[0:00] The Gospel of John, chapter 5, and verses 25-29 is where we'll be this morning.
[0:24] ! Verse 30 next week, Lord willing. And while you're in John 5, go ahead and put your thumb there and then also turn to 1 John 3, 2.
[0:41] 1 John chapter 3, verse 2. I want to read both of these scriptures in preparation for the sermon. So would you please stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word, reading 1 John chapter 5, verses 25-29.
[1:00] 1 John chapter 5, verse 3. Verse 3. Now hear, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself.
[1:16] And He has given Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out.
[1:28] Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. Now 1 John chapter 3, verse 2. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is.
[1:53] May God add a blessing to the reading of His Word. Would you please be seated? Amen. Every so often in Major League Baseball, a pitcher pitches a perfect game.
[2:10] A perfect game is when a pitcher or a combination of pitchers pitches their team to victory that lasts the minimum of seven innings, and in which none of the batters from the opposing team reaches base.
[2:28] And so in order to pitch a perfect game, the pitcher must pitch to 27 hitters, which is the minimum in nine innings, and no more, which means that he can't walk anybody, a fielder can't make any errors in the field, and obviously he can't give up any hits in order for the game to truly be a perfect game.
[2:53] However, as I was thinking about it, a perfect game in baseball isn't truly perfect, because no pitcher has ever thrown a perfect game without throwing at least one ball.
[3:05] You know that a ball is not a strike, and so therefore a ball is an error. It's a game that's not truly flawless. And so I think actually to probably, to throw a true perfect game, the pitcher would have to pitch to 27 batters only, right, and only pitch one pitch per batter, which means that to throw a perfect game, the pitcher would throw 27 pitches and no more.
[3:35] Well, that's never happened. The closest that anyone ever has gotten to it was way back in 1908. Any of you remember 1908? There was a guy, I can't remember his name, but he threw like 70-something pitches, which is amazing.
[3:51] But again, far from perfect. Perfect. And in fact, perfection is a concept that we all understand, but few of us, or most of us, I should say, use that term lightly.
[4:05] We use perfection lightly. We might say that something is perfect, you know, that meal was perfect or whatever, this day is perfect. But on closer examination, all of us could find a flaw, something that could have been better.
[4:18] And so we use that term in a very light way. Also, we are, as Christians, often very aware of our imperfections.
[4:33] We read Scripture, and we look into it as a mirror, and we see the way that God tells us that we should be.
[4:43] And we examine ourselves, and we sometimes see, often see that, you know, I'm not measuring quite up to that. And so often as Christians, we are very aware of just how imperfect we are.
[4:56] However, again, strangely enough, we tend to be more tolerant of our imperfections than the imperfections of others, don't we? We tend to give ourselves a pass and be a lot more critical of the flaws of others.
[5:13] And I was one time talking with a friend of mine in ministry, and he was telling me about his son. He had a teenage son who he was having a lot of problems with, things about his attitude, things about his character.
[5:28] And he had the insight to be able to identify and the willingness to assure me that, you know what, the thing about my son that is driving me crazy, this characteristic trait that I wish I could remove from him, it's driving me crazy because what I'm seeing is myself in him.
[5:48] It's something about myself that I wish that I could change. It's a flaw that I have that I hate about myself. And so I get so upset with him because I want to change it. And I want to change him because I wish I could change myself, this flaw about me.
[6:05] And so what we tend to do, though, is we tend to cover up our own flaws. But deep down, we're all aware, unless you're really narcissistic, that we are flawed and imperfect.
[6:19] We're all aware of that, that we are not as we should be. And we can agree with what Paul says in Romans 7, 24, when we see and are aware of our flaws, imperfections.
[6:36] He said, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And truthfully, in this life, we are more aware with imperfection than we are with perfection because all of creation is under the curse of sin.
[6:57] All of creation is subject to the curse. So we are much more aware of how imperfect things are than we are of how perfect things are. Romans 8, 22.
[7:09] Paul speaks to this again, for we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And so that's why I think we can understand the concept of perfection, but all we can truly know and experience in this life is imperfection.
[7:27] Not that things aren't good, but they're not as good as they could be. And all of creation agonizes in this way under sin's cruel effect, waiting for this curse of sin to finally be lifted so that our concept of perfection can finally become our reality.
[7:49] We can be perfect. We can live in perfect relationship with one another in a perfect heaven and perfect earth. And so if you remember, Jesus has been talking about this present hour in this text, John 5, and he's talked about how in the present hour, this is the time where unbelievers are to undergo the spiritual resurrection, where they hear the gospel, they believe in faith in Jesus Christ, and they are saved.
[8:17] Then he talks about the coming hour, this coming hour of judgment when he will return, and how important it is that we be ready for that coming hour.
[8:28] And we've gone into great detail over both the present and coming hour over the past few weeks. But I didn't feel right about discussing the present hour and the coming hour without talking about, well, what comes after this coming hour?
[8:41] What do we have to look forward to? And let me tell you, I know many of you are already aware of this, but we have so much to look forward to about what is to come after this coming hour of judgment.
[8:52] A time is coming when perfection will be realized. Real perfection. Perfect perfection. Pain and sorrow and the groaning of creation will no longer be.
[9:07] And Isaiah's prophecy, recorded in chapter 35, verse 10, will finally be fulfilled. There he says, And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, and they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
[9:26] Not only that, but we also will undergo a change that results with our being perfect, with our being perfected.
[9:37] The Bible says that a human being is body and soul. And so we will be perfect body and soul. We will be made completely new, totally flawless, and absolutely uncorrupted or incorruptible.
[9:52] And this isn't wishful thinking. This is what God has expressly promised to us multiple times in his word. One of those instances, Romans 8, 28 through 30.
[10:04] It says there, And we know that for those who God loved, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
[10:20] And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. So each person, from beginning to end, fits into each category.
[10:35] Nobody gets left behind. Those he foreknew and predestined are those who end up being glorified by him one day. That's good news. That this is what God will do.
[10:46] That this good work that he began in you in salvation, he will bring it to its ultimate completion. Philippians 1, 6. This is what the Apostle Paul says expressly there.
[10:59] And I am sure of this, sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. And so I hope that you, like me, take heart in this truth.
[11:11] Because there are times where, you know, if it was up to me, if I could lose my salvation, I would have lost it a long time ago. But thank God that he has kept me and he has preserved me.
[11:21] And he has for you too, if you've believed. And he will complete that work that he began in you. And you will be glorified like Christ one day.
[11:33] And so here's the main idea for this morning's sermon. Heaven is a perfect place for people made perfect. Perfection is the goal of God's sanctifying work in us.
[11:49] From the moment of salvation, God is conforming each of us into the image of his Son and making us fit to dwell in his presence forever.
[12:02] The perfection we experience in heaven will be the consummation of our salvation. It's the purpose for which he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.
[12:14] That we may dwell with him forever and with one another perfectly. At that time, perfection again will be more than a concept that we can imagine, but a reality for all followers of Jesus Christ that we will experience forever.
[12:35] And so let's recap where we've been before we continue on. First of all, in verses 25 and 26 of John chapter 5, Jesus talks about the present hour. And that in the present hour, he will give, has the power to give spiritual life to the spiritually dead.
[12:51] Talking about salvation. Next, he moved on and he talked about the people who receive spiritual life. That in this present hour, now is the time for you to believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
[13:04] That also he has the power to give the spiritual life. Only he has the power to take that which is spiritually dead and give it spiritual life. And then he talks about the purpose for his giving spiritual life before he moves on to talk about the coming hour.
[13:20] when he will execute judgment over everyone through the physical resurrection of the dead. And Jesus says that at that time, he talks of the people who will receive his judgment.
[13:32] And it's everybody. All people of all time, everywhere. You'll be there. Then next, he talks about the power that he has to execute this judgment.
[13:43] That he's the son of God. That he's come. That he's lived. That he's died. That he's risen again. That he's the son of man. And only he has the right. And only he is fit to be the just judge of all people.
[13:57] And then next, he talks about, finally, the purpose of the judgment, which I'm going to get into today. What comes after this coming hour? For those who have believed in Jesus Christ in the present hour, who are going to be spared in that coming hour of his judgment, and who will live with him forever.
[14:15] And the first thing that I want us to see this morning is that God begins the process of perfecting us from the moment that we are converted from unbelief to faith in Christ.
[14:28] So if you are a believer, you are today undergoing this process of being made perfect. The process of our being perfected again begins at the moment of salvation when the Holy Spirit regenerates us, takes up residence within us, giving us a new heart with a new set of desires.
[14:50] He transforms our stubborn wills, our selfish wills. And we go from wanting only what's best for us to wanting what's best and right for the Lord according to his word.
[15:02] He opens our hearts, he opens our minds to embrace truth that we had once rejected, that maybe we at once even hated. He enables us to believe rather than to doubt.
[15:13] He grants us faith, which drives us further onward towards obedience and trusting in him. We see sin as a result as God sees it.
[15:25] And we view the world from his point of view through the lenses of his word. In terms of our status before God, believers are judged perfect immediately at the moment of their salvation.
[15:41] Again, not on the basis of who they are or what they've done or what they might do in the future. No, it's based solely and only on who Christ is and what Christ has done.
[15:55] So at the moment of salvation, you as a believer, you're morally and you are legally declared perfectly righteous before God. So you don't have to worry about the fact, well, I didn't get to go through that time of perfection very long before I got here, Lord.
[16:12] You know, don't worry about that. At that time of salvation, you are made right before God. You are justified before him forever. But God doesn't stop there with you and I.
[16:25] While again at salvation, we are justified before him, we are declared innocent of our sin before him because of Jesus and what he's done for us. And while all of that is amazing, God says that he continues to work in us from that moment when we were saved onward throughout the rest of our life through the work of the Holy Spirit in us, conforming us more and more day by day to look more like his son, Jesus Christ.
[16:55] And this process is called sanctification. This is called sanctification. And hopefully, it's a process that you realize that you've been going through from the moment of your salvation to today.
[17:10] You can look back and see that God has been working in you, making you more like Jesus, preparing you more for his kingdom. It may not always seem like that to you until maybe somebody makes a comment to you like I sometimes will get.
[17:26] I was saved at a young age in the church. I always went to church. I don't remember never going to church. We were always going to church. And so, I remember always hearing the gospel and I remember that I believed.
[17:40] I don't remember that exact day. My mom does. She remembers the conversation we had in the car on the way home that I was baptized soon afterwards. And I've just believed, right?
[17:51] But there was certainly that moment where I went from spiritual death to spiritual life. Now, when I got to college, some of you have heard my testimony. I didn't lose my salvation because you can't.
[18:03] That's why I said if you could, I would have lost it in college. I am what you may have referred to in college as a backslider. And man, I slid back far.
[18:14] And so much so that I didn't realize how far I had slid until I was talking to my wife and I wanted to date her and she was hesitant to date me because of the reputation that I had for myself.
[18:30] And so I really had to earn her trust before she would be willing to have anything else to do with me. And what's interesting is I'll share that story today. People will come into my office and it's interesting as pastors, people will talk to you as if sin is a foreign subject to you, as if it's not something that you've ever had to wrestle with or struggle with on your own.
[18:50] And I've shared with them about some of the things that I've done or I've been able to identify with whatever struggle that they're having and it's almost like their jaw drops to the floor.
[19:00] They can't see me hanging from the rafters of some house at some college party. And when they say that, I mean, it's neat because I think, well, I'm glad you can't envision me doing that anymore because that means God's been working in my life.
[19:16] Likewise, those people who knew me back then see what I'm doing today and I think likewise they're as shocked. You know, that guy is a pastor.
[19:27] And so not to give any credit to myself at all because if it was up to me, again, I'm not worth being saved. If I could lose it, I would have lost it. It's all because of what God has graciously been willing to do in my life.
[19:42] And I'm thankful to give him all the glory for that. And hopefully you can say the same. And you can look back and say, you know, no, I'm not perfect. I'm far from it. But God has made me better than I was on that day.
[19:55] And he's continuing to work within me. Thank God that he does that for us. However, if we're honest, even the most committed Christian at times will struggle to wonder if they've truly undergone this transformation as radically as the Bible seems to talk about it being.
[20:18] And sometimes I think we struggle with wondering or being frustrated that this transformation isn't coming quickly enough. I still struggle with this thing. I want to be done struggling with this thing, Lord.
[20:28] I want to be better. I want to be more like you. And so, at times, it doesn't always feel as if to us that this change has taken place because, again, we are more typically aware of where we fall short than when we are being obedient to the Lord and what he's called us to do.
[20:47] And so, I think a lot of times we look to God as if he's this displeased father that we're never doing anything right. And he always talks about the fact that, you know, hey, you had two great hits but you struck out twice.
[21:01] And you struck out twice and man, I'm so disappointed in you. You need to get better or something like that. So, we tend to view God in that way. And we always are focused on our shortcomings but rarely on what we're doing right.
[21:14] So, that's why I think it's so important that we as a church we encourage one another when we see each other living the Christian life, doing the right thing, thanking our volunteers who serve and whatnot. Because, again, so often we are aware of where we fall short than where we're going right.
[21:28] And here's our problem. In this life, we are very much like Lazarus who on the day when Jesus called him out of the grave when he brought him from physical death to physical life.
[21:40] If you remember when Lazarus came out in obedience to the Lord's command, he was still wrapped in the grave clothes that he had been buried in. And in a similar way, we still too in this life have the grave clothes of the human flesh upon us.
[21:56] but day by day, the Lord is stripping those old grave clothes away from us. And as believers, we understand that at the moment of salvation, yes, we are new creatures.
[22:10] We have been given reborn souls. We have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That does bring changes that are immediate and desires that are new, but it's also a process where we are being changed, where our desires are changing more and more, where the presence of sin in our life is becoming less and less.
[22:30] However slowly but surely that may be, God is doing it. He is making you more like Jesus Christ. And why is he doing that? Because he's preparing you for this time when the Lord appears and when we will be called out of our graves, when the grave clothes will finally disappear, the old sinful flesh, and will be replaced by something that is far better, by something that is absolutely perfect.
[22:59] And so next we need to understand about what comes after this coming hour is that in heaven we will lose all traces of human fallenness. All traces of human fallenness will be gone.
[23:10] In heaven, our souls will never again have a selfish desire. We will never again speak a useless word. We will never perform another unkind deed or think another sinful, thought.
[23:24] We will be perfectly and totally liberated from our captivity to sin. And finally, we will be able to live perfect, righteous lives in fellowship with God and one another forever.
[23:38] Now, we know that in this world there are no perfect churches. And why is that? Because our churches are made of saved people but still imperfected people.
[23:53] And so at times we will argue and bicker over things that in the long run aren't really all that important. You know, when we go to heaven we won't say Lord, my mansion or my dwelling place isn't as big as Steve's over here.
[24:15] What's up with that? You know? Or the Bible says he's got that place prepared for you and you walk in and you're like, this carpet, Lord, we've got to do something about this carpet. I'm not happy about it.
[24:27] Or we're not going to go into heaven and listen to Jesus preaching sermons and look at our watch and think, when is he going to be done with this? Right? We're not going to go up to heaven when we're in heaven.
[24:42] We're not going to talk about the worship thing. You know, I really, it was too loud or it was too old school for me or, you know, whatever the case may be, all these things that we divide over in the church today, unfortunately, are things that are not going to divide us in heaven.
[24:57] Why? Because we'll be thinking perfectly. We'll be living perfectly. We'll be in perfect fellowship with one another and with God. I don't know about you, but I find it sometimes hard to imagine myself sinless like that.
[25:12] Imagine yourself having sin having no effect on you, no tug on you whatsoever. It can be hard to imagine, but it has to be this way.
[25:24] It has to be this way. Why? Because God says in His Word that no imperfect thing can dwell in His kingdom. Revelation 21-27, it says, but nothing unclean will ever enter in it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who have been written in the Lamb's book of life.
[25:47] So no one who has spot or stain of sin will ever be able to enter into God's kingdom, into heaven. Therefore, sin cannot enter there and therefore, we who inhabit it cannot be sinful.
[26:01] We will not be sinful. The stain of our past sins will be forever forgiven forgiven and completely and totally washed away. Revelation 22-14-15, it says there, blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
[26:24] Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. So while sin may have been able to define who we once were, in this time to come that will no longer ever again be the case.
[26:43] We are now new creatures in Christ. We are completely forgiven, thoroughly washed forever, though we will be made perfect. The grave clothes will finally be removed and in their place will be covered in the righteousness of Christ as Paul wrote about to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11.
[27:04] Or do you not know that the righteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
[27:25] And this is the part sometimes we forget about. And such were some of you. Such were some of you before we were raised spiritually by the Lord through the hearing and believing of the gospel.
[27:37] And such were some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.
[27:51] And so all believers can rest confidently in this truth that God has justified us in order to free us from the guilt of sin.
[28:03] He is now sanctifying us in order to deliver us completely from the corruption of sin. And one day, He will glorify us in order to liberate us from the very presence of sin forever.
[28:19] If you are a Christian, or I should say, if you are not a Christian, this is the truth that you must lay hold of today in this present hour. That you would be saved from the coming hour.
[28:35] That you would undergo the process of sanctification. That you would understand the joys of knowing Jesus Christ in this life and the joy that is yet to come when we go to be with Him forever.
[28:47] Right now, if you are in this present hour wary of your sin, if you are exhausted from the load of guilt that you feel over it, in this present hour, Jesus holds His hand out to you.
[29:03] He extends His hand out to you and He offers you life. He offers you forgiveness. He offers you rest from your troubles and hope that you can experience in Him now and forevermore the joys of heaven that await us.
[29:19] And so He pleads with you today, if you don't know Him already, come to Me. All who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
[29:30] In Matthew 11, 28. And He says, no one will be turned away. No matter how great and prevalent your sin and guilt may be, He promises in John 6, 37 that all that the Father gives to Me will come to Me and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out.
[29:49] And again, in Revelation 22, 17 He says that all are invited. The Spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
[30:07] And so again, in heaven, there will be no sin, there will be no suffering, there will be no sorrow, there will be no pain. We will never do anything there that ever brings displeasure to God. There will be no temptation to follow the world.
[30:22] There will be no temptation to do what the flesh desires because temptation, the flesh, and the devil will all have been finally destroyed. There will be no division there.
[30:34] There will be no persecution there. There will only be harmony and togetherness, unity. unity. In heaven, we won't need to pray or fast or repent or confess our sins because there will be no need to.
[30:51] There will be no weeping there because there will be nothing to be sad about. There will be nothing to mourn over. Our existence will be perfect there and our life that we live there forever will be nothing short of awesome and greater than that if we had a human word that could encompass just how truly awesome it's going to be.
[31:11] Third, heaven will not merely be a state of mind but a real place where the redeemed will possess real bodies precisely like the resurrection body of Jesus Christ.
[31:26] So again, God made human beings with a body and a soul. Therefore, our perfection demands that we both be perfected in body and in soul.
[31:37] Right now, before this coming hour, when we die, a separation does take place between our body and our soul. Our body goes to the grave. Our soul goes to be with the Lord and in heaven.
[31:51] And this separation continues until the Lord returns as we've been talking about over the past couple of weeks. God promises us that when Jesus appears, we will receive perfect bodies that match our perfect souls.
[32:07] And so the question that we might have is, well, what are those perfect bodies going to be like? Well, the quick answer is they'll be like Jesus' body when He arose from the grave.
[32:20] When Jesus arose from the grave on the third day, having made atonement for our sins, He appeared to His disciples. And from those appearances, we're able to gather some information about what these glorified bodies will be like.
[32:34] First of all, Jesus' resurrection body was the same body as it was before, but different. The body that was crucified and was dead in the grave for three days is the same body that rose again, but glorified.
[32:53] Only His wounds were visible. In this glorified state, Jesus could be touched by people and He could touch people.
[33:04] He wasn't a ghost or a phantom. He looked human in every regard. He conversed with His disciples. He ate real food.
[33:15] Praise the Lord, right? In your glorified body, He ate real food. So all those things that He did, we'll be able to do as well in heaven with our glorified bodies.
[33:27] But Jesus' body was also different than previously. It had other worldly properties. He could pass through solid walls, which would be a neat trick, I guess, to do, right?
[33:39] He could mask His identity when He wanted to. He could appear out of nowhere and He could ascend directly into heaven without suffering any kind of adverse side effects to entering up into the atmosphere or anything like that.
[33:53] So at the very least, our bodies will be like that too. They will be real, physical, genuine, human bodies. The same as they were on earth, yet holy, perfect, and glorified.
[34:08] Your achy joints should wake up in the morning that crack and that pop. That will no longer be the case when you have your glorified body in heaven. Amen? You won't get winded when you walk up and down the stairs or when you go from your bedroom to your kitchen and back and forth, right?
[34:27] You won't feel miserable after you eat a big greasy cheeseburger from Lottaburger or whatever the place might be. You'll be you, but perfect you.
[34:43] When you look in the mirror, you won't look at, you know, I wish I didn't have that mole there or I wish I was a little bit taller or any of those things, you'll be completely satisfied with who you are.
[34:56] Christ has made you to be in His work in glorifying you. So the next question is, when will these things take place? 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-17 tells us, But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
[35:15] For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
[35:32] For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
[35:42] And the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
[35:54] And so when the Lord returns in the sky, He will call out first to the dead believers who have died before. He will unite their perfect souls to their now perfect bodies.
[36:06] Then believers who are alive at the time will undergo the same transformation in the twinkling of an eye. One day, you know, my neck hurts. The next day, I feel wonderful.
[36:16] Or the next moment. Not next day, the next moment. I feel great. Both the living and the dead will have their old bodies made new, made perfect, and be glorified forever.
[36:30] So, what will we do in heaven? Okay, we'll be perfect. That's good. We won't bicker over things.
[36:42] We'll live in perfect harmony with one another. That's good. Well, what are we actually going to do there? Well, many things. As I mentioned before, we can eat, though we won't need to. We will be reunited with loved ones who have died before.
[36:55] I know you've had Christians who have died in the past who you are looking forward to being reunited with, and that will be great.
[37:07] We'll be able to meet with other believers who have died before us, some of the greats of the Christian faith. We can sit down and talk with David about, you know, what was it like to slay the giant and all these different things.
[37:19] But you know what? Primarily, and as good as those things are going to be, primarily what we're going to do in heaven is worship. Now, for some people, they might hear that and think, well, that sounds kind of boring to me.
[37:36] But let me tell you, it won't be boring. Revelation 22, 3-4. No longer will there be anything cursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it.
[37:48] And His servants will worship Him. They will see His face and His name will be on their forehead. And so I'm telling you, when you see Jesus with your own glorified eyes, you'll not care about anything else.
[38:10] You'll just want to keep looking at Him. You'll just want to keep looking at God. And you know, we do this today in a strange way. When I was, again, in college, I worked at a restaurant and we had a Royals pitcher come in to dine with us and I was his waiter.
[38:27] And the guy, Jeremy Affelt, unless you know baseball, you probably don't know that name because I don't think he ever was a all-star unless the Royals were so bad they had to send somebody and he got to go.
[38:40] But he was a relief pitcher. He was good, not great. And he played for a Royals team that was not good at all. Yet, when he came in, everybody instantly knew who he was and treated him well.
[38:55] And I remember as I served his table, like all eyes were over on his table. Who is he eating with? What's he eating? What did he order? You know, what's he drinking?
[39:06] All these different things. Everybody's just kind of looking over. They couldn't take their eyes off of him. And he's just some relief pitcher for some terrible major league baseball team.
[39:17] But don't we do this whenever we see somebody famous or a professional athlete? It's like we watch him and we just can't take our eyes off of him. What are they doing? This is so interesting.
[39:27] When we go to heaven and we see Jesus, like multiply that by infinity. We'll just want to look at him and worship him. I can't tell you how great that's going to be because I haven't been there.
[39:41] But I look forward to it. And so should all of us. And I just think when we get there, when we worship, none of us will ever look at the clock and think, well, when is this going to be over with? We'll be so happy and we'll be so joyful forever and ever.
[39:58] I want to close with a story about Fanny Crosby. Fanny Crosby is a great songwriter, written many of the great hymns of the church.
[40:09] And in one of those hymns, she expressed this hope that she would one day see Jesus face to face. And she wrote a song called My Savior First of All.
[40:20] And I want to read a part of it to you. When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling tide, when the bright and glorious morning I shall see, I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side.
[40:35] And his smile will be the first to welcome me through the gates of the city and a robe of spotless light, of white. He will lead me where no tears will ever fall.
[40:47] In the glad song of ages I shall mingle with delight. But I long to see my Savior first of all. And if you know anything about Fanny Crosby, what makes this even more powerful is the fact that from infancy she was blind.
[41:02] And so she knew and she lived each day of her earthly life with the anticipation that the first person that she'd ever see with her own eyes would be Jesus Christ.
[41:18] And she did a lot of great and wonderful things for the church. Her life and her legacy are still with us today. And so that's the challenge that I want to leave you with this morning is how about you?
[41:29] Do you believe that this day is coming? I do. And if you do, how are you going to live your day today life in anticipation of that time that is to come?
[41:40] There is nothing that you do in the name of the Lord in this life that you will ever regret in the life to come. And so in the meanwhile, until He comes or until we go to be with Him, until we get those glorified bodies, right, let's live in these bodies with all we've got giving the praise and the honor to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[42:02] Giving Him our very best because He's given His very best to us. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the promises that we have within it.
[42:13] Father, they're glorious promises. These are great truths. They are amazing. And we confess that because we live in this fallen world and because we ourselves suffer under the curse of sin, that it's hard for us to imagine what this is going to be like.
[42:32] To be perfect and to live perfectly with others and to be in perfect relationship with You forever. Lord, we could be tempted to believe that these things are too good to be true, yet Lord, You've promised us in Your Word and what You promise, You fulfill.
[42:51] And so God, we pray that You would help us to live each of our days here on this earth in this form, giving You the best that we can, knowing that You've given Your best for us in Jesus Christ, knowing that this great and joyous future is ours and that we will one day experience it.
[43:12] And so Lord, we pray that as Frannie Crosby, it was the case for her and it's been the case for so many others that each day we would live with the great anticipation that one day we will see our Savior face to face, we'll hear Your voice and we'll feel Your embrace.
[43:29] Until then, Lord, may we be found faithful doing all that You've asked us to do. And we pray that we would do it for the praise and honor of Jesus' name, in His name we pray. Amen.
[43:56] Thank you.