In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the beauty and perfection of the heavenly city that awaits Christians. He describes it as a place where light shines through and is adorned with colorful jewels. The preacher assures believers that they will have eternal fellowship with their loved ones in Christ, free from loneliness, death, sickness, sorrow, and pain. The sermon also addresses the issue of judging others, highlighting the importance of not judging others to prove one's own superiority. The preacher uses examples from running a race and participating in sports to illustrate the need to let go of unnecessary burdens and to obediently follow God's instructions.

I want to thank you so much for being here tonight, and you've given us, Charlene and I, such a wonderful welcome. You're so friendly and receptive. It's really a joy to be here and to share your Christian fellowship. Now, prophecy has many subjects, and some of them are obviously more important than others, but tonight we're going to go to heaven. How's that? Now, we're really not getting a load to go right now, so don't get too anxious, but we are anticipating the rapture of the church, and it could happen tonight, and we'd be on our way. Now, what would be our experience? If you're a Christian, and you've trusted in Christ as your Savior, and you're born again, when the rapture occurs, it's going to come without a warning. Suddenly, you're going to hear that call from the blue, and before you know what's happened, you're on your way. What's going to be your first experience? Well, the first thing is that we need a little change in what we are in order to meet the Savior, and we've never enjoyed perfect health. You know that? Now, some of you look pretty peppy. Some of you don't, but we need a new body, and it's going to be a body that's patterned after the resurrection body of Christ, a body that looks like our present body, but a body without sin, and a body without age, and that's quite important to some of us, and then a body that isn't going to die. It's all going to come in the twinkling of an eye. Now, there's a lot of questions the Bible doesn't answer. What do we look like? Well, I never had a man ask this question, but women sometimes have come up to me and said, now, how old will I be in heaven? And the Bible doesn't really say, but we know that God does things well, and it seems like 30 years of age is the ideal age. We're sort of the borderline between youth and maturity, and the priests had to be 30 before they could minister as priests, and Christ was a little bit more than 30 when he began his public ministry, so we're perhaps going to look like about 30 years of age, and I'm going to look a little different, I must admit. I hope so, and some of you could stand a little facelifting, too. The nice thing about it is when God gets through, we're going to look like ourselves, but we're going to be beautiful. Now, put that together if you can. Only God could do that. Now, some of the women don't want to be 30, and I think it's necessary. God will give you a special dispensation and make you 29. How's that? A new body, a wonderful body that's suited for all eternity to come. There's some principle in it that renews it and keeps it going forever and forever. You're going to have a body, and you're going to look like yourselves, and that's the first thing that's going to happen. Now, the second thing is you're going to have a new relationship. The Bible speaks of Christ as the bridegroom and the church as the bride. Now, of course, we're not really a married couple in the ordinary sense of the term, but it's the nearest that God could get to describe the relationship of Christ and the church of that of a husband and wife. And we're going to have a new relationship. He is coming as a bridegroom to claim his bride, and when he claims it, claims her, as we say, they're never going to be separated again. Wherever Christ goes, the church goes. When he's in heaven, they're there. In that great second coming of Christ, when Christ returns to earth with all the saints and the angels, we're going to be in that procession. There's a lot of questions that aren't answered, especially about the millennial kingdom, but he's going to be here, and I take it we're going to be here. And then when the present earth and heaven is destroyed, as it will be at the end of the millennium, and a new earth, a new heaven is created, a new Jerusalem, we're going to be with Christ in the new Jerusalem forever and ever. That's our eternal destiny. And so we're going to have a new relationship to Christ. And it's also going to be a new relationship to people we know. Our loved ones are going to be welcoming us when the rapture occurs. And sometimes we've been separated from them for years, and what a joy it's going to be for family circles to be put together that were broken by death. And we're going to be with our loved ones, and we're going to know them. They're going to know us. People say, well, we know everybody in heaven. Well, of course you'll know people in heaven. Christ is going to be Christ, isn't he? Doesn't the Bible teach the twelve disciples are going to be the twelve disciples? That Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are going to be there? Of course. We're going to retain our identity, and our people will know who we are. There's a lot of questions the Bible doesn't answer, but you know God has all the answers, and you can just trust him. And it's going to be a wonderful new list of associations. Now there's a third line, and I want to talk about this a bit because it's one of the most practical lines, and that is that the Bible teaches that we're going to appear before what the Bible calls the judgment seat of Christ. And there's been a lot of misunderstanding about this, so let's see if we can unravel it. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 9 and 10. We make in our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to him. For we must all, that is all Christians, appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Now what is this judgment at the judgment seat of Christ? Well, notice carefully what it says here. It doesn't say whether our deeds are sinful or not, but whether they're good or bad. That is, whether they're good for something, useful, or whether they're useless. And you see it's a judgment of works, not a judgment of salvation. Now one of the common questions that's raised is, what about our sins? Well, what about your sins? How many did Christ die for? All of them. Christ died for our sins. And what is the condemnation? Romans 8, there is no condemnation, you see, for a Christian. Why? It's not because he isn't worthy of condemnation, but because Christ paid 100% of the price. And the judgment seat of Christ is not a valuation of our life, whether it's sinful or not. In fact, the Bible says that we are justified by faith. What does it mean to be justified? Well, it's a legal term where God declares you righteous. And do you know that the moment you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were justified? Well, you say, I was still a sinner. Yes, but God looked at you through the perfections of the person and work of Christ. Your sins had been taken care of, and you had not only been forgiven, but you'd been justified. Now, what does that mean? Well, supposing you have a checking account at the bank, and you draw a check that's larger than your balance, and the bank has to make a determination what to do about it. Now, they can balance the check and not pay it. If you're a real good customer, they may pay it and then notify you that you're overdrawn. Now, a friend could go down there and pay the amount of the overdraft, or you could do it, and you'd be forgiven. But supposing someone goes down and pays a large amount of money on your account, you see, it'll not only wipe out the deficit, but it leaves something for your credit. That's the way our situation is. We're credited with the righteousness of Christ, because Christ died for us, and He paid the price in full, and now we are justified, declared righteous by God. So, it's not a question of sins. Now, we do have a question, because 1 John tells us, 1 John 9, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Well, that sounds like we have to confess our sins before they're forgiven. Now, in the Roman Catholic Church, they have this doctrine that you can be forgiven the sins that you confess to the priest, but then the trouble is nobody confesses them all, because they don't know them all. And so, they teach you have to go through a purging process they call purgatory to wipe away the sins you didn't confess. Now, we as Protestants don't believe that, and purgatory is not in our Protestant Bible. It's in some of the writings of the Roman Catholic Church, but not in our Bible. We don't believe in purgatory. We believe that Christ died for all of our sins, and they all are wiped out. And so, that's the way it is. So, it's not a question of sins. It's a question of what we have done for Christ that's worthwhile. And our lives are going to be evaluated. Now, one of the fundamental truths of the Bible, of course, is that we are responsible people. Now, when we accept Christ as our Savior, the sin question is solved, but the question of rewards are not. And we are going to be rewarded by Christ, the judgment seat of Christ, based on our works. Now, we're saved by grace, but rewards come from works. And if you serve the Lord faithfully, you'll have your day of reward before Christ. Now, what reward should we have? Well, that's an interesting question that the Bible doesn't completely answer. You know, I believe that one of the ways by which we are going to be rewarded is to be given a place of privileged service. You know, when you get to heaven, and the full knowledge of God's marvelous grace that this Savior, who is so glorious, actually died a terrible death on the cross to pay the price for your sin, you're going to realize then, as perhaps you can't do it in this world, how wonderful is the grace of God and how wonderful the sacrifice of God is for us. And you know, if we really love the Savior, as we should, we're going to want to do something for Him. If you love somebody, you want to do something for them. That's the natural thing. And our overwhelming emotion in heaven is going to be, what can I do to God to show how grateful I am for what He's done? And so, I take it that we're going to be given a privileged place of service. Now, what will that be? I don't know. But the Bible doesn't say much. It just says, if we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him. Apparently, in the millennial kingdom, they're going to have administrative posts to help govern the world. He may send you back to Vista as a mayor or something. You never can tell. We're going to have a job to do, and that's going to be part of our job. But I take it that our position, whatever it is, is somehow linked to how we serve the Lord. Now, I don't think we're going to have medals on our chest. Now, in the military, you know, they put medals on their chest and show all the battles they've gone through, and they can expand their chest and be very happy about all they've accomplished. But that isn't it. I once heard the story about the man who had perfect attendance at Sunday school, and each year they gave him a little card, perfect attendance in the year, and they put it on a ribbon. And the ribbon got longer and longer until it touched the floor. You know what happened? He tripped on the ribbon, broke his leg, and spoiled his attendance. Now, you wouldn't want that to happen in heaven, I'm sure. So you see, that's not some physical token, but it's going to be how we can serve Him. Now, when I was in college and high school, I went out for athletics, partly because I was big, and among other things, football. And we would practice all week. And back in those days, they didn't have an offensive and a defensive team. You just had one team, and you played all 60 minutes, because they had a rule that if you were taken out of the game in one quarter, you couldn't go back to the next quarter. See, that knocked out the idea of having different teams. And so the goal was to get on that first squad, 11 men. Everybody else was a substitute. And so you'd pray all week, and you'd try to persuade the coach you were the best football player you'd ever seen. And then on Friday, he would announce who was on the 11 for the following day. And you knew that when you got home, pulled down the evening paper, there would be the account of the coming game and the first 11. They were the members of the team. How did he choose them? Well, obviously, by what they practiced, how they worked during the week, how faithful they were. And even a star player, if he took advantage of it and laid out from practice, he might put them on the bench to teach them a lesson, you know. No, you're awarded according to your works, and that's the way it's going to be at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, there's a lot of questions that aren't answered here. You know, Cliff Barrows is Billy Graham's music man, and he told Billy one day, he said, You know, when I get to heaven, I'll still have a job. I'll be leading a choir. What are you going to do? Well, the same could be addressed to doctors, I suppose, and dentists, and a few others that are in occupations that don't continue in heaven. So there's going to be some retraining, but I take it there will still be places to serve the Lord for all eternity. And in eternity, we have the same thing. In Revelation 22, it simply says, And what a joy it's going to be in that small way to somehow say to the Lord, I love you, I want to serve you, I want to be faithful to you in this situation. Now, if that's true in heaven, it should be true that I hear it. Well, you know, you should ask the Lord, am I being faithful to you and serving you as I should hear? So we're going to get a new occupation, and that's going to be a very wonderful experience. Now, there are several illustrations in the Bible of the judgment seat of Christ that help us to grab this a little bit better than just the bare statement of it. One of them is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, where our life is compared to building a building. Now, some people think it's talking about the local church, and it might, but it certainly applies to the individual. And it states there that no foundation can be laid which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ. In other words, you begin the Christian life with Christ, and that's the foundation of your life. If you're not a Christian, you can't build a life for Christ, you see. You have to be a born-again Christian before you can do that. But if you are, then you can build upon this. And in this illustration in 1 Corinthians 3, he mentions that you build out of the materials of gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, or stubble. Now, these are various degrees of worth, but then we learn that the building is going to be tested by fire. Now, the gold and the silver and the precious stone are not burned up. You see, they've already been through the fire, and they represent what kind of wood will survive. But the wood, the hay, and the stubble represent various degrees of human worth. But when fire is applied, they all reduce to ashes. And I'm afraid a lot of the things we spend so much time doing in this world are going to be destroyed. They're not worth eternal value. It's a good question to ask, what have I done today that's worthwhile from the standpoint of eternity? Now, the Bible here doesn't explain the gold, the silver, and the precious stone. But in the Bible, gold is a characteristic of the glory of God. It's very prominent in the tabernacle and the temple. It speaks of God's deity. And I think that anything we do that glorifies God can be understood to be gold. And that's very important. Now, what glorifies God? Well, I take it that it isn't very complicated. It's something that manifests how God has worked out his wonderful grace in you and made you gold when you weren't naturally gold. I remember one time, I was holding a meeting in New Orleans years ago, and I was using the tabernacle and its typology to illustrate biblical truth. And among other things, I said the priests had to wash their own dishes. You see, in the sacrificial system, they had dishes to use, and the wives were not permitted in the temple there. So the priests had to wash their own dishes. And I said, you can even wash dishes to the glory of God. And that struck fire with one of the ladies, because she was the counselor for the young people that met on Sunday night. And they would have refreshments at their meeting and then go off to the meeting. They'd leave her with all the dirty dishes. And she was getting tired of washing the dishes. She said, I never knew you could wash dishes to the glory of God. Well, I think she should have got some help and not try to do it all herself. But nevertheless, she learned a lesson. Even a simple thing that's done because you're a Christian. A kind word, a visit of a lonely person, something that's thoughtful. It's so easy. And so often we love it because in the world, we don't realize that people are watching us to see whether our Christianity is real or not. And we have opportunities to demonstrate the gold, demonstrating God's working in their hearts. Then we have the silver, which is the medal of redemption, speaking of salvation and of leading souls to Christ by one means or another. Then we have the precious stones. And they're not mentioned because there's so many ways in which you can honor God in your life as a Christian in this life. And that's going to be recognized at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, there's a second illustration, and that's found in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 24 to 27. And our life is likened to a race. Now, in Corinth, they love to run races and strive to win. And the person who won the race would get a crown made of leaves. Not as worthless after a couple of days, but it was a token of victory, you see, and they worked hard to win that crown of leaves. Now, Paul tells us that our crown is not going to be corruptible, something that fades away like leaves. Ours is going to be a crown that's going to continue. And we need to run the race. And there's another factor that's very important. Now, in Corinth, only one person won the race. But in the race of life, everybody can win. You see, you're not running against somebody else. It's not a question of beating your neighbor or somebody and running better than they do. Everybody is running against what is possibly his best race. And you can win the race just alone by running according to the rules. Now, in high school and college, I also went out for what they call track. And I had carried too much freight to be a good runner. But I can't run at all. Hardly can walk now, but I could do certain things. I heaved the shot put and threw the discus and did well enough at least to get my letter in the sport. But we had on our track team in college a phenomenal runner. And he later on became a missionary to Africa for many years, and finally came back and retired, I understand. But he had always run. He never walked. He just ran. That was his standard diet. On a race, he'd line up, you know, and run the half mile or the mile or the two mile. He almost always won the race and was out in front. Now, there's certain rules about running a race. First, I noticed when he came to run the race, he didn't put on his top coat. You see, you dress as lightly as you can. You have shoes that have spikes that hit the ground and hold. And you wear a light track suit. You cover, turn away from everything that'll hinder you. That's a pretty good lesson for life, isn't it? Don't let things hinder you that aren't important. Don't carry needless weight. And then he would line up with the others, and the starter would say, On your mark, get set, go. What did he do? He left. I never saw him once turn around to the starter. Did you mean me? You know, we Christians, when the Lord tells us to do something, Did you mean me? Even Moses wanted Aaron to do everything. You know, we're great at wishing things on Aaron. And that's natural for us, but it's not the way to win the race. No, he would take off. And he followed certain rules. First of all, he stayed on the track. A Christian that gets off the track morally or some other ways is disqualified. He can't win. And then he would never look back to see where the other runners were. He'd always be in front. When you look back, you're apt to stumble and maybe lose the race. So, you never look back. And then when you go by the grandstand, you don't wave at the grandstand. See how good I'm doing, you know? It's a funny thing when Christians serve the Lord, they want people to observe. Did you notice that? They want everybody to notice how good they are. And you notice they never stop to pick daisies. Now, that's not a great crime in picking daisies, unless there's a big sign, Don't pick the daisies. But while you're picking daisies, you're not running the race. And the trouble with a lot of us as Christians is we're picking daisies. We're not doing anything bad. We're not disgracing our family or the church. We're not going to jail. But we're picking daisies, doing really nothing that's worthwhile, nothing that advances the race. And it's a good idea to ask ourselves, as we run the race of life, are we running to win the prize? And that's the possibility for everyone. Now, there's a third rule in this third illustration. And I like this one especially. It's found in Romans chapter 14. This is a chapter that deals with doubtful things, that some people may count wrong and others not. But it's dealing with the question of human works. And in verse 10, it asks a very pointed question. Romans 14.10, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? You know, it's an amazing thing how people judge others. And sometimes they don't realize it. But the reason they're judging the others, they're trying to prove to themselves that they're better than they are, you see. We had a student in Dallas Seminary who was known to be very critical of everything. And he would go to class, and the only notes he'd take is where he disagreed with the teacher. And he had a service, a preaching service, and he would spend all his time criticizing other preachers. And he got tired of it, and they fired him from that. And he got a Sunday school class, and the same thing, got fired from that. And the question came up in faculty meeting, are we going to graduate a student that's complaining about everything? It didn't seem to us like he was a good candidate for the ministry. And as problems usually go, and you have a toughie, they assign the president the job of talking to him. So I talked to him. I said, why do you criticize everybody? He said, well, God has given me the gift of criticism. Well, I felt like saying chapter and verse, you know. And they didn't let him graduate. He went on to the ministry, and strange to say, ended up in his pulpit one time on a chain of prophecy teaching. But we didn't discuss his past. I guess maybe he learned his lesson. I hope he did. You don't get anywhere by being criticizing other people. What should you be doing? Take a good look in the mirror, the word of God. Ask your question, what am I doing that's wrong? That's the real issue, you see. What he's doing is none of your business, really. And we should not show contempt for our brother. And then he goes on to give some solid reasons for it in verse 10. For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, each of us shall give account of himself to God. These two scriptures are loaded here. First of all, the fact that everybody's going to bow the knee. Well, that's what you should be doing now. Psalm 2 begs us to show devotion to Christ now. In eternity, the unsaved will have to acknowledge who he is, but it's too late. It's too late. The time to bow the knee to Christ and to yield to him is now. And confess him as your personal savior. But then each of us shall give account of himself to God. In other words, you don't have to give an account to your neighbor ultimately, though it may be important what your neighbor sees in your Christian life. But it's a question of what God thinks about your life. That's a very searching question. At the end of the day, ask the question, what does God think about what I've been doing and saying? That's a very pointed question. Everyone ought to give an account of himself to God. Now, the figure that's used here is the figure of a trusteeship. What is a trustee? A trustee is one who, according to the laws of the land, receives something that's of value, and he's given the legal obligation to take care of it. And he's obligated to report from time to time. A bank, if they're a trustee, they have to report to you what they do with your money. In other words, it's a trust. Now, there's a sense in which our life is a trust. What of you that you have not received? Did you choose your parents? Did you choose where you were born? Of course not. And you were endowed with certain physical things, health perhaps, a good mind, education. Perhaps your parents were able to give you what you needed to accomplish things in life. Now, you see, what of we that we have not received? See, everything, regardless of where it came from, is a gift from God. And we're trustees. You see, at the judgment seat of Christ, the question is going to be, what have you done with what I've given you? You see, he hasn't given all of us the same things. Some of us have more money than others. Some have more brains than others. Some have more ability. Some have more physical strength. Some are younger and more energetic than we are. We all are limited. But what we have got, we have to give an account for. And at the judgment seat of Christ, God's going to say, what have you done with what I've trusted you with? You see, that's the great equalizer. You can be a very obscure person in the church. And perhaps you're not a preacher. Perhaps you're not a Sunday school teacher. Perhaps you're not an officer of the church. Perhaps you aren't in any place at all. It's important. But you see, you're not responsible for what you don't have. You're responsible for what you have. And the amazing, levelizing thing that this is, is that everyone has a chance to hear God's well done. It's a question of what you do with what you have. So don't belittle what you are. But what you are, be sure to use it for God. And then he will reward us. Now, I take it that our rewards are going to be in the form of privileged service. The Bible doesn't give us clear light on this. But we're going to be enjoying eternity with Christ and living for him. And that's going to be our wonderful future experience. How soon is this going to be? Well, it could be tonight. You see, this is going to begin abruptly when the rapture takes place. And I believe it could be near, it could be delayed. But sooner or later, whether through the rapture or through death, you go to heaven, you're going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, every one of us, to give an account of what we have. So don't envy people who have a lot that you don't, money or talent or whatever. You're not responsible for what they have. You're responsible for what you have. And the more you have, the greater is the challenge to put it at the Lord's feet and let him use it to the glory of God. Now, what have we got so far? You have a new body without sin, without age, without death. You have new relationships to Jesus Christ and to renewed fellowship with all your loved ones. And now you have a new occupation. We're not clear as to what it is, but we'll have something to do. We're not just going to twiddle around, strum a harp on a cloud. We're going to serve the Lord in some useful way throughout all eternity to come. Now, when the rapture occurs, we go to what we call heaven. And I don't know where that is. Once in a while, people want me to tell them where it is, and I don't know. Nobody knows, but it's a place where God is. And we're going to go to heaven. And we're going to be there while the end time events take place on the earth, including the terrible catastrophes and judgments that God is going to pour out on the world. And then comes the time for the second coming of Christ. And Christ comes back to judge the world. And Revelation 19 gives us this glorious picture of the sky is going to be full of the glory of God. And it's going to take a long time. It's going to take perhaps 24 hours. And during that 24 hours, the earth is going to turn, you know. And while the destiny of all the saints with Christ are going to be back in Israel, according to scriptures, though there's a lot of questions that aren't answered, the whole world will be able to see it. People used to say, how could the whole world see the second coming of Christ when only half the world can see half the sky? Well, that's the answer. It's not an instantaneous event like the rapture, twinkling of an eye. This is a magnificent procession from heaven to earth. And we're going to come back with Christ for the millennial kingdom. Now, there's a lot of questions that aren't answered about this, but you don't have to worry about it. You know, people say, how can God do this? Well, you got a big enough God, you don't have any problem. Do you know that? Hasn't your God created billions of stars, trillions of them? Hasn't he set the whole world in order? Hasn't he existed from eternity past and exists as eternity future? If you have a God like that, don't worry about how your body will be raised in the dead if you die. Of course, he can handle that. No matter what's required, he can handle it. And he'll do everything he needs to do to care for you through time and eternity. Now, when the millennial kingdom's over, we read that the present earth and heaven will be destroyed. Nothing will be left of it. I don't believe it's going to be remodeled. I believe it's going to be completely restored, completely wiped out, I mean. And just as the world came into existence out of nothing, at God's command, it's going to go back to nothing. And we believe in the eternal state. There's going to be no stars, no sun, no moon. The earth is going to be round, but we know very little about it off the side of that. And the universe is going to be there. And space out there, we don't know much about it. But we do know that we'll be in the new Jerusalem, which will be our ultimate home. And that's the final picture, isn't it? You have a new body, a new relationship, a new job, and finally, a new home. Now, if the four walls that are your home today don't please you this way, you have a Savior who is your lover and who's going to create a home for you. He's infinitely rich, infinitely wise, and he's got perfectly good taste, you know. It won't be a garish home. It'll be one that's suited for you. And he's going to take care of you like a man takes care of his wife. And the man is increasingly, wonderfully wealthy. He loves you. And he's going to create this home for you. And it's described in Revelation 21, 22. We're told that the new Jerusalem is a gigantic city, some 1,400 miles or 1,400 to 1,500 miles square, and that high. If you take that city of 1,500 miles high and divide it up in the root floors of about 10 feet apart, you have an incredible amount of space. If you don't like what you have now this way, you'll have a couple acres in heaven at least. And you'll be able to roam around without any problems. No, we have a wonderful future ahead, and God's going to take care of us. And in the new Jerusalem, God is there. We're going to be able to see Him. We're going to be able to serve Him. We're going to be able to live for Him. And Israel's going to be there. That is the saved of Israel and the saved among the church. They're going to name their own foundations. And the whole thing is going to be indescribably beautiful and filled with the glory of God. And all the materials seem to be translucent. Even the streets of gold are said to be like glass. It's not solid like we have gold. And light's going to go right through this city, and every color of the rainbow is illustrated in the jewels of the foundation of the city and other jewels that are mentioned. It's going to be indescribably beautiful. So if you find this world a little sordid and not quite to your liking, just wait. As a Christian, you have a wonderful, wonderful home that's going to be yours forever and forever. And our loved ones are going to be there, our loved ones in Christ. And we're going to have fellowship with them. There's going to be no more loneliness, no more death, no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more pain. It's going to be a wonderful life. And the marvelous thing is it's all because of the grace of God. We don't deserve it. We didn't earn it. We didn't attain it. It's not ours because we should have it. It's ours because a loving God has seen fit to stoop down and save us by sending His Son to the cross and then providing this glorious future for us. Now, if the rapture occurred tonight, would you start out on that journey? I mentioned earlier how important it is to be saved. And churches like this where the gospel has been faithfully preached and people come out on a Sunday night to hear a preacher talk about heaven, we'd assume that they are Christians. But you know, in every situation, it seems like there's some going through all the motions. Everybody thinks they're a Christian. Everybody thinks they're what they ought to be. Everybody thinks they're going to go to heaven. And there's some that haven't met all the conditions. They're not born again. And like Nicodemus, the godly Jew that we all turn to for illustration, we are not capable of entering the kingdom of God unless we have supernatural life through a supernatural birth. And I think we can know if we're born again because it's not something we deserve or earn or attain. It's a question of whether you're spiritually alive. And I think there's a witness within, according to the scriptures, there's a voice that says, you belong to me. You've come to Christ. And of course, Christ made it so simple. He died for us. This is terrible. But he said, him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. If you haven't, aren't saved tonight, and you know it, there's just one reason. It's not because you're bad. Not reason because there's other things in your life that aren't good. It's because you haven't come. Salvation is by grace without works. Now, work should come from it as a result, but not as a cause of your personal salvation. You need to trust in Christ and be saved. And I hope tonight, if this is you that I'm talking about, that you won't leave this church without getting the help. There's a prayer room to my left. And I'd be glad to help you and point the way so that you can have absolute assurance that Jesus Christ died for you and that you'll be saved. And when the rapture occurs, you begin this great journey with a new body and all the rest of the things I've mentioned tonight. And ultimately, join your loved ones in Christ in the new Jerusalem forever and forever. There's no ending to Christian life. Even the unsaved are going to last forever. But in torment and judgment, because they refused the marvelous grace of God that he's provided for us. They choose to spend their eternity with Satan in a place that God prepared for Satan and the fallen angels. But God wants you. He desires you. 2 Peter 3 says he's not willing, not desirous that anybody be lost. He wants everybody to be saved. That's why he's waiting. I sometimes wonder how in the world God can be patient with this present world with all of its sin and rebellion and contradiction. You know why? He's just waiting. He's waiting for some to get saved that aren't. He's waiting for some to hear that haven't heard. But the day is going to come like Noah's Ark, remember? Remember when the door is shut and the judgment of God is going to come. Now is the time to trust him. If you haven't done it before, do it now. Now, whenever I leave a church like this, I realize I may not be back. Life is uncertain and we don't know what the future holds. But we never say goodbye. What do we say? So long. So long. We're going to meet again. And I don't know how much memory we're going to have in heaven of these meetings, but we're going to meet again. And if we're at the Savior, belong to the Savior, we're going to share eternity together and all that the marvelous love of God can give us. And so I trust the Lord will bless you and cause this church to prosper, to reach out in the community and win many precious souls for Christ, carry on its worldwide influence through missions and be blessed of God. Every day, until perhaps soon, Jesus will come. Shall we pray? Our Father, how wonderful is our Christian faith that reaches beyond this life and assures us of all these wonders that the Word of God mentions. And we pray that thou wouldst help us now, Lord, to enter in fully into what God has prepared for us and to do the things that are well pleasing in his sight, thinking always of how can my life really show my love for Christ and my desire to be obedient to him? For we ask in Christ's precious name. Amen. Let's stand together. John writes, behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed that we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Are you a child of God tonight? If you're not and you would desire to make that step of giving your life to Christ, up front here are some pastors, some brothers and sisters, some men and women in the fellowship here who would love to pray with you, who would love for you to walk out of here sure that when we go to heaven that you're going to be there. We have so much to look forward to, don't we? What a blessing.