1 Peter 5:6+7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you. 
	Last week we considered the glorious truth that heaven means no more sin. Those three words, set in the reality of Jesus Christ, change the very basis of our understanding of God’s glory. No more sin! What a direct blessing will be ours in heaven when sin is no longer even a consideration. It will be gone, done away with forever in our conscious relationship with God and with each other. No more sin! What an amazing and thrilling concept around which to wrap our thoughts and our hopes. No more sin! That will be one of the pure joys of heaven.
But, it is not just for the eternal time of heaven that we need to recognize this truth. As the Apostle Paul writes in Rom 6:4-7, Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. We are to consider ourselves dead to sin, even now, at this time. We are learning, more and more, what it means to live by Christ, to be led by the Holy Spirit in obedience to His Word and guidance. This is the case on this earth, but I know that you will all agree that it is a struggle. It is a war of passion and desire that is waged within our hearts and minds.
Again, the Apostle Paul writes the following in Rom 7:18-24. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! … Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! It all comes right back to Jesus Christ! He has set us free from sin! 
Our consideration of heaven must contain the fact of the encouragement that the struggle of this life with sin is foremost and urgently temporary. Sin is done! It is doomed! It has lost its grip on our eternal being in Jesus Christ. He has victoriously fought the battle for us and He has won, condemning sin to oblivion in the lives of those who trust in Him. This knowledge of the inevitable outcome of our earthly struggle should be our daily encouragement of God’s glory in our lives.
Concerning our battle with sin, quote, We become so weary of them. Some besetting sin has entwined itself in the fibers of our personality and we cannot seem to get rid of it. There is a particular temptation before which we always fall. In spite of our prayers and resolutions it brings us down time and again. We are conscious of so much in our characters that is grimy and shoddy, not fit to be seen by decent people. At times we are tempted to see ourselves as irremediably flawed and we conclude despairingly that we will never change. We may even have doubted our salvation. But the truth that we will be perfect in heaven is a clarion call to courage and hope. ‘Take heart, children of God’ it says. ‘Those sins of yours are temporary. Their death sentence has been pronounced and they are already doomed. The moment your souls enter heaven they will all cease to exist – blotted out, extinguished, thrown into the depths of the sea’. End quote.
Think on this fact of heaven when the struggle becomes intense. Think of the encouragement that this truth holds in the midst of the fiercest storm and gale. The battle is done, is over, is finished! The verdict is declared. Jesus Christ is victorious. The life that we live in Him is triumphant over even the most stubborn and engrained sin in our lives. Yes, we face the residue today, but in heaven, that filth will all be washed away from our bodies. We will be clean and refreshed in the perfection of Jesus Christ. There is no doubt. There is no appeal that sin can mount. It is finished and sentenced and condemned. We will be free to revel in the perfection of Jesus Christ for eternity without any doubts or fears or suspicions or rumors or guilt or remorse. Gal 5:1, It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. 
We are learning, to a limited extent, this freedom from sin now, but it will be our very course of life in heaven, a perfect and complete freedom in Him. What unbridled and unhindered joy that will be! We get tastes of it when we obey today. We sense the pleasure of God in our lives as we honor Him now. But then, it will be our every moment reality. That should serve to encourage us in our darkest hours on this earth. This is all temporary. This is all fleeting. This is all just prelude. The truth is that heaven is coming! It is drawing nearer each day! It is our destiny in Christ Jesus! It is real and it is infinitely more powerful and infinitely more wonderful than anything this earth can offer. Hold forth the truth of no more sin, completely cleansed in the blood of the Lamb. That is our heritage and our sustenance.
This truth should give us a new relationship with the Word of God. It should bring forth a new focus on the commandments of God for us. These are the standards by which we are to live our lives, yet they seem to so burdensome to us. We fall so short of fulfilling them. Some are easier by which to abide in the literal sense, such as not committing murder and adultery and idolatry. We have a false sense of accomplishment in the idea of being good people by virtue of maintaining relative decorum in most of these. 
However, when we truly look at these Godly standards of life, we all fall very short. As James tells us in James 2:10, For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. We harbor ill will toward others in our hearts and hold onto secret lusts. We have other gods where the focal point of our time and energy is centered. We look at life through those eyes that see what we want as more important than the needs of others. We truly see obedience to these standards of God as hindrances to our idea of complete enjoyment of life on this earth. 
	But, in the light of the sinlessness of heaven, we should be seeing the reality that the holy standard of God is not a curse. It is not a burden. It is the promise of what is our manner of life in Christ Jesus. 
Dr. Donnelly relates the story of a life-long thief in Japan and his experience with the 10 Commandments. Quote, He knew practically nothing about the Bible, but on the first Lord’s Day after his conversion he went to a place of worship. All week long he had been wrestling with his life-long habit of stealing. He realized that, as a new creature, he should give it up and yet he was not sure he would be able to. Thieving had been his way of life and he knew no other way to spend his time. How could he change the ingrained behavior patterns of so many years? On the wall of the church building into which he entered were painted the Ten Commandments. The new convert had never heard of them. But as he walked in, the first words upon which his eyes fell were, ‘You shall not steal’. In his ignorance he did not realize that this was a commandment, but took it instead for a promise. His face filled with gladness and he thanked the Lord in his heart for this assurance that he would be delivered from his sin. End quote.  
These are not only the standard of behavior expected from us on this earth, but our spiritual eyes can see them as the promise of who we will be in heaven. These are His promises, His blueprint of the character that we will have in heaven. As with all God’s promises, they are absolute and assured in Jesus Christ. 2 Cor 1:20-22, For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. 
	In these promises of God, we should be preparing ourselves for heaven. There should be in evidence in our lives the fact that we have a greater goal for our future than this world holds. It should be apparent to others that we are not settling down but consider ourselves to be sojourners on this earth. As we read of the faithful who have gone before us, we too should see ourselves as pilgrims in a strange land. 
Heb 11:13-16 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them. We should be preparing ourselves for heaven, for the city that God has prepared for us. 	
	Quote, An important way to prepare for heaven is to declare war on sin. It is alien to our new nature, grotesquely inappropriate in light of our destiny. We have died with Christ and have been raised in Him to newness of life. An awareness of this should influence us profoundly. Why do we degrade ourselves, why deny our identity by fooling around with sin? In the words of the Apostle, ‘everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure’ (1 John 3:3). The hope of heaven leads inevitably to the pursuit of holiness. As Lenski comments, ‘There is no exception. He who stops purifying himself has dropped this hope from his heart.”
	Our whole way of life should be dominated by the anticipation of heaven. It should affect our activities and ambitions, our recreation and friendships, the way we spend our money and our strength. Earthly life at its longest is short enough time to prepare for eternity.
	In particular, the consciousness of a sinless future helps us to face death without fear, for we know that it means being ‘with Christ, which is far better’ (Phil. 1:23). We should make a habit of picturing our souls in glory, remembering that, for those whom ‘to live is Christ’, ‘to die is gain’ (Phil. 1:21). End quote. 
	It is in this that we can comfort ourselves with the destiny of those loved ones who have left us to be with Christ Jesus. Even now, they are experiencing the reality of no more sin. They are no longer burdened with the faults and the pressures and the agonies and the filth of this age. They are beyond the guilt of sin and are even now experiencing the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their struggle with sin has ended and we truly, with all sincerity of love and honor, would not wish that upon them again. Their time with sin is over and they deserve the rest and the peace and the joy that Jesus is to them. Their time of preparation for heaven has ceased. 
In that truth, as they are now counted among the faithful of Hebrews Chapter 11, let our hearts be encouraged to continue forth with the heart of faith which will also honor God in the lives that we have to live on this earth. Seek to please God in preparing for heaven by fighting the good fight of faith in Jesus Christ to His glory alone. So be it!
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction reading is 1 Peter 5:10+11. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.