All right, let's go to Revelation 20 verse 15. What I'm going to do tonight mostly is read a lot of scripture, but I have a few things to say in between it too. The major theme for a long time used to be heaven. A lot of God's people thought about heaven quite a bit because life was pretty rough here. A lot rougher than it is now. We're all so fat and lazy and soft and can't take nothing. Don't have to do anything, really. We think we're so stressed and pressed, but we don't have anything even near what the generation before us had to do as far as work and hard labor and living without things and doing without. We don't do without. We get what we want. Yeah, that's right. All of you do. What do we need heaven for? We've got it pretty good right here, don't we? It's hard to get people excited about heaven when they're so indulged here that they have need of nothing. I'm going to preach on heaven tonight. And you're going to think it's going to be bad with the first things I've got to say here. But it's not. I promise you. Let's read. Revelation chapter 20 verse 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Man, what a way to start preaching on heaven. Well, you know, when we begin to study about heaven, we got to start with the fact that not everyone is going there. Because that just seems to be what everybody thinks the case is, that everybody's going to heaven. They're not. Jesus said, few there be that find it. Most, do you get this? And that word, if you'll look at it close, it means most. He said, many there be that go in there at the broad road in the way of destruction. He said, many there be that go in there at. If you look at the word, it means most. And we know that. Common sense tells you that. Look out the windows. Look at the people everywhere you go. The most of the people are lost. There's few that are saved. There's few that even look like they might be saved, let alone are. So we've got to start with that truth. You've got to accept that. You hear everybody's conversation, they talk like everybody's gone. You know, I hear people that live a life of drunkenness and immorality and they die and all of their friends and relatives talk about how they're resting in peace now and they're up there in heaven and waiting for the great meeting that they're going to have when they get there. No, they're in for a big surprise. You live your life in wickedness and sin and rebellion to God, and you're not going to heaven. If you've been baptized a hundred times in a Baptist church, it does not matter. It don't matter if every preacher in Missouri would swear on the Bible that you're saved. That doesn't mean a thing. Ain't no sin gonna enter there. And there's not a big bathtub you go through to wash before you enter and you're good. That ain't the way it works. So we got to realize that. The truth revealed clearly in the Bible is that most people are not going to heaven when they die. You know what's the sad part? What's the frightening part? What's the startling part? Not everybody in this house right now is going to heaven. That's right. If we took everybody and made everybody say so, everybody would say they are, but they're not. They're not. You ain't gonna get a bunch of people together like this and everybody is going to heaven. We think when we all get to heaven, well that'd be good if we're all saved. But I'll tell you what, I'm okay with the fact that God has ordained this thing we're gonna talk about here. There's a separation coming. And I am glad that he's not gonna let sinners in heaven. There's enough of them here. The world is ruined. And so many are lost. And look at all the sorrow and the pain and the suffering and the death. And that's why. Why you wanna let one seed of it in heaven to start it all over again? No, no, no. I'm glad it's this way. And I'm not glad that people go to hell. There's no need for anybody to go to hell. God doesn't send people to hell. He's done everything in his divine power to keep people out of hell. And yet they will not. They go to hell because they choose to go to hell. They go to hell because they hate God and righteousness. And they love their sin and they love themselves. And they'll bust hell wide open rather than look to God and humble themselves like the prodigal that we talked about this morning. And that goes for people especially that sit in churches all their life and listen to preaching and refuse to get right. All they'll ever do is pretend to get right and put on a facade to fool everybody around them who are easily fooled by it, most people are. especially if it's their kids or if it's their spouse and it's somebody they love, they'll bend over backwards and twist every scripture in the Bible to believe that they're going to be in heaven when they die. It takes more to go to heaven when you die than a profession of faith at the door of some house. It's not something that You know, it's not something to glory in, that most people are not going to heaven, but rather something to grieve about. And it's not something that should discourage us in the work of the Lord, but rather a fact that should motivate us to reach as many as we possibly can. There was a woman on the parking lot Wednesday night. She was supposed to be here today. She'd been wondering about this church, wondering what this is, what are we here. A lost soul. A wrecked life. Somebody just like the prodigal that we talked about this morning. But she's not here. I don't know why. I hope it's not because she was afraid to come in here. Because we tried to make her understand that she was welcome. We'll put you a seat. You come. But they're so far out there that to come in here and sit among us is so uncomfortable and so hard for them to do. But every person who is going to heaven is concerned about those who are not. I'll tell you that. And that's a major part of what his life is about. If you're really going to heaven, you're concerned about those who are not. I read a story, and I'm sure some of you have too, about an atheist who said one time, he said, he said, I don't believe because he said, if I believed, if I really believed what the Christians say they believe, he said, I wouldn't do nothing else with my life. He said, I'd be out here knocking on every door, every person I'd meet, I'd try to get them saved. I couldn't live, I couldn't sleep at night if I really did believe that lost souls are going to go to hell forever. Where does that put us? What kind of judgment is that upon us? Those who are truly born again and on their way to heaven are aware that eternity is going to separate the good and evil forever. While we live on this earth, both good and evil are present, and there's a bloody warfare continually growing more intense between good and evil on this earth. It's getting uncomfortable to be here. It should have always been uncomfortable for the child of God, but in the time we're living in, it ought to be real. uncomfortable, for you to be satisfied, for you to be chasing the things that this world's chasing and indulging in this wicked generation. It's completely foreign to what salvation really is and who God really is and what a child of God really is. We live on this earth and we have this warfare. This situation is going to be changed in eternity. Because in eternity, all that's evil and wicked, along with all the damage it's done, you're listening to me, will be cast into outer darkness forever. What is outer darkness? Well, it's what they're looking for with their telescopes. The edge of the universe. They're going to be cast out. of the universe. Outer darkness. Away from God and everything He's made. Away from God and every creature He's redeemed out of His sin-cursed creation. They're going to be separated. And while we live on this earth, we ought to understand that and know that. Forever separated from that which is good and righteous and holy. Outer darkness separates from that which is good and righteous and holy. Great separation coming. Y'all realize that, do you? You understand that's the absolute God's truth that's coming shortly. God's gonna harvest the earth. God's going to harvest His creation. He's going to take the good and He's going to do away with all of the rest. And it's by fire. Who says there's no hell and fire but somebody who does not understand the Bible, who's full of the devil? Yes! And you can't miss it. You can't read this book and not believe that there is everlasting fire. You say, that's terrible. It's worse than that. There's more torment in hell than the fire. We're not preaching on hell, we're preaching on heaven. The separation from evil and all the sorrow and pain it causes, that's our hope. That's the hope of God's people. Always has been. Jesus promised us that. John 14, you know, He's preparing a place for us. to be with Him forever. It's always been the hope of God's people. They long for the moment when God makes all things new and all the darkness and evil and cruelty and hate is done away with forever. We sitting here tonight, we can't even imagine that. We've never known that. We've never been in a place in our life where we've known such as that. We've never tasted that. We've never experienced it. pure, true peace. No trouble, no sorrow, no dread, no fear. Peace and love and joy forever in the presence of God. We can't even comprehend it. No wonder I have not seen, ears not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love him. No wonder. Words don't reach it. Words can't describe it. You can't put it into words. While we sit here tonight, that moment's not far off. It's closer than you think. You should prepare right this moment for eternity. You might enter it at any moment, no matter who you are. This week, I've seen obituaries of 35 years old people, of children, of babies. This week I've seen obituaries. You don't have to be old and sick. You can die tomorrow. You can die tonight. You don't know what a day may bring forth. None of us do. So when is the time to get right with God? Now. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the time. Whatever you are, if you're righteous, justified, and reconciled to God, or undone and still in your sins, that'll be your eternal state if you wait too late. Whatever you, you know, you wait too long, and it's a fixed thing forever. So as we study the Bible to find out what's heaven's like, you ought to sincerely question yourself. and search your heart to know for sure according to what the Bible teaches and what you really possess in your soul, whether you're really headed to heaven or not. If heaven's real and you believe you're ready to go there, why do we fight it so hard? Answer me that. Why do we dread it so bad? Why do we cling so hard to life in this world? Why don't we have that hope in our soul? I've heard a lot of stories about Uncle Bud Robinson. Anybody ever heard of him? Surely you have, brother, haven't you? Buddy Robinson. Well, he was an old Nazarene preacher years ago, back in them old days, and he was tongue-tied. But they said when they told him, the doctor told him he just had so long to live, he just went to shouting, glory to God, glory to God, hallelujah, I'm going to heaven. Like the doctor thought he was going to be shook and upset. No, he had a shouting fit. Why ain't it like that? For everybody that believes heaven's real. If I draw my last breath, that's where I'm going to be. Instantly. To be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord, if you want to hear this. And then from one instant to the next, it's no pain, no sorrow, no suffering, nothing bad, nothing evil, no trouble, all peace and joy forever. So don't allow yourself to rejoice about heaven when you're not going there. Say, man, you just can't get away from that. No, I can't. Because it really troubles me very badly to see people rejoicing over heaven when they're not going there. And it's obvious they're not going there. People think there's going to be a hillbilly heaven where everybody just sits around and picks banjos all the time. That's heaven. They think there's going to be a biker's heaven. They do! They think that the bikers are going to have their own place in heaven where they drink their beer, I guess, and cuss each other, and hate God, and all of that. There's a country music part of heaven where you can go learn. I've heard all this. I've heard people say all this. In seriousness, they really believe it. We used to show a film in Mexico called The Burning Hell. It was quite a thing. But to people who didn't know anything about God or the Bible except what the Catholics had told them, because they didn't read their Bible, they didn't want them to read their But in that movie, the rich man died. It was Lazarus and the rich man. And the rich man died and he was in hell. And while he's in hell crying and screaming and burning and being in torment, the priest is praying over him at the funeral and talking about what a good man he was and how he's in heaven now with the Lord for sure we know. And then it flashes to where he really is, in hell. That's really real. That's just how it is. Preachers go along with it. I know a preacher one time. He said he went to preach a funeral. He said the man was wicked. He knew him. Everybody knew him. He was wicked all of his life. He died and went to hell. They called him to preach a funeral. At the funeral, and I wouldn't do this. I mean, I might under certain circumstances. He walked down there by the coffin as he started out and he said, ain't no use of us playing games here today. He said, all you brothers and all you family, you know what a wicked man this man was and you know that he is in hell right now. He said, the only thing I can tell you today is that there's still hope for you. If you don't want to go where he is, then you better wake up and you better seek the Lord today. Well, you thought that would have caused a riot, wouldn't you? He said one of the brothers came to him after the funeral, slipped him a $100 bill and said, you're the first preacher that I ever heard tell the truth at a funeral. It makes me sick. It troubles my soul to go to a funeral. And everybody knows. And then the preacher would get up there and preach them into heaven anyway. Talk like they're in heaven. Or, you know, we don't know what happened in those last moments. And extend a hope to these people that you can just live it wicked right up to your last breath. Still, there's a chance that maybe if you got those words out just before you died, maybe he might have made it. What a lie. You ain't ready for heaven if you ain't ready for it right now. If you don't love God, if you don't love God's people, If your life ain't about God, you ain't ready for heaven. Don't allow yourself to rejoice about other people going to heaven when they were not in their life. What the Bible describes is those who are going there. Now, the eternal state of the righteous is described immediately after the removal of all those whose name was not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Did you hear me? Well, the first verse we read there, Revelation 20 verse 15, whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So then here let's read chapter 21 verses 1 through 3. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned to her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God." Now there's your state of God's people after the rest of the human race is gone forever, gotten rid of. Here you go. Who's left? God's people and God. and a new place that He's prepared for His people to live with Him, the tabernacle of God, forever. There's no one left now but God, His angels, and His people who have been redeemed from the trash heap of humanity. God's redeemed, they're in the very presence of God, and they will be forever. We don't understand forever. We really don't. Oh, I'll love you forever. All that's a bunch of nonsense baloney coming out of an empty head. You don't understand what you're saying. Forever. Our little brain just goes ERR when we try to compute forever. We don't know what forever is. We can't even handle 30 years or 40 years. It's too much for us to comprehend in one swallow. Forever. Forever with God. Forever. No end. Ain't nothing gonna go wrong. God's in control. And God's with His people. And all the evil has been purged from the universe. It's been put somewhere where it's gonna escape. God's gonna fix it. He's going to fix it for us. Revelation 22 and verse 4, and they shall see His face and His name shall be in their foreheads. They shall see His face. What's it going to be like? Looking in the face of God. There again, there ain't no need to sit and trying to imagine. You can't. When I think of that, it just goes... I don't know how to explain it. We're talking about things above our heads here. I don't see a face. I don't imagine that in my mind. Looking in the face of God, I have no idea. No idea. Neither do you. Neither does anybody else. But the Bible says it right there. And when you're looking in someone's face, that's different. than just looking from afar, seeing their form. You're looking in their face. The little baby back there, she's just in the last two or three weeks got to where she just looks you right in the face. They all do that. They all get to that point where all of a sudden their eyes lock on your eyes and they just look right through you. I always wonder. It always kind of thrills me because it's like there's a little soul in there. They're alive and they're looking. What's it going to be like for God when we're looking in His face? Will it be something like that? I think something like that. Way beyond that. He said, I'll rejoice over you with singing. I think that applies here. I know that was to Israel and all that, but there's some other verses that indicate that's just how it's going to be. You don't think God's going to rejoice over us? Who do you think is going to shout when he descends from heaven with a, is that the angel? No, that's Him! Shout. John 14, verse 2 and 3, it says, in my father's house, Jesus said this, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. Well, did he go and prepare a place for us? Yep. He said, if I do that, I'll come again. And receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. See, that's his great thing. Now, Nick, you've got a house, and you're preparing a place, ain't you? And you're looking forward to the day, just a couple of months from now, when you're going to be able to take her home with you, ain't you? You going to shout? Yes. It would be all right if you shouted. Feel like shouting. He's waiting. Seems like it's a long time, two or three months. How long has Jesus been waiting? How long has God been waiting for this? Ain't no wonder there's going to be a shout when He descends from heaven for His bride. And the day will come. And it's going to be soon. Sooner than we think. We say that and say that, but it doesn't sink in. Revelation 21 verse 23 and 24, And the city had no need of the sun. neither of the moon to shine in it. For the glory of God did lighten it and the lamb and the light thereof and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it and the kings of the earth to bring their glory and honor into it." There's so much in that verse, ain't no way. We got to move on or we'll be here all night. All the true glory and honor that was found in this sinful world will be brought into it. And there's going to be a lot of it. Sin and evil and everything it caused and all of the consequences and the damage and the dirt is flushed out. But everything that was honorable and right and good is going in. Think about that. Well, we know one another in heaven. Does anything we do on earth count? You better believe it does. What can you take to heaven with you? Well, you can take some things with you. Not that junk you got in your shed and in your drawers and in your bank account, but there's some things you can take to heaven with you. You better be laying up treasures. That's what Jesus said to do, didn't he? Lay up treasures for yourself in heaven, not on earth. What's he talking about? People act like there's nothing for me to do. All my rags are filthy rags and so we might as well and you know we're just a sinner and can't do nothing good. Let's just talk about that a few minutes. Each one better be working. to have something honorable and glorifying to God to bring in with us. Many believe now that our righteousness is filthy rags, so they don't do any good works. Let me tell you something, you better listen to what Jesus says right here. I'm going to read you something. Matthew chapter 10 verse 42, listen to what Jesus said. to drink under one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple. Verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." So it means something to God when you do something for somebody else right here, now in this sin-cursed world. It means something to God. He is not unrighteous to forget your labor of love. He's remembering. He's keeping accounts. Here's some more. Matthew 25, verse 33 through 46. It's kind of long, but I'm going to read it. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand. Better listen to what Jesus is saying. But the goats on the left. Then shall the king, capital K, say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father. How's that for sweet words? You're going to hear those words. What are you going to feel when you hear those words? When He looks at you and says, come, you blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you, me, from the foundation of the world. Well, you know, we don't think there's anything else to it. I was foreordained before the foundation of the world to be one of his, and that's how I got it. That's why I'm going to heaven. She's trying to read me some Spurgeon this morning. I like Spurgeon. He's got a lot of good to say, except when he gets on his Calvinism. He went to praising Calvinism. I told her, I said, how in the world? When was Calvin's lifespan? I don't remember. He's way back there. 1400s, 1300s, somewhere in there. I told her I was going to have a look it up because I've lost it. Why? would men of intelligence and understanding, why would they drop an anchor on a man 1,400 years after Christ and the apostles and think that he could give them a more clear understanding of the gospel than Jesus and the apostles did? No. base your religion and your doctrine on some man. If the doctrine has a man's name, that ought to give you a clue. Danger! I'm not going to heaven simply because God chose me before the foundation of the world. Here's what Jesus said, He said, come ye, blessed are my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And then he says, for, F-O-R. Do you know what that word means? That kind of connects the thought, doesn't it? Doesn't that, you know, isn't that a thing that because of this, This is why I said the first sentence, come ye in because of it. All right. So you're going to say I'm preaching works for salvation. I'm reading to you what Jesus said. Now, you don't accuse me, you accuse Jesus. For I was in hunger and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came unto me. Is that what earned us our salvation? Of course not. We didn't atone for our sins by being good to other people and all of that. But if you are forgiven, regenerated, born again, reconciled to God, justified before God by the blood of Christ, you're going to do those things. Amen. He ain't going to sit around and say, I ain't going to. I've heard people absolutely preach. From the time I first got saved, I started hearing that, you know, that missionaries go down there and try to feed the people and do things for them and help them that way. I said, that ain't preaching the gospel. We want the money to all go to evangelism. Oh, yeah. Do you see a contradiction in what Jesus is saying and what they're saying? Did Jesus feed the hungry? Did He heal the sick? What about the thirst and all that? What was that woman at the well at John 4, what did He talk to her? It was about water and thirsting and all that. Jesus just sent and prepared a place for people who live in this world like me, like I lived in this world. There's a thing. We're in this world. He said, if you confess me before this wicked and adulterous generation, I'll confess you before the Father in heaven. But if you don't confess me, I won't confess you. In other words, we're a called out people. We're a separate people from this world. We're different. We belong to God. Here and now. Not in the by and by. We don't mix up in this world and you can't tell us from them. Here, and then all of a sudden, God's gonna call, the trumpet's gonna sound, and just certain ones are gonna come up, and all of a sudden, they're gonna be different. That is not how it is. If you're gonna live in heaven for eternity with God, you don't belong here now. You're a pilgrim and a stranger, and you're just passing through this wicked place, and you're not at home here, and you don't love this world. If you love the world, the love of the Father's not in you. If you're a friend of the world, you're an enemy of God in that sense. See, that's what the Bible says. This is the way God looks at it. He's looking for the people in this world who are standing for Him now in this world. And then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee, and the King, that capital K again? Shall I answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me. That's how he reckons the accounts. What can you take to heaven with you? What can you take to heaven that's honorable? Yeah, it's what you do for others. As unto the Lord. In the name of the Lord. Because you are of the Lord. Because God loved you. Because God saved you. Because God gave to you and took care of you. And you had mercy, the same mercy on others as God had on you. That's what you can take to heaven with you. That's what the rewards are going to be based upon. Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed into everlasting fire. prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was in hunger and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you took me not in. Naked and you clothed me. Sick and you clothed me not. And sick and in prison and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger, or thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee, Then he shall answer them saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not unto one of the least of these, you did it not unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous unto life eternal." Did Jesus ever meet a person he didn't have mercy and compassion on? No. Have you met a person that you have not had mercy and compassion on? That's what he said right there. One. One. I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it, not to one of the least of these. You did it not unto me. Man, boy, that's tightening it up pretty narrow, ain't it? Better be careful to entertain strangers. Better be careful how you treat people. Better be careful what you withhold because you think you're smart. You can be sure of the fact that every act of kindness, every time you give to help, every time you suffer for the sake of others or for the kingdom of God, you can be sure of the fact that God's keeping accounts and you will not lose your reward. It's going to heaven with you. Oh, there's so much more I'd like to say right there. But Hebrews 6.10, I said this a while ago, but it says, For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. While the world is full of evil, and always has been, there's always been a lot of good going on also. It just doesn't get the press or the attention that sin does in this sin-cursed world. But God is taking notice of it. God notices the good. God notices the motive behind it also. Alright, now, let's take here a minute. This is what the scene will look like at the beginning of the eternal day in heaven. You want to know what it's going to be like? After New Jerusalem descends down and God's people come in and they're looking at His face. You know what it's going to be like? Revelation 7, verses 9 through 17. After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude. which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands and cried with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. We're going to be overcome with God. It's going to be one of those things you ever get in a situation where you just can't believe it. You just can't believe you're there. You can't believe what's going on. It's just so much better than you ever anticipated that you just can't believe it. This must be a dream. But it's real. Wonder how long? Well, we don't know because time will be no more. So we're not going to measure things that way anymore. It's not going to be days. It's eternal day. Ain't no tomorrow. Ain't no yesterday. There's not days, weeks, months, years. Time is no more. There we go again. We're over our head. We can't understand that. We can't explain that to ourselves. God can explain it to us, except just take my word, time will be no more. Don't have to worry about it. Elizabeth, that ought to be good news for you and your mom. Don't have to worry about them clocks. Her clock, your clock still stopped? No, I think so. Okay. Well, all the angels saying amen. And one of the elders answered saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes? I think that's interesting. Come on, elders, around the throne, ask John, because he's looking on this, getting a sneak peek. The only man who got to see this and live to tell about it. And then, you know, at one point God said, don't write that down. He knew something that he didn't pass on to us. Paul knew something. God said, no, don't tell him that. Held out on us for now. But why did he look at John and say, who are these people? He said, Sir, and I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Now, a lot of people who've got it all figured out, and they just got it all dissected and they know, they say these are the people who got saved during the Great Tribulation. Well, it doesn't say the Great Tribulation. These people came out of Great Tribulation. You know how many people of God have had to be martyred through all of the centuries and millennia? How they've always been treated, read Hebrews 11. Sawn asunder. Stoned. And others, cruel mockings and beatings and Yeah, it's the same people. There's not separate groups of us up there that, you know, have our own place in heaven. Don't you understand? It's gone! The evil is gone and God's people of all ages are with God now. After the great white throne, that's the way it is. Revelation is very mixed up in chronological, there's no chronological order in Revelation. You don't start chapter 1 and that's the sequence of events. It doesn't work that way. God made it all mysterious. So we wouldn't think we were so smart and had it all figured out. And even doing that, you still got all these knuckleheads that think they can read it and figure it all out and teach people that way. And all it is is the devil confusing people and causing them to live carelessly because they're not looking for him to come. And I think there's a dozen ways out of all of this for them to make it to heaven without having to be righteous in this life or good to other people. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. Let me hurry. A multitude so great that no man could number. Well, can't even count them. No man could number this multitude. Did you ever see 10,000 people all together at one time? Did you ever see 100,000 people together at one time? How about a million people together at one time? You can count them. I mean, if they'd stand still, you can count them. One, two, three. Take a little time. Here, no man could number this multitude. From where we are right now today, this evening, we ought to look at this and consider how large that multitude is that went into eternal darkness. and try to picture them in their situation while this is going on in heaven. I'm not saying when we're in heaven in that situation we ought to think about this. No, we're not going to know. I don't think we're going to. I think when God wipes away all the tears from our eyes, somehow that's going to disappear. But now we know. Now, I'm saying right now, this evening, we ought to consider while this great multitude that no man could number, they're the few that found it. You understand what I'm saying to you? Consider that. If it's a multitude that no man could number that are the few that were saved, what's that multitude in hell like? Let's cast into outer darkness, into the lake of fire. What is that multitude like? Might as well wait until it gets done. We need to remember them now because at this point we will not remember them anymore. Revelation 21 verse 4, God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes for the former things are passed away. There you go. Pray for them now. Treat them with kindness now. Reach out to them now. Now is our only opportunity. Jesus said, we've got to work while it's day, for the night cometh when no man can work. He said, don't look on the field and say the harvest comes. He said, I tell you, the fields are white unto harvest now. The multitude in heaven is made up of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. How could there be anyone there who hated others because of their nationality or race or the people they were associated with? How could there be anybody there that harbored that kind of feelings and treated people according to that? There couldn't be. How could they be there? They wouldn't fit in at all. Answers they won't be. God's people all love one another here and now. That's how you know they're Christ's disciples. And in heaven it'll be like a great reunion full of love and rejoicing. Yes, yes, yes. Hallelujah. There'll be no separation by age or gender or marital status either. like churches do. You go in most churches, you go through the door, and you're filtered out according to age, gender, and marital status, and that's where you go to your separate classes to learn your lessons. There'll be one great service forever. Think about that. It won't be like it is here tonight. Wish he'd hurry up. I'm going to get home and eat that grilled cheese sandwich." It ain't going to be like that. Ain't going to be nothing on her mind except God. It's going to be so overwhelming. We've got to have a new body to be able to experience it. Brother Earl always said, I'm going to have a new body someday, a glorified body that will never decay. He said, I'll sing and I'll shout and I'll never wear out. Praise God, I'm going to have a new body someday. He was right. And he rejoiced about it. And he sang about it for years. And he believed it. He's experiencing it now. They're wearing white robes and they have palms in their hands. Nothing but righteousness, peace, love, and goodwill toward all. Ain't no grudges, ain't no frustration, no anger, no transgression against one another. None of that. Where does that get taken out of us? There or here? There used to be a sign over there at Greenville on the highway. It said, Welcome to Greenville. Population 420-something. I don't remember what it was. It said, one old grouch. That's what it said. Four hundred and so-and-so and one old grouch. Now, heaven ain't going to have no sign like that. There ain't going to be no old grouch in heaven. Some of you might remember that. The reason is very clear. They're all totally enraptured at the sight of and in the presence of the Lamb of God. You got enough to think about for eternity while you're looking at the Lamb of God and living in His presence? How much do you know about Him? How much do you know about what He said and did while He walked this earth for 33 years? He said, depart from me ye that work in equity, for I never knew you. Do you know him? I mean, do you know him? When you see him, when you're in his presence, are you going to know him? I mean, you got anything ahead of you? You're not going to get there and then start getting to know him. I'm trying to communicate something that's beyond communicating. Revelation 7 verse 10 says, And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels in heaven are so overwhelmed at this sight that they fall down and worship God, and extol what He's done in redeeming the multitude, this multitude, out of that sinful world. It's going to be a wonder, the wonder of wonders, that God reaped out of this mess of humanity, this mess of wickedness, all this multitude, this innumerable. God saved them, redeemed them, regenerated them, renewed them, sanctified them, led them through the wilderness of this world, this sinful world. and brought them to the point where they could be in His presence forever. It's a song angels... What was that song we used to sing? Yeah, a song holy angels cannot sing. One of the scriptures says it's the things that the angels desire to look into. They don't know. All they know is this is really I mean, God created the universe, but this is bigger than that. This is a greater work than that. It took more power, it took more of everything that God is to do this than it was to say, let there be light. Can you all get a hold of that? It's the greatest thing that has ever happened, ever will happen. I want to read a few more scriptures and we'll get going here. Revelation 7-11, and all the angels stood around about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God. It's very plain now to everyone there that God knew exactly what He was doing through 6,000 years of history while sin ravaged this world. They understand now what He was doing. We'll understand far better what he was doing when we see the completion of it. Revelation 7, 12 saying, Amen. Blessing and honor and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. One of the elders asked of John who these people were. Like we said, Revelation 7 verse 13. One of the elders answered saying to me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they? John knows who they are because he's one of them. And answers with this, he said, and I said unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Next verse, therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. Do you ever read these scriptures in Revelation? Have you ever read that and realized that somewhere in that crowd is me? That John saw, I was there. John saw what's gonna be, and I was in that crowd. You ever thought that? Are you headed there today? Do you know for sure? Do you trust in vain things or entertain a hope for heaven that you don't really possess? As things went on in Baptist churches for years, you noticed, I don't do this. How many of you know for sure and certain, for a Bible reason tonight, that you're going to go to heaven when you die? Would you raise your hands in there? Of course, everybody raises their hands. How you not going to raise your hand? Because if you don't raise your hand, they see it. Bing! There's one right there. There's another one over there. Then they focus in on you. Don't really do any good. You want to go to heaven when you die? Everybody does. Would you, would you, If I could tell you how you could know for sure that you could go to heaven when you die, would you consider it? Everybody wants to go to heaven when they die. What must I do to be saved? Well, pray this prayer. Repeat after me. Well, you're too bashful. I'll pray it, and you just nod your head when I get done. That'll work. You ever seen a soul winner do that? Yes, I have. Abominable, wickedness. If you really cared about souls and you really believed there's a heaven to go to, you wouldn't trifle with the souls of men like that. I've got to hurry here. Search your own heart. Let God search your heart. And be honest with yourself. Think of what's really at stake here with your soul's eternal destiny. Alright, I've got a few verses. I'm done. Revelation 21 verse 8. They're kind of negative. But the fearful and the unbelieving. Well, there's a lot of preaching right there. Fearful. Verse 1. Not going in. The fearful. Gary preached on a fair Wednesday night. Did a good job of hashing that right out. Fear. It's got to go. How can you fear? We sang that song out of the books. Ron Hamilton wrote that song. How can I fear? Jesus is near. He ever cares. Watches and cares for me. That's faith. That's the real deal. Fearful. You fearful? You're not familiar with Jesus. He's not close. You don't trust him. And unbelieving in the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Everybody ain't going to heaven. There's some specific ones named right there. Not going in. And people keep on lying. And people keep on doing all of these things. And think they're going to heaven. Revelation 21 verse 27, And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. You know, they're pretty strict on you when you get on an airplane, ain't they? Yeah. I mean, they check you all over. You better not have something, you know, or you get culled out, and then they do all this other stuff to you to figure out what's wrong with you and why you ain't getting on this airplane. I flew to Mexico one time, and I, well, I come home from Mexico on an airplane, and I brought a molino. It was a grinder to grind up corn to make tamales with, you know, and it was a great big old iron thing, and it went through the scanner. They went, beep, you know. They said, what is this? I said, well, I was in Mexico, so I told them it's a molino patty. I said, have tamales? They said, oh, you make tamales? And I said, yeah, my wife does. They said, ah, they let me go. But boy, they're stricter now than they were back then. Heaven's a lot tighter than that. Don't you think any sin or anything that defiles is going to slip through those gates? No way. God's in control. Revelation 22 verse 11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. That verse speaks very clearly about the fact that when you pass through death or the coming of the Lord, Your moral, spiritual state is fixed forever. It's frozen right there. Revelation 22 verse 15, for without are dogs. You think that's bow wow dogs? You think that's the proof, the verse that proves that dogs don't go to heaven? It's amazing these preachers can't answer that question. I don't believe it's Bow Wow Dogs. And sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. They're without, not within. Revelation 22 verse 19, And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. That's it. Is heaven real? Is heaven real? How far is it to heaven? Is it millions of light years away? It's a heartbeat, a breath, a split second away. That's how far it is. You're not going to travel, travel, travel to get there. It's just like that. And then we live as if, so carelessly, as if it's just blindly. Are you ready? Do you know you're going there? Why do you think you're going there? Do you really? Are you comfortable in your soul that Jesus is going to point at you and say, come thou blessed of my Father? You, you. So you have peace in your heart about that. You really do. You're just comfortable knowing that Jesus is going to embrace you and say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. See, we're pretty far away, aren't we? We're not near as ready as we think we are. There's an old saying that used to say, he's so heavenly minded that he's no earthly good. Well, some carnal person without understanding said that. That come from a carnal mind. That didn't come from a spiritual mind. You can't get too heavenly minded. How could you? When we're an instant away from being there, how could you be too heavenly minded? It's what I've kind of thought all through the years. I just don't believe that the Lord's going to say you took it too far. You just made too much of it. I meant for you to stay there and have a good time, enjoy the things of the world." I can't imagine the Lord saying that. He expects us to stand for Him now because of what He's got prepared for us there. And the fact is, it's only prepared for those who stand for Him here now. You're ashamed of me in this sinful generation. I'll be ashamed of you before the Father. How do you feel about somebody you love, whether it's family or friends, just like here? What if you'd find out that one of the other people in the church was out there just talking about you so bad to other people? They weren't taking up for you. They were listening to the evil things that other people said about you that weren't true. How would you feel about them? Well, how do you think God feels when He sees us doing the same thing to Him here in this world? When we won't stand for Him, when we won't speak up for Him, when we let other people say things about Him that are not true and we just don't say them or we agree with them. I don't believe we're ready to stand before him when it's like that. Got to quit. That's the pitifulest sermon I ever heard on hell. Well, maybe. Maybe. But there's got to be a contrast. Heaven. Did I say hell? Yeah. Say I got to quit. You don't know what hot is unless you know what cold is. You don't know where up's at if you don't know where down's at. You don't know where north's at if you don't know where south's at. It's that way. You've got to have the contrast. Amen. That's the way it is. Be ready for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh. Be ready. Are you ready? Well, I sure hope you are. It sure would be alright if we could have our next meeting in heaven. All of us together. Everybody there. Yeah, they can do whatever they want to with it. Couldn't care less. It's what we live for. It's what we look forward to. It's our hope. Father, thank you, Lord, for the blessings that you promised us, who are yours. Lord, help us to be real. Help us, Lord, to be available to you as a vessel of mercy that you can use to extend your hand and your mercy to other people so that they don't perish in the devil's hell. Please help us as a church together, and each one of us individually, be an ambassador for Christ that makes a difference here in this world. Lord, I sure pray and hope that when we get to heaven, there will be souls there that are there because somehow we had a part in it. And Lord, that's all that matters. We don't need anything else. We don't expect anything else. Lord, we just want to be used by you to extend the message of the gospel to people that will receive it and be saved. Lord, I pray for every soul in here, please work in hearts. Lord, I pray that it would not be taken lightly. Oh, Spirit of God, I pray you'd convict and convince those who are not ready and that they would not be able to sleep until they got it right and were ready. We look for you to come soon. We long for you to come soon. We long to be with you where you are. So, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. We love you. Watch over everybody, I pray, as we go home. Answer these prayers that are so needful this week, people in need. Thank you again for the Good Lord's Day, in Jesus' name. Amen.