Charles Spurgeon once preached “WE cannot too often turn our thoughts heavenward, for this is one of the great cures for worldliness.” Today I am discussing glorification and what happens when a Christian dies. How does the teaching of glorification impact our daily living?

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Glorification

It is a blessed and much anticipated time by those of us who sin and are Christians (so, every Christian) where God will remove all remaining sin from us for our eternal state.

Romans 8:29-30 says

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

The predestined are called, and the called are both justified and are certain to be finally glorified. The past tense of glorified means that from God’s standpoint the work is as good as done. He will complete it as planned.

London Baptist Confession

CHAPTER 31; OF THE STATE OF MAN AFTER DEATH, AND OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

Paragraph 1. The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption;1 but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them.2 The souls of the righteous being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are with Christ, and behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies;3 and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell; where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day;4 besides these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.

First the Westminster Confession of Faith

The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory;1 and their bodies, being still united to Christ,2 do rest in their graves till the resurrection.3

1. Luke 23:43. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
   Luke 16:23. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
   Philippians 1:23. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.
   2 Corinthians 5:6-8. Therefore we arealways confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

2. 1 Thessalonians 4:14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

3. Romans 8:23. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
   1 Thessalonians 4:14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

What will heaven be like?

Revelation 7:15-17

“Therefore they are before the throne of God,

and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

the sun shall not strike them,

nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Here we see eternal bliss is where there is no hunger, no thirst, no sun to strike us or any scorching heat. Rather we are in the midst of the Lamb who abundantly supplies all our needs so we won’t even know a need anymore or struggle or temptation nor any affliction or evil against us.

“The Bliss of the Glorified”

Charles Spurgeon sermon on August 13th 1871

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3499.cfm

“WE cannot too often turn our thoughts heavenward, for this is one of the great cures for worldliness. The way to liberate our souls from the bonds that tie us to earth is to strengthen the cords that kind us to heaven. You will think less of this poor little globe when you think more of the world to come.”

“And oh! what hunger and thirst there has been on earth by those of tender and large heart for a fit object of love! I mean not now the common thing called “love,” but the friendship which is in man’s heart, and sends out its tendrils wanting something to which to cling. We must-we are born and created for that very purpose-we must live together, we cannot develop ourselves alone. And oftentimes a lonely spirit has yearned for a brother’s ear, into which to pour its sorrows; and doubtless many a man has been brought to destruction and been confined to the lunatic asylum whose reason might have been saved had there been some sympathetic spirit, some kind, gentle heart that would have helped to bear his burden. Oh! the hunger and the thirst of many a soul after a worthy object of confidence. But they hunger and they thirst, up there, no more. Their love is all centred on their Saviour. Their confidence, which they reposed in him on earth, is still in him. He is their bosom’s Lord, their heart’s Emperor, and they are satisfied, and, wrapped up in him, they hunger and they thirst no more.”

“On earth it is good for saints to hunger and to thirst spiritually, but up there they have done even with that blessed hunger and that blessed thirst. Today, beloved, some of us are hungering after holiness. Oh! what would I not give to be holy, to be rid of sin, of every evil thing about me! My eyes-ah! adieu sweet light, if I might also say, “Adieu sin! “My mouth-ah! well would I be content to be dumb if I might preach by a perfect life on earth! There is no faculty I know of that might not be cheerfully surrendered if the surrender of it would deprive us of sin. But they never thirst for holiness in heaven, for this excellent reason, that they are without fault before the throne of God. “

“What heats of affliction some here have passed through! Why there are some here who are seldom free from physical pain. There are many of the best of God’s children that, if they get an hour without pain, are joyful indeed. There are others that have had a great fight of affliction Through poverty they have fought hard. They have been industrious, but somehow or other God has marked them out for the scant tables and the thread-worn garments. They are the children of poverty, and the furnace heat is very hot about them. With others it has been repeated deaths of those they have loved. Ah! how sad is the widow’s case! How deep the grief of the fatherless! How great the sorrow of bereaved parents! Sometimes the arrows of God fly one after the other; first one falls and then another until we think we shall hardly have one left. These are the heats of the furnace of affliction. “

Read the entire sermon here: https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3499.cfm