The Ark of Our Salvation (4/26/26)

Hello and welcome to the Church Newtown Square podcast.

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And now let's listen in to today's teaching.

What? The risk of being real sappy on

the front end of this sermon, there's some debate between my

wife and I. When we actually first met, it

was AI was a student at Westchester University and I

went to the weekly meeting of Campus Crusade for Christ.

And similar to here, we have, we had like a meet and greet or a

return. And she says that in the

semester before that I first really started getting involved.

She she, she says that she met me, she greeted me, which maybe

subconsciously that's why I stayed.

But in the fall I remember, I do remember the first time that I

saw her face and was absolutely struck.

I wanted to keep looking at her but didn't want to make it too

obvious. So I I played it cool like I

didn't care, but I actually really didn't care and that's

why I eventually asked her to marry her so I could stare at

her without feeling creepy. I also remember seeing the faces

of my boys for the first time. For those of us who are parents,

a feeling is really indescribable.

Really it's it's you want to panic, throw up and run and jump

for joy all at the same time. I love seeing my best friends

faces. Every summer I get to see three

of my best friends. We go hiking.

If you've been around long enough, you know that I go out

West and we do things together. We go on adventures and I love

seeing them. I love being reunited with them.

There's great joy, there's great delight.

We spent a lot of time together joking and laughing.

I love seeing each of you each week.

I love seeing you guys each week.

I hope the feeling's mutual. But I love seeing you, the

church each week. And if you have close friends or

family, or if you are part of the local church where you do

regularly attend and you know others and most importantly, you

are also known, then you know the feeling and the joy of

reunion. Joy of reunion, finally seeing a

beloved face again, seeing someone you haven't seen for a

long time. Maybe it's been a week, maybe

it's been a few months, maybe it's been a few years, but there

is joy in being reunited from the people that you miss.

With that being said, let me ask you this question.

Have you ever thought, pondered about what it will be like when

you see Jesus's face for the first time?

We have never really sat and thought with that because you'll

you'll see him. That's the promise.

That's the promise of the Christian, that we will see God

face to face. John reveals a goddess spirit.

No one can see him, but that's the beauty of Jesus Christ, the

incarnation is that we actually see God as he is face to face in

human flesh. Just as we look at one another,

we will see Jesus. He will be a physical being,

human being that we will see. We will be able to touch and

feel him, not really just to think about him, not even merely

just to sing about him, but actually to be in the have you

ever thought about you're going to be as you're in the presence

when he comes up to you and he says, hey, what will that be

like? What will that be like?

Have you anticipated it? Matthew 24 teaches that for

some, the day that we see Jesus face will be absolute joy.

Absolute joy. It'll be beyond words.

It also teaches us that for some it will be the most dreadful day

of their entire existence. In Matthew 24, Jesus teaches us

that he will return that that Christ's return is final, That

it will be glorious. It will be very sudden and it

will be only those who take refuge in Him now that will be

ready to see Him then. And for those that don't take

refuge for him now, in Him now, they will not be ready to see

Him. And by the time they see him it

will be too late because Christ will return suddenly and

finally. We must take refuge.

That's the force behind Jesus's teaching is that He is warning

his disciples to not be duped, don't not to be LED astray.

He's saying there's going to come a time when the thing that

you're asking me will happen, will happen, and it will be for

some great joy. So hold on.

And for others it will be absolutely dreadful.

And so our focus this morning as we wrap up our time in the

Olivet Discourse will be on the return of Christ, starting in

Matthew chapter 29. We'll just work quickly through

44 the rest of the parables that follow, the parables of the 10

virgins, the parables of the talents.

Really what Jesus does there is he just helps unpack the same

call to readiness. Jesus calls his disciples to be

ready, calls us to be ready. And we're not going to look at

depth in those, but you can later this afternoon read them

in full and see if what we say this morning will make sense.

And so if you want to take notes, here's what we're going

to do. We're going to we're going to

talk about the return of Christ. What does Jesus say about his

return? We're going to talk about

finding refuge in Christ that Jesus says he will return and it

will be for some great joy and for others great tread.

But how do we take refuge in Christ?

And when we take refuge in Christ, how can we assure our

souls that you are indeed in Christ, meaning that you have

taken refuge in him? And as his promise, it says that

just like any shelter or castle or ark, that when you are in

Christ, you are safe from the coming judgement in the coming

final end of the age. And finally, as a bonus

material, we're going to look to heaven.

What motivates us to actually live lives that Christ calls us

to? It is a looking beyond the

horizon of the now, but it is looking to heaven.

So first let's talk about the return of Christ.

Look at verse 29 with me briefly.

Jesus in 2429 says immediately after the tribulation of those

days. Jesus has already spoken about

the destruction of Jerusalem in the temple.

Much of what he has said up to this point has and was fulfilled

in the events leading up to AD 70, when Jerusalem was indeed

sacked by the Romans. But now his language turns our

eyes beyond Jerusalem. He's talking to his disciples

and he's saying, OK, now that I've I've addressed what happens

to Jerusalem, he, he turns to the second question, the coming

of the Son of Man. The coming of the Son of Man is

going to come in power and in great glory.

He uses apocalyptic language here.

Look, the sun will be darkened. The moon will not give its

light. The stars will fall from heaven

and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

The writers of Hebrews in the first few chapters talks about

the the cataclysmic, apocalyptic, the revelation of

God's work in redemptive history, and they use a lot of

this language. The sun, the moon, the stars,

the heavens, they're all shaken. This is language, and it's a

language of cosmic upheaval because that's really what

happened when Christ came in the form of flesh, and he is the Son

of God. When he was crucified, things

happened. When he rose from the grave,

things happened. Things that we can see and

things that we don't see. And so Jesus says immediately

after the tribulation of those days, a cosmic upheaval is going

to happen. Jesus is saying that his return,

the coming of the Son of Man, is not going to be private.

He says all the tribes of the earth will mourn.

He will appear in heaven, and the sign of Son of Man will be

very clear. He'll come on the clouds of

heaven with power and great glory, and then He will send out

his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His

elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

That just simply means, as Moses said, from underneath.

If you look to the east and to the West under the heavens, just

look all around you, all over the place, people will be

gathered. And so the promise is that

Jesus's return will be public. It's the appearing in the Son of

Man is going to come in great power and glory, like lightning.

You will not miss it. It will be absolutely glorious.

Paul had to remind a church in Thessalonica in its Second

2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

Thessalonians, chapter 2. They were worried that they had,

they'd missed this. But Paul reminds them of the

same truth. In the 1st century, people were

going around saying Jesus has returned, or, you know, the very

same things that Jesus has warned people we see in the New

Testament. The writers are encouraging

Christians to hold on. He says to them do not be

quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a

spoken word or a letter seeming to be from from from us to the

effect that the day of the Lord has come.

Let no one deceive you in any way.

He says Second Thessalonians chapter 2 verses one through 3.

2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

In other words, Paul's saying, guys, keep your heads.

You didn't miss it. He just encouraged them to live

faithfully and to to wait because you will not miss the

coming of the Son of man. Then in verses 32, Jesus uses

another, you know, kind of farming metaphor.

He says the fig tree is for our discernment.

You know, when it's branch becomes tender, when figs become

ripe, you, you pluck them. Jesus likes fig trees.

Apparently He just uses them all the time in illustrations.

He says, you know, when the summer's near, We, we right now

know. How do we know what the summer's

near right now? Not because it's warm, because

goodness gracious, this is schizophrenic weather.

I mean, it's just like I was wearing shorts and T-shirts and

flip flops the other day and the next day I was like, I was like

button down sweater, jacket. I was like, what is going on?

But yet we see evidences of warmer weather coming.

It's inevitable it will be hot. Give us a few weeks.

We're going to be like, man, it's brutally hot.

I wish it was winter again. Well, we know when summer is

near. In the same way the disciples

would see things that Jesus had warned them about and Jerusalem

would fall. The temple would be destroyed.

And so that was their, that was their sign.

Things are moving forward. Look at verse 35.

Jesus gives us a promise that we ought to hold on to.

He says heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not

pass away. That's the anchor for our souls.

That's what we're we're we're rooting ourselves into a truth

that is an anchor that the Kingdom is going to be permanent

under Jesus. But other nations, other

kingdoms, temples will fall, nations will shake, history will

groan, but Christ's words will not fail and so on.

In other words, the coming of the Son of Man won't simply just

be glorious. It's certain.

Jesus says it's certain. Then verse 36, look, he says

that day and hour, no one knows. The final date has not been

given to us. We're not called to calculate

it. We're really called just to be

ready for it does no good to calculate.

It's not the timing of Christ's return that matters.

It is what happens when he returns that really matters.

And so when we think about the return of Jesus.

I was thinking this week is like man is there Tom is do you

actually have any anticipation in your heart.

I was I was thinking back to my graduation.

You know, I was a senior in in at Westchester University,

engaged to Danae and like any good a college graduate, I was

like, dear Lord, please don't come back until my wedding day

and I have a job and then and then we're like, Oh, dear Lord,

like, you know, just I want to accomplish these few things.

It's a bit complicated because we can we can enjoy the good

things of God. But when I was a young man and I

had a whole life ahead of me, I didn't really look forward to

the the anticipation of Jesus return.

I think about the confidence that he will know me.

Will will he know me? Like what a dreadful thing it

would be to spend all of my life and for him to be like, I don't

know you. That shakes me to my core.

And what will his return mean for you?

Jesus is very clear. It's a bilateral.

Is that the right word? It's a there's only two options.

You either know him or you don't.

And if you know them, you stay with him.

If you don't, you're castaway. It's it's there's only two

options. There really is no in between.

And so to press that question into our hearts, we come to this

passage in that I read in verse 37 where Jesus gives us analogy

and I want to look at that and I want to use that as kind of like

the the secret decoder ring for how we think about what it will

be like when he returns and what the implications are.

Look at me at verse 37. Jesus uses this analogy in in

Genesis where he says for as were the days of Noah.

First, just apologetically, when Jesus refers back to the Old

Testament, no matter what you want to argue about whether it

was an all earth flood or localized flood, the fact of the

matter is that just if Jesus uses it as an argument, that

means that Jesus is affirming that it happened.

Do you understand that? So when Jesus refers back to

Genesis 1 and says God created man and woman, that means that

Jesus the Son of God, God himself is saying what was

written down is actually true. And so we can great get great

confidence in that. But Jesus says for as were the

days of Noah, so will the coming of the Son of man be.

So what happened in the days of Noah?

Well in those days, verse 38, before the flood, they were

eating and drinking, they were marrying and they were giving in

marriage until the day until the day.

Notice this when Noah entered the ark and they were unaware

until the flood came and swept them all away.

So will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Jesus reaches back to the days of Noah, and in Noah's day, he

says that the world was not trembling before God.

They had no care in the world for God.

They did not think about God. They didn't care for God.

Here's Noah building this ark and, you know, asking the

question, hey, what are you doing?

He's like, I'm going to, I'm going to build an ark because

judgement is coming and my family is going to take refuge

in it. And so, you know, kind of like,

you know, do you want to get in? And it the, the, the text

doesn't record people like, really, that's going to happen.

Could we join you? Because I'm certain that if

anybody was like, Noah, can we lend a hand and get on that boat

as well? Noah would be like, come on,

lend a hand. It's just me and my sons.

The more the merrier. But nobody.

What did they do? They laughed at him.

Like, you're nuts. But instead people were eating

and drinking. They life felt normal.

It felt ordinary. Routines continued.

The world rolled on through as judgement were unthinkable, yet

all the while judgement was was steadily drawing near.

Genesis tells us that the flood came because the Lord saw that

the wickedness of man was great in the all of the earth.

You see, the flood was not random.

It was not just God reacting emotionally.

It was not a divine overreaction.

It was the holy judgement of God against human rebellion.

And so that is the force of Jesus warning.

When the Son of Man comes, his coming will not be a moment for

last second preparation. That's what you'll read in the

parable of the ten virgins where they were not ready.

And by the time the wedding bride came, the wedding came.

Like there were some that had to go prepare and some that left

Jesus like, yeah, you can't. There's not going to be time

because by the time you get to the party, the doors going to be

shut. It reveals at that time who was

ready and who was not. Two men will be in the field,

one will be taken and 1:00 left. Two women will be grinding at

the mill, one will be taken and 1:00 left.

Ordinary life will be interrupted by final judgement

that left. It's not speaking, in my

opinion, of the rapture. It's Speaking of the fact that

the one who has left was not swept away by judgement.

That's why Jesus uses the flood language.

He says when a flood comes, it's swept them all away because they

were unaware. And what Jesus says, somebody

who is there with someone else will be prepared and they will

be, they will be remaining and the other will be swept away in

judgement when Jesus returns. The fact of the matter is, is

the clock runs out when it's 4 to 2 and the Penguins are, you

know, up ahead of the Flyers. The clock is run out.

There's no more time. When the last out in the ninth

inning is recorded, the game is over in context, being taken

away. Like I said, it follows the

flood imagery. The wicked are swept away.

And what Jesus is warning here is that His coming will divide

humans finally and forever. The flood is not only a picture

of judgement, it's also a picture of mercy.

Which brings me to my second point is that we have refuge in

Christ Jesus has talked about as in the days of Noah and the ark

of our salvation is who we just sang that song, the Lord is my

salvation, the Lord is my salvation.

How does that work? Well, that works because Noah,

if you noticed, where was he when the floods came?

He was in the ark. When Noah had already been in

the ark and the doors were shut and the floods came.

That's when people were like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

wait, wait, wait, wait. We were, we, we went in and you

read the account of Noah and it is this picture of people that

were swept away unaware. And Noah is in the ark with his

family, with the animals, and the door is shut.

In fact, the door is so huge, it says that the Lord help them

shut it. It it's, it's a, it's a, it's a

picture of finality. Once you're on the boat, you

cannot get off that boat. And so for Noah, the door was

shut and the time for hesitation had passed.

Judgement came, but Noah was kept safe.

So was his family. God in his mercy gave Noah a

warning and gave him plenty of time.

I don't know how long it took to, I've not been to the, the,

the Noah's Ark replica down in Tennessee.

It's, it's pretty amazing. I've seen the pictures.

I don't know. And if any of you have seen Evan

Almighty, you know how long and how hard it takes to build a

boat, right? The time lapse there, I'm like,

I'm not sure he could build that big of a boat next short of

time. You know, Congress doesn't move

that fast. He's a congressman.

But the fact of the matter is it took a long time.

It would have been hard to notice that one that was in was

building an ark in his backyard, right?

Like there's a long time. It wasn't, it wasn't just like a

few weeks, few months. It was it was a while.

And So what Noah did was found safety in the ark.

And for us, friends, safety is in Christ and in Christ alone.

For us, safety is found in Christ.

And if the flood is an image of final judgement, then the ark is

an image of the only refuge that will matter on that day.

Those who have fled to Christ for refuge receive strong

encouragement to hold fast to this.

That's our hope, that we are imagining ourselves in the boat

of Christ, that if Christ has said that he will hold us fast

and in Him there is salvation, then we picture him as safe on a

boat, even though, you know, that's why there's so many boat

imageries and sea imagery and chaos imagery that on the boat

you might get seasick a bit, but you're not going to drown,

right? The writer of Hebrews in chapter

6, verses 18 and 19, it says that we have the sure and

steadfast anchor. It's one of my favorite verses,

another boating, an anchor for our soul.

Sure and steadfast that in Christ, though tribulations

come, He is the anchor that keeps us rooted in the truth of

our salvation. Christ's followers receive

eternal life and cannot be snatched from His hand.

That's what Jesus says in John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

He emphasizes the permanence of protection once someone enters

into relationship with Him. Is that not good news that

Christ holds on to us despite the fact that, you know,

turbulent waters? I don't know if you've ever been

on a boat where there's rough waters or if you've ever been

behind a boat, if you'd like to wakeboard or or ski.

Water ski has enemy water skiers in here, wakeboarders, anybody.

No one won. That doesn't count, Rondi, that

it's hard and the waters are choppy.

You're trying to hold on to that rope.

And in the same way, we hold on to Christ and he holds on to us.

And when judgement comes, Jesus gives us this picture that

there's only one refuge, and it is in Christ Jesus.

And that's the mercy of God. When we are overwhelmed or fear

the overwhelming floods of judgement, Christ promises us

that we are in him. And when we are in him, we are

in the ark. In fact, some of you might know

this historically, churches in the main area.

Do you remember what it was called for those of you that

grew up in a church that they're like, hey, we're going to, we're

going to meet after, after a church in the Narthax.

But the opposite of the Narthax, which was the back of the of the

the building in in the main auditorium of the church was

called the nave. Did you know that the nave, it's

Latin for Navis, which is where we get our word Navy.

It's a big boat. That's why they would sometimes

build these churches. If you see old cathedrals,

they're shaped like a boat actually.

And this image of being in the ship, the church has often

pictured it as a vessel of safety.

Some of you remember War of the Worlds.

The, the old version, you know, the, you know, the old, the old

color version. How many of you are over 45 and

remember that? Anybody remember HG Wells?

You watch it on TV. The newer version with Tom

Cruise is much better, right? The graphics are better.

But in both of them, you'll notice in HG Wells, HG Wells,

who was a staunch atheist actually, but he gives an

imagery in those both movies. Do you remember where they run

to for safety? There's a pause in the story.

And after the aliens of Common are wiping people away, where do

they run to for safety? They go into a church.

In that scene. They run into a church and it's

quiet. People are sleeping and the

walls have crumbled. But you know, churches were

places where you ran to in World War 2.

They when, when Germany was bombing Britain, you would run

to certain churches because they were made of stone and rock.

They were solid fortresses. You ran there for safety.

Now, of course, the building is not what saves us.

That's what the trap is. Some people think that the

church, the church, not the people, but the church, the, the

traditions of the church, the I go to this church or that

church. I'm part of this church

tradition. I go into the building every

week. That's what saves you.

That's not what saves us. It's not at all.

It saves us. You're not going to be sitting

in a church or be a member of a particular church.

And Jesus is like, well, good thing you were here at the

corner of 10th and and Bustleton, because if, if you

weren't there then if you were part of that building, then you

wouldn't be saved. No, no, it that has nothing to

do with it. The image is helpful, but the

church is the gathered people, those who have fled for refuge

to Christ. That means that it is possible

for us to be near the ark, but not in it.

Think about that for a second. It is possible for you to be

like, I love the fact that we gather here each week, but it is

possible for us to be like, hey, I go to I go to the church in

Newtown Square. What church is that?

You know, it's the church with a cool V in it.

Cha Birch Oh, that's great. It's like, I love, I love being

there each week. We love doing stuff.

I know some people there. I've been to the website once or

twice and you know, it's just a really great time.

That's not the question that Christ will ask you in the end

of his at the end of the age, he's going to say, do I know

you? Do you know me not?

What church are you a part of? The reason we gather is to

remind ourselves that we have a refuge in Christ, not because we

love being part of Traverge, but it's because the church is the

body of Christ. In him there's refuge.

And that matters because lots of people sit near the things of

God. They know Christian language,

they admire Jesus vaguely, but really they have no

relationship. Some of you here have no

relationship with Christ yet. It's hard to say, but it's true.

It's always true in a, in a, in a body like this, there's a mix

of us who are like, eh, that might not be permanently true,

but there's a difference between knowing Christ and being close

to Christ. And that's why Jesus makes it

very clear that we are to be ready.

Which leads me to my Third Point is the readiness to see Christ.

We are called to live awake and faithful.

In Matthew verse 42, he talks about, therefore, look, stay

awake all through the New Testament.

You see the warnings, Peter, Paul, the Gospels, stay awake,

wake up, be sober minded, don't fall asleep.

In fact, in the parable of the 10 virgins, it says that

everyone was sleepy. It got to be night.

They, they, they, they were sleepy and they fell asleep.

But then when the bridegroom came, they all woke up.

And the ones that were prepared, they, they woke up and were

ready. Stay awake, Jesus says, and

looking ahead to the next few parables of which I'm not going

to unpack, I'll just kind of give you the Cliff notes and you

can read this afternoon and see if I was just kind of pulling

your leg. But there are three groups of

people that Jesus warns against that have false security.

The 1st is an unprepared world. The world is not prepared for

the flood. Your coworkers, your

schoolmates, your neighbors, you're not.

They're not prepared for the end of the age.

You just think that it's just going to keep getting better and

better and better and that there's turmoil all around.

But if we could just teach people enough, if we could just,

you know, submit these nations to, you know, the the world's

laws and orders that that things will get better and better.

That's, that's not what's going to happen.

It's just going to get worse and worse.

But then at the end of the age, Christ is going to come to an

unprepared world. They were unaware.

Jesus says in the days of Noah. I think more scary is the

relaxed Christian. The relaxed Christian Jesus not

only warns that there's going to be an openly rebellious world,

but he's warning those who live near the things of God.

Make sure people do not lead you astray, because there will be

men who will come and they will lead you astray.

All throughout the New Testament we see the theme of spiritual

vigilance organized around concerns about being prepared

for Christ's return. That we're to defend against

temptation that we're to be in communion with one another so

that we keep our eyes fixed on Christ.

Don't just admire Christ, but live for Christ, Be faithful to

Christ, speak of Christ, linger with Christ, take refuge in him.

Now be prepared. Now the relaxed Christians like

I've got time to be serious about my faith.

You don't know how much time that you have.

It's dangerous to be relaxed because then you're off your

guard. And then when it when the time

comes, it's too late. Finally, there's the false

passage. Jesus gives much warning to

there are going to be men who lead people astray.

This morning falls heavily on pastors and elders of a local

church. There are false pastors who are

so dangerous because what they're doing is they're leading

people astray. They're they're teaching them to

be comfortable in something that is not true.

They soften what God has spoken. They shift attention away from

Christ. They make peace with the spirit

of the age and they reassure people where Scripture warns

them not to be reassured. They believe what they want to

hear. They're itching ears.

Paul says we want pastors and and churches to teach us the

things that we want to hear. We don't want to hear any of

that fundamentalist Christian right?

Just hard stuff to hear. Tell us what's softer, easier,

more accepted around the world. Michael Reeves has said that the

church is the creature of the word of God.

And he he says that in the Reformation the conviction was

this, that no word priest, no church.

Churches are not sustained by novelty, personality, or

religious atmosphere, but by the Word of God.

And So what Christ teaches, that's the burden that I feel as

a pastor. That's the burden that the

elders carry together, that we want the truth taught clearly,

Christ set forth plainly, and we want you to be guarded from

deception because the stakes are eternal.

If you're sitting under a teaching that's telling you

things that are not taught by the word of God, your your heart

is going to be assured of something that's not true.

And then on that day and the coming of the age, Jesus says

you're going to be very surprised because you're LED

astray. Be careful what you listen to.

I like you need to be ready. But as James says, I and every

other pastor that teaches the word stands up in front of

people. I'm going to have to be called

to account to what I said. Now I I've not gotten everything

right. It's not a matter of like, you

know, well, Tom, actually let's just review your sermon history.

That's not Jesus. That's probably a subordinate.

You know something you you didn't get that you didn't nail

this this line time, right? And you didn't get this

interpretation right. But the question will be, did

you point them to Christ and Christ alone?

It's not about perfection. It's about pointing to the one

who is perfect. And so when Christ returns, his

coming is going to be final. That door is going to be shut.

And so parents, you ought to warn your children while they're

soft, while their hearts are tender men, fathers of the

household, you've got to get your act together and set the

spiritual tone of your home because children are so

receptible when they're young. You set that trajectory.

It's hard to move once they see that mom and dad not perfectly

but faithfully point them to Christ.

The things that they remember when they're young, they will

remember when they're old, that they will sing the old hymns.

They will remember we took communion every week.

They will remember going to church each week.

And it will be hard to shake them from that faith.

Just hands down truth. You're not in control of their

salvation, but you can certainly control the trajectory that they

would have a great chance of trusting Christ.

And moms, you ought to help in that too.

Don't make it difficult for him. Work together as a team, don't

hem and Haw when he drags you to church, and men don't whine

about going to the things that your kids want to go to.

In terms of learning about Christ.

You got to set the tone because Jesus says you have to prepare

them. Come, let the little children

come to me. Friends and neighbors and

coworkers should not be left without a witness simply because

we're afraid of being mocked or misunderstood.

So how do you know that you're living?

Ready to see his face? Well, the question is not when

will Jesus return? It's not when we don't.

Who cares when it feels like immediate?

We ought to live every single day, read the New Testaments

every single day. They thought he was coming back

pretty quickly, but since he hasn't yet the urgency of the

day, the question is, am I ready?

Am I ready to see his face? What will it be like when he's

comes and we see his face? Will our eyes be wide open with

will our heart? I'm sure there will be a mixture

of fear after that initial shock.

Man, it's gonna be amazing. But then once the adrenaline,

however this is gonna work. But in my imagination is once

the adrenaline wears off of like, Oh my gosh, it's

happening. And then there will either be

like, Oh my gosh, it's happening, it's happening, it's

happening. There will be an equal amount of

people like, Oh my gosh, it's happening.

Oh my gosh, it's happening. And then Jesus says very clearly

that at the end of the age, if you look at the end of the

chapter, he says, and that will set those to my right, sheep and

goats. If he knows the band cake sheep

go to heaven, goats go to hell. They they get that from

Scripture. It's a biblical song.

There will be a separation. And for all those who are

prepared and ready, Jesus says, come enter into my joy.

When you live faithfully, you know that the assurance of

seeing Christ and not being unprepared is that you've lived

faithfully, not perfectly, but faithfully, faithfully for him.

You, you are found doing what Christ gave you to do.

You don't wait for calmer times. You don't drift because life

feels ordinary. You're faithful day in and day

out. You live unafraid.

If you're in Christ. Judgment is not your terror.

You can be unafraid. You need not be afraid.

You live each day without fear, knowing that when He comes, you

can live with joy because joy is seeing His face for the first

time. Man, what great joy it will be.

You know why? Because heaven is right there

around the corner, which is why we need a vision for heaven.

And let me just end with this. Jonathan Edwards wrote an

incredible book. Man, I encourage you.

It's a small treatise. It's called Heaven is a world of

love. Crossway just published it.

I've I've read it, I've re listened to it.

Heaven is right around the corner.

This is what this is what motivates the Christian to live

because have you ever thought about heaven?

Heaven is not going to be for some of us, we think that heaven

is going to be. We're floating around singing

about, you know that song 1000 hallelujahs.

You know we're going to be singing 1000 hallelujahs, but

it's not going to be 1 long church service in heaven.

No, no, no. The beauty of the new heavens

and the new earth is that the curse of God's presence, being

fully felt, will be lifted, and in his presence without, without

resistance, there will be no barrier between US and God.

There will be the full pleasure of God's delight on this

creation, a renewed creation. John in Revelation says that he

saw the city coming down, which means that heaven, the throne

room of God, there's no longer some separation distinction.

We feel it now. We're like we're going to die

and go to heaven. But one day there will be no

death and we will be in heaven. We will not die and we will be

in heaven. We will be on the new creation

with physical bodies, with an earth that is renewed and

restored, with animals and birds and oceans and sunrises.

It's going to be amazing. That's the promise.

We go back to Eden. And Jonathan Edwards in his

exposition on 1st Corinthians 13.

Let me just, let me just end with this.

What is the vision of heaven that you have?

Here's the vision of being in heaven.

Heaven, he says, it's not merely a place where suffering ends,

but a world where love finally reigns.

In that world, in every heart, love dwells and reigns.

Every soul is filled with love, every person perfectly loved by

every other, and every other heart flowing outward and

unbroken mutual, eternal affection.

There's no pride. There's no selfishness, no envy,

no hidden tension, no fractured relationships, no guarded

conversations, no quiet rivalries.

Instead, there is perfect sincerity that fills everything.

When someone says I love your dress, they're not trying to

flatter you. Thus, they will truly love your

dress. When you're talking with

someone, they won't be looking over your shoulder looking for

someone else more interesting to talk to you.

You will be the most interesting thing they've ever talked to

you, and you will delight in their conversation with you.

And you'll look back at them and love the fact that they are who

they are. And you will be in that presence

of joy and love forever. No insincerity.

And in that place, Edward says, the joy of one becomes the joy

of all. The glory each St. experiences

is shared as if it were your own.

No one competes, no one compares, no one falls short.

Everyone rejoices. How is that possible?

That is only possible if we're in the presence of an eternal,

joyful, loving God. And how do we get there?

We trust and look to Christ and climb in the boat of Christ.

He is the ark of our salvation. He is, as in the days of Noah,

the only way we will survive the coming flood of judgement.

It will be final. It will be glorious, but it will

be joy filled for those who are prepared.

Won't you prepare your hearts If you're here this morning and

you've not yet prepared your hearts, If you've not laid at

the feet of Jesus and begged for His mercy and called out to Him

for mercy on that day, would you do it this morning?

Because you do not know what will happen when you walk out

those doors. The sermon you've just listened

to is a presentation of Church Newtown Square.

To find out more about our church, check out Church

nsq.org. That's CHVRCHNS q.org.

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