Some time ago a well-known preacher announced that he would be speaking the following Sunday on the subject of heaven. During that week a letter was received from an old man who was very ill and in that letter the old man said this, Next Sunday you are to talk about heaven. I am very interested in that land because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for over fifty-five years. I did not buy it. It was given to me without money and without price. But the Donner purchased it for me at tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation, since the title is not transferable. It is not a vacant lot. For more than half a century, I have been sending materials out of which the greatest architect and builder of the universe has been building a home for me, which will never need to be remodeled nor repaired, because it will suit me perfectly, individually, and will never grow old. Termites can never undermine its foundations, for they rest on the rock of ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks, nor bolts. will ever be placed upon its doors, for no vicious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling stands. Now almost completed and almost ready for me to enter in and abide in peace eternally without fear of being ejected. And there is a valley of deep shadow between the place where I live and that to which I shall journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home in that city of gold without passing through this dark valley of shadows. But I am not afraid, because the best friend I ever had went through the same valley long, long ago, and drove away all its gloom. He has stuck by me through thick and thin. Since we first became acquainted fifty-five years ago, and I hold his promise in printed form, never to forsake me or leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of shadows, and I shall not lose my way when he is with me. Now, I hope to hear your sermon on heaven next Sunday from my home, but I have no assurance that I shall be able to do so. My ticket to heaven has no date marked for the journey, no return coupon, and no permit for baggage. Yes? I am all ready to go, and I may not be here while you are broadcasting next Sunday. But I shall meet you there someday. Now what a delightful expression of hope from an old man. But in the light of what he said in his letter, let me read to you some verses from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians chapter five. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that has wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always 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, wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him. I'm sure the Lord will bless to us the reading of these verses. Now when one begins to contemplate the future, we've got to relate the future to the present. For example, If someone can speak with absolute confidence that they are ready for heaven, they must look back and remember the time when they made matters right between their soul and their God. After all, if I am not right with God, then I am not right for heaven. If I have never been converted, if I have never been saved, if I have never been born again, I am not ready for heaven. I'm not prepared for that prepared place. But as the old man said in his letter, that he had his ticket ready, and he was prepared to go to heaven, and he had a piece of real estate up there. And now I relate that to the verses I have read to you from Second Corinthians chapter five. And the writer there, speaking of us being in this body, he calls this body a tent, or a tabernacle. That is, it is a temporary thing. If someone pitches a tent, then very soon they can pull the pegs again and roll up the canvas and move on. This body of ours is not a permanent structure. It is only a temporary residence for the few fleeting years that we are passing through this life down here. But soon we'll bid farewell to the things of this old world. and will take the immortal flight into the great beyond. But if one has made preparation for that, and one is right with God, they can speak with absolute confidence and say this, that when this earthly house, when this tent is folded up, we have a building, a permanent building, we have a building of God, and house not made with hands, it is eternal in the heavens. And so when we begin to contrast things of us with things of heaven, we realize that in this tent that we live in here, this tabernacle, this earthly body, in this we groan. We groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. And now we realize this, that as long as we are in this body, we are subject to the limitations of this body. We're subject to the pains of this body. We're subject to this body growing old. And because it's only a temporary thing, the older we grow, the weaker the body becomes. But then while the body may be weak, the inner man can be strengthened. And we look forward with great expectations and with great hope to the fact that up there there's a place prepared. And there will be a home there. And there's a place to dwell there. And we'll have a permanent body there. A glorified body. A body like unto his glorified body. A body free from pain. A body free from sickness. What a wonderful thing that will be. So therefore he says, therefore we are always confident. Knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body here, we are absent from the Lord. But then, when we leave this body... We will be absent from the body and we will be present with the Lord. And we are confident of this, he says, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Oh, what a glorious hope the Christian has. I sometimes think of that beautiful old hymn that they used to sing. There's no disappointment in heaven, no weariness, sorrow or pain, no hearts that are bleeding and broken, no song with a minor refrain. The clouds of our earthly horizon will never appear in the sky, for all will be sunshine and gladness, never a sob nor a sigh. I'm bound for that beautiful city. My Lord has prepared for his own, where all the redeemed of all ages sing glory around the white throne. Sometimes I grow homesick for heaven, and the glories I there shall behold, what a joy that will be when my Saviour I see in that beautiful city of gold, who will never pay rent for our mansion, and the taxis will never come due, our garments will never grow threadbare, but always be fadeless and new. We'll never be hungry nor thirsty, nor languish in poverty there, for all the rich bounties of heaven God's sanctified children shall share. There will never be crip on the doorknob, no funeral train in the sky, no graves on the hillsides of glory, for there we shall never more die. The old will be young there forever. transformed in a moment of time, immortal, we'll stand in his likeness, the stars and the sun, to outshine, and someone perhaps is saying, But how can we get there? We don't know the way. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the way. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Oh dear listening friend, are you ready for heaven? Have you made preparation for heaven? If not, why don't you write where you are now? Trust the Saviour. Accept Christ. Bow the knee to Him. If you'll accept Christ, you can be absolutely sure of heaven.