Preparation for Heaven

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2 Corinthians 5:5

Now he that has worked us for the selfsame thing is God, who also has given to us the earnest of the Spirit.

I. THE WORK OF PREPARATION.

1. It is almost universally admitted that some preparation is essential. Whenever death is announced, you will hear the worst-instructed say, "I hope, poor man! he was prepared."(1) Men need something to be done for them.

(a) God declares that we are enemies to Him. We need, therefore, that some ambassador should come to us with terms of peace, and reconcile us to God.

(b) We are debtors also to our Creator — debtors to His law. Some mediator, then, must come in to pay the debt for us, for we cannot pay it, neither can we be exempted from it.

(c) In addition to this, we are all criminals — condemned already; in fear of execution unless some one come in between us and punishment. Say, then, has this been done for you? Many of you can answer, "Blessed be God, I have been reconciled to Him through the death of His Son; my debts to God are paid; I have looked to Christ, my Substitute, and I am no longer condemned" (Romans 8:1). Come, let us rejoice in this, that He hath wrought us for this self-same thing.

(2) Something must be wrought in us.

(a) We are all dead in trespasses and sins. Shall dead men sit at the feasts of the eternal God? Only the Jiving children can inherit the promises of the living God, for He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

(b) By nature we are all worldly. We "mind earthly things"; the world's maxims govern us, its fears alarm us, its hopes and ambitions excite us. But we cannot go to heaven as worldly men, for there would be nothing there to gratify us. The joys and glories of heaven are all spiritual.

(c) We are unholy by nature; but in heaven they are "without fault before the throne of God." No sin is tolerated there. What a change, then, must come over the carnal man to make him holy? What can wash him white but the blood of Christ? That a great change must be wrought in us even ungodly men will confess, since the Scriptural idea of heaven has never been agreeable to unconverted men. When Mahomet would charm the world into the belief that he was the prophet of God, the heaven he pictured was a heaven of unbridled sensualism. Could a wicked man enter into heaven, he would be wretched there. There is no heaven for him who has not been prepared for it by a work of grace in his soul.

2. If we have such a preparation, we must have it on this side of our death. As the tree falleth, so it must lie. While the nature is soft it is susceptible of impression, stamp what seal you may upon it; once let it grow cold and hard, you can do so no more; it is proof against any change. We have no intimation in the Word of God that any soul dying in unbelief will afterwards be converted. "He that is holy, let him be holy still; he that is filthy, let him be filthy still." Moreover, we ought to know, for it is possible for a man to know whether he is thoroughly prepared. Jesus Christ has not left us in such a dubious ease that we always need to be inquiring, "Am I His, or am I not?" He tells us that "he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved." If we have obeyed these commands we shall be saved, for our God keepeth His word. We need not harbour endless questionings.

3. Mast how many put off all thoughts of being prepared to diet They are prepared for almost anything except the one thing needful. "Prepare to meet your God."

II. THE AUTHOR OF THIS PREPARATION FOR DEATH. Who made Adam fit for Paradise but God? And who must make us fit for the better Paradise above but God? That we cannot do it ourselves is evident. We are dead in trespasses and sins. Can the dead start from the grave of their own accord? The dead shall surely rise, but because God raises them. Conversion, which prepares us for heaven, is a new creation. The original creation was the work of God, and the new creation must likewise be of God. Think of what fitness for heaven is! To be fit for heaven a man must be perfect. Go, you who think you can prepare yourselves, be perfect for a day. Man's work is never perfect. God alone is perfect, and He alone is the Perfecter.

III. THE SEAL OF THIS PREPARATION. "The earnest of the Spirit." Masters frequently pay during the week a part of the wages which will be due on Saturday night. God gives His Holy Spirit, as it were, to be a part of the reward which He intends to give to His people when, like hirelings, they have fulfilled their duty. So God gives us His Holy Spirit to be in our hearts as an earnest of heaven. Have you received the Holy Spirit? Do you reply, "How may I know?" Wherever the Holy Spirit is, He works certain graces in the soul, such as repentance, patience, forgiveness, holy courage, joy, etc. This gift, moreover, will be conspicuously evidenced by a living faith in Christ.

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