in white robes, who are they? And where did they come from? And I say unto him, My Lord, you know.

10:05 And he said to me, These are they that come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his kingdom. And he that sits on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over him.

10:35 Now here the saints who have entered into their rest are described as those who serve their God before his throne day and night. And the word for service here, latruo, is the word that is the standard word to describe the sacred service of a priest. The priest in the temple, the sacred service of one who labors in the official worship of God. And one of the most beautiful things about the teaching of the New Testament in which the child of God is set apart unto God, a sanctified man or woman, is that in a very real sense all of his activity becomes sacred service. It becomes latruo. It becomes an activity of worshipfulness. It becomes service to God.

11:30 And here we are told that the redeemed are those who will serve him day and night. It will be unwearied service. For we go on to read in this very passage, verse 16, they shall hunger no more. They'll never need to take a coffee break or a lunch break or a supper break.

11:54 They shall hunger no more. Neither thirst anymore. Neither shall the sun strike upon them nor any heat. For the lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life.

12:10 And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. So here is this beautiful picture of this constant service, day and night, but unwearied service. Constant, but unwearied service. Chapter 16.

12:28 Chapter 22 of the book of the Revelation, the same emphasis is set before us. Revelation chapter 22 and verse 3.

12:39 And there shall be no curse anymore. And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein. And his servants shall serve him. His bond slaves will render him.

12:59 And then he doesn't use the normal word, the verb form, for a person who is a bondservant, a doulos, but he renders latruo.

13:13 The bondservant shall render service that in every facet of its outworking is an act of pure worship to the living God. So I say that heaven will indeed be a place of unworthiness. Unwearied service joined to perennial rest. And I added the word refreshment.

The Lord Himself Serves Us in Heaven

13:40 And why did do I add that? Well, for the simple reason that there is another strand of truth that comes through particularly in the Gospels. And granted, it comes to us couched in the form of eastern feasting and eating circumstances. But these pictures are meant to convey.

14:01 a substantial reality. Turn to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8, and there is a parallel passage in Luke 13, where our Lord speaks and says, verse 11 of Matthew 8, And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down, literally shall recline at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. And here heaven in its consummate glory is likened to a vast banquet house, in which are found Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers of the faithful, and then the redeemed of God coming in from the east, the west, sitting down and reclining at table, feasting and banqueting in the kingdom of God. And the parallel passage to this is Luke 13, 29. Luke 13, 29. I'll only look at it briefly and then turn back to an amazing statement in the previous chapter of Luke. And they shall

15:26 come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and shall again, the same word, recline in the kingdom of God. But then if we turn back to Luke 12, some of the circumstances of that refreshment under the figure and imagery of the banquet house is opened up in a most amazing way. We read in verse 35 of Luke 12, Let your loins be girded about in your lamps burning. Be prepared and ready for the coming of your Lord. And be yourselves like unto men looking for their Lord, when he shall return from the marriage feast, that when he comes and knocks, they may straightway open unto him. Blessed are those bondservants whom the Lord, when he comes, shall find watching. Truly I say unto you, here's the amazing statement, he, that is, the returning Lord himself, will gird himself and shall make them his servants, sit down to meet, and shall come and serve them. To me, that's one of the most amazing statements

16:51 in all of the Bible. Lenski, the Lutheran commentator, expresses that amazement. The wonder of this parable begins right here when Jesus exclaims, Blessed are those slaves. Why? It was the ordinary duty of these slaves to be watching and ready, to be awake, no matter how long their Lord delayed his return. We are right. There's no merit or worthiness on the part of these slaves. And the Lord's verdict, blessed, is in no way based on what these slaves have done, but altogether on what their returned Lord now does for them.

17:30 No wonder Jesus exclaims once more, Truly I say to you, verity and authority seal his statement. Jesus then takes the human image, the imagery of a great Lord's returning to his palace and his slaves receiving him back in state at night, and gives it a turn that is unheard of among earthly lords and the grand ones of this world. He does the same thing in other parables. The Lord does not seek his ease and retire for the night. He changes his slaves into his lords. He makes as grand a feast for them as was the one from which he came. He has them reclined to dine, and wonder of wonders, he does not order other slaves to serve them. His angels, who wait about his throne on tiptoes, eagerly anticipating the slightest glance of his eye, an intimation of his will, no wonder of wonders, he does not order other slaves to serve them. But he girds himself, makes himself, slays and ministers to them. Many waiters and helpers are needed at a great feast,

18:48 but this Lord needs none. This lets the reality peek through that this Lord is the almighty heavenly Lord himself. Now how can God picture it to us in plainer language? What is heaven? Here we are given in this graphic imagery this picture of heaven as the place not only of perennial rest, but of refreshment in which our Lord himself serves us in the meeting of all of our needs. And so we are warranted to think of heaven if we are thinking biblically as much as our minds will allow us as a place of unwearied service joined to perennial rest. Now someone asks the question, what will the nature of that service be? Well, surely from

The Nature of Unwearied Service: Worship and Cultural Mandate

19:53 the scriptures we learn that no little part of that service will be the abandoned worship and adoration of our great God. The abandoned worship and adoration of our great God for the pictures we receive of the redeemed, particularly of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we are warranted to think of heaven as the place not only of perennial rest, but of refreshment in which our minds will ask for that service. So we are warranted to think of heaven as the place not only of perennial rest, but of refreshment in which our minds will ask for that service. And so we are warranted to think in the book of Revelation, again and again we find them engaged in whole-souled abandonment of worship and of adoration. They have become so transfixed with the face-to-face presence of their God that it is as though they cannot tear themselves away from the glory of looking upon his face. More of that, God willing, in our message next week. But is that all you have to say?

20:44 all the service we will render. And I can remember a time when I didn't even dare to express to anyone, for fear they'd think me a blasphemer, that there was something in me that didn't get too excited at the thought of doing nothing but worshiping and adoring. The sense of the creative, the desire to accomplish, the aesthetic sensitivities, all of those things that mark us out as image-bearers of God. And I said, Lord, forgive me for even thinking it, and I didn't dare breathe this to a soul, for fear I'd be thought a heretic or half an apostate or some other tragic and terrible thing.

21:29 And I said, Lord, forgive me for thinking it, but if I find my moments of greatest joy here and now, when I'm actively serving you, and that's the fruit of grace, then surely, something of that will be carried on into the world to come. Then in my reading of the Scriptures, I began, I believe, to understand the implication of such passages as those in which, again, it's under human imagery. There is analogy. God is teaching by likeness.

21:58 But you remember when the returning Lord comes to reckon with his servants in the 19th chapter of Luke, their reward is spoken of in terms of an appointment of stewardship of administration. You have been...

22:12 Faithful, I will place you over ten cities. You have been faithful, I will place you over five cities. And the whole concept, you see, of the responsibility of the stewardship of administration of the affairs of the world to come. And again, the Scripture says, know you not that we shall judge angels.

22:37 And again, we are told that we shall sit down with our Lord Jesus upon his throne. In the world to come. And these are at least pointers. And I would not go into speculative theology tonight, but at least these substantial biblical statements point in the direction of at least part of the answer to the question, what will the nature of this unwearied service be?

23:07 This service joined to perennial rest and refreshment. Well, at the heart, what if it indeed will be this preoccupation with the abandoned worship and adoration of our glorious God? But with it, will there not be the true fulfillment of what is called the cultural mandate? Adam's task was to subdue the earth.

23:35 And because he sinned, this earth became a cursed earth and an unyielding earth in the sweat of thy brow. God said, you will work to see this earth yield its produce. What will it be when this present world is delivered from the bondage of corruption at the revealing of the sons of God? Surely it must be in this direction.

24:01 The engagement of all of our faculties with all of the capacities for aesthetics and mathematics and logic and all the other glorious faculties, of the mind and the soul and the body, brought into the unwearied service of this glorious God to explore and bring glory to God throughout the entire universe, however far it extends. And if I think more than that, then my poor little pea brain begins to feel the weight of it, and I feel something will rupture between my ears. Surely, if the first commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord, then thou shalt love the Lord. Surely, if the first commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord, Surely, if the first commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord, Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, a glorified body and a glorified soul, in a context of this unwearied service, will find the people of God forever living out that commandment to the glory of their Redeemer God. Well, by way of application, let me say, dear child of God, it is this hope that should burn in your breast

Application for Believers: Fix Your Gaze on the Unseen

25:25 in the midst of your toil that is always now marked by weariness. In the sweat of thy brow is the terminology of God that marks labor in this present order of things. And even in the service of Christ, And even in the service of Christ, And even in the service of Christ, because, as Paul says, we that are in this tabernacle do groan our service, though at times, because we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, partakes, as it were, of a little glancing glow and impulse of the powers of the world to come, and we feel at moments in devotion and in service that we could go on forever under that particular impulse that we sense, alas, alas, how quickly, it fades, and we are made very conscious that we have the treasure in earth in vessels. The Apostle Paul understood well how this perspective on heaven strengthened him in the present pressure of toil unto weariness. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 4, 17 and 18, and here is the practical application of all of this to us, dear people of God. This is not something to give us a momentary,

26:48 a momentary lift while we sit in this building. Something to be carried with us as an overarching perspective, 2 Corinthians 4, 16. Wherefore we do not faint, but though our outward man is decayed, yet our inward man is renewed day by day, for our light affliction, which is for the moment, and it is for the moment, and the moment, and the moment, and the moment, and the moment, and the moment, is this present order of things prior to the coming of Christ, is working for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory while we do not look on the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. Here are two contrasting sets of things, things that are seen. The pulpit is seen, the microphone is seen, the preacher is seen, the book is seen, the walls are seen, our cars are seen, our friends are seen. That's the set of the things that are seen.

28:05 But there is another set of realities, just as real. They are the things, not shadows, not notions, not ideas, they are things. They have substance. They are the things.

28:21 But they are not beheld. They are the things. They are the things. They are not the things of the Lord.

28:25 They are the things of God. They are the things of the Lord. They are the things of the Lord. But God has no authority over these physical eyes, with these physical eyes, yet.

28:30 And he says, we fix the gaze of our souls not upon the things that are seen. Now that doesn't mean, when Paul was walking down a Roman street, he closed his eyes and said, I don't look on the things that are seen, don't look on the things, and trust God to guide him by an angel. That would be tempting the Lord. Yes, he looked where he was going, but he's speaking of the focus of the soul, the concentration of the faculties of the inner life.

28:54 And he says, we do not fix them on the things that are seen. When he did, what did he see? Everywhere he turned, he saw the constant reminders of this decaying outward shell. This vessel of clay.

29:12 He saw the lictor's lash. He saw the jailer's teeth. He saw the skull. He saw the stones that would be hurled upon him.

29:22 He saw the howling seas in which he experienced shipwreck. All of his labor for Christ was marked for toil and suffering and agony. He says, it's all a light affliction. Why?

29:37 Because I do not fix my gaze on the things that are seen, but on the things that are not seen for. The things that are seen are temporal. They are passing. They are fleeting.

29:49 But the things that are not seen, are eternal. Child of God, listen to me. I'll put it in this blunt language as I know how. If you don't pause periodically, amidst your life, in the circle of the things that are seen, to force your gaze upon the things that are not seen, you will not live as you ought to live, as a child of God in this world.

30:21 I've heard the phrase many, many times, that guy's so heavenly minded, he's no earthly good. But I've never yet met such a person. But I've met thousands of professing Christians who were so earth-minded, they were no heavenly good. And the church is never more mighty to deliver men from the clutches of a damning attachment to earth, than when it has its affections most firmly embedded in heaven and in the world to come.

Application for Unbelievers: Don't Sell Your Soul Cheaply

31:00 And my unconverted friend, listen to me.

31:05 You better start facing reality.

31:08 What's that little bubble you're chasing right now? What's that bubble? Marriage? A home?

31:16 A position? Security? Prestige? A slap in the back from your peers?

31:24 What is it that's really important to you? The thing that keeps you from becoming a Christian? What is it? What is it?

31:31 What is it? What is it? Compare it to what awaits the people of God. Can that thing promise you this?

31:42 Can it promise you what I have promised you? To be couched in these words? Unwearied service joined to perennial rest and refreshment and enjoyment of God? If not, my friend, it isn't worth bartering your soul for it.

32:01 Oh, I hope to make some of you jealous enough to seek the way of life and salvation in the Lord Jesus. Don't pity us poor, woolly-headed, air-headed Christians, my friends. Heaven is coming when the entire universe of intelligent beings will stand back bug-eyed and aghast when they see us in all the glory that Christ has purchased for us. But I must hurry on to touch on one more aspect of what heaven is.

Heaven as a Place of Perfected Communion of the Redeemed

32:39 According to the Scriptures, heaven is not only a place and a condition. Not only is heaven a spiritual place and a condition. Not only is heaven a spiritual place and a condition. Not only is heaven a spiritual place and a condition.

32:52 Not only is heaven a state of the perfection of the soul and the body. Not only is heaven the place of unwearied service joined to perennial rest and refreshment. But, fourthly, heaven is a place of the perfected communion of all the redeemed of all ages. Heaven is a place of the perfected communion of all the redeemed of all ages.

33:21 Now, from the patriarchs onward, heaven is set before us under the dominant imagery of a city. Now, has that ever puzzled you? You think of rest and refreshment, most of us think of the what? The city or the country?

33:41 Oh, if I could only move out into the country. Get away from everybody at my elbow, and the Garden State Parkway, and Rue Davy, and all the rest. The closer to heaven is heaven. The closer to the city we feel, the further we are away from anything to remind us of heaven.

34:02 And yet, from the patriarchs onward, the dominant imagery of heaven is not that of a placid countryside with a beautiful lake jumping with trout, but it's the picture of the city. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Speaking of Abraham, the father of the faithful, verse 8.

34:30 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. Some people probably really thought poor old Abraham had a few screws loose. One day, he took down his tent, pulled up all the ten stakes, wrapped up his tent, put his few pots and pans in a gunny sack, and people come around and say, Abraham, where are you going?

35:03 He said, I don't know. Abraham, you didn't hear me. Abraham, look me straight in the eye. Let me smell your breath.

35:13 Abraham, where are you going? I don't know. Abraham, you seem to be a reasonable man. Perhaps I've not made my question clear.

35:25 Abraham, where are you going? I don't know. God just said, get up and go. And he said, he'll show me where I'm going to go.

35:34 Now, what in the world makes a sane man like Abraham do that? Well, read on.

35:40 By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He looked for the city. Now, where did he ever get the notion of a city?

36:14 Out in the wilderness where God called him. Now, God gave him, by divine revelation, that wonderful understanding that his ultimate destiny was a city which hath foundations, not a tent that merely has stakes, but a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Now, you see, you cannot think of a city without thinking of the social dimensions of the relationship of the dwellers. A bunch of nomads with a lot of land between them, each dwelling in his own tent, can have very little to do with one another. But the whole concept of a city is that men are pressed into intimate social contact. Now, they may, through the tragic effects of sin, live as little islands, and that's the heartbreaking tragedy of the modern American city, where no one says hello, where each one is fearful of his neighbor. But nonetheless, intimate social contact there must be, whether that stewardship is responded to righteously or unrighteously.

37:38 Well, God makes it very plain that though every one of us is born individually and saved individually, we are immediately incorporated into the whole family of God of all the ages. Hebrews chapter 12. And in a moment you'll see where I'm going, so hang in there. Hebrews chapter 12.

38:01 As the writer to Hebrews is contrasting the things to which we come in the New Covenant with those to which the people of God came in the Old Covenant, verse 18 of Hebrews 12, you are not come, and then he describes some of the external factors of the giving of the Old Covenant, but he says in contrast, verse 22, but you are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus mediator of a new covenant. And so whenever a sinner, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, out of the matrix of that agony of accurate self-discovery, comes to see himself a sinner in whom there is no hope for this problem of sin to be found in himself or in anyone else, as we heard this morning. And when such a person turns away to Christ, mediator of the new covenant, he invariably immediately comes into communion of the spirits of just men made perfect.

39:27 He immediately becomes one who is identified with the general assembly and church of the firstborn enrolled in heaven. He becomes a citizen of the city of God. And so when we turn to the book of the Revelation and read the record of what John was given to see of the perfected church, this imagery comes to its full-blown expression in that city of God that comes down out of heaven, Revelation 21 and verse 2. Revelation 21 and verse 2, And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And that city is none other than the church as we saw in our study last week. And then again in chapter 22 and verse 14, Blessed are they that wash their robes that they may have the right to come to the tree of life and may enter in by the gates into the city. And verse 19, And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life

40:54 and out of the holy city. Now think for a minute, and surely here in this metropolitan area we should be able to relate to this in a way some of our country friends could never relate to it. There are many passages country folk understand better than we do. But here's one we ought to be able to understand.

41:15 Can you begin to conceive of what it will be like the multitudes of the redeemed gathered together in a manner that is in some way analogous to the life of a bustling city with all of the constant interaction and constant interpenetration of one life with another and one segment with another. But here is a city in which all of the pressures and intimate integrated life of that city, nothing but love, harmony, mutuality of desire pervades every single level of the dynamics of the life of the inhabitants of that city. According to scripture, there will be degrees of responsibility as part of divine reward. I will make you ruler over ten cities. I will make you ruler over five.

42:16 Imagine, the man with five is never envious of the man with ten. And the man with ten never looks down his snoot at the man over five. Degrees of responsibility fully acknowledged and accepted but with no disdain from the greater to the lesser and no sinful envy from the lesser to the greater. Again, there is every indication that in that state there will be the total absence of everything that would jangle and jar the sense of perfect love and oneness and self-givingness. What is one perfected man or woman, boy or girl, and now a great multitude whom no man can number, congregated in something analogous to a city? I say this strand of biblical truth reinforces upon us the statement that heaven is a place of the perfected communion of the redeemed of all ages. A man by the name of Cheever wrote a book called The Power of the World to Come.

The Glory of Social Life in Heaven and the Absence of Sin

43:41 And in his chapter on heaven and he's one of the few authors I've read who's captured this element of truth and expanded upon it. And I'll give you just, just a little taste of Cheever's perspective on this. In the second place, speaking of heaven, it is a social life in which all the communicative and companionable tendencies of our nature and powers of our being will be exercised in an enjoyment ten-thousand-fold intensified by being reflected from and shared with the beatific experience of others. It's remarkable as an indication of the glory of the social life of heaven and the activity and blissfulness of mutual thought and affection interchanged and ardent there that this same epistle to Hebrews introduces us to the innumerable company of angels and the general assembly and church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. We are come to such vast and glorious assemblages as to scenes and objects transporting, even to be only looked at and admired, but how much more enrapturing to go in and out among them, holding communion with them. The very sight of others in glory will be infinite joy,

45:09 a study of salvation, a rapture of delight. There will be so much to admire and love in every creature. Every creature will be so full of glory, so ravishing a reflection of the glory of the Savior, that eternity might be occupied in silently gazing and adoring. And even so the Lord Jesus at His coming with His saints will be admired in all who believe.

45:43 Tremendous thought. The kind of thought that will not find lodgment by a mere glance upon your mind. It takes sober, concentrated meditation for it to find any settled lodgment, because it is so utterly contrary to all that we know here and now. Think of it.

46:04 We who are indwelt by the Spirit, graciously saved by the One Redeemer, and with all of our hearts we long that we should experience nothing but pure love flowing between us and all who name the name of Christ. But alas, because of remaining sin, often some whom we most dearly love in Christ cause us our deepest grief. And alas, some who most dearly love us in Christ, we cause them their deepest grief. We cause them the pain of our own unchristlike words.

46:44 We cause them the grief of our unchristlike insensitivity. We cause them the sorrow and the pain of our laxes in grace when they, longing to see Christ formed in us, and instead they see the outcroppings of carnality. And so, looking at one another and feeling the longings of love, there is the pain, there is the vulnerability that comes from seeking to dwell in love where sin yet remains. Oh, what will heaven be in that perfect place, in that perfected communion of the saints, when every saint will love perfectly not only God, but all of his fellow saints. And while maintaining all of our own God-given individuality and don't have any silly notions that will all be flattened out to something that's been produced by the computer in which every nose is the same shape and every voice the same tone, that God of infinite variety will not blot all of that out. You'll be you in heaven and I'll be me. But God will so work on us by the dynamics of redemptive grace that all that is now sinful and irritates and causes the drawing back of reserve and lack of trust and hurt and pain and all of the rest

48:10 will be forever done away with. John said, By this we know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. And you see, for a true child of God this dimension of heaven is exciting to him. Do you find it exciting that you will dwell in the city of God in a state of perfected communion with all of his people?

48:34 Does that excite you? If you really love the brethren, it does. It grieves me to have to speak against my brethren. I must when they err and say that the Bible says something it doesn't say.

48:50 But it's painful nonetheless. It's never a delight to speak against one's brethren. But it's biblical to do so. When people err from the truth that must be exposed.

49:04 It must be done with grief and pain and reluctance. But it must be done. And oh how we long for the day when all the darkness is so taken from our minds and all of the carnal dispositions from our hearts that we shall dwell in perfect love with all of the people of God and that forever. And you see God is so committed to that aspect of redemption.

Corporate Redemption and Final Exhortation

49:33 That's why not one saint will get his last installment of redemption until we all get it at the same time. Have you ever wondered why if God can do anything why doesn't he give every saint when the soul departs? Why didn't he just snatch the body up the heavens? And give him a glorified body?

49:54 But you see until that last elect soul is brought in and the Lord Jesus returns not one saint will get the last installment of redemption until we all get it at the same time. And then we shall be constituted that city of God coming down out of heaven with our returning Lord resplendent with the glory that will cause us to be what the scripture says those who are made like him for we shall see him as he is. My dear unconverted friend I don't know what you're selling your soul for but it's pretty cheap. It's pretty cheap. When these four great realities could be yours if you will but have Christ. Richard Baxter said these words and they really got hold of me this week and I found it hard at times to think of anything else. He said God always takes a man's heart to heaven before he ever takes his person there.

51:08 Now you're sitting here in your person do you hope that that person you will one day be taken by God to heaven? God will never take your person there until he first of all takes your heart there. And you know how he takes hearts to heaven? Through the gospel.

51:27 When that gospel is brought home with power and your heart spits out its sin divorces itself from the world and throws it into loving trustful attachment to Jesus Christ. That's how your heart is taken to heaven. And if your heart's taken there one day God will take your person there. But if your heart's on this earth your person with this earth will be burned at the return of the Lord Jesus when he comes in flaming fire.

52:02 Where's your heart? My friend where's your heart? If your heart's there through the gospel it's certain God will get your person there. If your heart's not there you'll never be there.

52:19 May God grant that you will not hear such things and sell your soul for trinkets. Our Father we read in your word that eye has not seen nor ear heard nor has it entered the heart of man the things you have prepared for those that love you. And when we go on to read that you've revealed them unto us by the Spirit we confess that even the revelation is so bright with glory that our eyes cannot look long upon it. And yet we thank you for the privilege of looking for a few moments tonight and how we praise you for that which is reserved for your people. Surely our hearts expand with joy and praise and adoration and from the depths of our being we cry hallelujah. What a Savior who should purchase for us so glorious an inheritance.

53:40 Oh Father have mercy upon those whose eyes can only see the things of this present life who would sell their souls for trinkets. Oh may the gospel of your grace win their hearts. May they like Moses consider the recompense of the reward and be willing to suffer affliction with your people now rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And oh Lord for those of us who by grace do claim to be your children help us to be more heavenly minded.

54:21 Help us oh God constantly to remember what is ours by inheritance and by right of purchase and will infallibly be secured to us and conferred upon us by our gracious Lord. Oh Father seal the word to each of our hearts for your praise and for our eternal profit we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.