"Things To Come"
A sermon
(No. 875)
Delivered on Sunday Morning, JUNE 13, 1869, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"Things to come, all are yours."- 1 Corinthians 3:22.
A SHORT time ago we meditated upon the former words of this verse,
"Things present, all are yours." ["Things Present," #870, Vol. 15.]
Friends have asserted that it was a pleasant and profitable
meditation–may we have more than equal of the blessing of God's Spirit
this morning. The waters are deeper in the things to come than in the
things present, but they are, every drop of them, as sweet. The horizon
is wider in the future than in the present, but it its equally clear.
If the clouds which threaten us in the future are darker than any we
have up to now experienced, the Covenant rainbow shall span them all.
And if the glories which are to be revealed are more sublime than any
we have yet beheld, they are as certainly ours as those of less
bewildering luster, for there are no hesitations here, but plainly and
boldly does the text assert, "Things to come, all are yours."
Without further preface let us advance at once to consider the cheering
truth of the text. First, let us view the general future as ours. Then
let us rejoice that the brightest of all the future is ours. And
lastly, if ours, what light does the future cast upon the present?
I. First, THE BROAD FUTURE IS OURS. We are very apt to wish to pry into
it by vain forebodings and vainer prognostications, but Divine Grace
forbids us to indulge such impertinence and foolish curiosity. The
leaves of the book of destiny are folded. The volume is sealed as with
seven seals–you need not desire to read a single line, however–for
the Lord tells you that whatever may be recorded in it, it is all
yours! It must all work for your good. It must all promote your highest
happiness.
Why should you wish to see the mystic writing for yourself? Your faith
is sure of the issue–let that content you. In the dark days of
superstition, the pretended magician would hold up a crystal globe and
bid his dupe look in it, and when he saw nothing, he would tell him
that he had an untaught, unaccustomed eye. But when the soothsayer
stared into that ball himself, he pretended that he saw the future. My
text is a crystal ball which does not tell you what the future shall be
as to facts and minutiae, but it assures you concerning all coming
events what it is far better for you to know–that all things are
yours, if you are Christ's–all future things are vested in your name,
to be your possession by a Covenant of salt to minister to your comfort
and to increase your highest wealth.
Let that content you. Gaze not through the telescope to see the future,
lest you breathe upon the glass and then mistake the haze of your own
breath for thick clouds and overshadowing tempests. Be content to quiet
vain curiosity by leaving the future in His hands to whom it is even
now present. The Lord your God will surely bear your burdens, therefore
be quiet as a weaning child. We may expect in the future, Brethren,
such a degree of joy as may be fitting this side Canaan. Albeit that
the mention of the word, "future," inevitably suggests to anxious
mind's dreams of dread, yet we have no reason to expect that the rest
of our life will be more unhappy than the years which are passed
already with the years beyond the flood.
As Christians, we dare not and would not murmur at Providential
appointments. Life to us has had its sorrows, but goodness and mercy
have followed us up to now and they shall, with equal certainty, follow
us all the days of our life. Though this is not our rest and we are
strangers and foreigners, as all our fathers were, yet for all this,
"He makes us to lie down in green pastures. He leads us beside still
waters." "The lines have fallen unto us in pleasant places and we have
a goodly heritage." We will not speak ill of God's name who daily loads
us with benefits, but we will sing, "Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all
that is within me bless His holy name, who satisfies your mouth with
good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
2 "Things to Come" Sermon #875
We have reason to expect that in the future our lot will include a fair
measure of joy, even as the past has done. Summers will bring their
flowers and autumns their mellow fruits. Days shall be bright with
sunlight and nights gorgeous with moon and stars. Whatever is beautiful
shall still give its rill of joy. Whatever is tender shall yield its
ray of comfort. Perhaps to sorrowful hearts the brightest part of their
mortal existence is yet to come–they shall pass from Bochim to Beulah.
Lay hold on this hope, poor Weeper! You who are in the heyday of your
youth, looking to the joys of the future, reckon not too surely upon
them–but still you have a right to expect a measure of joy even here
below. You who are struggling in the service of your Divine Master, you
may reckon up the joy or success, or at least of acceptance at His
hands. You who are contending against sin may anticipate the joy of
conquest. You who are planning how you can serve God on a wider scale
and in a wiser manner may expect the joy of His guidance.
The Truth of God which I desire to bring before your minds is
this–these joys which God may allot to you in the future are yours.
Start not back from them as though the golden goblet of Divine love
must necessarily be filled with a poisoned wine. Mercy may be abused
into sin, but in itself the bounty of Providence is pure. No, Sirs,
when God gives pleasure it is safe, pure and elevating–you need not
suspect its character. There is a joy of the Lord which is the strength
of godly souls. There is a rejoicing in Christ Jesus which makes fat
the bones and causes the soul to sing! And it purifies the nature by
the Divinity of its power, making us live above the inferior joys of
sin because we possess higher and nobler delights.
Believer in Christ Jesus, be not afraid of future comfort–it is yours!
All things are yours and in the things to come, if there is anything
that is bright, anything that is sparkling, anything that is precious,
anything that can make you glad, anything that can make your tongue
sing loud hallelujahs, accept it right cheerfully from the hand of your
Covenant-keeping God and say, "It is mine." Still, though we touch that
string, we have to return to the old paths and remind you that in the
future, without any foolish forebodings, you may expect troubles.
Necessarily and unavoidably, if you and I shall be spared to live to an
old age, there are certain trials that must happen to us.
Changes in circumstances may arise. Poverty may supplant wealth and
slander replace fame. Where barns were filled to bursting, there may
arise a famine. And those whose broad acres could scarcely be traversed
in a day, may come to a scanty plot of ground, or none at all. But if
that does not happen to you, yet at any rate your friends must die, if
you do not. Those who, in your younger days were your familiar
acquaintances and companions, must pass away and if you survive, you
shall gradually find yourself like a lone tree of the forest when the
woodman, month after month has exercised his craft.
They that knew you shall have departed and the generation that has
followed shall not know Joseph. During the lapse of years your
children, one by one, may die. Your spouse so dear to your soul may be
taken from you. Brothers and Sisters may also leave the vale of tears.
It must be so. Can you hope that the arrows of death will forever turn
aside from your family? Are you of an immortal race and your children
and your sires and all you love–are these immortal, too? No, they must
depart, so Nature has decreed. We must expect, sooner or later, that
infirmities of body will set in. To some they come, alas, too soon, but
to all they must come in their time. The windows, little by little are
darkened. The pillars of the house tremble. The grinders fail because
they are few and the strong man finds the grasshopper to be a burden.
These things must come. To all men are such trials measured out. And
there must come temptations and inward conflicts and outward
afflictions, in all which we shall have need to possess our souls in
patience lest we be overcome by evil. Trials will arise from our own
household, even more severe than if our Absalom had been cut off by
death. Alas, how often is the living cross far more heavy and galling
than if it had been dead. And certainly to us all there must come
(unless Christ shall soon appear) the valley of death-shade, the
passage of the black river, the clammy sweat and the mortal anguish of
the last dread hour, "for it is appointed unto men once to die."
Alas, our fears find it an easy task to paint a very terrible picture
out of these gloomy materials. The pains and groans of our dying strife
frighten us. The giants, the hills of difficulty and the valleys of
humiliation alarm us. We picture the path of the heavenly pilgrimage as
a valley of the shadow of death–throughout full of confusion, dark
with adversities, beset with snares–watched over by dragons and
blocked up by Apollyons. Let our text encourage us, for it declares to
us that all these things are ours! There is not in the whole area of
our future life a single plot of stony ground which shall not yield us
fertile harvests of joy.
As Midas of old touched even the most valueless objects and turned them
into gold, so does the hand of Divine Love transmute every trial and
affliction into everlasting joy for His people. Two seeds lie before
us–the one is warmed in the sun–the other falls from the sower's hand
into the cold dark earth and there it lies buried beneath the soil.
That seed which suns itself in the noontide beam may rejoice in the
light in which it basks, but it is liable to be devoured by the birds,
and certainly nothing can come of it, however long it may linger above
ground. But the other seed, hidden beneath the clods in a damp, dark
sepulcher, soon swells, germinates, bursts its sheath, upheaves the
mold, springs up a green blade, buds, blossoms, becomes a flower,
exhales perfume and loads the wings of every wind!
Better far for the seed to pass into the earth and die, than to lie in
the sunshine and produce no fruit–and even thus for you the future, in
its sorrow, shall be as a sowing in a fertile land–tears shall moisten
you, Divine Grace shall increase within you–and you shall grow up in
the likeness of your Lord unto perfection of holiness, to be such a
flower of God's own planting as even angels shall delight to gaze upon
in the day of your transplanting to celestial soil! All the future is
yours! I trust the Holy Spirit will make this Truth of God full of
comfort to you, for to my own soul it is as balm to a bleeding wound,
or a cool wind to a fevered cheek.
If I can but be persuaded that every occurrence of the future will most
surely work for my good and is by God's decree ordained to be a
blessing to me and an honor to Himself, then, it seems to me, I can
have no choice–for no evil can happen to me and seeming ill is but
another form of benediction. If all events shall aid me, what matters
in what dress they come, whether of scarlet and fine linen, or
sackcloth and ashes? Trial may be very hard to bear for a time, but
since in the very hardness of the endurance lies the blessing, the
bitter is sweet and the medicine is food. Courage, Brothers and
Sisters, you shall meet nothing but friends between this and the pearly
gates, or, if you meet an enemy, it shall be a conquered one who shall
crouch at your feet and you shall put your foot on his neck and win a
brighter victory and a heavier crown because of the encounter!
Courage, Brothers and Sisters, the winds which toss the waves of the
Atlantic of your life are all sworn to bring your boat safely into the
desired haven! Every wind that rises, whether soft or fierce, is a
Divine monsoon, hurrying in the same direction as your soul's desires
is aiming. God walks the tempest and rules the storm! Order reigns
supreme in the uproars of elements or men, for the Divine hand compels
the most rebellious creatures to obey without fail the Divine and
all-wise decree. What cheer is this for the saints of God!
Passing on a little further in the Word of God, we have certain dark
hints as to the grand events of the future which concern the Church and
the world. I must confess myself to be, in the presence of the writings
of Ezekiel and Jeremiah and John of Patmos, as a little child wandering
through the museum, marveling at the Egyptian hieroglyphs and the
Assyrian cuneiform characters, but quite unable to spell them out. I
fancy, sometimes, that I have the key of the mysteries and soon
discover some new form of Divine symbology which quite confuses me and
makes me confess that I am but of yesterday and know nothing.
Yet does it appear that we are to expect the overturning of many things
which now we regard as permanent. The rule of the coming ages is to be,
"overturn, overturn," till He shall come whose right it is. Heaving and
convulsions there will be till all the things which can be shaken will
be removed in the general conflagration when the earth and all the
works that are in it shall be burned up and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat. I am not putting these events in order, for I do not
even know their order–and am neither a prophet nor an expounder of
prophecy–but it is clear we are to look for the establishment of the
Jews in their own land and the conversion of Israel with the fullness
of the nations.
We are to expect the literal advent of Jesus Christ, for He Himself, by
His angel told us, "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into
Heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into
Heaven," which must mean literally and in Person. We expect a reigning
Christ on earth–that seems to us to be very plain and to be put so
literally that we dare not spiritualize it. We anticipate a first and a
second resurrection–a first resurrection of the righteous and a second
resurrection of the ungodly who shall be judged, condemned and punished
forever by the sentence of the great King.
We foresee from the Word, despite its obscurity, that strange and
wonderful events will happen such as are depicted by vials and warriors
with avenging swords and falling stars and a shriveled sky and a
reeling earth and I know not what beside. But when we have put all
together and have been sorely amazed at the visions that flit before us
like dreams of the night, we rejoice to learn at the end of them all,
"All these things are ours, whatever they may be."
In the present political crisis there is much alarm and trepidation
felt by some as to what may become of a movement which is very dear to
most of us, and to accomplish which we would almost be prepared to die.
But I foresee in the distance no adversary who can long withstand us
and the brief opposition which may be offered will increase the
ultimate victory. All things that shall happen, be they ever so cross
to your thoughts and counter to your wishes, will, nevertheless, come
up, like Blucher at Waterloo, at the exact moment when they shall help
on the grand old cause! Justice must reign! The Church of God must be
free from her adulterous connection with the State.
God orders everything in Providence–neither the good by excess of
zeal, nor the bad by their malice shall mar His work. Through the thick
darkness I hear the tramp of another host marching to battle and though
I cannot see their plumes, yet I am assured that whether friend or foe,
they must, before the battle is over, have yielded no mean service to
our holy cause. Homage must be done, even by the powers of darkness, to
the great King, the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, by the Cross and by the
crown of Jesus, you lovers of truth and justice, you children of a free
Church and a just God, charge home against the foes of God and man,
who, under pretense of religion would continue to oppress the sister
isle!
You that love the Lord, hate evil, abhor the doing of evil that good
may come. Believe in the true and the just, but have no faith in wrong.
Jesus your Lord would not worship Satan though all nations were showed
him as a bribe, neither must we be guilty of injustice, though we
anticipated from it the happiest results. Let right be done, come what
may. Consequences are with God–duty alone is ours. Sever the Church
from the State let it cost what it may. Even if for the moment
advantage should seem to be given to the enemies of our faith, it is
but so in appearance, or if it were real we can afford to give it to
them and yet defeat them!
We can hurl down, this day, the gauntlet of our God and of His Christ
in the presence of earth and Hell and let those take it up who dare!
With all the deadliest odds against us we shall triumph yet, for the
Lord is in the midst of His Church and therefore is she invincible. We
will give Goliath his leg armor of brass, his spear, his armor and his
shield, for what are these? The Lord's power and a stone from His
servant's sling shall lay the monster in the dust! Let every Christian,
then, look forward to future events, on the largest scale, with
complete complacency. Let empires shake. Let crowns fall from anointed
heads. Let the great ones of the earth put their hands upon their loins
like women in travail. Let those that were full hire themselves out for
bread and let the rulers be astonished. But as surely as God is God,
the day comes when the Lord will maintain the right and avenge the
oppressed and set up His Great White Throne from which He will "judge
the poor," and "save the children of the needy," and "break in pieces
the oppressor." So be it, good Lord, and we will bless Your name!
Once more, among the things to come, we mainly consider the Heaven of
God and the eternal blessedness which are ordained for the righteous.
Now, whatever Heaven is and wherever Heaven may be, this one thing the
text declares, that it is ours. The Heaven of the separate spirit
before the resurrection, the place where disembodied souls dwell with
Christ–this is ours. The perfect Heaven of the saints, after the body
shall be raised in the likeness of Christ, when soul and body in one
man shall sit down at the right hand of God–all this is ours. To
attempt to describe Heaven as some have sought to do is to prove our
folly. It shall suffice us to wait till we enjoy it! And meanwhile we
will comfort ourselves with this thought–that all its delights are
ours!
II. I shall beg your special attention, in the second place, to THE
BRIGHT ETERNAL FUTURE as being ours. Come with me, dear Hearers, again
to the text. Come with me and let down the bucket and draw the water
fresh and living from the ever-springing well. "Things to come, all are
yours." Notice that the text is not in the subjunctive mood–it reads
not "all may be yours." According to the doctrine of certain esteemed
Brethren, a Christian may have a hope of Heaven, but he can never have
a certainty of it, for a child of God may go back into perdition and an
heir of the promises may miss the inheritance.
Alas, there must be scant store of food when the doctrine that the
saints may perish everlastingly is not only accepted for a Truth of God
but actually regarded as a theme for song! Samaria was shut up when the
coarsest offal sold at a high price for food–and men must be
thoroughly famished when they desire benefit from words like these–
"O Lord, with trembling I confess, An heir of God may fall from grace."
If it is indeed so, the text ought to run, "It is possible that all
things to come may be yours." "Things to come may be yours,"
if–if–if–with ifs in a long line, such as if you are faithful to
Divine Grace. If you do this and that. It is
premature, I think, on Paul's part, on our friends' theory, to say that
things to come are ours. The Apostle should have waited awhile to see
how we hold on. Those angels in Heaven are exceedingly impudent on this
theory, for they rejoice in the very bud of Grace "over one sinner that
repents."
Why they should do so if that repentant sinner may, after all, fall
back and be damned I can hardly see! Their songs would be more
appropriate when the battle is won, than when the young knight buckles
on his harness. Wise men shout at harvest home and not at seed-sowing.
If penitents do not, by God's Grace, become dwellers in Glory, there is
small cause of angelic joy! Ah, the angels believe the Truth of God and
doubt not His infallible love–how I wish the saints on earth were all
equally sound on a matter of such importance! The angels know full well
that such as Jesus has redeemed, such as God has called, such as
unfeignedly believe, such as have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit
shall be saved!
All things, you faithful in Christ, are yours–not as the Pope gave
England to the Spanish king–if he could get it! But all things are
laid up, prepared and ordained for you and the grant which Christ has
made to you stands good and entails the blessing upon you world without
end. "All things to come are yours." Please notice, too, that the text
is not in the future tense–"Things to come shall be yours." If it were
so written, it would read most grammatically and according to the
strictest requirements of language! "Things to come shall be yours" is
not enough. How can they be ours till they have come?
The text speaks in the present tense. And Brothers and Sisters, all the
bliss of the future and the Heaven of God as yet unrevealed are ours at
this very moment, for we have a title to them, clear and good. And
though, like young nobles who are under age, we come not into our
estates until a little time has passed and we have reached our
majority, yet those estates are as much ours by indisputable right as
if we did possess and enjoy them at this moment. When one of our
English kings demanded of his barons where were their title deeds to
their lands, a hundred swords flashed from the scabbards, as every man
swore to maintain his right by his good sword! We take no sword from
its scabbard, but we point to the Person of our blessed Lord in whom we
trust, for He is both our God and our right and we are persuaded that
as our Surety and our Representative, He will preserve our inheritance
for us! The heritage which He claims as Son of God, the devil shall not
defraud Him of and since all that He has He has made over to us, our
title is good and valid and we are not afraid to claim this day that
"things to come are ours."
Notice, again, that in the text there is no exception–"Things to come,
all are yours." All! Then there is nothing excepted. Whatever may be
the future glory of the saints, it belongs, according to this text, to
them all–"All are yours." And as there is no exception of things, so
there is no exception of persons. Not, "All future glories belong to a
few of you and only a portion to others," but all the blessings that
are to come belong to all the people to whom Paul was speaking–that
is, to all who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called by the Spirit.
I mention this because there is a new doctrine springing up (and there
is generally a new doctrine every week nowadays)–a new doctrine that
some of us who may not hold certain views of the millennium, or who may
not be so readily duped as others are with fanatical views of the
future–we are not to have a share in the kingdom and to be shut out
from many Divine favors.
There is not a word of Scripture to back such an idea, and my text, if
there were nothing else, puts its foot upon so wretched a notion and
crushes it outright! All that is promised in Scripture. All that Heaven
will disclose belongs to every child of God. "All are yours and you are
Christ's." We shall have them next affirming that some of the saints
are not Christ's. We shall have them claiming to be of a higher caste
than we poor Pariah's who are destitute of their elevated knowledge!
Indeed, the one assembly of Jesus Christ, as a certain sect delights to
call itself–when it does not utterly excommunicate all who differ from
it–when it is in its more charitable mood, promulgates a theory of a
sort of aristocracy and democracy of saints! On their theory we may
expect to see a gradation of principalities and powers, they themselves
occupying places at the right hand of the Lord in His kingdom, while
poor benighted Believers like ourselves may charitably be permitted to
pick up the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table!
It is ours to believe that all God's people are equally regenerated,
equally adopted, equally washed in blood, equally justified and equally
made to be inheritors of the possessions which belong to us by the
Covenant of Grace. Oh, trouble not your heads with these whimsies of
modern fanaticism! "All things to come are yours" if you are Christ's!
Whoever you may be, there is not one mercy excepted from you, nor are
you excepted from one of them. Let this be your comfort and delight!
The text speaks without a grain of contingency as to the things to
come. It does not say Heaven is ours if
there is a Heaven and glory is ours if it shall indeed be revealed–but
the blessings are spoken of as though they must come–"Things to come."
And so, Beloved, our future Glory is ordained by Divine decree. It is
hastened on by every event of Providence. It is prepared by the
ascension of our blessed Lord and His sitting at the right hand of God.
It is existing even now. In measure, beatified saints are already
partakers of it and we may rest assured that by no means shall we be
defrauded of the bliss which God has promised. To introduce you a
moment into this Glory, let me remind you of a choice text, which like
a golden gate, leads us into the city. It is in the 16th Psalm, just at
the close of it–"You will show me the path of life: in Your Presence
is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures
forevermore." Here is as brief and yet complete a description of Heaven
as I can well give you.
The things to come thus mentioned belong to all the saints. Life is
yours–not mere existence, but life filled with happiness and bliss.
Life and the path of it–that mysterious secret which only Jesus could
reveal. That narrow path the eagle's eyes have not seen and the lion's
whelps have not trod. It is the secret of the Lord which is with them
that fear Him. And that path of life is yours today! Think of it!
Christ in you is that path of life–He is yours! The life eternal is in
you now. The life of Heaven is none other than the life of Believers
developed. "I give unto My sheep eternal life." They have it now, the
same life that sums itself in the Presence of God is the life which
reveals itself this day in prayer, which groans in desire and which
sings with holy joy in gratitude to the Most High.
You have already, then, as yours, the life and the path of life which
constitute Heaven. "In your Presence," says the Psalmist–the Divine
Presence is Heaven! To see the face of God, to be consciously and
acceptably near to God–no longer set afar off by sin or divided by
frailty, or anything besides–this is our glorious rest! But, Beloved,
ours is this Divine Presence today–according as we are able to bear
it, we behold the face of our Father now. Though, by reason of our
mortality, we could not endure to behold His unclouded splendor, yet,
in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Mediator, we perceive the brightness
of the Father's Glory. Heaven, in the text, is described as nearness to
God, in the words, "At Your right hand."
How near the glorified are in Heaven, only they themselves know, but we
are near, also. And though not always near as to our own perception,
yet faith rejoices that the justified are a people near unto God–as
near, indeed, as Christ Himself is. The right hand is also the place of
honor. Kings seat their favorites at their right hand. The inhabitants
of Heaven are an honored company, but we, also, though sojourning
below, are at God's right hand this day in a certain respect. Though it
does not yet appear what we shall be, yet today are we the sons of God,
His chosen and His beloved. The right hand of God is a place of safety,
and though immunity from every peril is a thing to come, in a certain
sense, yet is it ours to enjoy today–for the Lord covers us with His
feathers and under His wings do we trust. His Truth has become our
shield and buckler.
The Psalmist speaks of fullness–"At Your right hand there is fullness
of joy." This bliss, Believer, will fill all your powers to the brim!
This exceeding weight of Glory will be more than your heart can
conceive! This joy is more than your ear has ever heard men tell of and
yet it is all yours and yours today. Though you have not yet reached
the everlasting fullness, yet you have tasted some of the spray of its
joyous waves and these have made your heart dream of what immortal joys
must be. Fullness of joy is spoken of by David–here is the suitability
of Heaven for us. It is such as to be really joy to us, not a
banqueting place for angels only, but a festival for men. Our joy shall
be the joy of our Lord, the Man Christ Jesus–such joy as will suit our
nature.
"At Your right hand there are pleasures." Here is their variety.
Heaven's joys are not one bare delight, but many rich pleasures. I
cannot stay to read into the catalog now, but heavenly joys shall be
like the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem which brings forth 12 manner
of fruits and yields her fruit every month. Robert Hall used to cry, "O
for the everlasting rest!" but Wilberforce would sigh to dwell in
unbroken love. Hall was a man who suffered–he longed for rest.
Wilberforce was a man of amiable spirit, loving society and
fellowship–he looked for love.
Hall shall have his rest and Wilberforce shall have his love! There are
joys at God's right hand suitable for the spiritual tastes of all those
who shall come there. Best of all, these pleasures are "forevermore!"
Mark their continuance–they shall never cease. There shall be no pause
in the hallelujahs of Heaven. No nights to eternal days. No winters to
close celestial springs. Nor do the words alone declare continuance,
they tell of perpetuity. "Forevermore." There shall be no end to the
rest which remains for the people of God.
The text says that all which David spoke of is ours and so, indeed, it
is. Heaven is ours in the price–the blood of Jesus has opened the
gates of Heaven to us. It is ours in the promise, for the Lord has
promised eternal life to Believers, and Jesus wills that His people be
with Him where He is, that they may behold His Glory. It is ours in the
first principles–holiness in the heart is Heaven begun below. The Holy
Spirit's indwelling is the pledge and earnest of our inheritance. Once
more, Heaven is ours in our Representative, for Jesus has taken
possession on our behalf and its goodly land is seized and claimed by
Him who is our Head, our Leader and our All.
Here let us close this part of our meditation and occupy one moment or
so with practical truth, light shed upon the action of the present by
the brightness of the future.
III. Very hurriedly then, beloved Brothers and Sisters, if things to
come belong to all the saints, EXAMINE WELL YOUR TITLE-DEEDS, to see
whether they belong to you. It will help you if you remember that the
saints are Christ's. Are you Christ's? Do you trust Him? Do you love
Him and serve Him? If so, your title is clear and all future things are
yours. Next, set greatest store by your best treasure, and, as the best
things are to come, let go of the present. The present is a shadow, a
bubble that is dissolved–the future lasts forever. Where your treasure
is, there let your heart be.
Rejoice even now, I pray you, in your inheritance. As you are thus
rich, let your spending money be dealt out with a generous hand. You
are on your way to the mansions of the blessed–rejoice as you make the
pilgrimage. If you have no present reason for thankfulness, yet the
future may yield you much. Break forth, therefore, into joy and singing
and with songs and everlasting joy upon your head make your way towards
Zion. If it is so, that all the future is yours, meditate much upon
it–make Heaven the subject of your daily thoughts. Live not on this
present, which is but food for swine, but live on the future, which is
meat for angels!
How refined will be your communications if your meditations are
sublime! Your life will be heavenly if your musings are heavenly. Take
wings to your spirit and dwell among the angels. All these things are
yours–then prepare for them. Day by day, in the all-cleansing blood of
Jesus, which is the path of purity, wash your souls. By repentance cast
off every sin. By a renewed application to Jesus and His Spirit, obtain
fresh power against every evil. Stand ready for Heaven with your loins
girt about and your lamp trimmed. Be waiting for the midnight cry,
"Behold the Bridegroom comes!" Let your life be spent in the suburbs of
the Celestial City, in a devout sanctity of thought and act. Live upon
the doorstep of the pearl gate, always waiting for the time when the
angelic messenger shall say, "Come up here."
If, indeed, all things are yours day by day, gratefully bless God that
though you deserve to descend into Hell, you have such a place reserved
for you as Heaven. You might have been cast away–the damnation of Hell
might have been your only outlook. It is Divine Grace, alone, that has
made you to differ and given you a portion among them that are
sanctified. Therefore bless God as long as you have any being and let
none hinder you in your sacred joy. Praise Him night and day for what
He has done for you.
And, lastly, if you have no title for these things to come. If they are
none of them yours, be amazed and confounded, for it will be an awful
thing for Christ to come and you to have no part in Him–for Heaven to
come and you no entrance into it–for then there will remain for you
nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation!
Alas, for you, judgment shall summon you and the Judge shall condemn
you and outer darkness and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth
shall be your portion forever!
God grant, poor Soul, that you may lay hold on Christ this morning by
an act of simple and humble faith, taking Him to be your only
confidence. Thus, and thus only, the blessings of Christ shall become
yours. But if you refuse to believe on Christ Jesus, then fearfulness
and dismay will lay hold on you in the day when He shall come to judge
the world in righteousness according to His Gospel. The Lord bless you
richly, each one of you, for His name's sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Revelation 21