Here And Now AND In Heaven

The best part of eternal life is the part that will take place in heaven. But there are some pretty wonderful parts of it that happen here on earth. I believe that the moment that The Lord Jesus opens our hearts and enters them, bringing with Him eternal life is a thrilling moment for most believers. For multitudes of believers memories of that moment thrill them for a lifetime. I have heard the testimonies of saints who became saved five or six decades ago. The moment was so thrilling that they tell about it as if it happened yesterday. Many of them build their entire lives upon the thrills that began that moment. They spend a lifetime learning about what God did for them in that moment. A multitude of thrills will follow and flow out of that first big one. I feel sorry for those who are saved but understand so very little about what happened when they were saved. I know many had no feelings whatsoever when they were saved. They don*t get the thrills until they become aware of the Lord working in them and in their lives. I wonder if the first thrill the Lord gives them is a little smaller than the one He gave me.

At that moment God began to be their Father. An eternal connection was formed between them and Him. Eternal life came into them. God wants them to know all about this eternal life that came into them. He wants them to enjoy what He has done for them NOW and forever.

Acts 16:14: . . . Lydia, . . . whose heart the Lord opened, . . .

Galatians 4:19: My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

1 John 5:11-12: And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

John 10:10b: . . . I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

1 John 3:2: Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Titus 2:12: Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Charles Haddon Spurgeon on 1 Thessalonians 5:24: Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.

Heaven is a place where we shall never sin; where we shall cease our constant watch against an indefatigable enemy, because there will be no tempter to ensnare our feet. There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. Heaven is the undefiled inheritance it is the land of perfect holiness, and therefore of complete security. But do not the saints even on earth sometimes taste the joys of blissful security? The doctrine of God*s word is, that all who are in union with the Lamb are safe; that all the righteous shall hold on their way; that those who have committed their souls to the keeping of Christ shall find Him a faithful and immutable preserver. Sustained by such a doctrine we can enjoy security even on earth; not that high and glorious security which renders us free from every slip, but that holy security which arises from the sure promise of Jesus that none who believe in Him shall ever perish, but shall be with Him where He is. Believer, let us often reflect with joy on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, and honour the faithfulness of our God by a holy confidence in Him.

May our God bring home to you a sense of your safety in Christ Jesus! May He assure you that your name is graven on His hand; and whisper in your ear the promise, Fear not, I am with thee. Look upon Him, the great Surety of the covenant, as faithful and true, and, therefore, bound and engaged to present you, the weakest of the family, with all the chosen race, before the throne of God; and in such a sweet contemplation you will drink the juice of the spiced wine of the Lord*s pomegranate, and taste the dainty fruits of Paradise. You will have an antepast of the enjoyments which ravish the souls of the perfect saints above, if you can believe with unstaggering faith that faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.

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