First John chapter 3. And let's read verse 2 tonight. First John chapter 3 verse 2. Beloved. Isn't that a good salutation? That's a good way to open a verse. Who's He speaking to? Us. Beloved. Aren't you glad that God talks to us and about us like that? One word shows us what His attitude toward us is, what His desire toward us is. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Way back then, they were looking for Jesus to come back, weren't they? Oh yeah. And even here in 1 John, he acknowledges that they didn't know all there was to know about what the future holds. We know, now are we the sons of God, we know that. You can know that tonight if you're a child of God or not. And it does not yet appear what we shall be. A lot of people think they've got it all figured out. They think that they know exactly what heaven's gonna be like. When the Bible specifically says that eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love him. Nobody has ever imagined, dreamed about, thought of, or described with words anything even close to what God has prepared. What heaven is going to be like? What being there with him is going to be like? What kind of that glorified body we're going to have, what it's going to be like? We just know a little bit. That's all we know. There's a whole bunch more we don't know. When He shall appear, we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. All right, let's pray. Father, thank You for the songs, and thank You for the Word of God. Please bless now, make it real and alive to us. Quicken our hearts and minds right now, Lord, that we'd hear. In Jesus' name, amen. Yes. What God has in store for us is mostly secret. Y'all ever think about that? It's just not a whole lot in the Bible about it, really. You know, I've studied the Bible a lot, and we know some things, and we know some basic facts, but as far as being able to understand, we cannot. And that's why it's a secret to us. You know, Paul was caught up to the third heaven, and God said, don't you tell him that. John saw things, and God said, don't write that down. And he didn't. He saw things that we don't know what it was. He didn't even know what he was seeing. John in the Revelation talks about all that stuff and it's just, to him it was, you know, a man that lived 2,000 years ago, if he saw the things that we have in the world now, how would he describe them? Well, he would describe them in the terms that he had in his day. Animals and, you know, horses and And all of this kind of thing, and locusts, I mean, he described everything he's seen in some form of an animal or something. Serpents, you know? If he saw a missile take off and come up out of the ocean and head toward the sky, what would he call that? A serpent. It had fire in its tail. You know, I mean, and so John saw all those things and he described them the best way he could, but he really didn't have an understanding of what it was about, really, I don't think. I mean, he knew, and so we don't either. We know that we're saved. We can know that. We can know that we're a child of God, but we really can't know all about what's coming. The secret things belong unto the Lord, our God. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 29, 29, that's way back there in Moses' time, Moses wrote that down, he said, the secret things belong to God. But those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever. Now think about that. The things that are the secret things belong to God. God's got a lot of secrets that he's holding and keeping. Someday we're gonna know as we are known, even as we are known. Someday we're, right now we see through a glass darkly, but someday we're gonna see clearly, yeah, face to face. It's going to be plain to us. But right now it isn't. Right now it isn't. Most of the things of God are secret about the future. That we may do all the works of this law. There's things that are revealed and they belong to us. These things that we cherish. These songs we just sang about dying and grace and the promises and all of that. That's for us and our children forever. That sustains us. That's good enough. to know what we do know is enough for right now. Y'all understand that our minds are finite now. We're humans. We're not God. We're humans that are really limited and much more so because of our sin. And because of sin in this world, we have been really crippled spiritually in our understanding And we can't comprehend. We can look up at the stars and we can't even comprehend what we're looking at. We call it, we say it looks like sprinkles and stuff like that. And we're looking at the heavens. I mean, we're looking out in there to empty space that's really full of all kinds of stuff. And did you ever see one of those little deals where they took a square in the blank part of space where there's no stars visible. They took it and focused that thing in on it. And you know when you open the lens on a camera for a long time, it picks up the light. And did you ever see that? Where they did that? And it goes on and on and on. And it's just full of galaxies and stars and And we can't even begin to comprehend it. What we can see, what we can measure, we can't even, it's beyond our measures. We can say it's 120 light years and we don't even know what we're talking about. We don't even know what we're saying because that kind of distance is beyond what our mind can comprehend. It's just a number to us. And so the things that God has prepared, they're mostly a secret. You know, like what we will look like. Have you ever thought about that? Jesus, after he rose from the grave, Mary went to the grave, or the tomb that morning. There he was, but she didn't recognize him. Until he spoke her name, and then she knew immediately who he was. She's supposing him to be the gardener. She thought he was the gardener. He was risen from the dead. And you know, he had a body that he walked right through the walls. They were in a room with the doors locked, scared to death, you know, and he came right through the walls, right in there too. And then he ate with them. See all that? We have a hard time making sense of that, don't we? Well, naturally. It's beyond what we are now. It's beyond what our minds can comprehend now. Our little children, you know, don't you see? I mean, a little child, when they're born, and even like Maddie, you know, I mean, she's six years old. But there's things that, as they come along, they don't even comprehend. They can't when they're little. A lot of times you have to answer their questions with, well, honey, you just can't understand that right now. If I told you, you wouldn't understand. And that's true. They don't have enough of everything else, knowledge and understanding to be able to comprehend it. So you can't answer them. Don't you know God looks down on us the same way? He has to look down on us and smile sometimes because we, why? And if I'd tell you, you wouldn't even begin to understand. I would love to explain it to you, but I can't because you can't get it right now. Someday you will. Someday all things will be clear to you, but right now, I mean, can't you all take comfort in that? Can't you all just settle down and rest in that? That there's some things you're just not going to know and you're not going to understand until you're standing before God. Lot of things. Most things. There's a lot of things we have now, and a lot of understanding that we can have now, and that's for us and our children, the things that are revealed. But the secret things belong to God. We don't know what we'll really look like. Everybody has this notion that when we get to heaven, it's just going to be a continuation of life as it was here on earth. All the families are going to be together, and all the husbands and wives are going to be together, and everything's going to just be just like it was here, only we're going to just carry on with it in heaven. The banjo pickers, they're going to be banjo pickers in heaven. The bikers, they're going to be bikers in heaven, you know? Yeah, deer hunters. You know, I had a guy one time tell him, and he was just joking, but he said, the marriage supper of the lamb is going to be hush puppies and catfish. I said, now wait a minute here. I just don't really think I'm But that kind of a mindset toward it, that's what I'd like for you to erase tonight and not think that way. Heaven's going to be more. You know, these guys, these Sadducees came to Jesus. They didn't believe in the resurrection. You remember the story? And they said, hey, we had a guy and a woman here and she married seven brothers and they all died. They all had her. Now when they get to heaven, Whose wife is she going to be? Boy, I thought they had him. See? Because this can't be possible. This can't work if there's a resurrection from the dead and we all go to heaven and how's that going to work? There's a whole lot of things I'd like for you to explain to me how's it gonna work. If you think that life in heaven is gonna be just a continuation of life on earth, ain't gonna work too good. Gonna be a lot of women fighting over the same man and a lot of men fighting over the same women. If that's the way it is, that ain't the way it is. Jesus said, ye do err, not knowing the scriptures or the power of God. For in heaven they neither marry or are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven." It's a different life. Yeah. You say, well, I thought I was going to have it just like I wanted, just all the things we've lost on earth, we're going to get back in heaven. And if you don't, if it ain't going to be that way, I don't want to go there. Oh, do you think God's going to disappoint us? Do you think anybody's going to get to heaven and say, what a letdown? How ridiculous. We don't know what we'll look like, but we will know one another. That's the mystery of it. I'll know my wife. I'll know she was my wife. I'll know my children, the ones that are there, because They were my children here on earth. But life in heaven, eternal life, is going to be different. We're not all just going to, we're not going to have a family reunion in September in heaven every year because that's, you know, it ain't, no. It's going to be completely different. We don't know what we'll be doing. Everybody likes to dream about things, what we'll be doing, but, but we're going to be doing something. Now, I can't tell you exactly what it'll be other than praising God forever and ever, but we'll be doing more than that. I mean, the gates to the city are not going to be closed. They're going to be open all the time. The Bible says so. Well, if the gates are open, that means you can come and go. I don't understand all that. Why'd God make all this giant, enormous universe? You see the vastness of it. You see the incomprehensible magnitude of it and the number of the stars. God has the number of the stars. He's numbered them. He knows how many there are because He made them. He made the stars also. But men cannot even begin to count them. Well, do you think that maybe, maybe it has something to do with eternity and God's plan for the future? I mean, what in the world did he make all that for? Well, I don't know. But I know whatever we'll be doing, it won't be like the stuff we do here on earth. It won't be the rat race that we live in here on earth. It won't be the fretting and the worrying and the troubles and the hardships. And I know that we won't live by the sweat of our brow or eat bread by the sweat of our brow in heaven. Won't be like that. It'll be rest from our labors. It'll be eternal rest, but not eternal idleness, not eternal boredom. Oh no, no, no. Why are you bored? Because your mind is empty and not occupied. It ain't going to be that way in heaven. What the place is like that he's preparing for us, we have no idea. They talk about, give me a little cabin in the corner of glory land. No, I don't think it'd be that way. We just try to imagine, and everything we imagine, we imagine it in earthly terms. Do you get that? It's like John described all that in earthly terms. All of our thoughts of eternity, we try to relate them some way to earthly terms. And it's beyond that. You know, we're limited, so we can't understand, and we can't see, and we can't comprehend. What our relationship will be like with those we've known on earth, we don't know what that'll be like. Now I can tell you this, when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration, they all knew who they were. They knew each other for who they were. This is Moses. Peter said, let us build three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elijah. See? So you'll know who they are. But that's about all we know. Now some things we do know about it. We know this, we will be satisfied. Nobody is going to be disappointed. Psalm 17 verse 15 said, As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. And John said there in the verse that we read, For we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. And the psalmist thousands of years before said, He said, I'll be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. So we're going to be satisfied. Nobody's going to be unhappy about what God has provided. There ain't going to be nobody that does what their Christmas gifts like some of the kids do, open them up and say, I wanted some of this junk. I didn't want this. You ain't going to do that. He'll be far better and more glorious than we can even imagine here. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 says, But as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. Isaiah chapter 64 and verse 4. You can tell where that verse came from when you read this verse in the Old Testament. Isaiah said, For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. First Corinthians chapter 13 verse 12, for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as also I am known. So we know only in part right now. The rest of it's hidden from us. The rest of it's secret from us. Psalm 31 verse 19 says, oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou has laid up for them that fear thee, which thou has wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men. I thought about it lately, you know, it ain't going to be long until we're going to be with God. And then we're going to be looking back on what happened here on earth. You know, I do believe that. There's part of our memory that I think God will erase. He will erase, He will wipe the tears from our eyes. There's some of it that I think You know, I don't know. That's just my opinion. I believe that some of it will be gone, but I don't believe that it'll all be gone. I don't believe that eternity will erase everything that happened in life here on earth. It's too important. We stood for Him, those of us who stood for Him in this wicked world. That means everything to God. I mean, that's what he's looking at right now. Who will confess me before men? Who will own me? Who will stand up for me? Who will identify themselves with me in this darkness of this world right now? And it's gonna look mighty different, folks, when we step out onto the other side, and we're in the presence of God, and all of this is gone. And we stood for him. That's why He said that He will confess us before the Father. If we confess Him before men in this wicked and adulterous generation, He'll stand for us. Yes, sir. I mean, just think about that. That's why He's gonna joy and rejoice over us. That's why God's gonna dance and have a fit that we're there. with him in the place he's prepared for us. See, that's one of those things that's revealed that's for us and for our children. You can rejoice in that. You can look forward to that. You can know that, that God is looking forward to us being with him, to having his people with him more than we're looking forward to going there. He knows what's in store. We don't. We just know a little bit. It's all a big surprise for us. What's it gonna be like? when he unveils what he's prepared. You ever think about that a little bit? Wonderful. Can't even imagine. It's beyond what words can express. But Paul said this, he said, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." I reckon it ain't. I reckon that the things, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with what we're going to, what it's going to be like in heaven. No matter what we've suffered here, we'll say it then, it was worth it all. You'll be singing that. It's been worth every mile. Remember Brother Glass singing that song? It's been worth every trial. Yeah. You'll say that before you leave this world. And if you grow in grace and understanding and you really have something in your soul, you'll be singing that song before you ever leave this world. We'll be like Him finally. We'll really be like Jesus. We finally will. The child of God now wants to be, strives to be, tries to be, but seems like we always fall short and we do, we really do. But then we will be like Him. We know this, that when He appears, We'll be like Him. The Bible says that we'll all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. It don't mean your moral state will be changed. It means that your body will be changed. You'll be transfigured. You'll have a new body, a glorified body. Like Brother Earl said, that'll never decay. I'll have a new body someday," he said. Well, he does. We'll be like him, for we shall see him, gaze upon him with wide open eyes. Have you ever thought about that? Fannie Crosby, I think it was, sang about it. But think about it. The first time that you see him, really, and you realize what you're looking at, who you're looking at, think about it. And because you belong to Him, you'll be, I mean, you'll be like Him. Like that. There's, you know, there's something between us now. We see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face. The veil is going to be removed. The glass is going to be removed and we can see clearly. And instantly, we'll be like Him. Let me tell you something, the better view that you can get of Him here and now, the more you'll be like Him now. You can see through that glass darkly, but some people just see a lot better than other people, obviously. More about Jesus would I know? Yeah. Look to Jesus, look and live. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 49 says, And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. That means that not everybody's gonna be dead when Jesus comes. Some are gonna be alive when he comes. And you've got a corruptible body. Jesus does not have a corruptible body. And we're gonna be changed to be like Him in that instant. We're gonna put on incorruption. This mortal's gonna put on immortality. That's what it says on here. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. And you're going to know it when it happens. And you're going to know you're different. And it's going to be pretty wonderful too. This can only apply to those who are sincerely wanting and striving to be like Him now. What is lacking because we don't understand will immediately be taken care of in that instance. Have you ever had understanding come to you suddenly? Something that was foggy to you and you just didn't get it, you just didn't get it? I've had it happen to me thousands of times, really. Especially with the Word of God. Something I didn't understand that all of a sudden I understand it. And it's come suddenly. I mean it just floods into your soul, just all of a sudden. You ever had that happen to you? Where the understanding came and it just like a flood in your mind. It just keeps, you say, oh, oh, oh, and it just keeps coming. I mean, because you can see that, it's just a little key that unlocks everything else and it's just like a flood. That's what it's gonna be like when you see him. When you see him, it's gonna answer lots of questions. It's gonna make a lot of dark things clear. You're going to understand things that you never did before. The Bible says something. Now we know in part, but then we'll know even as we're known. I mean, we're going to understand clearly. And in an instant. And it's not an issue of the will here. That's already settled. See? There's not a decision to be made at that instant. There's not anything on your part to be done in that instant. You understand? You ain't got nothing to do with what happens in that instant. If you're going to have a part in that, that decision, that work in you, has to be done now. Before He comes. It has to be one of those things that settle for good and forever in your heart and your soul and your mind now. It ain't gonna happen in that instant. You don't do nothing. We don't do nothing in that instant. Jesus comes, the trumpet sounds, and we're changed in the twinkling of an eye, instantly. We're changed from corruptible, mortal, to an incorruptible, immortal. I mean, wow. Never going to die. You're going to have a body that's never going to die. A body that's not corruptible. And those are just some of the little things that we do know. And think of all, what else is there that we don't even know about? For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body And let me just stop right there. That word vile does not mean sinful. That word right there is the exact same word that Mary used in her prayer that we read about at Christmastime, where she said, thou has regarded the lowest state of thy handmaiden. Lowest state. Look it up. That's what that word means. He's gonna change our body that's in such a lowest state. into that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. You think you're pretty now, huh? Just doll it all up, paint it all up, I mean fix it all up. Mince and dance as you go like them women in the parking lot down there at Hobby Lobby today. Me and Jimmy sitting in the car and one of them drove up and got out and boy, I mean. Boy, she was a shakin' and a movin' everything. She could move all the way across there and Jimmy just went He said, what is, what is her doing? But it was obvious that she thought she was something else. It's in low estate. I mean, the very best of us, the most beautiful person that ever lived is alive now. You know, low estate. Think of what a low estate we're in, our body. It stinks. You don't take a bath and one day you stink. Is that right? Yes. I had a can of mints today and Jimmy was eating them this fast. I had to stop him. I said, man, you can't have no more. You could get sick. And besides, your breath don't smell bad now. It can't. But you've got to have them so you don't Kenny McFadden one time was preaching, he had a stick of gum he pulled out of his pocket and he said, now I gotta put this. He said, you know why I got this? Because when I get done preaching, I'll put this in my mouth so I don't stink you out, because I got a corruptible body. You remember him preaching about that? He said, what you're looking at is 200 pounds of worm food. Corruptible. He's going to change this corruptible, change our vile body. You understand what he's talking about? People take that and they use that to back up their idea that this body is why we're sinful. No. He's going to change that vile body so that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. And then in Colossians chapter three and verse four, finally, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. That's just beyond me to comprehend. Why would he even want us corruptible creatures, sinners that he's redeemed, but still corruptible? I mean, we can't even hardly get through a day without doing something that if we could really see Him, we'd realize it's shameful to Him. You know, He would be ashamed of us, and yet, we're going to appear with Him in glory. And He's going to rejoice over us. Wow. Amazing to me. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Amen. A lot of things we're going to find out, and I'm looking forward to finding them out. I've found out about all I want to find out about this low-down wicked world. I know all I need to know about it. It's rotten to the core. It's a bad place. It's ruined. Ruined and wrecked by sin of men and women. That's what's ruined this world. It ain't the birds and the animals. They didn't ruin this world. Did you ever look at that? Old cows out in the field, they're doing just what they've done since the day God created them. The birds do the same thing. They live the same kind of life as they have since the day God created them. Man is wrecked. everything that God made, and when God looked at it, he said, boy, this is good. This is good. This is very good. Wonderful! And look what man's done to it. They're not concerned about all the evil that man has done to this world. They're concerned about climate change. Fools. Fools! They ought to be concerned about the future. You ought to be concerned about the future tonight. Are you ready? Are you one of his? Does he claim you? You sure? Let's stand. Now, Father, thank you for the time together, and thank you for the word of God. Thank you for the thoughts we've looked through tonight. And Lord, it'd help us all if we would think about these things a little more and a little more often. And if we'd meditate on these things, not the things that we don't know about, but the things that we do know about, the things we do know that you've told us specifically about the future. And Lord, help us not to let our imagination invent things in our minds. and get us in such a state of mind that we dream up things that aren't true. But Lord, help us to just believe what you've given us and cling to it. And that's what's for us and for our children forever, the things you've revealed to us. And Lord, help us to be looking for you. Lord, I believe I am, but I think I could be much more diligent about it I pray it be on our minds more. Spirit of God, I pray that you would help us to get our minds off of this world and its wickedness and more on to the fact that you're coming soon. And help us, Lord, to be looking for you, looking for your son from heaven. Get us home safely, Lord. Bless the word to our heart. Give us the next few days, give us opportunities to talk to people about you. May you bless our church and increase our number here and help us in what we're doing, that it would be your will and that it would be fruitful and helpful and a blessing to others. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.