Transcendent, Soul-Attracting Glories
The sermon encourages listeners to look forward to the transcendent glory of heaven, where they will be free from sin and its effects, and filled with heavenly sweets.
Anne Dutton preaches about the believer's anticipation of the heavenly glory awaiting them, emphasizing the eternal inheritance and joy that will be experienced in the presence of God. She expresses a deep longing for the incorruptible and undefiled blessings of heaven, free from sin and weakness, where believers will be filled with heavenly delights and the immediate vision of God and the Lamb for eternity. Despite the struggles and burdens faced in this earthly life, the hope of immortality and the prospect of being forever with the Lord bring comfort and joy, as death is seen as a gateway to eternal life and the full realization of God's glory.
Text
Dear Sir,
I sympathize with you in your trials and trust the Lord will do you good by all, while He makes them a means to exercise your graces and to prepare you for your crown. Oh, that glory reserved for us in heaven! That incorruptible, undefiled, and unfadeable inheritance of which we are now heirs and shall before long be possessors! How delightfully shall our capacious souls drink their fill of these rivers of pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore. We shall be done then with all our bitter things, sin and the effects of it, and be filled with the heavenly sweets of that everlasting feast prepared for us in the immediate vision of God and the Lamb to eternity.
My longing soul ofttimes stretches forth the wings of its desires after this glory, and is greatly comforted in believing views of that life and immortality which I shall enter into when this earthly tabernacle is taken down, which, through diseases and weakness is often, in my own apprehension, just ready to crumble into its original dust.
Oh, the transcendent, soul-attracting glories of that house, that building of God, eternal in the heavens, which I know through grace is prepared for me! I groan, being burdened in this tabernacle by reason of the sinfulness of my soul and the weakness of my body, both which hinder me from loving and serving my God as I would; and I long for immortality, not merely that I would be unclothed, but clothed with the glory prepared for me there.
The thoughts of death, as it will be to me an entering into life, have been very pleasant to me of late; and if a distant glimpse of that glory be so sweet, even while our views of it are so clouded with unbelief and darkness, what a ravishing prospect shall we have when taken home to be forever with the Lord, and shall see with the veil cast off!
Sermon Outline
- The Transcendent Glory of Heaven
- The Longing Soul
- The Hope of Immortality
- Entering into Life
- Clothed with Glory
- A Ravishing Prospect
Key Quotes
“Oh, that glory reserved for us in heaven! That incorruptible, undefiled, and unfadeable inheritance of which we are now heirs and shall before long be possessors!” — Anne Dutton
“How delightfully shall our capacious souls drink their fill of these rivers of pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore.” — Anne Dutton
“Oh, the transcendent, soul-attracting glories of that house, that building of God, eternal in the heavens, which I know through grace is prepared for me!” — Anne Dutton
Application Points
- We should long for immortality, not just to be free from our earthly bodies, but to be clothed with the glory prepared for us in heaven.
- We should strive to love and serve God with all our hearts, despite the hindrances of sin and physical weakness.
- We should have a deep longing and desire for heaven, and be comforted by believing views of that life and immortality.