Light Of Eternity
God has plans for you that extend into eternity. And because that is so, you and I better had be careful of what we do that affects eternal issues.
Transcript
Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? You doing alright? Well, yes, I wait for you to answer, I know some of you do and that’s alright with me. I’m glad to have a conversation, even though we don’t have two-way radio here. Well, I trust things are alright at your house and I’m feeling fine and happy in the Lord and glad to be back with you. This is your friend Bob Cook and we’re going to look at John chapter 14. Jesus said to Peter, “You can’t trust yourself but you can trust me. You can depend on me because I’ve got plans for you. I go to prepare a place for you. I’m gonna personally implement those plans. I’ll come again and receive you. And because what I really want is for you to be with me that where I am, there you may be also.” That’s the backbone of what is said in those verses.
He says, “I got plans for you. In my Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Now, this is a mystical and sublime truth, concerning which we won’t have the complete picture until we get there, I guess, yonder in the glory. But He says there’s a place called “my Father’s house.” Somewhere in the universe is a place called “the Father’s house,” where the central government of the universe and the universes beyond that is located. Then in that area He said, “I have lots of different places, lots of room. “Plenty of room in the Father’s house,” as the song says. But He said, “I want a special place for you,” which tells me that God has plans for me not only in this life, “In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” God has plans for you in this life but also in the life beyond the grave. In eternity God has plans for you, believer, whom He bought with that precious blood that was shed on Calvary and whom He has adopted into His heavenly family. He has plans for you as an individual.
Saved by the matchless grace of God, saved by grace through faith plus nothing, you’ve trusted the redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ, His atoning death on your part, paying your penalty. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed. Jesus died and rose again for you and in that context, you are immensely valuable to God and there is a special place, a special future for you in the Father’s house.
Now, I know people have fantasized on the fact that those who have been especially faithful and sacrificial in this life will have big mansions and those who’ve been selfish and self-centered and disobedient in this life, although they may be saved by God’s grace, will have smaller mansions. You have the story of the lady who was rich in this life and when she came to find where she was supposed to live, it was a little shanty in heaven and then down the street aways was a huge, glittering mansion and she said, “Who’s there?” And they told her, “That’s your maid.” And she couldn’t understand why until they said, “Well, we used all the material you sent over, that’s all we could find.” Jesus said, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth nor rust doth corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal.” Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. To be rich toward God is how the Bible describes it. To be rich toward God, to do those things that count for eternity. Mansions over yonder.
Well, as I say, that is in the realm of fantasy, people may imagine how it may be, I haven’t been there yet so I can’t tell you. I only know what Jesus said, you’re always safe when you stick to the Word of God, aren’t you? He said there are many dwelling places, that’s the first thing He said. He said, “I know that it’s so. If it weren’t so, I would have told you.” He said, “I’m going to prepare a place for you,” you. That is to say, there will be a specific area in heaven that is yours to occupy because you’re His. Oh, the hope that you and I have that lasts beyond the grave. Job said, “I know that my Redeemer liveth and that I’ll see Him at the last day and though after my death worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God whom mine eyes shall behold and not another for myself and not another.” “God is the God of the living, not of the dead,” said Jesus. There is a resurrection reserved for believers, as well; of course there’ll be a last resurrection for the unbelievers as well, when they stand before God for the final judgment.
But you and I have this blessed, wonderful prospect of being given that resurrection body, a body adapted to glory, a body adapted to living in the rarefied atmosphere of Heaven and yet still recognizably what we are. “I shall know even as also I am known,” said Paul concerning that afterlife. You’ll be recognized, all right. Walk down the streets of glory and meet an old buddy, and say, “Well, Joe, how are you? Haven’t seen you for a while.” Yes, we’ll be recognizable, we’ll be persons, we’ll have a resurrection body like our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. And we’ll have a place, there’ll be a place that is yours. You’ll have an address, 1342 Glory Avenue. [chuckle] That’s all right, isn’t it? A place in the Father’s house. “I go to prepare a place for you.” And in that blessed home over yonder it says, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
The heartbreak and frustration that has made your eyes weep many a time will have been taken away forever, and you’ll have the blessed joy of being in His presence. “In thy presence there is fullness of joy,” said the Psalmist. You’ll have joy that doesn’t have any bite to it. You know, in most of the situations where people are officially happy, there’s always a little edge of sadness. Have you noticed that? You live a while and you’ll find that there are very few times in life when you are absolutely without any exception 100% happy. Some poet has written a verse that I haven’t been able to find for years, but it starts out, “I doubt that Christmas can ever be merry, save in the heart of a little child,” and goes on to remark that after you grow up, you aren’t merry about anything because there are too many other things that have a little bite to them, a little hurt to them.
So it is that in human things, even though the occasion is full of joy, there’s apt to be that tinge of sadness for some reason or other. Well, when you get over yonder the tinge of sadness will be gone. In thy presence is fullness of joy, there won’t be any regrets, and there won’t be any tears, and there won’t be any pain, and there won’t be any sorrow, and there won’t be any death. Hallelujah. Aren’t you glad you belong to Jesus with a prospect like that? A place, said He, for you. I remember asking a man why he spent $10,000 on a casket for his daughter. I guess I wasn’t very tactful. You know, when you’re young you don’t always think about things, but I asked him, I said, “Mr. So-and-so, tell me, this is a most expensive casket. Have you thought about the fact of how much it is costing you?” He looked at me and said with an unutterable sadness, he said, “That’s the only thing I can do for her. This is the end. It’s the last thing I can do.”
Well, beloved, it isn’t the end. One of these days, they’re gonna look down at Bob Cook and say how natural he looks. If anybody says that I’m gonna open one eye and say, “What did you expect?” [laughter] Well, sure, we all have to come to the end, don’t we? If our Lord Jesus does come again in the clouds of the air, that’ll be it. But I want you to know that’s the beginning. Hallelujah! That’s the beginning! “I go to prepare a place for you.” Yes. God has plans for you that extend into eternity, that’s the point I’m making. God has plans for you that extend into eternity. And because that is so, you and I better had be careful of what we do that affects eternal issues. You see, you’re not just on your own here, but what you do has eternal issues. “Behold,” says Paul, “I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall all be changed.”
Okay. “And this corruptible,” that’s after you’re dead, you’re corruptible, “Must put on incorruption and this mortal,” that means capable of dying, “Must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s Paul about the resurrection. So if you’re coming down the down stretch, beloved, and you can’t run as fast, or can’t do as much as you used to, and the solemn consciousness that life, the sands in the hourglass of life are running out, you don’t have to be upset by it, because God has plans for you that reach on into eternity. “I go,” said He, “To prepare a place for you. And your name is on one of those many dwelling places yonder in the glory.”
Now, I said a moment ago, be careful of what you do now that has implications for eternity. Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” If you live for eternity, it will affect your conduct here on earth. That’s what our Lord was saying. If you live for eternity, it will affect your conduct here on earth. You will have begun to grow up a little spiritually when you ask concerning any action or decision, how will this affect my eternal destiny and the destiny of others who depend on me? Live in the light of His plans for you, which include eternity. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him now, and He shall direct thy paths.” And He’ll see to it that you find your place over yonder. He said, “I go to prepare a place for you.”
Father God, today, oh, may we live in the light of thy eternal plans for us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!
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