The series this weekend will be titled, The Hope of Heaven. The Hope of Heaven. And it is my goal, it is my prayer, it has been my prayer in the many weeks leading up to this very moment, that we would gain greater hope for heaven. And that that hope of heaven would change our lives now. In order to gain greater hope in heaven, we've got to lose hope in this world. In order to gain greater hope in heaven, we've got to let loose of the things in this world that we are hoping in for our joy, for our peace, for our satisfaction, for our future. We must redefine what it is to be successful in life, with heaven in view, with eternity in view, and set aside What is temporal success? Set aside what is meaningless, empty, without value or worth if we should miss heaven, or if those around us that we live oh-so-near should miss heaven. If we do not make it to heaven, if God's providence, in His providence, the people around us that He has placed there for us to witness to, If they do not make it to heaven, then our lives are misspent. And we will have great regret for all of the things that we misspent them on. And so the hope of heaven should radically change how we live. The hope of heaven should give us an abiding joy. Oh, winds and waves will come, but we'll have an abiding joy through it. Oh, there are times of sadness, yes, in this world. And still we can have joy in the midst of sadness, because our hope is secure. Our salvation is certain. and our home is already prepared by the Lord Jesus Christ who went before us to prepare it. The hope of heaven will move us to move others to hope on heaven. The hope of heaven will move us to call others to put down the fool's gold that glitters so brightly under this world's sun, but will be seen for what it is in the world to come in the presence of the Son of glory, Jesus Christ. In the presence of Jesus, the Son of God, the fool's gold that this world offers does not glitter. It is seen for what it is. It is dumb. It is filth. It is worthless and worse than worthless. It is vile. And its weight, oh, so far from giving it greater value, draws you down, even to destruction. And so our hope of heaven, as it increases, will translate into a passion that others would hope on heaven, and cease to hope in other things that are passing away. The hope of heaven. Our text is Revelation 21, this evening. and verse 1. This is the premier text on heaven. And I hope to expound this text on heaven effectively and also to springboard from this text and to look into many other texts regarding our heavenly abode, our heavenly home in which we will dwell forever, we who are in Christ Jesus. There are a great many passages that I could preach this weekend, but this is THE passage, and it will serve to move us to appropriate, joyful, glad hope. Let's read together. Revelation 21-1. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. also there was no more sea. I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, also there was no more sea." Heaven is a new place. The first point, and likely the only point this evening, Heaven is a new place. It is a new place. It is distinct from this place. It is utterly new. I saw a new heaven and a new earth." A heaven in this context, the new heaven that John speaks of, he is looking out at the cosmos and all that is in it. And it is all new. He looks upon the earth and all that is in it, and it is all new, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away." And so the point, heaven is a new place, is just that. Heaven is not off in the heavens, in the final, eternal sense. The eternal heaven in which we think of and we are to long for and look ahead unto, the eternal heavenly abode, is a place, a new place. Now that is not to say that the current, intermediate heavenly abode is not a place. There most certainly is a place where the Lord Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, even now interceding on our behalf. There most certainly is a place where Stephen, the first martyr, was received to as the Lord Jesus stood up from the throne to receive His martyr as He preached the gospel faithfully to the Jews who stoned Him to death for it. Yet it is a spiritual realm. The intermediate state, the intermediate heaven, is a spiritual realm. The body of Stephen is yet in the grave. In this new place, it is again a physical realm. God recreates the heavens, the cosmos, and the earth in it. And heaven comes down to earth. It is a literal, physical place. a tangible place. We will not float forever on cloud-storming hearths. That is not heaven. The eternal heavenly abode is a new place, a place where we will be together with God forever. I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. There are some that teach that God reforms, that God restores the cosmos and especially the earth, it having been damaged by sinners such as you and I. I do not believe the scriptures reflect that. I do not believe this passage alone reflects that. As John plainly says, a new heaven and a new earth. I think it's best to take it in its plain sense. Now those that hold to a restored heaven and earth, I don't think this is heresy. I don't think they will be damned and never see heaven for holding such a position. But I see it quite plainly, a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth that passed away. So we hear it first in the positive, it is a new heaven and a new earth. And then we hear it in the negative, the first heavens and the first earth that passed away. They are gone. They have passed away. they are done with. And also there was no more sea, just an aside. No more sea! And I wonder why that is. I cannot answer exactly, except to say perhaps for the great number of inhabitants for the earth, perhaps for ease of travel on the earth, for we will be bodily on the earth. is a new place, is a new earth, a new heaven, a new earth, the first heaven, the first earth had passed away. As we look at this point tonight, and as we look at the points ahead in Revelation 21, I would have you not just gain points, not just gain bits of knowledge about the heavenly above, I would have you foremost to gain passion, not poise. Passion that you would be in the heavenly abode. Passion that you would be with God forever in heaven as a child of God. Passion that you would not, not be under God's wrath, but be under His love in the new earth, in which there is That's a detail. That's a point. But may we gain passions more than points. I came across this illustration where another man comes to a brother after a sermon. He says, fine sermon, wasn't it? Asked one of Farmer Peter's friends, referring to a scholarly discourse with which the congregation had been favored that morning by a city preacher. Maybe he returned Farmer Peter, maybe. Why persisted the first speaker? That man knows more about the Bible and has made a deeper study of biblical history and geography than almost any other minister in the country. Has he now? Inquired Farmer Peter mildly. Well then, I reckon that the trouble must have been with me. You see, I calculated I should hear something about the way to heaven. And I only learned the way from Jerusalem to Jericho. I don't want to give you a lot of facts about heaven. I haven't tried to plumb the depths of the Bible and get every singular fact about heaven. I have not in any way tried to plumb the depths of my imagination to try to give you ideas built upon the facts that are given about what heaven might be like. There are others. that I've done so, and I'm sure they will exceed anything that I can do in that regard. My chief goal is that you would gain a passion for heaven, a desire for heaven, a hope of heaven. In fact, as I come to the scriptures, I don't find As a student of the Scriptures, I don't find that God deliberately gave us a checklist of details to give us as much information as possible about our eternal heavenly home. He did give us information, oh yes, and I don't plan to disregard that. But He speaks about heaven in such terms through His prophets, through His apostles, through the authors of Scripture, in terms of really shock and awe. And that would be my hope, that you would be moved to shock and awe, a holy reference, that you would be put back on your heels by the glories of heaven. We have such powerful tools to move our imaginations in the form of movies, in the form of video games, in the form of even music with instruments today. sounds that truly are awesome to listen to, sights and scenes that are awesome to behold, so much so that we can come to the scripture on any subject and see it kind of as plain. It's just written word on a page. I pray to God, in this environment, this is a great environment up here at the camp, an environment in which we can put off those distractions. those tools that can be useful tools, can be a blessing, but in so many ways can distract us from the glories of God contained in Holy Scripture. And there's no greater glory than the glory of God contained in Scripture in Heaven where we will be with God forever. And so let's be like Farmer Peter a bit and be concerned about how we would get to Heaven and be concerned about a passion for heaven rather than a passion for the details of the path from Jerusalem to Jericho, or even exactly how to pronounce every precious stone that heaven is made up of. I'll give it an attempt, but we'll see in the days ahead. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven, the first earth that passed away, and also there was no more seed." Heaven is a new place. It's new. The earth had passed away. How much of your life is spent building toward your new home? How much of your life is spent considering and planning and preparing for your new and eternal home? that new place where you will be forever. Compared to the time, the energy, the fretting, the worrying, the crying, the stressing over this home that is most certainly passing away. Just consider that. In our very first verse, A new heavens and a new earth. Why? Because the first heavens and the first earth had passed away. Passed away. It's all gone. Here's another thought. However much we who live near the coast enjoy the coast, well, in heaven there's no coast. So while we're at the coast enjoying the coast, we had better cultivate a heart to enjoy God at the coast. Because in heaven there will be God. However much we enjoy our current home, when I speak of that, I'm speaking of the entirety of our lives in this world, in this earth. But think of even your physical home, your physical employment, your family, and all that's in this world that you involve yourself with. However much we enjoy that, let us enjoy it in the context of the worship and service of God. bringing it all to that end, that it all would be for the worship and service of God and for the blessing of others around us. And it's only those people in your workplace, it's only those people that are your neighbors, it's only those people that are your friends and relatives that have a hope of being part of that new heaven and new earth. And so that's where our primary focus should be. Oh, how we can labor in gardens. Oh, how we can labor in careers to get the most we can possibly get out of a career, to get the most we can possibly get out of a garden, to get the most we can possibly get out of a video game, out of a movie series, out of a television series, out of a book series. That is labor. for the kingdom to come, for the new heaven, for the new earth, that those around us would begin even now to get the most of that, even now, and that we might get the most of them as much as it is up to us, that we would have no blood on our hands, that we might get the most of them by being faithful witnesses into that glorious abode with us. God is utterly sovereign. Oh, yes, He is. But in His sovereignty He condescends to use you and I with a great hope of heaven, such a great hope that we cannot sit idly by while others around us do not have the hope, with a certain hope of a new heaven and a new earth, and a certain understanding that the first heaven and the first earth are passing away. And so when we see people living and dying for the first heaven and the first earth with no care, for eternal heaven. No hope of entering into the eternal heaven by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. When we see that, we cannot sit idly by. For we are moved, moved out of the love of God, that sinners would become saints and worshipers of God with us, now and forever. That they would become part of the great heavenly host, A new earth, for the first heaven and first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea." Spurgeon said on this, "'Heaven is a state,' says somebody. "'Yes, certainly it is a state,' says Spurgeon, "'but it is a place, too. And in the future it will be more distinctly a place.'" Some say heaven is a state, a state of mind. It's a state of emotion, a state of bliss. And this is more and more popular amongst the emergent movement today, that heaven is a state. I've heard multiple emergents say such things as, where is heaven? You can tell me, where is the place called heaven? And the answer is this, I don't know where the place is. But I know there is a place called heaven where God is, and where all of those in Christ are with Him, and where all of those in Christ will go to be with Him when they die. I don't know where it is. I mean, there are cities on this earth that I don't know the location of. And so to say, I don't know the location of heaven is not a shock. There certainly are planets that I do not currently, right now, know the location of in our own little solar system. And to say that I don't know where Heaven is located is not a great shock. God knows where it is located. He is there. And He will bring its location to this location in the New Earth one day yet to come. Yes, certainly it is a state, but a place, too, and in the future will be more distinctly a place. It is a place now, a spiritual place, and yet it will be a physical place in the full sense. But even as I say it's a spiritual place, the Lord Jesus inhabits a physical body in that spiritual place. The Scriptures speak of a heavenly temple in that spiritual place as if it is physical, and so I do not doubt that it is physical in that spiritual place even now. All that I know for certain that is spirit in that intermediate heaven right now are the saints of God that have died. For the resurrection has not yet come, the bodily resurrection. And so they are there in spirit. Second to that, God the Father is spirit. He has not manifested Himself in flesh. Third, the Holy Spirit indeed, as well. But there is much talk in the Bible about even in that intermediate heaven in having physicality, in having tangible stuff. And the Lord Jesus most certainly is tangible. As He rose again, He had men come and touch Him. And He aids. Repeatedly, actually. As I mentioned, the emergent thinkers, and that is somewhat of an oxymoron, the emergent thinkers are apt to say that we think too much of heaven as a place, and they don't deny it to most of them outright, but they question it, and then they go beyond to say that we focus too much on heaven altogether. What we need to focus on is the earth even now. We need to focus on here and now, and make earth a heaven, and Jesus came to make earth like heaven, to make earth a heavenly place. That's why Jesus came, and we need to strive toward that end. We think too much in the terms of hell and heaven, We think too much on these eternal perspectives as Christians. Presently and historically, the emergents say, we think far too little about making earth more heavenly now. And I challenge our emergent thinkers to stop thinking outside of scripture and to bring their thinking beneath the Word of God. For the Word of God is all about the eternal abode, heaven. The Word of God is all about saving sinners from hell to heaven forever. to be with God forever in the new heavens and the new earth, a physical, literal place, where we will abide forever in resurrected bodies. May they submit their thinking to holy scripture. In Isaiah 65, verse 17 it says, 17 For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create." Now here is a point, a point that I do want to deal with. The first point, new heavens and new earth. This is not new to Revelation 21. This is a consistent testimony through Scripture. Isaiah the prophet declared long before John, about 700 years before, I create a new heavens and new earth, thus saith the Lord. The former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind." That's a point I want to deal with. I believe there's a misconception, a misapplication based upon this text. I think what this means is that in the glory of the new heavens and new earth, the old will not come to mind. I don't think it means we'll have no memory of Christ redeeming us from our sins. Just the fact that in heaven, even now, Revelation tells us, the Lord Jesus, the intermediate heaven, the Lord Jesus has the marks of His crucifixion upon Himself. The Lord Jesus is forever looking as the Lamb who was slain and resurrected on the third day. And so the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind. I believe that our former life, the life we live now, that will be history when we are in heaven with God, that life has value, for it glorifies God in His abundant mercy. The drama of redemption that history now is recording in your life and mine, that drama has value for the glory of God. testimony certainly in scripture of saints being in heaven now with a complete understanding of what took place in the world behind them. They do not have heavenly amnesia. But they remember they were martyred. They remember other people who are living. Yes. And so I do not like the greater body of scripture that will not remember anything before we enter heaven's gates, anything that happened before that point. Verse 18, But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. Twice he opens with, in Isaiah 65, 17, I create a new heaven and a new earth. And then in 18a, he says, Be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. It's a creative act. It doesn't seem to in any way be a restoration, polishing up, fixing up. It's a new creation. And again, I must address the emergent movement, because the emergent movement is about making heaven on earth now. The emergent movement is about green, green, everyone getting green, and everyone conserved, and everyone being, oh, so careful with this world which God has given us. And hear me, we need to be responsible, responsible users of what God has given for us to use for His glory. By all means, let us chop down trees and make books and paper. But let us replant trees. By all means, let us hunt critters for food, because God said they're good to eat. And I, in fact, find that God's word is true. They're tasty. You do know that PETA stands for People Eating Tasty Animals. And that is biblical. and yet our emergence with an all-new morality are bringing Christianity in line with PETA and becoming radical, green-minded Christians, placing the salvation of this globe above the salvation of all sinners' souls. Because remember, it's not all about saving some from hell to heaven. Rather, it's all about making the world a more heavenly place now. That's emergent thinking, and it's dangerous, dangerous. What I find in scripture is, I create a new heaven and a new earth. Be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. Hear me! This world, while we should be responsible users of it, God has given us to use it, to tend it, to keep it. Oh yes, responsible and wise. Yet the resources are here to use. Let's not fear using up the oil. We use up the oil the Lord has granted for our use. We'll figure out something else. Should we use it wisely? Yes. Should we begin now? Certainly. Let's not fear. Hear me. Let's not fear a great asteroid hitting the earth and wiping out life as we know it. Daniel has already revealed that there is a great asteroid, if you will. The Rock, Jesus Christ, the Rock Kingdom is coming. and he will wipe out all those that have not bent their knee and confessed to his Lord. The Lord holds the whole world in his hands. We are not going to devastate the globe, even with nuclear holocaust, except the Lord allows it. Should we be flippant? Oh, no. But we make too much of our abilities. We make too much of our responsibility for the ecosystem of the Earth, where God has handled it just fine for a long time. And in the Bible, it seems that God has handled it just fine to the end. Should we fear global warming? Well, firstly, they would have to prove scientifically that it's actually happening. Secondly, if it is happening, they would have to prove that it's a cycle. Third, if it is happening, God is allowing it to happen, and we do not fear it. This world will pass away. We're not going to ruin the habitat for the citizens of Earth a thousand years from now. The Bible has told us how it ends. The issue is how individual lives end. Do they end under the grace of God or the certain hope of heaven? or to the end outside the grace of God, with a certain destination and destruction under God's wrath. That is the main issue. I create a new earth, be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. This new morality that focuses on the kingdom now, the world now, over and above, the kingdom to come, is not the morality of the Bible. It is not the passion of the Bible. It is not the premier thrust of the Bible. Let us be responsible citizens, oh yes, but let us guard our consciences that they would not become overly provoked by minor issues and not be nearly provoked enough by the issue. The center has been saved in going to heaven. Isaiah 66.22 says, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your descendants in your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from the new moon to another, from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come and worship before me, says the LORD." As the new heavens and new earth. Again, new, new. The Lord does not stutter. If He is going to make something new, He says, New! And He says it repeatedly. Which I will make. Make. He says nothing of reform, nothing of retool, nothing of repolish, reestablish. He says it's new. He says He shall make it. And He says, All flesh shall come and worship before Me, says the Lord. All flesh in the new earth. All flesh shall come and worship before Him. In the new earth you and I will have flesh, and we will go and worship before God therein." In 2 Peter, it speaks of scoffers in chapter 3, denying the Holy Creator God, denying that He ever created in the first place, denying that He brought the worldwide flood of judgment, and denying that He will bring a great fiery judgment at the end of the age. These scholars deny all these things. But in 2 Peter 3, verse 7, it says that the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same Word, are reserved for fire. The heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same Word, the same Word that spoke the cosmos into existence, the same Word that brought the flood to wipe out humanity in a judgment of God, the same Word will bring a fire. for this world. The heavens and the earth are now preserved by the same word. They are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Reserved for fire. The gluons of all creation will be let loose. At an atomic level, all that is will be let loose in a great atomic blast. That's what the scriptures depict. Not because someone in the White House or someone in the Kremlin had a finger too close to a red button, but because God, at the end of the age, after the last elect man or woman is saved, is going to bring about final judgment and do away with the heavens and the earth and make a new heavens and earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3.8 But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness. He is not slack concerning His promise to bring judgment through fire again. But He is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The Lord is longsuffering toward us, He is long-suffering toward those who are saved. That's the immediate us in the context. He is long-suffering toward those that will be saved. Peter's epistle is written to the elect amongst the dispersion, the pilgrims. The elect, it says. And all of the elect will be saved. And God is long-suffering toward all of those who will yet be saved. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And when the last one whom He has predestined, whom He has chosen, whom He has elected, and whom He is calling to Himself, when that last one on God's timetable comes to repentance and faith, the end will come." Verse 10, But the day of the Lord becomes a thief in the night. in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." Consumed. Consumed. Burned up. The heavens pass away. The elements melt. The heavens and the earth burned up. The terminology in Scripture used by God is consistent with absolute destruction, not with reformation. This consistent teaching, this consistent warning should move us to hold loosely all of this that is around us, that is passing away. 11. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in holy conduct and godliness? looking for the hastening of the coming day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat." It's really not a question. They will be dissolved. They will be on fire. The elements will melt with the fervent heat. Therefore, how should we then live. What manner of persons ought we to be in holy conduct and godliness? Let us not get caught up in things that are passing away. Let us not live for the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, but live with an eternal perspective. Live with the hope of the new heavens and the new earth, in which only righteousness dwells. In the previous chapter, we're in Revelation 21. In the previous chapter, Revelation 20, verse 11, it says, 11 And I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was found no place for them. It's the great white throne judgment. What precedes the great white throne judgment? The heavens and the earth fleeing away. They are dissolved. They are undone. and there is no place to hide. The souls of men are made barren and brought before Christ, and they are judged." And then Revelation 21.1, "...a new heavens and a new earth, for the old had passed away." It is consistent throughout scripture. It is a consistent message in Revelation delivered by John. "...a new heavens and a new earth, means new bodies. I've already mentioned it to you. I'm sure many of you or all of you are aware to one level or another. But let's get a growing conviction of this because that too will help us let loose, perhaps, of this world and this body that we are so very attached to with good reason. This is our earthly abode, is it not? The abode you look at in the mirror? It's natural that we would get attached to it, but what we want is supernatural. We want to get attached to heaven. We want to hold loosely to this vessel, for it is passing away. In Job 19.25, Job says, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. So he starts with this. My Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. And His Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, He who died and rose again. His Redeemer lives, and He shall stand on the earth. and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God." After my skin is destroyed. And so I'm going to die, I'm going to the grave, and I'm going to be resurrected. Because after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God. And so a resurrection is a necessity for that to take place. Job 19.27, Whom I shall see with my eyes in my flesh, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another." And so Job, perhaps the oldest book in the Bible, and Job the individual, speaks of his Redeemer living. And on that foundation he knows that his skin will be destroyed, but yet in his flesh he shall see God. And that's what heaven is really about, is it not? we would see God. That's what the new place is about. It's a place where you, in your flesh, will see God. Not with the eyes of another, but your eyes, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My eyes, says Job. Your eyes. Get a hold of that. Your eyes shall behold. And I pray that your eyes will behold now, now the God of heaven. Now the glory of heaven. And therefore your eyes will behold now the tarnished world that you live in. And so you will not spend your life, misspend your life, trying to perpetuate forever a tarnished world. And hear me, so that you will not forever spend your life trying to perpetuate life in tarnished, sinful people. Your life's work is grossly misspent as you try to encourage and prop up, help out people who are already dead, sitting in trespass. If all you do is try to help them out, give them a helping hand, encourage them on the way, you're helping them down the road to destruction. You're encouraging them on the way to damnation. If you don't call them to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you in no way have helped them. For they will yet perish, and all that their life is will perish. All of their life's works, all of their efforts, all that they are, perish. And so let us not be distracted, rather agree with Job, that our Redeemer lives. This flesh, it will die. But because we have a Redeemer, we will live and see Him and dwell with Him. But those who do not have a Redeemer, they will die. Their flesh will be destroyed. And they will be resurrected also, but not unto life, but not unto life abundant in Christ. In Daniel 12.2, It says, And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life. Praise God. Some will awake to everlasting life. Now this is a point, let me address a point here called soul sleep. Now this is a text that some misuse to justify soul sleep. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake in some to everlasting life. We must interpret Scripture with Scripture. If this was the only Scripture that spoke, to the afterlife, perhaps we'd say, okay, there must be soul sleep. But because there are so many scriptures that speak to this effect, to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord, because there are explicit scriptures that talk about people even now who are absent from the body and present with the Lord in heaven or in hell. We know that that's not how we are to understand this. So many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. And so bodily, their body is in the dust of the earth. From dust we came to dust we go. And some to everlasting life." Praise God. That's what heaven is. Everlasting life. Some. Some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Hear me, friends. The prophet is moved of God in the context of speaking of resurrection to life. He is moved to talk of those who are going to shine like stars forever and ever, because they have turned many to righteousness. If the topic of resurrection unto heaven, to be with God, moves Daniel, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to speak of this promise, that those who turn many to righteousness will shine like stars forever and ever, then you must understand that this weekend, that will be part of the hope of heaven that I am praying you will get ahold of, is that you will get a passion that others would hope in heaven, that you would get a passion to see souls saved to heaven, and that you might one day be those very ones Daniel here speaks of, shine like the stars forever and ever. Not for your glory, but it will glorify God who worked in you. And so some will be resurrected to life, though of a body fit for life, and some will be resurrected to shame and everlasting contempt, but all are resurrected. And my hope for each one of you is that you'll be in the resurrection of life, for everyone will be resurrected. and that you will go into the heavenly abode, you will go into the eternal state, and you will be like the brightness of the firmament, because you were wise in Christ. That you will be like the star, shining brilliant forever and ever, because you have turned many to righteousness." Notice he didn't say, because you were part of the local park clean-up group. Because you were part of the local Save Our Streams club. because you were part of the echo-friendly, new Christian emergent, cigar-smoking, beer-swinging club, meeting in the local pub. No, those who shine in heaven are those who turn many to righteousness, to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 5.28, it says, Do not marvel at this, This is Jesus speaking. The hour is coming in which all, all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life. All who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth. This is extinction. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life. Now how have you done good? How has anyone done good? Again, by grace, through faith, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then walking in the righteous works that He prepared beforehand, you should walk therein. Ephesians 2.10. You have no good works, they're all filthy rags, until you come repenting, confessing Christ as Lord, and have the Spirit of God now dwelling within you. Then, truly, you can have good works. And that's what Jesus here speaks of. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life. The resurrection of life. You have a new body, fit for heaven. A body that will never know death, nor the stages that precede death. And those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation, everyone will be resurrected. Those who have done good by grace through faith in Christ and dwelling power of the Holy Spirit, resurrection unto life. those who have done evil, and that's everybody else outside of Christ. Do you notice it comes down black and white, cut and dry, heaven and hell, over and over again in the scriptures, whether it's the prophet Daniel or whether it's the Lord Jesus. It's not about making earth a heavenly place. No. It's about sinners being saved and becoming citizens of heaven to come. Which, by the way, there is a byproduct of that. that around them at least, it will be a little more like heaven. But when you keep the main thing, the main thing, salvation of sinners, that's when you get a taste of heaven. When you make saving sinners in this world the main thing, then you just perpetuate the forces of darkness. You leave sinners in their sin, and the world stays a very hellish place a foretaste of hell to come. And so let us have the emphasis of Christ. He came to seek and to save the lost, save them to heaven. He came for sinners, that they would be saved. He died for sinners, that they would be saved. He was the first fruits, the first resurrected, that we would one day be resurrected in Him. It's all about salvation. It's all about the kingdom to come. It's all about heaven. A new place means new bodies. We will have bodies to dwell in heaven. A story, I read this last week. One of God's children, as he was entering life, entering heaven, turned to his Christian wife and daughter and said, Good night, my dear wife. We'll meet in the morning. Good night, daughter. The separation is but for a short while. Then he said to his unsaved son, Why ask the Son, did you say good-bye to me, and good-night to mother and sister? Well, Son, said the dying Father lovingly and tenderly, you through the years have rejected Christ. The saved and the unsaved have different destinies. The lost are eternally separated from God. And their loved ones who die in the Lord God's Spirit brought deep conviction of sin to the heart of the young son. Weepingly, he said, Dad, I here now receive Christ as my personal Savior, and we will not be separated in heaven to come. If we do not speak clearly about our hope of heaven, then others will not realize that they lack a hope of heaven. If we do not make the main thing the main thing and keep the main thing the main thing, salvation to heaven from hell, then those around us will think something like this, Well, that's nice for you, isn't it? 1 Corinthians 15.50 says this, Now this I say, brethren, this I say, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. The flesh and blood you now reside in cannot inherit the kingdom of God. It must, of necessity, die. It must be put off. Why? Because corruption does not inherit incorruption. You can't, with the corruption of sin that is in your body, enter into incorruption, the heavenly abode. You must put off this body of death. V. 51, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We shall all be changed. Some won't die. Some will be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible. Those that are in Christ will be raised incorruptible. At the end of the age, when the trumpet sounds, they will be raised, if they are in Christ, incorruptible, with bodies fit for heaven forevermore. And we shall be changed. 53 For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And so the body you will have is a body that lacks corruption in every way, foremost morally. But secondly, sin produces death. And so all the ways that death has come upon us due to sin, all that will be done away with. This mortal must put on immortality. Because of sin we are dying. all of humanity dying. You reside in a carcass. Literally. It is dying. Spiritually, you are already dead in sin and trespass outside of Christ, but even after being born again in Christ, you still suffer the curse of sin bodily. And you reside in a carcass that is under the judgment given in the Garden of Eden upon Adam and Eve. Praise God, at the end of the age the trumpet will sound, and mortality will put on immortality." This mortal must put on immortality. V. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? As you think of the new heaven and new earth where the former have passed away, as you think of the place, heaven is a new place, don't forget to think of the new body that God is going to give you for that place, a body that is not mortal but immortal, a body that is not corrupt but incorruptible. Don't forget that we have Victory even now. Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? There is no victory for death over you and I who are in Christ. There is no victory there. It has lost its sting. But hear me, do we live as those who know? As those who have the heavenly hope? So much so, that death has lost its sting? Do we live in abiding victory or do we live in abiding fear of death? An abiding fear of the disease that would lead to death. An abiding fear of the accident that would lead to death. An abiding fear of the grim reaper coming for us in the night. Death is swallowed up in victory O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Verse 56, the sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Are we living in a position of thanksgiving? Thanks be to God we have victory over sin and death. Thanks be to God we have a certain hope of heaven, which is a new place in which we will bodily dwell with resurrected bodies, mortal, immortal, corrupt, incorruptible. O death, where is your sting? 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Based upon that promise, based upon death having lost its sting, based upon a bodily resurrection, based on us being changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortal to immortal, from corruptible to incorruptible, based upon death being swallowed up in victory, therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, Immovable by the world and all that it bethroths. Immovable by trials and tribulations and threats. Immovable by disease and accident. Immovable. Be steadfast. Immovable. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. Don't count yourself out. If you breathed, you were to be abounding in the work of the Lord. There is no disease. There is no accident. past, present, or future that counts you out for the work of God, dear saints. When you live as those with a certain hope of glory, a certain hope of resurrection, a certain hope of a new place with a new body where you will live with God forever, then you have victory over all of that. And you show the world tangible evidence of that victory. You show the world the power of the resurrection even now. As you live lives that overcome disease, accident, death, steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Let me mention Bob Slively up here at camp. as the Snidely's have labored much up here. Bob Snidely, who with cancer was faithful week after week, winter, frigid nights, summer, hot, sweltering nights, faithful to be on the gospel road to see souls saved, faithful at the steps for life to see the lives of babies saved, to give a testimony to the city of Portland that babies are created by God and their lives are precious, having an infusion of chemotherapy the day before the steps for life, and yet donned his hat and his coat and walked with a balloon tied around that hat all through Portland to celebrate God as the author of life and conception. Bob Snively, who on his deathbed for many weeks met every visitor with joy and love, a testimony of Jesus Christ, a testimony of God's goodness, even as the cancer now formed in lumps all through his body visibly. Bob Snidely, who just got sweeter and more joyful and more glad, who just cared all the more for the people around him every conscious moment, loving the folks around him until the moment he took his last breath. with much love, much joy. And he went to be with his Maker. He went to glory. He went to heaven. Death had lost its victory over Bob, and it was a glorious testimony to all that knew him. And we live such lives, as Bob lived, a simple life. This world had lost its hold on Bob a long time ago. He was a pilgrim passing through, He didn't care much for life's goods here. He lived for Jesus. He sacrificed for Jesus. He left a career to go serve Jesus on the mission field. He served back here in the United States when he came home in occupations where he could somehow use the skills that he had for the kingdom of God, regardless of whatever economic reimbursement there would be for that. As long as it was sufficient to provide for their needs, that's where he was living and laboring. To serve Christ. He had gotten a hold of this certain hope of heaven. This certain hope of heaven had gotten a hold of him. And he was a great blessing to all that knew him. Be it real Boston, say Amen. Death has lost its sting. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. We live in an era of Christian victims. We live in an era where psychology has come through the door of the church and made us all victims instead of victors. We are victors in Christ! We have victory! And so often we live as the defeated. The hope of heaven should set us free! We're going to heaven! What could the world throw at us that would dent our heavenly armor? Nothing. And we keep our eyes fixed there. 1 Thessalonians 4 I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep. God doesn't want us ignorant. Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. Let us never be guilty of sorrowing as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, do you believe that, Christian? If you're a Christian, you believe that. He died and rose again. If we believe He died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. God will bring them with Him. For this we say to you, by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. therefore comfort one another with these words. A new place means new bodies fit for that place. Resurrection is a certainty. Those who have died before us in Christ shall be resurrected, and we shall be with them forever. Let us not sorrow as those who have no hope. But sorrow, yes, for our loss, Don't forget, for those who die in Christ, those who die with a certain hope of heaven in Christ, they feel no loss when they enter into heaven. They joyfully await those of us who are in Christ that will follow behind them. Let us not sorrow as those who have no hope. I do not want you to be ignorant. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Let's be comforted. There is a resurrection. Let's be comforted. Death has lost its sting. It's lost its hold. It's lost its power. We will live even though our flesh, our skin should rot. We shall live and see Him face to face and behold Him with our eyes. And those who have died before us in Christ shall as well. A new place means new bodies in that place with the Lord and with one another forever. The only question is, will those around us be in that place with new bodies because they're in Christ. Now a few more points and we'll close tonight. Here's some points. In heaven with that new body, you get to eat. You get to eat. You can't take the carcass with you, but the resurrected body, it has some of the same abilities. The Lord Jesus in Luke 22, 29, you may eat and drink at my table, And in my kingdom it is set on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. He says, I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed upon you, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. And so there's eating and drinking. I'm happy about that, frankly. Why? I enjoy it. Secondarily, I enjoy you. I enjoy eating and drinking with people. I really despise eating and drinking alone. I take much less joy in the food because there's no one to enjoy it with. It's such a wonderful joy, food, but it's a hundred times more wonderful to enjoy it with others. And in Heaven, we get to enjoy great banquets with the Lord Himself and all of His saints. Banquets untainted by sin. Banquets with restored taste buds. These taste buds in your mouth and mine are falling. What will we be able to taste in heaven? And what will the food taste like? Luke 24, 28, Jesus resurrected, eats with the men on the Emmaus Road. Verse 30, it says, Now He came to pass, and He sat at the table with them. He took bread and blessed and broke it, and He gave it to them. Luke 24, verse 40, When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet, hands, feet, bodily. And while they still did not believe for joy and marveled, He said to them, Have you any food here? So He gave them a piece of boiled fish and some honeycomb, and He took it and ate in their presence the Lord Jesus in His resurrected body. He, the firstfruits, will be following with them. We are going to have the same kind of body. He ate food. In Revelation 19, verse 7, It speaks of the great wedding feast. Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready, and to her it was granted to be arrayed and fine-linened and cleaned and bribed and fine-linened as the righteous acts of the saints. Then He said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. It's not just a wedding ceremony. There's food! This is good news. It's a great celebration. What would a marriage ceremony be without food? It's a great celebration. A great time of fellowship and feasting with the saints of God. In Revelation 2.7 it says, He who has an ear, then will hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. You will eat from the tree of life. will give you life, life abundant forever. I don't know what it will taste like. I've got to assume it will taste like nothing we've ever had. But it has a wonderful benefit as well. Life, life abundant forever in heaven with God. In Revelation 22, 1 and 2, It says, And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as a crystal, proceeding forth from the throne of God and the Lamb. And in the middle of its stream, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each one yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Good news for some of you fruit-lovers. There is fruit in heaven, and it is ripe every month, every season of the year. By the way, this speaks of an eternal, heavenly abode that is a tangible earth in which there are seasons, months, and years, and fruit that is in season every month of the year. Heaven is a real and new place in which we will dwell bodily and we will feast with one another. The old man must die to go there. We must repent. We must come unto Jesus as Lord and Savior. We must forsake this world. Jesus says, he who seeks this world and gains it all, loses everything. He who dies himself gets nothing of this world, lives for Christ, gains at all. Why? Because this world is most certainly passing away and the world to come is completely new. It's a new place in which only the righteous will dwell, those with the perfect righteousness of Christ, His righteousness, imputed unto us, placed upon us by the sovereign grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, let loose of this world, let loose of the flesh, cry out for heaven." 2 Corinthians 5 says, 1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For if we thin this, we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven. If indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked, for we are in this tent grown, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. O dear saints, I pray to God that you would begin to groan, to put off this tent, to put off mortality, to put on immortality. to put off corruption, to put on incorruption, to groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. May God give you a holy dissatisfaction with your body and this world in which it dwells. May God give you a holy dissatisfaction with your life and this world in which it is lived. May you live for the life to come. May you live for the world to come. for the glory of God in glory to come. You lived that all sinners would be saved and be with you in glory to come, glorifying God, worshiping Him forever, and partaking of that fruit and that banquet table and those waters of life at the great wedding supper of the Lamb. That's a life worth living. And that's a death that you don't need to fear. There's a death that's lost its sting, it's lost its power. That's victory, now and forever. That's the hope of heaven. In Revelation 21-1, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.