Be there. Have your Bibles open then, please. Matthew 25, with the Word of God's open there. Let's just look again to the Lord in a word of prayer this evening. Our Heavenly Father, we return again to thy Word. It was good to be here this morning. And to think, Lord, about that marvelous prophecy in Isaiah 61, where we read that Christ was anointed by the Spirit of God to preach the good news, the good tidings of salvation to prisoners, to sinners. And Lord, tonight we come now to think about life after death. We're not thinking, Lord, specifically about death after death. We're not thinking about hell tonight. We're thinking, Lord, about the glories of heaven. I trust, Lord, for everyone here, it'll be a thrill to our soul as we have a little more light shed upon the subject of what happens hereafter. For anyone, Lord, who's outside of Christ, the Lord, they will make their position in the Lord very clear. tonight, that they will know beyond any shadow of a doubt that heaven is their destination. I pray, Lord, that everyone here will be on that narrow road that leads to heaven and home, that we will be the answer to Christ's prayer where he said that they whom thou hast given me would be with me. The Lord tonight, speak to our hearts. Tenderly draw us onto yourself now. Give wisdom and help from pulpit to pew. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. You will remember a few weeks ago, we concluded our study in the book of Revelation. And the final chapters of Revelation spoke about hell and then finally heaven. And in those final chapters they mentioned a new heaven and a new earth. And we left that as I wanted to come back to it. And last week in more detail we thought about the idea of a new heaven and a new earth. And we looked at it biblically and historically as to what that means. But we were still left with a question last Lord's Day evening. What will we do when we're there? What will be our activities? What will it be like when we are there? And as I mentioned last week, I believe it was Richard Baxter, the Puritan who said, We don't know a lot about heaven. But we know a lot about the one who's there, that's the Lord. And if the Lord is the architect, if he is the builder, if he's there, realistically, that's all we need to know. We're going home to be with him who loves us and gave himself for us. That being said, the Bible does give little hints Little clues, little indications as to what heaven will be like. And that's why I wanted, first of all, to bring you to Matthew 25. And in Matthew 25, particularly that final verse, the verse 46, we read here, referring to eternity, Matthew 25, verse 46, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment. but the righteous into life eternal. Here's the first thing I want you to understand tonight. And it'll be no surprise to you, but I want you to take a minute or two to think about it. Heaven and hell are equally long in their duration. You see, verse 46 talks about hell as being everlasting. He then talks about the abode of the saved as life eternal. Those are the exact same words in the Greek. The word is eianos, eianos. So read it that way. And they shall go away into eianos, punishment. But the righteous into life eianos, eternal. And it means without end. And straight away here, not only do we learn that heaven is eternal, that it never ever ends. Now that alone is impossible to get your head around. Difficult to comprehend. Never dying. Never ceasing to be. Just always existing. Without end. No completion date. No moving on. Eternally there. For the child of God, that's a blessed reality. Completely relieved of death, of sin, of suffering. And the verse 46 of Matthew 25, it describes something of what the people will do. Those who are Unsee you. Those who have not accepted the Lord as their Savior, for them, what will they be doing is enduring eternal punishment. That's solemn. Without release. Without end. Without peace. Without exit. Everlasting eianos punishment. That's awful. But that's the activity of those who are lost. But also in this verse is the activity of the saved. And it is described as eternal life. Living eternally. And the idea of life there, it carries the idea of the highest possible experience of existing. Of pure joy. Of entering into an existence. with the Lord in heaven and being as vibrant and as vitally alive as you possibly could be. No sin to keep us down, no brain fog, no days missed because of ill health, nothing to cast us down, just the fullest, beautifullest experience of being alive. That's the idea. And those are the two eternities that are set before every human being. Heaven or hell. Now, focusing this evening on heaven. Okay, so we understand this, that it is eternal life, the highest possible expression of existence. But what will we do? Sometimes you'll get the You know, the comical animation of being in heaven, we'll be floating in clouds and playing violins or harps or whatever. And I don't know what instruments or how music works in heaven. I've no idea whatsoever. But I'm pretty sure we might be floating in clouds. And that imagery has no reflection on reality whatsoever. But what will we be doing? I want to try and answer that as best we possibly can tonight by what the Word of God does tell us. I can say this. In heaven, we will continue To be intellectually curious. We'll still be curious in heaven. We'll still be learning. We'll not turn to it, but again, if you can recall a few weeks ago when we were in Revelation, the saints that were in glory were asking the Lord questions. That's very significant. The saints were asking the Lord questions and he was responding to those questions. And so that gives us a conclusion that we'll learn in heaven, and that makes perfect logical sense. When we die and go to heaven, we don't become gods. We will not receive divine characteristics. We will not be omnipotent, all-powerful. We will not be omniscient, all-knowing. We're still created creatures. And so for eternity, we'll continue to learn. And learning is a beautiful thing. We like to learn. It's nice to learn a new skill. It's nice to learn new facts. It's beautiful when you open the Word of God and you learn something new. It's refreshing. It's vibrant. We love to open the Bible and learn what's new. And the next time you're reading the Bible and you learn something new, just capture that moment and think, that's what heaven's going to be like. Just continually learning anew. That's a beautiful thought. And logically, it makes perfect sense. Furthermore, we will, yes, have intellectual curiosity, but when you get to heaven, expect to have fellowship. Expect to fellowship with one another, for the people of God will be there and will enjoy fellowship with each other. I want you to grasp that tonight. Who will be in heaven? When we enter there, who will be there? Well, we just read in those previous verses, those verses in chapter 25, the Lord speaks about those who will be on his right hand. There will be a company of people whom he calls righteous. A righteous people. Look at verse 37. Then shall the righteous answer him. There will be a people who will be right without sin. They'll be glorified. And they will be there in glory with us, enjoying Christ and enjoying heaven. And again, we ask the question, well, who exactly will that be? When you read through the Bible, I think it's lovely to see verses portions of the scripture that talk about infants who will be in glory. And I am of the opinion that those who die young in the womb, there is biblical hope to say that they will be in glory. Not only those in the womb, but even those who for a few years may live, or those who never come to the mental capability of putting faith in Christ. I think it's a good biblical basis to say that they will be in glory. Turn with me for one moment to Isaiah chapter 7. There's a few thoughts on this school. I suppose the easiest to readily agree with is the view that those who are elect will be in heaven. Obviously, we believe that. The elect will be in heaven. That involves infants as well. Those infants who are elect of God will be in heaven. And nobody should have any issue with that, of course. But look with me here for a moment at Isaiah 7. And the verse 16, for before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good. And there's a verse that speaks about the young child at a particular age where they're unable to choose between right and wrong. That's an interesting verse that speaks about moral accountability. Let's keep that verse in your mind for a moment. And you can turn with me or you might know it anyway, you don't have to. But when you go to 1 Samuel, or 2 Samuel rather, here you have David. That's a magnificent text. David has lost a child. And in 2 Samuel, chapter 12, that child is gone. Child has passed away into eternity. But you go to verse 22. And in verse 22 it says, And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he is dead. It was a male child. He is dead. Wherefore should I fast? So he's not praying or fasting for the dead. That's ruled out here. He goes on to say, can I bring him back again? The answer there is no. But David goes on to say, and he's moved of God to say this, I shall go to him. that he shall not return to me. I want to ask you a question there. David speaks with unwavering confidence. He's inspired by God to write that. But let me ask you a question. Did David know who's elect and who isn't? Who's elect was? Then why did David speak with such confidence? This child was too young, we understand, to come to a knowledge of faith. Yet with unwavering confidence, he says, I will go to him. Now some people said in that verse, yeah, but what that means is the child's lying in the grave and David too will be in the grave. Well, that's a complete misunderstanding of the text. The concept of going to meet somebody in the grave would be no comfort to David whatsoever. None. But David says with confidence, I will, I shall go to him. He's in glory and David was going to glory as well. These are wee indications of who will be there. There's other verses. Psalm 139 gives similar clues to the theme we're talking about. What about Mark chapter 10? In Mark 10 you have the Lord. where he gathers the children round about him and he says, let the little children come on to me and forbid them not. There's a willingness now, when God the Son is on earth, there's a willingness to receive the children and he puts a blessing upon them. And these are indications to us. That'll suffice. But can I say one more thing? That's David's son who died, Although did not have the capability or maturity to place his faith in Christ, that doesn't mean there's a different way into heaven. Whereas Romans 5 puts it very clear, and let's go to Romans 5 for a moment here, for it's important to read in this context. Romans chapter 5 and to verse 18. Okay, Romans 5, 18. Therefore, by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men on the justification of life. Verse 19 of Romans 5. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. And so David's child, who died as an infant, he's not getting into heaven, Because he was perfectly innocent he gets into heaven because of Christ's death on the cross. There's only one way to glory and that's through Christ bringing his loved ones with him. Who will be there? We will expect fellowship in heaven. Who will be there? Well, there'll be the infants, but they'll not be infants in glory. They'll be matured. They'll be glorified. They'll be like everyone else there with an ability to function as any being in heaven. Fully glorified. Fully functioning. and enjoying God's existence. Let me take you to another verse here thinking about who will be in heaven. Go with me to Matthew 17 for a moment. Because in Matthew 17, you'll notice the Mount of Transfiguration. And it's a little bit of heaven on earth. This is a fundamental portion to look at when you're studying the subject of heaven. Matthew 17. Peter and James and John join Christ on top of the mountain. And in verse 2 we read, And was transfigured, that's Christ, was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Christ, with him. There's a wee picture of heaven for us there. And there's a few points we draw from that portion. The first thing that strikes me is, who's with the Lord there? It's Moses and Elijah. Interestingly, those two men, we don't know where their bodies were buried. Moses, God buried Moses' body. And Elijah, well the Lord came and took him and charred it to fire. So the two men who were taken into glory, although Moses we believe to be buried somewhere, nevertheless, here's these two men and they're talking with the Lord. There's communion. There's communication. They're talking with Christ. But furthermore, I want you to see how in heaven we will have the identity in heaven that we have on earth. Peter, James, and John. Well, Peter's the one who speaks. And Peter readily recognizes who Moses was and who Elijah was. They were the same man, but glorified. The same men, only now without sin. Individuals. And I find that a refreshing thing. We'll not all be clones in heaven any more than we're clones here on earth. We're all different. God has designed us individually. But we'll not lose our identity in heaven, but be renewed. and glorified. I think that's a beautiful thing. Furthermore, from this we can clearly conclude that when we're in heaven we'll know each other. We'll not need someone, we'll not need a tour guide taking you round heaven and saying, well here's Moses, here's David, here's Abraham. We'll know them. Again, I said a moment or two ago there, we will be intellectually curious, we'll still learn in heaven. But our minds will be glorified and we'll thankfully know a lot more in heaven than we know now. And that's a relief. We don't know very much here on earth, but we'll know so much more in glory. And I'm confident that we'll know the saints. And we'll fellowship with the saints. And we'll spend time with the likes of Moses and Elijah and whoever else. We'll walk with them in glory as we enjoy fellowship with Christ. But I can't help think about that because Moses and Elijah, they were men who suffered from physical illness. They were men who knew what it was to, they weren't perfect. Now Moses had remarkable health, I know that, but they were far from perfect. And you and I, when we get to heaven, not only will our minds be glorified, but our bodies will be glorified. And I think about those who are in this world, disabled, all well. I think about Abigail, my daughter, for example. And I genuinely look forward to being in glory. And when I see Abigail, she'll walk properly. That'll be lovely to see. She'll be able to communicate and talk with us clearly. She'll even, according to the Bible, because the Bible talks about the saints singing. It would be a wonder to see Abigail sing and to reason with a glorified mind. But those are the conclusions we come to when we come to the subject of heaven. Christ will bring his people there. He will glorify his people. He will renew his people. And we'll be there without the effects of sin and the fall to mar us. Now still, thinking about the company in heaven, we are told in Matthew 22, and feel free to turn to Matthew 22. Thinking about the individuals, we are given this detail that we will not be angelic. Don't think when we get to heaven we're going to be like the angels. We're not going to be like angels. That's not the case. We are still human, created in the image of God, but glorified. In Matthew 22, verse 23, the Sadducees are debating about the resurrection. what it will be like after we die. And they ask a question. Of course, they're trying to trip up the Lord, and of course, that wouldn't be successful, but that's what they're doing anyway. And they ask the Lord, what about this woman? She has married on several occasions. When she enters into the resurrection, whose wife shall she be? Interesting question. Whose wife shall she be? Well, the answer is given in verse 29. Verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err. not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Now think about those verses for a minute there. We are described, well make this very clear, this is taught about marriage. And in one sense, yes, we are like the angels. That doesn't mean we'll be angelic. Think this through just for one moment with me. I have no doubt when we get to glory, we will obviously know one another. As I've said to you before, we'll not be more stupid when we get to glory. We'll know one another. We'll know our experiences. I'll know my wife. You'll know your husband, your wives. You'll know your family. You'll know what we went through here. And we're not going to forget about it. But when we're in heaven, we're going to have a greater relationship. A far more meaningful relationship, even more meaningful than marriage itself. Because when we enter into heaven, there'll be no sin. And we'll be able to love our neighbor perfectly. There'll be no jealousy. There'll be no fallouts. There'll be no lust, no sin, no corruption of any kind. But there will be a communion one with the other. where we fellowship as friend with friend. And that will be a beautiful thing. And we'll know one another. But marriage is gone when a married couple take their vows. It is until death. It's until death that it ceases to be as a biblical doctrine. Anyway, read along with me here as we move because I want to come quickly here to a couple other thoughts. Some people, and I have no objection, some people are of the idea that when we get to heaven we'll eat and we'll enjoy food and drinking. And that may well be the case. The Bible does talk an awful lot about banquets in heaven. For example, go with me to Matthew 26. Matthew 26. And the verse 29. And here the Lord is celebrating The communion feast. But look what the Lord said at the end of it. Verse 29, And that gives the idea of the Lord. Drinking with us. That's interesting. You remember when we go to the book of Revelation, there's actually a lot of illustrations in Revelation that capture the idea of eating and drinking. And of course that opens up lots of questions. Well, why will we eat and drink? Do we eat and drink so we live? Well, no. Because Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve, they ate food. The Lord said to them to eat of all the trees in the garden, but they weren't eating to live. Because death wasn't possible. Death didn't exist. And therefore we ask the question, why eat? Is it because we have the taste buds and the ability to enjoy? Is that what it is? We can't answer that. But those are Interesting thoughts. We'll banquet. We'll enjoy what God has for us. Lovely thoughts, once again. Can I also say, and we'll not turn to it just for a second time, but in the book of Revelation, or sorry, in the book of Hebrews, It talks about heaven being our eternal Sabbath. An eternal Sabbath. What that means is that heaven will be our eternal rest. We'll be at rest forevermore. But let me clarify that. What does that mean? It doesn't mean that we'll have a lazy loafing around for the rest of eternity. It doesn't mean you'll be a big fat loaf on the sofa doing nothing. No, no, no, no. Work and be at rest. Isn't that right? We have a saying, a change is as good as a rest. And that's true. I think that helps us when we think about heaven. Remember when Adam and Eve were first created? The Lord didn't say, lie down and eat them. He said, tend to the garden. In fact, God's direction there to Adam and Eve at the beginning was to, they were placed in Eden. And remember, Eden was one geographical location. It wasn't the whole earth. And Adam and Eve's purpose was to tend to the garden and let the blessings of the garden flow throughout the world. And they would tend to a worldwide garden. It was God's directive that the whole of the world would be filled with His presence and His glory. Of course the fall came in. And sin entered. And you read those sad words in Genesis 5 there. It was God's directive for Adam and Eve that the world would be filled with his glory. But in Genesis 5 we read that the world was filled with violence. Filled with violence. Hence the flood came. Destroyed all mankind except Noah and his family. So I'm saying that to make the points, there is no problem with the idea that heaven will be a lovely labor, a wonderful work, a beautiful tending to the cosmic creation that God will place us in, the new heaven and the new earth. As we come to a conclusion here, let me say heaven will be renewed in the image of God. We're made in the image of God, but we're more like monsters now. We're so far away from God's image. More like monsters. But when we are taken home to glory, we'll be renewed in the image of God, glorified. We will serve the Lord alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ. We will, I have no objection to the idea of working and developing in this new heaven and a new earth. That'll be a joy. But can I say that we'll worship a big part of this in Revelation. And again, remember when we started those chapters in Revelation, let's turn to it just for a moment to make sure we're all on the same page here, Revelation. And the chapter, let me let my eye on it here again, just the chapter 4. And in Revelation chapter 4, go home and read it yourself again, not read the whole thing. But what we see here is the throne of God. Remember that? Verse 2, And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven. And that describes the throne. And that describes the company. And the company there is not only angelic, but it's also filled with the people of God. Go to verse 10 with me. Verse 10, the four and twenty elders. And we know from the rest of Revelation there are people who are redeemed by the blood of Christ. There will be worship in heaven. I want you to understand that. I want you to think for a moment about something extraordinarily beautiful capturing your attention. Let's say you're on holidays. You're a different country, never been there before. And there's a beautiful scene. Maybe it's a sunset scene. It's a lovely picture. If you could paint it, you would. And what do you want to do? You want to take a photo of it. Why? Because you want to look at it. You might want to paint it if you could, to look at it. You might want to sit down and enjoy it because you're so captured by its excellency. And that's what it will be like when we see the Lord. That's what it'll be like forever. We'll just want to look, to view the magnificence, the excellency, the beauty. We will want to, because there'll be a delightful thankfulness in our heart, we'll want to give thanks. You know what it's like when someone does you a good turn. Giving them thanks isn't a burden. You'll want to thank them. You want to express your appreciation. And again, that's what it'll be like in heaven. We will want to express our appreciation for what the Lord has done. We will bask in His glory, we will wander in His excellence. We will love the Lord. And again, loving isn't a chore. It's not a difficult thing. For example, when you have a young couple, particularly clear in a young couple, when they meet each other, and they fall in love, and before then they can only dream about how beautiful their life together will be, and it'll never be what they dream because they're sinners. But nevertheless, at that early stage, Spending time with each other is no chore. But the young couple will do everything they can to make sure that they spend some time together and that's what it will be like in heaven. They will want to be with the Lord. It will be your delight to spend time. It will be your delight to talk about his excellency. To look at him and to admire his beauty and express our joy. Men and women, Matthew 5, verse 8. Go there with me. Matthew 5, verse 8. Here is the believer's great joy. And this is the single excellent beauty above all in heaven. Matthew 5. And the verse number eight, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Let that just sink into your heart all week. You're going to see God, not something else. To see His glory. To see the One who loved you enough to send His Son. To see Christ who loved you enough to die for you. And to spend eternity with your brothers and sisters in Christ, all glorified, working, enjoying, appreciating Him. And all that He's done for you. There was a wee boy, as I close, a wee boy, a young child, we read about, he had lung cancer, a particularly unpleasant condition. In his case, he was going to die with it, and he did. The young boy's mother, obviously being fully aware of what was about to happen, would sit with her son, nurse him, try to prepare him for what was genuinely inevitable. And she would talk to her son in preparation. The day came when he was particularly low and it was evident he had hours to live rather than days. And nurses came in, and the nurses said, we boys begin to hallucinate. That's him slipping away. And his mother said, no, I don't think he's hallucinating. She said, for the past few weeks, I've been telling my son, when the moment of your death comes, don't be scared. Instead of Worrying. Listen. Listen for the bells. That wee boy died on his mother's knee, saying to his mother, mother, I hear the bells. I hear the bells. And the wee boy died very well. Went to the Lord. Christ received him. And his death wasn't sorrowful, it wasn't painful in the sense of it was hard for the mother to watch. Of course it was. But he was going to be with the Lord. But I was thinking about that story tonight. And if you were to do the same, rather than worry, but you lie there and you listen, what will you hear? If you're on saved, it won't be bells you hear. If you're on saved and you listen with your ears, what will you hear? But that day will come, and if you're not saved, You'll hear the horrors of hell, and you'll open your eyes. There's no escape. We read at the outset, there is the place of eternal, eianos, eternal punishment. But there is the eianos, eternal life. Where are you going tonight? What will you hear when you pass? And where will you be? I'm going to heaven because I'm in Christ. If you're not saved tonight, you're going to hell. Tonight, choose Christ. Choose life. Get ready for heaven. Get ready for home.