Now they're listed on your front page, so we're not going to spend much time. The crown of life, which is the official bestowal of eternal life. The crown of righteousness, we went through the incorruptible crown, the five crowns, and how's that for a fast review? I wanted to slow down on number six after the five crowns because we taught last week on the new name written in white stone. And I don't want you to miss the import of it, but let's just review the Scripture. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the church. To him that overcometh, I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written, which no one knows it, saving he that receiveth it, and of course he that gives it." So, it's kind of an interesting… Now, the white stone, and the analogy from the Greek games, etc., and history, is an official proof of victory. It was given to the winners at the games, at the world finals, so to speak. And so we're given a white stone, which is the official proof that we lived in victory, and it's the final certification. It's like you won, you finished the course, you kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for you the crown of righteousness, which the Lord gives to all those who love us appearing. And so here you have, you've arrived in heaven, and here's this white stone that is given to you as a signal, as a symbol, as an official evidence of victory. It's also an official evidence that anything we've ever done in all of our distant past has been absolutely pardoned out of existence. That there is no condemnation, that there is no guilt, that you are pure and holy before the Lord God, for the rest of eternity. Amen? And so the official pardon is imbibed in the reception of that white stone. The third thing that gets is a ticket to complementary eternal provision. In other words, when you won the white stone at the game, You could just flash that at a restaurant, and they'd feed you without charge. And if you needed clothes, we'd go to the clothing store and show them your white card. You didn't have to pay for the clothes. If you were a winner of the games, that was part of the winnings. That was part of the victory. You got this white stone, and anywhere you went in the country, it validated your victory, your And if you had been a criminal previously, it validated that you were pardoned. And not only that, but it was your meal ticket. You don't have to pay for anything the rest of your life. Well, I got good news for you. When you get out of here, you're not going to work for a living anymore. You're going to have an eternal provision, and the white stone is a symbol of that. And then the white stone is a secret name given to you. It's like a password. It's a password. giving you personal, permanent, and direct access to the giver of the name, who is the Lord Himself. Amen? And so, the white stone is just a secret. Nobody else knows. It's like a password. Nobody else knows your password. Nobody else knows your—what do you call that number they ask for? to pin number, and you've been given a new name, and only you know it, and the person who gave it, which is God Himself, and that is your access code to the Lord. Personal, permanent, direct access the rest of forever. And that's the purpose of the white stone. What a wonderful gift it will be. And then last week we learned that there were multiple rewards. Like multiple is almost too shallow of a word. Multiple, multiple, multiple rewards. for every righteous, motivated thought, word, and deed you've ever done in your whole life. Isn't that exciting? Well, my goodness, you never do anything good except it gets a reward. So everything we do with the right motive in a loving way gets a reward, and you're stacking them up up there right now, and they will come to you. Isn't that delightful? And that's what we learned last week. Now today, I promised you that we would get To number eight, the ultimate reward, and here we go. What could be better than five crowns, a white stone, and numerous rewards for everything we've ever done? In your wildest imagination, what would you come up with if you were to guess what is the ultimate reward? I'm going to tell you what it is, and I'm going to show you how great it is. You shall see God face to face. You know that God is omnipresent. That means He's everywhere in His universe. But He is embodied and heaven. This is not like just merely knowing the presence. This is face-to-face with God. It's always been a privilege, and it is for anyone, I'm sure, to meet the prestigious people of the world. I shook hands with Billy Graham. I thought it was really great. And I met Brother George Bush personally, and I thought, you know, it's great. But this is about meeting God. But the question then becomes, what is so great about seeing God? Why is it so great? So let's jot down a few things. Number one, previously no one has survived it. Now, Moses wanted to see the face of God. And God said, Moses, you cannot see my face. Watch this. For there shall no man see me and live. It is not a survivable experience, Moses. No man has seen God at any time. So the first thing that makes seeing God So great is because nobody has previously survived it. Let's go into some of the detail of that. Now this is kind of interesting because in this 33rd chapter of Exodus, the first thing Moses asked to see was not God. I want to see your ways. Here's the scripture. And I pray you, if I found grace in your sight, show me now thy way. through that I will know you. Show me thy way that I may know thee." This is important to grasp, that one of the ways you know God is by looking at his ways. His ways, his behaviors, his modus operandi, his indication of what he is like. And so Moses' first request was, show me your ways. And that's the 13th verse, and then he goes on. And the Lord said, I will do this thing. Also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, and now, after he's granted the first request, he goes for a second. And so he says, okay, well now God, show me your glory. I wanna see your glory. And God said, nah, I can't even show you that. But what I will, well, yeah, I'll let you see some of my glory, but what I'm gonna let you see is I'll make you, I will make my goodness pass before you. But look at this, but you cannot see my face, for no man has seen me There shall no man see me and survive and live. So the option here, Moses, is I'm going to let you see a little bit of me. Now watch how this progresses. So here, get ready, brace yourself, stand on a rock. Make sure you're stable. Stand on a rock. And it shall come to pass while my glory passes by," now watch this, "'I will put thee in a cliff of the rock and cover thee with my hand while I pass by.'" Get on a rock, and I'm going to make sure you're jammed in the cliff of the rock, where the two rocks come together. or you won't be able to stand this. And I'll cover you there with my hand. Now watch this. And then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. The second reason it's great, what's so great about seeing God is that Not only has no one survived it, it has never been done before. No man has seen God, look at this, at any time, never. Never been done before. The third reason it's so great is that God's glory is way too much to behold. Here's back the same verse, show me that glory, and he said, now I'll show you my goodness. And I'll just let you see my hinder parts. And the reason why is because You can't stand. Have you ever seen somebody, it used to happen in the old time movies, some shocking situation and people would pass out, just pass out on the floor. This seeing God is such a dramatic event and such a powerful event that it makes people not pass out, but perish. Our God is a consuming fire. His person is so dynamic that to be in his presence is to be consumed. In fact, look at this, when the wicked one comes, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, its glory is too much to behold. Now, I was thinking, how can I illustrate this? And I decided that this was probably the best illustration I could come up with. And I know this is a guy illustration, not a girl illustration. I don't have a girl illustration. I don't have a guy illustration. But if you ever walk, and I do business significantly with a company here in town called Cannon Welding. I like the people over there. If you have some welding you need to do, it's a good place to go. And I have had access to their shop. They got this big sign, customers stay out. And I don't know how, I didn't see the sign, but I didn't see it. and they apparently didn't mind too much, and I have been behind the scenes a number of times. Actually, they built a steel pulpit here. If somebody is welding in the shop, and it's a big shop, as big as this room, you don't want to look at what's going on. Because in welding, I'm not just sure exactly how, but somehow the brightness of that light from there has the power to burn your retina. They could blind you if you looked at it too long. So that's why welders wear a mask. It's why, if you look at this, this is all steel here, or metal. But this is a plate of glass that they look through while they're welding, and it is a very dark glass. If you weren't welding and you put this thing on, you wouldn't see anything in the room. It's that dark. Why is that? Because there's so much going on there that to look at it would destroy you. And my friends, that's exactly what happens if you were in the physical presence of God. It would not just burn your eyes. It would utterly consume you because of the glory. The tragedy of today is we have lost track of the glory of God. We speak of him in such human terms, but the greatness of this person is so wonderful, his glory so majestic, that in fact it kills on contact. Even his throne is deadly. Even the throne. Even the seating place that he occupies. He, look at this, he holds back the face of his throne. Even angels have difficulty at the throne And so here's what God does with the throne. He spreads his cloud upon it. It is a special cloud unlike ours, like ours only insofar as it shields, as our clouds do, shields us from the sun, this cloud specific of God shields angels and beings from the throne. It's sort of like a blanket coverage of the... Back here, just a moment. It's sort of like a cloud made out of this kind of protection. Because to approach the throne of God without this cloud insulation, without this cloud filter, beings would utterly be destroyed. I'm going to show you in a moment how it's going to be possible for you to see God face-to-face. But you understand that this is the greatest thing that could ever happen in all of time, in all of eternity. and all of history. Oh, the crowns are great, the white stone wonderful, and all the rewards that we get for everything we do is so delightful, but watch this to see Him. And then it's the greatest thing because it is the loftiest experience in the universe. There could be no higher privilege. Now, the heavens, one of the purposes of the heavens is that they declare the glory of God. And these heavens which we're able to see from earth here, they are uttering messages all night long, day under day utter speech, night under night shows knowledge. There's no speech, there's no language anywhere on this planet where the voice of the heavens is not being seen, heard, and understood. Now watch for me. Because the reward, oh, the five stones are great, oh, the five crowns are wonderful, and oh, the white stone is just absolutely awesome. And all the multiple rewards for everything we've done are great, but watch this now because you're going to meet the creator of this. You are gonna be face to face with the author of this. Now, when you can create this, how great must a person be who can create galaxies? That's why it says, to whom will you then liken God? There's no comparison that can be made with anything, any place, anybody. What likeness will you compare unto Him? That's the question, who compares with God? This God who has measured out the waters in the hollowest hand, and look at this, meted out the heaven with a span, comprehended the dust and the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains and the scales. songs like we've sung this morning are inadequate, but important. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou How great thou art. We think, because we're halfway between the microcosm and the macrocosm, and we fail to observe the macro, but we see the world around us and we think, wow, look what's going on. leaders of nations and countries, and look at this, the nations are as a drop of a bucket. Look, you think, in comparison with God, entire nations. Let's take this one we live in. The United States is a drop in the bucket. then I probably should have had a bucket here and let you have a drop. But the Scripture goes on, look at this. All nations before him are as nothing, this is the zeros. They are counted to him less than nothing and vanity. Loftiest. This is kind of an interesting view. M50, I don't know if you study stars. I study them a little bit. I'm interested in WM104 right now. Because it could experience a burst that will affect us. And the reason I'm studying it is because the Scripture says that the earth is going to be renovated by fire. This is a black hole in M51. Oh God, oh God, that I should see you face to face. It's the loftiest experience in the universe. And it is the ultimate reward. And you know that you are Abraham's seed, right? If you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed? If you're not Abraham, I am thy shield, and I am thy exceeding great reward. It's a reward. He is a reward. Paul said that I might win him. This is not merely a reward, this is a great reward. It's not merely a great reward, this is excessive reward. This is the greatest, what's so great about seeing God? It's the ultimate reward. And then we will see Him often. For the Revelator tells us, I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. Whoa, the tabernacle of God is with men. Now, do you know what that means? omnipresent. He's everywhere present in his universe. But he is embodied, tabernacled in heaven. When you get to the 21st chapter, second-last chapter of the Revelation, we discover that the tabernacle of God is going to be with us. We shall see Him. And nothing not five crowns with all of their dignity and relevant commission, not the white stone, not the mountain of rewards for what we do here. Nothing can compete with the honor and the glory of seeing God face to face. And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. And God Himself, Himself, Himself, shall be with them and be their guide." How shall we then be able to see God? Number one, we shall see Him after death or rapture, not before. Now we have this wonderful testimony from Job. Here's what he says, I know that my Redeemer liveth. Whoa, what an anthem for a song. That he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. Now watch this. And though after my skin, worms destroy this body. This is what's going to happen when you go in the grave. You don't think, I mean, the worms are going to get you. Watch, he says, yet in my flesh shall I see God. I will see God after death. And if it so happens, and it could, that some of us here shall not taste death, but shall be here at that sound of that last, that seventh trumpet. We shall see God. we shall see him in the flesh of our new bodies. Now you've already learned that you get a new body to transition from here to heaven. Your present body would never make it. So this body which we will live in after death. This is the one Job's referring to, and that flesh, the one after the worms have destroyed the former, is how you will see God. And you will see him with your own eyes. Look at what Job says. Let's go back one verse. Yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself. And look at this now, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, not somebody else telling me what God's like, I'm going to see him myself. With my own eyes shall I behold him. Doesn't, don't hymns like, what a day that shall be, take on meaning. We shall see him with our own eyes. The sight of him will be paralyzing. Look at the testimony here, written by the Spirit through Job. "...whom I shall seek God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another, and though my reins be consumed within me." At that moment, control of your body will cease to exist by you. for those moments, because the very presence, even though you have this glorified body, you know, the body that has control over molecular structure of the universe, the body that can move from one planet to another at the speed of thought, the body that can appear and disappear, the body that can walk through walls, the body that can eat and not get fat. We're going to have this glorified body. but even though you have this magnificent body at that moment when you see God, even with this new body, the reins, the reins are how you control the horse. You lead him, you guide him. Even though my reins be consumed within me. We shall see him face to face. This is what the Scripture says, For now we see through a glass darkly. We know a bit about God, but it's like, it's like looking through, it's like having one of those welding helmets on all the time, and it's still pretty wonderful looking through the helmet. We see through the glass in the helmet, darkly. But then face to face. Now, if this be true, how then should we be living? You need to be ready. We're talking here about five crowns, a white stone, multiple rewards. and the presence, physical presence of God face to face. That is not going to happen for people who are not ready. Without holiness, no man shall see God. So you got to be ready. For in such an hour as you think not, the game end whistle's gonna blow, it's a trumpet. Need to be serious about the pursuit of God. Church has become a party. We're so busy, we have lost track of the most sobering facts in the whole universe. The pursuit of God should never be a trifle, should never be a whim. It ought to be purposed, calculated, controlled, intense. You can tell how sober you are by whether you even read this book this week. The problem of our day is we have Christian triflers. A little here, a little there. I wonder if you can help me out in this. Our mode of even pursuing this could be questionable. Let me tell you why I read this book. It's because there's a God behind it. There's a God who wrote it. inspired every word of it. And this is the means, this is one of the means that we have to seek Him. The end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober. That doesn't mean be sour. He wants you joyful. Thirdly, be watchful in prayer. Now, that's not just praying. I think it was C.S. Lewis who said that God has editorial rights over your prayers. You send a prayer up there, he takes the prayer, he edits it, and hands it back for review. Prayer's not just some cosmic projection. Prayer is not just throwing out words into the ethereal, hoping it gets past the brass that might be there and get somewhere. Prayer is not vain repetitions as the heathen do. When we are sober about prayer and sober about God, we become watchful about it. What does it mean to be watchful under prayer? Let me give you three things I think it means. Number one, it means watch that you pray. Two, it means watch how you pray. And thirdly, it means watch unto the fulfilling of your prayer. Because if you watch how you pray, you discover that prayer is a dialogue. God talks to you, and you talk to Him, and He talks back. and he'll give you instruction. As many as are led by the Spirit, they're the sons of God. It's not an option. It's not for dedicated people. It's for the ones who are real. And so when God in prayer gives you an instruction, watching unto it means to make sure you do what he told you to do when you were talking to him in prayer. Watch unto the prayer that you fulfilled the direction you got in prayer. Be ready, be sober, be watchful in prayer. The next verse says, remember, the end of all things is at hand. Be therefore sober, watch in the prayer, but above all things have fervent love among yourselves. this is the stuff that will get you through. This is what we're learning on Wednesday nights. And then five. Look at the Scripture. Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see God. Now, Sorry. Holiness, without which no man shall say God. Work at this. Work at being holy. What's wrong with that? The reason we are in American Christianity where we are is because of the utter off-balance teaching we've had for decades. We understand the righteousness of Jesus becomes our righteousness. But people have taught that to such an extreme, it doesn't matter what I do, because, hey, I'm counting on what He did. In fact, let me tell you how important your holiness is. We're going to get to this when we get to the 21st chapter of Revelation. We're heading there. To her, the church was granted that she would be clothed in white linen." This is the robes of righteousness, right? Now, don't make any mistake about it. God does not alter the robes of righteousness to fit the man. He alters the man to fit the robes of righteousness. To her was granted that she be arrayed in white linen, clean and fine. And then it says, the white linen is the, are you ready? Is the righteous deeds of the saints. Work at being holy. Be holy in your thought life, be holy in your motive, be holy in your relationships, be holy with your wife, be holy with your children, be holy on the job, be holy with the government! Purify every area of life. Look at the Scripture. Because it's talking about when we see God, beloved, Now are we the sons of God? 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. Watch this. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he, God, is pure. Whoa. And number six that you don't have. Set your affections on that which is above. Look at the Scripture. Seek those things which are above, where Christ says, at the right hand of God. Look at this now. Seek the things that are above. Set your affection on things above and not on things on the earth. Now let me just get to the hitching post really quick. Set your affections. You know what? Maybe this Wednesday night, because it relates to love, we'll deal with what the Bible says about affections. Because there's such things, what the Bible calls inordinate affections, out of the ordinary. It can have affections that are not normal. they will drive you the rest of your life. This Scripture gives us a clue of what we should do with our affections. Now, be careful. Every man in this room, listen to me really closely. Watch out, because someone will come, according to the book of Proverbs, along—a woman will come, usually a woman, but not always—to steal your affection. to move your affection from where it should be to them. And that's why affairs happen. Because somebody stole the affection, or somebody misplaced their affection. You move it from your wife to somebody else, you have reset your affection. So God comes along and says, listen, you've got to be really careful. You make sure you set your affections. because your affections will control you. So set them in the right direction. And the Scripture comes along and says, hey, here we are. The trumpet's going to sound, the wrath is going to happen on the planet, and we're leaving here for the reward ceremony, your coronation. Five crowns. a white stone, multiple words, and a face-to-face contact with God. So make sure that you get ready. that you be sober, that you watch into prayer, that you are fervent with your love, that you purify yourself, and that you set your affection on those things which are above and not on that which is below.