Praise the Lord. You know, the one that we call Jesus invited everyone to follow him. And there are many people who refuse. They do not want to follow him. And there are some who deny he even existed. I know that might be hard for some of you to realize or understand or even believe, but it is a fact. And I've encountered many of those people in my life, people who do not believe what we believe, who do not believe that this book is authentic. They do not believe that the God that's written of in this book is in fact our creator. They don't believe that there is such a thing as everlasting life. But the series of messages that I've been preaching in the last few weeks is exactly about that, everlasting life. And today, we're going to answer that question. As I told the children, what is it like? The Scripture gives us some detail, but it doesn't tell us everything. And so I'll look at some of the details. There's too many for one message. I'll look at some of the message, or excuse me, some of the details in this message to help you get a picture maybe in your mind of what it's like. What that everlasting life is that we're promised through Christ. What is it? At one point as our Lord was about to leave his followers, He told them where he was going, they could not follow. And it's written in John chapter 13 in verse 33, that he had said, little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek me and as I said to the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come. So now I say to you. He said, I'm going away and you can't follow me now, but you'll come later. And then, just a couple of verses later, we hear that Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? And Jesus answered him, where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow me afterward. This is a promise. Believers will follow him. We will. We'll follow to where he is. He later told them that they knew the way. And this confused them. In fact, as we go on in John chapter 14, we read that he said, where I go, you know, and the way you know. And Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way? And Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He gave them the answer. When they said, where are you going? He said, to the Father. But he didn't come straight out and say it. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one, we could say, goes to where he was going except through him. Right there. He let them know, and later he said, and it's written in John 16, verse 16, a little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me because I go to the Father. There he was more direct. You see, that's where we go, to the Father, to the Creator, to the one who created all that is, was, and ever shall be. Whether or not his creation believes that he exists, I had one man who said, I don't believe in Him, or God, or something. I forget exactly how he said it. And I said, well, he believes in you, whether you believe in him or not. And see, the implication there is that God believes in all of us, because we are His creation. He doesn't believe in us as an act of worship. He believes that we can, in fact, come to Him. He draws us to Himself through Christ our Lord. But what is that like? If we want to get to the place where we're united with Him, we must follow Christ. It's not complicated. It's not. He said the way was Him. And when we look at that idea of this heavenly place, this eternal rest, this everlasting home for believers, we might Wonder, what is it like? Does the Bible give us details? Well, as I said, it does, and that's what we're going to be looking at today. But before we get started, I would like us to pray. Heavenly Father, I thank You. Lord, I thank You for all Your blessings, most especially Your blessing of Your Word Lord, I yield to you for your use. I ask that you would give me the ability to speak. Give me the ability, Lord. Take a hold of my mouth. I surrender all to you. I yield to you. I ask that you would take me and use me to speak to all who are within the sound of my voice with this message. That those who don't know you or don't believe in you might come to know you. They might come to believe. I pray, Father, that you would enable me to speak what we need to hear, each of us individually, and yet collectively as a body. And I ask, Lord God, that you would pour your spirit upon us to open our eyes and ears. Help us to give glory to your name. Help us to worship you in the beauty of holiness. I pray, Father, that you would let us receive from your word that which we need. And all of God's people said, amen. And now we're going to read, what do I have there? Is it Revelation chapter 7? Okay. Revelation chapter 7, we're going to read verses 9 through 17. If you want to open the Bible there, to be the last book of the Bible, page 18, let's see. In the books there in your seats, if you care to open one. If not, we've got it up on the screen. The 1882, I think, is the page, if I can get it open. 1882? Thank you, John. The pages are sticking together, Dave. And I'm not one to lick my fingers. I'm sorry, but I just don't do that. We're going to read from chapter 7 beginning at verse 9 and reading through verse 17. And we're going to hear a piece of one of the songs that we sang this morning, and we've been singing for a few weeks. And this is what's written there, after these things I looked. and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations. all tribes, all peoples, all tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying, amen, blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever, amen. Then one of the elders answered saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes and where did they come from? Now, think about this, okay? Here's John, he's having this vision, and one of the elders comes to him and says, who are these people? Now, John didn't know. Why would he be asked? I ask these questions as I'm reading the text, like, okay, if I'm standing there, I don't know, right? And how does John answer? Sorry, you know. You know. So, The implication there is he's asking, tell me, because you know. I don't know, but you know. So he said to me, these are the ones who came out of the great tribulation. And sadly, there are those who say that there are none that are going to be saved after that period of time, but yet The Word says there will be those who come out of the great tribulation, wash their robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them. nor any heat, for the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. I asked that God would add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his word today, and I trust that he will do exactly that. He'll wipe away every tear from their eyes. How many people are going to be there? What did we read? An innumerable number. Nobody can count how many people are going to be there. There's so many that nobody could count them. All nations, all tribes, every people group, every person, regardless of their language, there will be people there. Do you think they're gonna be speaking different languages? It doesn't say it's going to be one particular group of people, and unfortunately, many of these denominations, I had to try to focus my attention there, will think that they're the only ones that are going to be there. And that's sad, because God's Word says everybody's gonna be, there's gonna be people in there from every group, regardless of what it is. And they're going to be standing before the throne of God and standing before His anointed one, the Christ, the Messiah, the one we call Jesus. He is the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now their white robes represent purity. They're arrayed in white. and they will be greatly praising God for saving them." Now wait a minute. They came through the Great Tribulation. They were killed for their faith, and yet they're praising God for saving them. See, there's the eternal perspective. It's not the earthly perspective. Because on this side of eternity, we'd like to keep these lives a little longer, wouldn't we? I mean, that's just natural. It's normal. Don't feel bad if you'd like to stick around for a while, okay? God built us that way. And until He's done with us, nobody can take us out. They might try, but they can't succeed until He allows it. angels and humans will be worshiping Almighty God together. We can't even imagine what that's like. What's it like? We don't know. We don't know what that's going to be like, but I would suspect it's going to be quite majestic. To hear these angels, two-thirds of which stuck around with God, only a third left with that other fellow. Two-thirds of the angels will be praising God along with people, those of us who were there. When asked who those people were, John said, you know. He answered like Ezekiel did. Ezekiel, whenever he was asked when he saw the dry bones in the valley, He was asked, who are these? And he said, excuse me, it's written there in Ezekiel 37, verse three, and he said to me, this is Ezekiel speaking, son of man, can these bones live? That's what was asked of Ezekiel. And so he answered, oh Lord God, you know. And he's saying he didn't know. He didn't know what that meant. And he was told this was a mighty army that was gonna rise up. Washing their robes in the blood of the Lamb is figurative language for being purified from sin by the sacrifice of Christ. And so those of us who are purified by the sacrifice of Christ, we will be among those with those pure white robes. Praise be to God. In Revelation chapter 1, we learn that John was writing from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth." Who rules the kings of the earth? Christ does. He's the King of kings. He's the Lord of lords. He's the ruler of rulers. He's the president of presidents. There is none who has any authority on this earth who will not answer to Christ. He was delegated all authority, and He further delegated that authority to others. And as we look at the world, the state of affairs that we're in right now, folks, we have to remember this. It doesn't matter what they do. It doesn't matter what they say. It doesn't matter what they try to force on people. They will answer to Him. whether they believe it or not, whether they believe in him or not. In my father's house, he said, are many mansions. We find that out in the 14th chapter of John's gospel record. He prepared a place for those who follow him. I jumped a little, but I'll get back to it, Tony. I have to tell her, because sometimes I jump around. He said, in my house, my father's house, are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I 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 ye may be also. And that Greek word that's translated mansions simply means dwelling places, homes. And I've heard elaborate sermons about how wonderful the mansion's going to be and how people are going to pick out their mansion. You know, that's not the message that God's Word gives. They chose the word mansions because it was the closest one at that time that they could comprehend that meant a dwelling place. It may be a large dwelling place, we don't know. But what we do know is that there are many rooms or places for us to dwell with Almighty God. That word only shows up twice in the Scriptures. And the other time, it's translated, it's in John 14 in verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Same Greek word. So what he's saying is, yes, I'm gonna bring you to myself. Yes, you are going to have a place to dwell. And as you are here still on this side of eternity, he will come and dwell with you. He'll make his home with you. You will be the home of Christ. Now that's hard for us to understand because there's so many people, right? I mean, how could he possibly dwell in me and dwell in all of you, right? That's a spiritual mystery that I cannot explain, except I can tell you this, I know it's true. I'm absolutely certain of it. Only those who are purified by Christ, though, will receive Christ into themselves. And they're the only ones who will be granted entrance into that place of everlasting peace in the presence of Almighty God. It's written in Matthew chapter 13. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend." So what's it like there? There is nothing that will offend. All those who practice lawlessness. So what's it like there? There will be no lawlessness. We're experiencing lawlessness now. In the world, there is lawlessness, and we will have lawlessness until Christ returns. What's it like there? It's going to be lawful existence. We can't even comprehend what that means because we live in a lawless society. But when he gathers out of his kingdom all things that offend and those who practice lawlessness, he's going to cast them into the furnace of fire and there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. You know, when I was young, I used to preach on the streets. And when I would preach this, I didn't fully comprehend what it meant, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Because when people are crying, wailing, they're sorrowful. When they're gnashing their teeth, they're not sorrowful. They're angry. They're angry. And this is what the Word says many times. Wailing, weeping, gnashing of teeth are put together. In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 22, Learn that that everlasting place is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. In Revelation chapter 17, excuse me, Hebrews also says there's innumerable, innumerable, innumerable company of angels. Boy, I'm really messing up my words today. Forgive me, folks. Father, give me unction. In Revelation chapter 7, it's written, all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures. Four living creatures falling down. Day and night, night and day. What are they saying? Amen. Amen. And they're showering God with praises. That everlasting dwelling place of believers is a place of worship, constant worship. And some would say, oh, that's going to be boring. All we're going to do is worship God. No, let me tell you folks, you're going to be blessed to be able to worship God for eternity. It's written in Revelation 4.8, the four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within, and they do not rest day nor night, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. That's where those lyrics came from that we sing recently every week. In Isaiah, we learn that there is a reference to this very same thing, this creature, these creatures. Above it stood Seraphim. See, there they get a name in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 6, verses 2 and 3, each one had six wings. See, and this is what John saw in the revelation. Two covered his face, two covered his feet, two he flew. And one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. That's why it's important to sing it. It helps us to remember, this is what's happening. We're learning, we're in training. That's it. It's rehearsal. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. In Hebrews chapter 12, What do we learn about Abel's blood speaking? It was crying out from the earth. God heard Abel's blood crying out from the earth. God is the judge of all. He's going to judge those who spill blood, regardless of how they do it, whether we've legalized it or not. God's going to bring judgment. Those who have participated in any bloodletting need to repent. Revelation chapter 7 and verse 15, it tells us, therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple, and He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. As we read along in Revelation chapter 7, we learn more of what it will be like. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore. I'm a little hungry right now. Anybody else? We have lunch after the service. You're welcome to join us. It's my grandson. He said he's hungry. I'm with you, Pap. no more hunger, no more thirst, the sun shall not strike them nor any heat. You ever been in a place of like perfect temperature where you just have total comfort? That's what's written in scripture. For everlasting life, we will have the perfect temperature. It'll never be too hot. It'll never be too cold. The Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. No more tears, no more weeping, no more crying. All tears will be wiped away. God, it says, doesn't say somebody else, it says God. will wipe away every tear. That means no more sorrow, no more crying. Praise be to God. What's it like? It's unlike anything that you've ever experienced in your earthly life. We can't fully comprehend what it's like, but I've got to give you just as much as I can from God's word to help you comprehend it. to the best of your ability, and mine for that matter. No more sadness, no more discomfort, no more anxiety. All tears will be erased by Almighty God. We will get to rest comfortably in His presence. Have you ever had perfect rest, perfect peaceful rest? When you awake and there's no anxiety on your mind, there's nothing that's left undone, everything is just fine, that's the picture that he gives us of what our everlasting life will be like. The place of everlasting rest will be full of praise, peace, joy, and whoever comes through that great tribulation will be with God forever, serving him joyfully. Forever. Christ the Good Shepherd would lead them to fountains of living water. There will be no more thirst, and that living water brings everlasting life. When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun. We've no more days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun. And we sing it, right? I couldn't get to tune or I would have. We sing it all the time, but do we really get what that means? There will be no time with God. There's not gonna be a clock ticking on the wall saying, well, you've been here for 42 minutes. You've been here for 42 years. You've been here for 42,000 years. With God, there is no time. There will be no sense of time. It won't matter. Christ will lead us to fountains of living water. The angel told the virgin when she conceived he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom, of his kingdom, there will be no end. The kingdom of God is within you, says the scripture, said Christ himself, and there will be no end to that kingdom. He will reign forever and ever and ever. And it's hard for us to comprehend what that means. His permanent kingdom will be one of holiness. It will be one of justice. It will be one of peace. His permanent kingdom. will contain all things good and right. Nothing that offends God will be there. But it's written in Revelation 21 in verse 8, the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. There will be no fearful people there. There will be no unbelieving people there. There will be no abominable people there. There will be no murderers there. There will be no whoremongers there. There will be no sorcerers there. There will be no idolaters there, and there will be no liars there." Sounds like a pretty nice place to me. And when We look at Revelation 21 in verse 5, we learn that he who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new, all things, not some, not most, not much, not many, all things new. And that means even our bodies will be new. And I know many of us suffer with physical ailments, physical maladies, but when these bodies are recreated, all of that will be gone. Rosalie will see, as she looks into the eyes of Christ, she will see. Amen. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty God will shine forth. That's what's written in Psalm 50, in verse 2. John described the everlasting beauty of our eternal home, that place of rest. The foundations of the walls are adorned with precious stones and gems. And in interest of time, I'm not going to read the scriptures there, but you can find that in Revelation 21, verses 19 and 20, if you care to look it up. Those gems and precious stones are every color imaginable. I looked at each one, and I thought, this is going to be beauty. Gems and stones that are every color imaginable. And I thought about the light reflecting or refracting through some of those gems, and I thought, what a beauty that's going to be. It's unmatched beauty. There's nothing on earth like it. Oh, we can take a look at the stones on earth, and if we had the wherewithal, we could collect them all together, maybe one or two of each, and we could put them together, and we could look at them and say, wow, that's beautiful. But could you imagine the whole city being adorned with those stones, the foundations adorned with those stones? God's Word also describes 12 gates into the city, 12 gates. And it tells us in Revelation 21, 21, the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. I can't imagine gold shining so brightly that it appears as if it is transparent glass. Then we hear the phrases, pearly gates and streets of gold. That's where it comes from, Revelation 21, 21. And we want to hold on to gold, and God makes pavement out of it. Think about that. We're walking on gold, underfoot. And I think there's a metaphorical picture there that everything we count as valuable here, God just sees it as highway pavement, something to be trampled underfoot. God's people will lack nothing in His everlasting kingdom. Think about that. They'll lack nothing. We will lack nothing. We will have everything we need. All of our needs will be met. If we're walking on gold, what other things of value might God have in store for us? Things that go well beyond anything we can picture in our minds, I think. He who has an ear, it's written in Revelation 2 and verse 7, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. the tree of life, everlasting life, that tree of life that will bring each of us into the fullness of the presence of God and what He intends for us. We have to remember that our Master also gave what is probably the most frightening warning that is found in the Bible. See, we look at the good stuff, and we say, well, that's great. That's wonderful. It's great news. Thank you, Pastor. Appreciate you lifting us up. And I say, yep, well, you got to make sure you get there, because there are those who will be deceived. And the one that we call Jesus, he pointed it out. He told of people who will stand before him on that great day of judgment, and they will be those who are self-deceived. His warning's not to those who reject him outright, not in this passage. is to the ones who falsely believe that they're getting in, that they're going to have everlasting life. There are those who claim they have it even though they live contrary to what His Word shows as the evidence of true belief And they think they're getting in, but he says they're not. In fact, it's written in Luke chapter 13, strive to enter through the narrow gate. For many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open for us. And he will answer and say to you, I do not know you, where you were from. Then you will begin to say we ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets. But he will say, I don't know you. I tell you, I don't know you, where you're from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. Now, who's he speaking with? Those who have turned their back on him, even though they claim that they're his. They know him. They heard him. They were full of self-assurance. But they didn't follow him. Thank you, Rosalie. And he says, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and yourselves thrust out. So I have to add this to the message. I didn't want to. I said, Lord, this is a really good message. It feels good. I mean, people will leave here feeling uplifted. You know, they've got an eternal home with you, an eternal place of rest. All their needs will be met. There'll be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more suffering. And he says, if they get in. Can't skip that part. Why deny them entrance into the eternal kingdom of Almighty God? That was my question. I said, why? Well, the Word tells us. He separates them like a shepherd separates sheep from goats. And He'll say to those on the left hand, depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels and the others. He says, come on in. The purpose of his warning is not to place people under stress or duress, though it can do that. There are some people that it does that to. They feel threatened. They come under duress. It wasn't to coerce anybody into any type of lifestyle or pattern of behavior. He wasn't trying to make you do something. And there's those who would say he was or that he is. His word can motivate us to live as he taught. His purpose, though, was straightforward. Here are your choices. Pick one. You get to choose. It's on you. It's not on him. He says, here's the way, follow it. Here's the way, walk this way. That's what he says. We get to choose. And when we get there, he's gonna say, okay, you chose rightly. You didn't. Whomever doesn't. They'll think they're getting in, but they're not. That is probably one of the greatest concerns that I have for the body of Christ today, or those who call themselves the body of Christ, those who call themselves believers that have not got the Spirit of God within them, allowing Him to take them out of that darkness and into the light of God's glory. God's not trying to coerce anybody. He's inviting us. It's an invitation. His instructions are plain, and yet they're profound. And people, much smarter than me, have wrestled over this for centuries. How can God be so good, so loving, so full of kindness and gentleness toward his creatures, and still put them into a place of torment? And the answer is very clear, he doesn't. Oh, he does allow his angels, in fact, he instructs his angels to do that, but it's by our choice that we go there. We can choose to live for God and his will, or we can choose to live for ourselves and our own selfish desires. If we read Matthew chapter seven, verses 21 to 23, we see what that looks like. There's no need to wrestle, folks. Just do what He says. It really is that place. It's not complicated. And there are a lot of things in Scripture that are complicated, but this one isn't. It's just simply a matter of obedience. If you want to be His disciple, deny yourself. Pick up that cross, that idea of self-sacrifice, of giving yourself to God, living for God, allowing Him to use you. Allow Him to guide you. Let His Spirit fill you. Let Him block out all of that darkness. Resist the devil and he will flee. If you want to be His disciple, follow Him. It's written in Matthew 10 in verse 38, he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. I surrender some. This is where we want to be more. I surrender most. I surrendered much. I surrender all. And that song is written based on what the scripture calls for believers to do. And in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 39 it's written, he who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. And the implication there is forever. When you lose your life for Him, when you give your life over to Him, you gain your life. It's something you can give away and yet still keep. And not only do you get to keep it, you get to keep it forever. It's like love. We can give love away and still keep it. It's like joy and kindness. We can give it away and still keep it. It doesn't go away, we don't run out. It's endless. If you give somebody a glass of water, well, they've got a glass of water and eventually it'll run out. But if you give them love, the love of Christ, it doesn't run out. It's forever. It's endless. And I have to ask, are you willing to follow where He leads? If so, then your everlasting life will be spent where He leads you to be with God, the Father, the creator of all that is, was, and ever shall be. And they shall see His face, it's written in Revelation 22, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there. See, what's it gonna be like? No night. They'll need no lamp nor light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever. What's that going to be like? What's it going to be like to reign forever with God our creator? What's it gonna be like to be with him for all of eternity? There are more things that the scripture shows. I don't have them here and I'm probably gonna save them for another message. But I want you all to consider that as you spend your days in the coming weeks thinking about what is it going to be like? It's sure gonna be a whole lot better than this. And when somebody threatens to take your life, you can say, because of my faith, I have a better place. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You, Lord. We thank You, God, that You give us a glimpse as if through a smoked glass we can darkly see some bit, some glimmer of hope in everlasting life that only You can provide. I thank you, Father, for all of the souls that you have allowed to hear this message today. And I trust, Lord, if there are any that are not believers, whether they be in this room or they be listening sometime later or even now on the electronic means that we use to broadcast this message, that you would draw them out of the darkness. that you would convert their hearts, that you would take out that heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh, I pray in Christ's name. Use us, Lord, to your glory as we await Christ's return, and all of God's people said, amen, amen.