you have your Bible with you, would you turn to the very back of it? We're going to read from the next to the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 21. I'd just like to read the first seven verses. The Apostle John said, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem. coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I hear a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, right, for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son. May God bless this portion of his word to our hearts. Let's pray. Father, now, as we turn our thoughts to our eternal home. We ask for your Holy Spirit to apply these truths to us, to write them deep upon our hearts. Lord, as we're reminded of what your word says, may it bring us comfort and encouragement and joy. May it inspire us to faithful service, to zealous, faithful service. May you be glorified this day from your holy word. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Our modern society has provided us, as you know, with wonderful technological marvels and with scientific advancements that have made our lives much improved in many ways. But those advancements have brought with them some negative side effects, not the least of them is that We're tempted to become preoccupied with the kaleidoscope of daily events around the globe. We're bombarded with information about this world through newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio, the Internet and through nonstop news channels, even in public places. And one effect of this information overload is that even Christians can tend to focus too much on this world. and not enough on the world to come. It seems to be only when we lose a brother or a grandparent or a mother or dear friend that we devote time to thinking seriously about the next world. Joseph Stoll of Moody Bible Institute suggests that things were different for first century Christians. It is precisely because their hearts were focused on heaven rooted in eternity that the early church effectively prompted a redemptive revolution so powerful that it formed and framed the entire Western culture for 19 centuries because they were keenly aware that heaven was their home. Christians were willing to suffer, to share and love without thought of return. They were faithful to God without earthly reward, unconcerned with possessions, willing to die, to be brutally martyred, and able to express without intimidation a confidence and courage that the threats of a fleeting, already condemned world could not quell. It's been several years since we devoted a message to considering our eternal home and with the recent loss of two members of longstanding Lucille and Blanche and Carl's brother, Angela's grandfather, and with other members, parents, grandparents, nearing the end of their journeys. I think it would be helpful to simply remind ourselves of what life will be like for the believer after that final breath here on Earth. Not because we don't know these things, but because we don't think of them often enough. Our culture's preoccupation with the here and now and our general ignoring of life to come runs counter not just to our Christian heritage, but to a desire for and a belief in immortality that seems to pervade all of world history. You know, of course, that the ancient Egyptians were quite successful in developing techniques to preserve the body after death. But we sometimes forget that it was because they believed that body would be needed in the afterlife. Norsemen would provide their fallen hero with both a horse and armor for his triumphant ride, notes theologian Lorraine Bettner. And in Greenland, the deceased Inuit child was provided with a dog to act as his guide. Some Native Americans would place in the grave of the departed warrior his bow, his arrows, and sometimes his pony for his use in the hunting grounds to come. Bettner notes in his book Immortality that the belief in life after death seems to be instinctive for mankind. There never has been a tribe discovered that did not have a belief in a god or gods. He writes a moral sense of right and wrong and a belief in the future life or immortality of the soul. C.S. Lewis, you may remember, writes about our lifelong nostalgia, as he calls it. Our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off. To be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside. He says, it's no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation. At last, to be summoned inside would be both glory and honor and also the healing of that old ache. Of course, even knowledge that seems to be innate or intuitive may still be dead wrong. Were it not for God's special revelation, we would have no idea what the afterlife was like, nor any certainty of its existence at all. For the believer, after God's sovereign election, his determination to graciously set his love upon a sinner who deserves hell, after God's effectual call, calling us, the sinners, out of darkness into light, after our regeneration, when he opens our eyes and breathes life into us, after our repentance and our justification, when we're declared righteous because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, After the process of sanctification, by which we are enabled, as we go through life, more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness, eventually the time arrives, sometimes very suddenly, sometimes after a long preparation period, for our glorification. Whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. Romans 8.30. So this morning, let's think about our glorification, the entrance of the believer into that blessed estate that the scripture calls heaven or paradise. I'd like us to consider the subject by attempting to answer some questions that are commonly asked about it. First of all, and perhaps most obviously, is heaven an actual place? Is heaven real? Well, this question wouldn't even have to be asked in a Christian church, if not for the modern Sadducees who present eloquent little homilies every Sunday that effectively chip away at the simple faith of the believer. I mentioned before a devotional on heaven that was printed in the local newspaper in Orchard Park, New York, during my first pastorate when I pastored there south of Buffalo. In his article, one of the Presbyterian ministers in town quoted the old camp song, No, you can't get to heaven on roller skates because you'll roll right past those pearly gates. And the minister wrote, The song is silly. I'm sorry, the silly song is silly, not because it suggests novel forms of transportation, but because it pictures heaven as a place. As long as we think of heaven as a spatial location to which we arrive, Shoe leather, a railroad train, or a spaceship are all possible methods of travel. Pure levitation might work too. Except that heaven is not a place. Neither is it only by and by. Heaven is the loving relationship now with God and with others. If it works now, then you are certain that these relationships have a place in eternity. Heaven is any experience that keeps us open, caring, sharing, forgiving, reconciled with God and with other people. And you guessed it, hell is broken relationships with God and people that issue an apathy, hate, war, coldness, rejection. Well, all I can say is it's a pity that Jesus didn't have the benefits of this minister's insights. You see, Jesus had the outmoded idea that heaven was a real place. He said in my father's house are many dwelling places, many abodes. Monet is the word he uses from a word meaning to abide. 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. John 14. Jesus, your problem is that you're still thinking of heaven as a spatial location to which we arrive. Heaven is not a place. Heaven is loving relationships. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to side with my creator on this issue. Yes, heaven is a real place. Secondly, where then is it located? Well, the scriptures describe it as above us. Jesus ascended into it. Angels descend from it. Although it's above us, it's quite probably not in the same sphere of space and time in which we now dwell. This is suggested by the fact that there were times in history, the scriptures tell us, that God removed the veil and permitted humans to see the angelic world that was evidently there all along. You'll remember that Ben Hadad, the Syrian king, sent a great host with horses and chariots to surround the prophet Elisha. Elisha's servant was terrified, but the prophet encourages him. Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Elisha prayed that the Lord would open his servant's eyes. The Lord did so, and the servant saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 2 Kings 6. The angelic host was there, but the angels were not visible because they were evidently in a different sphere and could not be seen until the Lord opened the eyes of Elisha's servant. Consider the birth of Christ, an angel announces Christ's birth to the shepherds, and suddenly we read there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. The angels were evidently already there, but the shepherds were not able to see them until the appointed time when the Lord permitted them to peer into a sphere that they could not normally perceive. Johnny Erickson Tada wrote, Heaven is close, perhaps closer than we imagine. It's a little like saying to an unborn infant in his mother's womb. Do you realize that you're about to be born into a great big world full of mountains and rivers and a sun and a moon? In fact, you exist in that wonderful world right now. Wait a minute, the unborn baby might say, no way, my world is the one surrounding me. It's soft and warm and dark. You'll never convince me that just outside this uterus exists this place of rivers and mountains and a sun and a moon and whatever that stuff is. She continues, dear baby, there he is safe in his little world, ignorant of the fact that a more glorious world is enclosing and encasing him. encasing his, she writes, a world for which he is being fashioned. Only when he is birthed into it will he comprehend that all along his warm, dark world was within it. This other place of wonderful beauty was present all the time, only inches away. The biblical evidence is that heaven is quite real, and it is, in fact, a place where believers will soon be although it's evidently not in the sphere in which we presently dwell and pleasantly dwell, and we cannot now perceive it any more than an infant in the womb can perceive all that awaits him on the other side. Who is there in heaven? Well, of course, God the Father in some manifestation of his person. It'll be a glorious sight. God the Father will be there in some manifestation of his person, some light or something that will clearly indicate his presence. The Lord looks down from heaven. He beholds all the sons of men. Psalm 33, 13. Yet, of course, God the Father is not limited to heaven, but who was able to build him a house seeing the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him. Second Chronicles 2, 6. The Holy Spirit of God will be there. The third person of the Trinity. Where shall I go from my spirit? Where shall I flee from my presence if I ascend up into heaven? Behold, thou art there. Psalm 139. The Lord Jesus is, of course, there. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. The voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, cherubim and seraphim are there. What are they? Well, the Seraphim are mentioned only in Isaiah 6. The word means burning ones. Above the throne stood the Seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet. With two, he flew. The Cherubim, described by Ezekiel in his first chapter, seem to be similar to these Seraphim. They are exalted creatures, perhaps representative of all created beings. who give praise to God without ceasing. Angels are in heaven, of course. Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones, Jesus said, for in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 18, 10. But you are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. Hebrews 12, 22. An innumerable company of angels is there. When the Apostle John was taken up by the spirit into heaven, he also saw 24 elders around the throne, apparently representing the Old Testament and New Testament believers. And of course, heaven is occupied, as you know, by all believers who have left this earth to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. All believers who have left this earth, behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and 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." Revelation 7. The question is often asked, will we recognize our loved ones in heaven? The Old Testament saints who died are described as being gathered unto their people or their fathers, which, of course, suggests recognition. Genesis 15, 15 and 35, 29. Theologian Bettner puts it this way. The most distinctive feature about home is that it is where our loved ones are. In Jesus' story of the rich man and Lazarus, Lazarus was recognized by the rich man. And there's every reason to think that we will recognize one another in glory with a knowledge, perhaps, which here we would call innate or intuitive. I think the scripture suggests that in that remember when the apostles were with the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration as Peter, James and John. And it says the scripture says they saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. They evidently recognized Moses and Elijah, though, of course, they had never seen them. And Moses and Elijah had, in fact, not been yet clothed with their ultimate resurrection bodies. Johnny Erickson Tata writes, You will recognize the ones you love on earth. You only have recognized them. But in heaven, you will discover the rich, wonderful things about the true identity of your husband, your wife, your daughter, son, brother, sister or special friends. Things that were only hinted at on Earth. What's more, you will know them like you never knew them on Earth. You will exclaim to your loved one, wow, so this is what I loved in you for so long. For you will see him or her as God intended all along. Somewhere along the line, our pop culture got the idea that Christians believe and teach that when we die, we become angels. We're issued a harp and a set of wings. Maybe like Clarence Oddbody, we have to do something to earn our wings. And until we do, we're second-class angels. But the fact is, you won't stop being human in heaven. Our Lord Jesus knows what it's like to be human. And all the things that make this life rich and meaningful will be present there, only to a much heightened degree. Joe stole right heaven in a very real sense is a continuation of all that was begun on this side. A continuation of the same soul that is me, he says, in a body reengineered for eternity. What will heaven be like? Well, it'll be a place of incredible beauty, we know that a place of incredible beauty. There is, as you know, great beauty. Stunning beauty on this earth. even in this world tainted by sin. Much of it we only know through photographs and films. South Pacific islands, the Swiss Alps, Mediterranean Sea, tropical jungles, glacier lakes, the beauty of autumn colors, the beauty of flowers, the beauty of sunsets. As you know, we returned, some of you know, we returned on Tuesday from a trip to the Pacific Northwest to visit our son and his family. One afternoon, we drove to Mount Rainier. They call it Rainier. Mount Rainier National Park. And as you enter the park, as we entered this particular day, it was raining as it pretty much always does out there. And as we entered the park, it started to get colder and colder. We went in about four miles and there was snow falling and snow on the ground. about probably six or eight inches at that point, just a few miles into the park. And the snow was flocked on these beautiful fir trees and spruce trees. It's just a gorgeous sight. Probably one of the most beautiful things that Earth shows us is snow flocked on beautiful evergreen trees and mountains behind snow-capped mountains. It was truly gorgeous. But this world is only a foretaste of the beauty that God has in store for his children. Listen to the Apostle John as he tries to describe the celestial city. He says her light was like a like a precious stone, like a Jasper stone, clear as crystal. The city, he says, was pure gold, like clear glass. Revelation 21, 18. Heaven's going to be a place of incredible beauty, indescribable beauty. Heaven will be a place of no sorrow, no pain, no death. God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. And there shall be no more pain for the former things are passed away. Revelation 21 for. Think about that, no more sorrow, no more crying, no more heart wrenching arguments, no more loneliness, no more abused children, broken hearts, divorce, betrayal, no more pain. No more migraines, no more arthritis, no more crutches, canes, wheelchairs, no more emphysema, no more heart attacks, cancer, strokes. There should be no more pain. There should be no more death. No more policemen knocking at a parent's door at one in the morning. No more children at the bedside as their mother's life ebbs away. No more war, no more refugees, no more bombings, no more starvation, no more terrorism, no more murder. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. First Corinthians fifteen twenty six. Heaven will be a place of fullness of joy. Fullness of joy in my presence is fullness of joy as I right hand our pleasures forevermore. Psalm sixteen eleven. But how can heaven be a place of unmitigated joy? If some that we dearly love here on Earth are not only not there, But enduring God's wrath in hell. God does not tell us how this can be so. What he tells us that it will be so. Because heaven has no sorrow but only joy. We must assume that our love for God. And our appreciation of his justice his goodness. His holiness. Our understanding of his providence will be such that we will cry Amen. to all his doings. Nineteenth-century theologian R.L. Dabney has written, To love is to be happy. Our terrestrial objects of affection have taught us that if the heart could always be exercising its affection towards some worthy object, this would constitute happiness. But the object being earthly, we are constantly liable to be separated from it by distance or to have it torn from us by death when our affection becomes our torment. or else, being imperfect, it may wound us by infidelity or injustice, or else a fleshly want drive us from it to labor. But now let us suppose that the soul, endowed with an object of love, holy, worthy, and suitable, is never separated by distance nor torn away by death, incapable of infidelity or unkindness. Is it not plain that in the possession and love of this object there would be perpetual blessedness? Such an object is God, and such is the blessedness of heaven springing from the perpetual indulgence of a love that never cloys, that is never interrupted and never wounded, and that expresses its happiness in untiring praise. What will we do in heaven? Revelation 22, three, and there should be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him. His servants shall serve him, we will be serving the Lord in some way, in some capacity, we will have interesting, meaningful activity, just as Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden before the fall. God designed our minds and our bodies and our desire has been placed within us. A desire has been placed within us for meaningful activity. As Sproul says, we humans can't do nothing. We'll be reigning with God. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun for the Lord. God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever. Revelation 20 to 5. You'll remember in the parable of the talents, we read that the king said to a servant that has been faithful over a few things or the master said to a servant that has been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. I will make you ruler over many things, other creatures, other worlds. I don't know if you notice, but it's a big universe. We know that our position in God's kingdom will be determined by our faithfulness here. And behold, I'm coming quickly. And my reward is with me to give to everyone, according to his work. I believe it's quite likely that those who will be most honored there will be people who were relatively unknown here. Men and women and young people who labored faithfully and relative obscurity, like that old missionary couple you may have heard me speak of who arrived at their home port after years of difficult labor. They arrived to find a great crowd and a band and photographers and flowers, but they were not for them. They were for a returning ambassador and his wife who were on the same ship. The ambassador spoke of the joy of serving his government. And as flashbulbs went off, the missionary couple walked unnoticed through the crowd with hot tears streaming down her face. The wife wondered. The wife wondered aloud to her husband, why is it that we have given Why is it that we have given our whole lives to Christ and yet there is no one here to honor us and welcome us home? And her husband put his arm around her around her and reminded her, honey, we're not home yet. God has chosen the weak things of the world with the shame, the things which are mighty. First Corinthians one. But if some Christians receive more honor than others, Won't that breed disappointment and dissatisfaction in heaven? If some Christians receive more honor than others, won't that breed disappointment and dissatisfaction? Well, not in a place where there's no pride or envy or selfishness. Furthermore, it's been said, well, like vessels of various sizes cast in a sea, some receive more water and some less, yet all shall be full none shall want even so in heaven some will receive more glory some less but all without exception shall be full of glory. So what will we do in heaven we will serve the Lord we will reign with him and of course we will worship him. The Apostle John wrote, Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times, ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. We can be worshiping the Lord. Glorifying him with the glory that's due unto his name. What will our resurrection bodies be like? 1 Corinthians 15 says our bodies are sown, that is, planted in corruption, but raised in incorruption. They are planted in dishonor. They're raised in glory. They're planted in weakness. They're raised in power. They're planted in a natural body, but they're raised a spiritual body. They will be incorruptible, glorious, powerful. and spiritual that is under the control of the Holy Spirit. Incorruptible, glorious, powerful, spiritual, that is under the control of the Holy Spirit without either evil inclinations or carnal appetites. I suspect they will be something like Jesus resurrected body. He was our predecessor in resurrection. He's the first fruits of the harvest. But the question may arise, why does God bother to raise up our bodies at all? Why not just allow us to continue in some sort of as some sort of a spiritual being unencumbered with a physical body as the angels, unless and until the angels must appear to us and take on some sort of form. And along the same lines, why does Revelation 21 speak of God bringing heaven down to earth? John says, and I looked and I saw this beautiful city descending as a bride adorned for her husband. There was a new heaven and a new earth. And then he describes the city. Why? Why heaven on earth? Why raise up these bodies that have already decayed and and for most of us, no doubt, turned into dust? Why raise them up again? I think it's so that Satan is not in the end successful at disrupting God's original design. God had a plan for us. He created us. He put us in a paradise. And we had physical bodies. And Satan's not going to get the victory, not even there. He's going to raise our bodies again. And God had a plan that we would dwell in paradise on this planet. And so he's going to create a new heavens and a new earth. And we're going to live here, you might say, in this recreated sphere. This planet was fashioned to be man's heritage and a part of it, at least, was adorned with the beauties of a paradise. Satan sought to mar the divine plan by the seducing of our first parents. For long ages, he has seemed to triumph and he has filled his usurped dominion with crime and with misery. But his insolent invasion is not to be destined to obstruct the Almighty's beneficent design. The intrusion will be in vain. God's purpose shall be executed. R.L. Dabney. How does it benefit us to think about heaven? Well, first of all, it encourages us to be faithful. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life. Revelation 210. This was the the impetus behind Jim Elliott and his fellow missionaries who were killed by Ecuadorian villagers, the very villagers they were trying to reach in the middle of our last century. The loss of these young men was viewed as a great waste. And a great tragedy, and no doubt many thought they were on a fool's errand to attempt to reach a savage tribe with a gospel. But Jim Elliott was right when he wrote in his journal, he is no fool who loses what he cannot keep. in order to gain what he cannot lose. He is no fool who loses what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose. How does it benefit us to think about heaven? It gives us strength in times of suffering. Paul said, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8 18. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. It gives us strength in times of suffering. It brings us great comfort when we lose a loved one, when we know that he or she was redeemed. Bettner illustrates it, suppose your dear relative or friend were to be given an all expense paid trip around the world. It would mean temporary separation. But you would be thrilled for your friends, good fortune, and you would look forward to hearing all about it after the trip was over. The experience of death is somewhat like that, the breaking of personal ties, temporary separation and then permanent reunion in that better land. And then it gives us courage when facing death ourselves. Thinking about heaven, meditating upon heaven gives us courage when we face death ourselves. The non-Christians in the early days of the church were amazed at the way Christians face death. And we bring dishonor to our Savior if we harbor too great a fear of it. John Calvin said it is monstrous that multitudes who boast themselves to be Christians are filled with such a dread of death that they tremble whenever it's mentioned as if it were the greatest calamity that could befall them. One remedy for such inordinate fear His meditation, meditation on the glories of heaven, Isaac Watts puts it well in one of his many hymns that are seldom sung today. There is a land of pure delight where saints immortal rain, infinite day excludes the night and pleasures banish pain. Their everlasting spring abides and never withering flowers. Death, like a narrow sea, divides this heavenly land from ours. Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood stand dressed in living green. So, to the Jews, old Canaan stood, while Jordan rolled between. But timorous mortals start and shrink to cross this narrow sea, and linger shivering on the bank in fear to launch away. Oh, could we make our doubts remove those gloomy doubts that rise and see the Canaan that we love with unbeclouded eyes? Could we but climb where Moses stood and view the landscape, or not Jordan stream, nor death's cold flood should fright us from the shore. Christian, when you have a clear view of heaven, you need have no fear of death. The greatest calamity that can befall you is not death. It is sin. Which brings us to the question, what are the best things about heaven? Well, for one thing, we'll be completely without temptation and completely without sin. Think about that. We'll no longer be tempted to lie, to escape punishment, to blow up when we're angry, to worry about the future, to speak harshly to a family member, to hold a grudge against another. To take God's holy name in vain, to be proud of our attainments. Imagine doing something kind without being tempted to self-congratulation. Imagine seeing others exalted without being tempted to envy. Being more concerned for the glory of God and the good of others than you are for your own comfort, pleasure or reputation. Imagine being absolutely, finally, completely fully free from every sin that so easily besets you here. Can you imagine? Surely, this will be one of the best things about heaven. But better still, and best of all, our Lord Jesus will be there and we will be with him. Amen. The bride is not her garment, but her her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but on my king of grace, not at the crown he giveth, but on his pierced hand. The lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. A closing word to unbelievers. There is one more important question about heaven that we haven't answered yet. And that is, how do you get there? How do you get there? In Mount Rainier National Park, there is a point called Paradise. It's a, you know, there's an inn there and they serve meals at certain times of the year and you can lodge there. And it's like the highest point, I think, in the park. And it's the base from which people then climb the mountain. It's the highest point you can get to, I meant by car, and therefore serves as the base for those who then want to climb the mountain. On the road that leads to the park entrance, there's a Baptist church and it's called Faith, Faith Baptist. And they have written in bold letters on their church building, to get to paradise, you must come by faith. To get to paradise, you must come by faith. And they're quite right. Jesus said, I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. He has the keys to get to paradise. You must come by faith. Repenting of your sins, laying hold upon him. No, you can't get to heaven on roller skates, but ironically, you must come as a little child. Humbly, meekly, the way to get to heaven is on your knees. God, I've sinned against you. I have done it, and I feel it, and I am it. I'm a sinner by birth and by practice. Forgive me and save me. I believe that Jesus lived that sinless life and died on the cross. I believe that He rose again from the dead, that He's coming again one day. I want Him as my Savior. You come to God that way. You pray that prayer and mean that in your heart. God promises you everlasting life. All those sins you've committed, He'll lay them upon His own dear Son. And all Christ's righteousness, He'll place on your account. So when He sees you now, He sees you not as a sinner, but as a sinner saved by grace. As one clothed in Christ's righteous white robes. You can come to Him today, sinner. Now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation. Finally, a word to believers here. Soon, very soon, for some of us, we will be ushered into Christ's presence. Let me ask you to do something I rarely ask you to do. Let me ask you to close your eyes for a moment, a few moments. I know it's fearful, but just humor me here. Close your eyes and imagine with me that you are there right now, that you are in glory. Think about this. Everything you once thought so urgent, so important, your business affairs, all your financial matters, none of those things are going to matter at all to you five seconds after you are in glory. Let me suggest some things that you may be wishing in that hour. You may wish that you could get back even a tenth of the time that you wasted on things that didn't really matter. You may wish that you'd spent more time praying with and for your family. You may wish that you had invested more time building into the lives of your children, your grandchildren, your nieces, your nephews. You may wish that you had viewed your job not as something to pay your bills and get you to the weekend, but as a calling, as a ministry in which God placed you. You may wish that you'd invested more of the money God gave you into advancing his kingdom on earth. You may wish that you would realize that what you call your house and your land is actually God's. You were just a caretaker of it. You may wish you'd complain less and praise more that you'd serve Christ more faithfully, more zealously with the gifts that he gave you, that you'd made the gospel clear to the people you rub shoulders with every week on Earth. You may wish, in short, that you had laid up treasure in heaven instead of on Earth. Now, if you'd please open your eyes. God has given you more time. He has not called you home yet, but the sands of time are sinking. They're sinking in the hourglass and we will soon stand before the Lord. May we live in service to Christ and to his sheep so that we will hear our good shepherd say, well done. Thou good and faithful servant enter into the joy of thy Lord. Let's pray. Father, we acknowledge that we don't think enough about the next world, we are. Too much involved in this one, this world is too much with us. Lord, forgive us for this. Help us to set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For we are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God. Help us to view ourselves as citizens of heaven. We're just passing through this vanity fair. Please, Lord, speak to hearts. And, Lord, if there's anyone here still dead in sins, we pray that you would graciously draw that soul to saving faith, even as you graciously drew many of us. Lord, we pray that your word might accomplish eternal things in hearts. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.