Derek Prince - We Can Take Nothing With Us Into Heaven
This excerpt is from: How Should We Prepare For His Appearing?
And then in 1 Thessalonians 3. Paul says this, it’s one of his prayers, one of his many prayers for the people he writes to. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you. So that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all His saints.
So, our hearts are to be established blameless in holiness. That is certainly a high standard, isn’t it? But in view of what? In view of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. That suggests to me that when Christ appears and gathers all His saints to Him with the resurrection body, every one of us will be exposed to the universe. And it will show in us just what level of holiness we have actually achieved. Paul returns to that theme again and again, especially in the epistles to the Thessalonians. There’s going to be some way in which every Christian is going to be revealed to the universe in the level of holiness that he has achieved. That’s a thought that should challenge us.
Then in 2 Peter 3:11–14, Peter deals with the same theme, our anticipation of the Lord’s return, what he calls the day of the Lord. And he says: Therefore since all these things will be dissolved. And bear in mind that all material things will ultimately be dissolved. There’s nothing permanent in the material realm. Don’t hold onto it too fast. Because one day, it’s going to vanish. You know the great conqueror Alexander the Great, who in 10 years conquered the known ancient world, perhaps the most rapid and total record of conquest in military history. At the age of 33 he died of a fever. And his command was that when he was buried, or rather laid out for burial, all his soldiers were to file past his body and observe the fact that his hands were placed out upwards, totally empty. The lesson: he could take nothing with him.
Alright, 2 Peter 3:11: Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be, and then Peter answers his own question, in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hasting the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot, and blameless. Those are the basic requirements for being ready for the Lord. First of all, in peace. No ruptured relationships which can be healed.
I think that’s very important. I just celebrated my 70th birthday last year. And there had been a time when another minister had been very critical of me. And we had never really resolved that. So I sat down and wrote him a handwritten, very confidential, personal letter. In which I said I anticipate many more years of active service. But I don’t want to be called home and leave any unfinished business. So I just want to make sure that there’s nothing between you and me. And I got back, quite quickly, a likewise handwritten letter in which he gave me that assurance. Now I don’t think that on the whole, I have a large number of ruptured relationships in my Christian walk. I’ve repaired some just recently. But Ruth and I, in our prayer list which we maintain, have a little section for relationships that need repair. I doubt whether there are many of us here that don’t have one or two. And what I want to testify is, since we made that list and put those names there, we’ve been able to cross off most of the names. God has moved in a wonderful way to heal those relationships.
So we are charged to do everything in our power to be found in peace. Without any quarreling, without any unresolved complaints or bitterness. It’s not always possible, the Bible recognizes that. The Bible says as much as is in you, live at peace with all men. But I take that very seriously. Then Peter says: without spot. I think that refers to the garment of righteousness which Christ has given us. But if we sin, if we can admit a specific sin, and how many of you recognize that Christians do sometimes sin? Let’s be honest about it. I’m the first to recognize that. If we do sin, that’s a spot on that garment. And Jesus talks about keeping our garments without spot. Well the wonderful thing about being a Christian is, we know how to get our garment cleansed. Oh how I have compassion on people who have a guilty conscience and don’t know how to be resolved of it. We have a wonderful cleaning fluid, that cleans all garments so that there never even was any indication there was a stain there. Do you know what that is? The blood of Jesus. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us.
So it’s very important, that if you sin and the Holy Spirit convicts you, you repent, you confess and you receive the cleansing that comes from Jesus, through His blood. Somebody has said it pays to keep short accounts with God. Don’t build up a big account of unconfessed sin, because the bigger it gets, the harder it gets to get back to God. And thirdly, he says blameless. I understand that means that there is nothing we ought to have done and could have done, that we’ve left undone. We’ve been faithful in every duty that was within our power to fulfill. So that’s the challenge there and it’s in light of the coming of the Lord. Our gathering together to Him. We’re going to appear in glory, but we’re going to be very public. The whole universe will see us. So just meditate on those three requirements. In peace, without spot and blameless. And when Peter says be diligent, I think you’d agree with me it takes dilligence. It will not happen through carelessness or sloppy living. It takes real attention to spiritual issues.
And then one other Scripture in connection with the requirement of personal holiness. As we envisage the return of the Lord. 1 John 3:2–3. Beloved, now are we children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be: but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. That’s our resurrection body that I’ve been talking about. When we see Him, we’ll be like Him. We’ll have the same kind of body. Now John continues: Everyone who has this hope in Him, Jesus, purifies himself, just as He is pure. So that’s a mark of those who truly hope to see Jesus and be transformed into His likeness. Everyone that has that hope purifies himself. If I were your pastor, which I’m not, and I were to see that you paid no attention in your daily living to purifying yourself. You took no real steps to become purer.
I would have to say to you, you don’t really expect to see the Lord. You may say yes to the doctrine, but it’s not real in your experience. Because everyone that has this hope in Him, purifies himself. That’s a mark. And if you think about it logically, that we’re going to be exposed to the total glory of heaven in the presence of God the Father and Jesus and the holy angels. We certainly need purity. I mean, that dazzling light is going to reveal any spot on our garment. It’s going to reveal any defect or flaw in our character. It’s challenging. If I said no more than this tonight. I would leave you enough to act on. But, I have more to say.