Heaven, No. 2

We find in the tenth chapter of Luke and twentieth verse that the names of all the disciples are recorded above. He sent out two by two “other sever ty also.” They went into the different towns and village. They were elated with their success, and rejoiced, for the very devils were subject to them. They were gifteJ with the spirit of Almighty God. But Christ seems t have objected to this spirit of rejoicing in them. He says, M Rather rejoice that your names are written ui heaven.” Some say, “If we are not saved until the judgment day how can our names be already written in htven.” A friend once told me that in China they had two books in their courts, one that they called the bo&£ of death and the other the book of life, and whenever a criminal was sentenced to death and executed, his nasaie was put down in the book of death, and when he is found not guilty his name is recorded in the book of life.

Every man, woman and child in this audience to-day have their names written in the book of death and the book of life. When we are born of God we pass from death unto life. Now as I said the other day, it is the privilege of a child of God to know. Where there is doubt about any important question there can be no rest. If you have a child sick, hanging in the balance between life and death, there is no rest, no peace, as long as you are uncertain whether it will get well or not. If I get on a train to go to a certain city, and I can not tell whether the train is going to that or some other city, there is no rest, no peace. And this idea that we can not tell whether we are going to heaven or hell is a false idea. The moment you begin to talk to some people about names being written up in heaven they turn up their noses and say, “Don’t talk about that stuff to me — about names being written in heaven as if they kept books there.” When a man cavils I always go right to the Word of God and take my stand right on scripture. There is considerable in scripture about names being written in the Book of Life. I was amazed when I came to hunt it up to find a passage in the prophecy of Daniel about the Book. If you will turn to the twelfth chapter of the prophecy of Daniel and the first verse you will find: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the Book.”

Then I find Paul writing down to those Philippians at Phiiippi, that town where they had given him such cruel treatment. “And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and with other, my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the Book of Life.”

It is not only our privilege so to live that other people may know that our names are written in the Book of Life.

I had a friend coming back from Europe a few years ago, and as the party were coming down from London to Liverpool, they made up their minds to go to the Northwestern Hotel. When they got there they found the hotel had been full for days, and they could not accommodate them. My friend found all the company taking up their satchels and starting off, and they said to her, “Are you going with us over to this ether hotel? “No,” she said, “I am going to remain here.” “Why,*1 they said,” there is not any room, the hotel is full.’ “O,” she said, “I have got a room.” “How did yo* get it?” “Why, I sent my name on ahead.” That is just what Christians are doing. They are sending their names on ahead, They are giving a little thought to the other life. There is another life beyond this, and what Christians are doing is taking a little thought about the future and not spending all their time and energy upon things of time. Everything that we seek, everything that we handle down here is transitory, but the things of the world to which we are going will endure forever.

Now, I want to call attention to a few more passages about names being written in the Book of Life, Revelation thirteenth chapter, eighth verse: “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him” — that is, anti-Christ — “whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” That dividing line is going to be drawn by and by. Then it will appear who is for God, and who is against Him; and every man whose name is not written in the Book of Life will bow down to the anti-Christ, the Beast, and worship him. The quicker that time comes the better. I am tired of seeing people trying to be on both sides of this question. I believe we are suffering more to-day from people inside of the church, unconverted, than from any other class of people — people who profess to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and yet are living in the world, like the world, and for the world, and who care for nothing else.

There is another passage I want to call your attention to, Revelation twentieth chapter, twelfth verse: “And I taw the dead j small and great, stand before God; and

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the books were opened, which is the Book of Life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” That is a judgment of stewardship. One shall be made ruler over five cities and another over ten, and I am afraid, some will not have any; they will just barely get into the kingdom of God and get life; that is all you can say. They will get into heaven as Lot got out of Sodom, by the skin of his teeth. His works were all burned up. There are a good many Lots and Sodoms at the present time. You will not have to go out of Cleveland to find them. Everything they have done, everything they do, is going to be lost. They are time servers. They cannot look beyond this life.

Then again in the twenty-first chapter of Revelation twenty-seventh verse, we read: “And there shall in no’ wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie.” It is astonishing to hear people talk. Only yesterday I heard people say they were going to heaven without regeneration, without being born of the Spirit, without being converted. In other words, they might just as well say, I am going to heaven whether God will have me there or not.” If a man does not give up his skepticism, his unbelief, his sins, he cannot enter that city. These are almost the last words in Scripture — the last chapter but one, “And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” It is a very important question. It is a question we ought to have settled in our minds. “Is my name written in the Book of Life?” “Oh, well,” you may say, “my name is on the church record.” I think a good many people have their names on the church record that have not got them in the Book of Life. You may uve your name on twenty church records and not have it in the Book of Life. The question is, Have I been born of the Spirit? Have I been born again? Have I been born from above? Have I passed from death unto life? If I have not, it is clearly taught that I will not enter into the kingdom of God. “E Kcept your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God.” That is what Christ said to the moi *Jists of his day. “Except ye become converted, and become as a little child” — that is really nothing in your own sight — “ye cannot see the kingdom of God.” Heaven, some one has said, is filled with twice-born people — born of the flesh and born of the Spirit.

We are told in this blessed book what causes joy in heaven. What causes joy in heaven is one sinner repenting — one sinner being born [into the kingdom of God. Only think that a man or woman, or even a little child, that is hero in this audienee to-day may cause joy in heaven by repenting and turning to God.

The next thing we have got in heaven is the treasures. We will turn now to the Sermon on the Mount. You will find out what Christ says about treasures: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon 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 nor steal; for where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” If our treasures are earthly, we will be earthly minded; if our treasures are heavenly, we will be heavenly minded. It does not take more than ten minutes to find out where a man’s treasure is. Talk to a man who has his heart set on money and tell him about some business that he can go into to make a few hundred dolla«a« see how quick his eye will light up. Talk to a politician; tell him how he can get a seat in the United States Senate, see his eye light up. It does not take long to tell where a man’s heart is. His heart is where his treasure is. If his treasure is down here you can soon tell. Talk to a lady of fashion — one of what they call the upper ten — that is, the world’s idea of the upper ten. The upper ten, the best circle, is really up there around the throne. It is not down here on your avenues. The best people that ever trod this earth are in heaven; they are with the King. Take this so-called upper ten and talk to them about the latest fashion, the latest style of dressing the hair, the latest fashion of dress and clothes, and see their eye light up. They will talk about these things for hours; their hearts are there. But the fashion of this world passes away. If a man sets his heart upon anything on this earth he is going to be disappointed. The reason this country to-day is so full of disappointed people is because they have been building for time instead of for eternity.

A bedridden saint, one of those saints that God is polishing up for his temple, was lying upon her bed watching the birds as they came in the spring to build their nests, and one bird came and built its nest so very low that every day she said, “Oh, bird, build higher, build higher.” But she could not make the bird understand, and it went on and built its nest very low. After the little birds were hatched she watched the mother bird feed them. One morning she looked out and saw that the nest was torn to pieces. The cat had destroyed it and killed the old bird and the young ones. What you and I want to do is to, build higher.

Let us look at the first four verses of the third chapter of Paul’s letter to the Colossians: a If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,

Glory 7 where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” That is what Scripture teaches. When our soldiers were in the army, they never thought of building palaces down there in the South. A tent was good enough for them. Now, you and I are pilgrims. We are travelers; we are only here a little while, and a tent is good enough for us. That is all Abraham had. The well watered plains of Sodom had no temptation for him. He had something better. I pity those men who are building these very fine mansions and laying the foundation so deep and broad, as though they were to live forever. About the time they get ready to move in they are called away. Some of them are called away before they get in. They have gone to another world.

When I was out on the Pacific coast, the first Sunday I was there I went to Sunday-school. It was a very rainy day and but few children were there. The superintendent said to me that as so few were there he thought he would dismiss the school, and asked me if I didn’t think it was a good idea. I told him I thought not; that we ought to make it interesting for those that did come. Then he said the teachers were not there. I told him to put them all in one class. He asked me if I would teach it. I asked him what the lesson was, and found it was this passage: “Lay up treasures for yourselves in heaven.” I thought anybody could talk upon that, especially in California. There was a blackboard there, and I had written upon it, first, a list of earthly treasures as they were named by the school. I asked what the people of California thought most of. They said “gold,” so we put down gold. “Anything else? n u Land.”

Put down land.” What else? n M Houses.” “What else?” “Pleasure.” “Put down pleasure.” “What else?” “Honor.” “Yes, that is correct. Put down honor. Any others?” Some one said “business,” and that was put down. “Anything else?” One little fellow said “rum.” I said, “Put that down,” You laugh at it, but there are many men that will sell heaven with all its glory for a rum bottle. They worship a rum bottle. You will not have to go out of Cleveland to find men who bow down to a rum bottle. Then they went on naming other things — fast horses. That is a treasure. Some men think more of fast horses than they do of the kingdom of God.

“Now,” I said, let us look at the heavenly treasures and put them opposite. What is the very sweetest thing there is in heaven? “One little boy with his eyes dancing in their sockets said “Jesus.” “That is right.” I said, “we will put Him at the head of the list.” “What is the next?” “Angels.” I said: “Put that down. What next?” “The river of life, the crown, the crown of righteousness, the crown of glory, mansions,” and so on, naming the many treasures. There was one teacher in that Sunday-school that was there who was an unconverted young man. He said he had come to California to make a fortune, and he said after we had all those treasures written down on the blackboard: “How blind I have been! I have been seeking for earthly treasures, and neglecting those heavenly treasures.” And he was converted that very hour.

Some time ago when I was going to New Orleans, two ladies got on the same train I did at Chicago, and took seats behmd me. One of the ladies lived at Cairo and the other at New Orleans; and the Cairo lady became very much attached to the New Orleans lady, and when we arived at Cairo she said, “I wish you would stop over at Cairo and spend a few days with me.” “Well,n the other lady replied, “I would like to, I would enjoy your society very much, but my trunks have all gone on the train ahead of me, and I haven’t got clothes I would like to appear in society in. These clothes are good enough to travel in, you know.” Ah, I took a hint. These clothes are good enough to travel in any how. I am on my way to heaven, and took in Cleveland on my route. We only stay here for a night, and pass on. We are traveling to the New Jerusalem. On a tombstone there was a beautiful thought. “The inn of a traveler to the New Jerusalem.” We are travelers to the New Jerusalem, and if we don’t find everything down here just as we want it we shall be satisfied then. We can afford to wait. We need not borrow trouble about life here. We want to lay up treasures in heaven.

People make a mistake when they think the church is a place of rest. We are going to rest by and by. We don’t want to be talking about rest down here.

I want to call your attention next to the fact that our reward is in heaven, and not here. God’s people make the great mistake of looking for a reward down here. They are still looking for a reward down here. Let us remember that the reward is beyond. I have noticed that that is the case with almost every one of God’s people — they look for reward down here. God does not propose to reward his children here. He is to reward them up yonder. We are to work here. When we are done he will say: “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” You will then have a seat at His right hand. The reward will be great, he says. If God calls the reward great, what kind of a reward will it be? If the great God says so, won’t it be a wonderful reward? Instead of looking for reward and honor here, let us look beyond for it. See what Paul says to Timothy, “For there will be for me a crown.” He

did not look for his crown here.

When I read the life of Paul, it makes me ashamed of the Christianity of the present day. Talk about what we have suffered! Talk about what we have done! I think it would do every member of the church good to spend six months reading the life of Paul, and to see what he had to go through. He had been beaten four times, and received thirty-nine stripes upon the bare back. If one of us should get even one stripe now, how many volumes would be written on the martyrdom? What a whine there would be! It was nothing for Paul to be beaten with thirty-nine stripes. Did any one say to Paul: “You have been beaten already four times before, and now they are going to bring that scourge upon your back as many times again perhaps; had you not better go off down to Europe, and rest for six months until this persecution dies out?” The appeal would pass him by unheeded. “I have but one aim, one thing to hope for. I press toward the mark of my high calling in Christ Jesus.” These earthly afflictions, what were they? He never complained of them. Instead of giving up his opinions and his hope, he was willing to stand his stripes and his miseries, again and again. And it was no trifling matter, these beatings he received. Yet he received them all, and would not deny the faith that the mercy and power of God had wrought in him. If you allow me the expression, the devil had his match when he got hold of Paul. Not all he could do would give him the upper hand of Paul, and separate him from the love of God. He had his reward in view; and he always, scorning what the world could do to him, pressed toward that reward. He knew that all his sufferings here would be wiped away, and joy and peace be his when he wore the crown for which he had so bravely fought. And how many are working for these crowns at the present day? How much would they suffer now for a like reward that awaited this mighty warrior? His enemies one time took him out and stoned him like the martyr Stephen. Think of the torment he experienced, the pain that he must have suffered, as these stones were hurled at him. So great was the anger of those who were thus around him that they left him for dead when they got through with him. See his head all swollen up; see the bruises upon his body and his limbs; see the ugly scars and the gaping wounds that he carried. He was hardly brought to life again; and for a long time thereafter you could see him with his injured head and black eye on the corners of the streets, and yet not frightened by any means, but preaching the glorious gospel of his God and Master Jesus Christ. He went to Corinth, was not afraid, but preached there for eighteen months; and in all his ministrations, and in all this, he had to rely upon himself. He had no influential committee to meet him on his arrival at the station, and conduct him to a fine hotel, and make all arrangements about his expenses. There was no station in those days; when he did arrive, he came unannounced and on foot. And instead of a splendid hotel to go to, his first care was to go himself, walk around all the streets and find cheap lodgings, in some alley, where he could go after he had left off preaching for the day to make tents, to which trade he had been brought up. And then, after all his preaching, and all his labors, what reward did he receive? Well, there was a sort of a committee, and they said they would pay him off. Did they give him some testimonial and a large sum in money then? What they did do instead of presenting him with, say a thousand dollars in gold, this committee that I speak of took him down to a cross street and gave him thirty-nine stripes. That is the way they paid him off. That was the way they treated this mighty fighter, a preacher that turned the world upside down.

Talk about Alexander making the world tremble at the tread of his armies! Talk about Napoleon shaking the world to its centre, when the powers knew he had gathered his army round about him! Why these have all passed away; but the words of Paul, of the despised tent-maker, make the world tremble even to this day. He talks about being in peril among robbers. Well, what did the robbers find on him? No money, no jewelry — nothing. What treasures he had, he had placed them above their reach, he had put them in heaven, where thieves do not break through or steal. The robbers got nothing from him, though he was richer than any man at the present day. Not a man who has lived since Paul is richer than he was. Three times, again he says, he suffered shipwreck; also a day and a night he was in the deep. He had been subjected to perils by water, to perils of robbers, to perils brought about by his own countrymen. Besides these, he experienced perils of the wilderness; perils among false brethren — ah! that must have been the hardest. He was weary, he was in pain; but none of these things moved him. Thank God the apostle was a warrior; and would to God the church had a thousand like him at the present day. Nothing was able to battle him down. Not even the newspaper of the day, if they had one, pitching into him every day, would have caused him a moment’s thought. It might have called him a poor, deluded man, might have said to him, “Oh, you poor fool.” For none of these things did he care. He looked above and beyond them. He knew there was a glorious reward awaiting him.

And so the mighty warrior went on to fight for his Master, But at last he had to flee; and to escape, he was let down the walls in a basket. He goes to fight elsewhere. Driven out of one place, he does not despair; and that is the spirit we want to-day. He was always willing to receive the stripes and the torments, and to suffer everything the world could heap upon him for the cause of Christ. His enemies again gave him thirty-nine stripes. Well, he was used to it. His back had not perhaps got well before he received this punishment. After they had got through with him, they cast him and Silas into prison. No sooner had they got in, instead of being frightened at what they had received, they began to worship the God for whom they had suffered. Paul says to Silas: “Come, Silas, let us praise God and have prayers.” And they opened their worship by singing, perhaps, the forty-sixth Psalm. After that they had prayers and called upon God for his protection. And as soon as they had said “Amen,” their God responded to their cries of help, and tKe whole prison shook, and there was a great commotion. Yes, that was a queer place to sing praises in- — a prison; and it was just after he had received the stripes. Why, I dare say if Mr. Sankey should have only one stripe upon his naked back, he would not feel much like singing! But this man had received thirty-nine. He was as much at home with his God in prison, as he was out of it. He could praise him as well behind bolts and bars as he could in the synagogue. He knew what his reward would be. He knew the grave would be his immediate reward; but he had faith in the great hereafter; he had a crown and a reward that would not pass away. Yes, do you think that God would let him suffer like that without rewarding him? If we suffer persecution for Christ’s sake, great will be our reward. Paul’s sufferings were the cause of the conversion of the Philippian jailor. I suppose he was the first convert in Europe.

Look at him again in Rome. The time had come for his departure; Nero had signed the order for his execution, and he is being taken out to be beheaded. Ask him now, at this moment, when death is but a little way off, if he is sorry that he has suffered for the Son of God. Ask him if he would like to recant to save his head. I can imagine how he would look if you should ask him such a question as that. They are going to take him two miles out of the city to the place of execution. He walks with a steady, unfaltering step. He wavers not, nor looks aside. His gaze is fixed upon the reward of his high calling in Christ Jesus. And he writes to his friend Timothy, u Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown.” You could not shake him in his faith. Thank God, at this dread moment, he kept his word with Jesus. He had never preached any false doctrine. He had only preached Christ crucified, and had manfully fought under his banner like a faithful soldier, to this, the end of his life. “Good-by,” you can imagine him saying to Timothy; “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown, and I am going to win it.” As he walked through the streets of Rome, I tell you Rome never had such a conqueror. Not all her mighty men of war, nor all her generals and statesmen and orators, had risen to the supreme height that Paul had reached at this moment, He was going to receive a prize that would eclipse all the trophies of war, and wit, and learning. But at last he approaches the fatal spot. He is placed in the position that he had to take; the executioner makes him ready, and at the given signal the blow descends, his head comes off, and his spirit is lifted into the golden chariot, and is borne to the pearly gates of heaven. As he approaches the celestial portals, the battlements of heaven are crowded with the saints that Paul by his preaching had sent before him. Ah! how they welcome him. He is borne on toward the great white throne to receive his reward. The bells of heaven are set a-ringing, and hosannas are chanted by the choir of paradise. He comes near the throne, and he hears the great voice saying: “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,” and the saints now gather around him, and greet, and bear witness for him to the Master he had so faithfully served. One would say: “That sermon that you preached to the Galatians wrought a change of heart in me, and I have been chosen to take my place among the elect.” Another would say, “That lecture that you delivered at Thessalonica converted me.” Another: “Paul, that appeal that you made at Corinth touched my wicked soul; I began to worship the Jesus whom you preached’, and here I am among the angels.” Oh, what a reward was that. Was it not worth all the cares, troubles, anxieties, sufferings, torments, and death he had gone through? Men murmur at the little crosses they have to endure here; but they forget that if they be faithful the Lord will reward them by-and-by.