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Well, hello, friends. Please turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 4. You can probably just look at verse 9 for just a moment, and we'll come to it in just a moment. But I'll be looking at several verses tonight in the book of Revelation. The title of tonight's message is Set Your Mind on Eternity.

Set Your Mind on Eternity. You know, as I think about life sometimes, and I think about this little brief window of time that we have, I realize every day just how quickly it goes by as I watch my kids grow and people around children grow. I just see time marching on.

Things move at seemingly a very fast pace. And you blink, and years are gone, and here you are. Our life is but a vapor, as Scripture will say. It is, and I think of it often as just standing on the seashore. If you think about our lives compared to eternity, if you've ever stood on a seashore just looking out at great vast ocean, you get a sense of your small Compared to the vastness of the sea.

And I think about that often as a fitting analogy for where we stand right now. We stand on the shore of eternity all before us. We are small compared to its vastness. And if you can think about your time, your place, your years right now, and kind of put those in the light of eternity.

And just like you're standing on a seashore looking out on the sea of eternity, picture the scene. And look at yourself, thinking about yourself in light of eternity and the few years that you have that God has given you. Think about the vastness and set your mind upon eternal things.

What is eternal? And that is what I want to talk to you tonight about. We are to be a people who are most concerned about matters of eternity. And when you get the fixtures of eternity right, then it helps you navigate your years, your few brief years on earth.

Understanding those fixtures of eternity. And this is exactly what Scriptures call. us to do. They want us to set our minds on that which is eternal and invest in that which is eternal, give ourselves to that which is eternal and to be most concerned about these matters. So the question becomes what in the grand scheme of life, in the grand scheme of human existence, what truly matters?

And it's upon these things that God wants us to put our attention on. Not so that we can neglect our day-to-day activities. Our lives are a bunch of small mundane events right after another. That's the sum total of our life when you really get down to it. And the view of eternity isn't to cause you to neglect the day-to-day, but to orient the day-to-day so that the days and the times that God gives you are well spent.

Because as you have your mind on eternity and understand the fixtures of eternity, then that helps you navigate your day-to-day, invest the moments of life that you have into that which is truly eternal. There is a certain phrase that shows up in the New Testament, some 20-something times, or there.

11 of them happen in the book of Revelation. And it's this way that God describes eternity. The language in the Greek, a literal translation, is into the ages of the ages. That is an expression that comes up over and over again, but especially in Revelation. And so what I did, looked at this expression, how it's used in Revelation, and I come up with seven concepts that this phrase, into the ages of the ages, that phrase is connected with seven different concepts.

And I want to bring those concepts before you because those are the fixtures of eternity. So you think about what is forever. It's into the ages of the ages. So if you think about forever, it's just ages of large ages. And we live in an age. And ages of the ages.

That is the language of eternity. It's quite beautiful and quite profound. But it is upon these that we get an answer to what is eternal, certainly from the book of Revelation. And so I want us tonight to just, I want to bring before your mind seven of these concepts that are in the book of Revelation.

Revelation that go on into the ages of the ages, that are going to be fixtures for eternity. And as we think about those, we are able to understand biblically what is eternal, and then that should orient you to how you're to spend your day here, your days here.

Seven fixtures of eternity. First, fixture of eternity, if you're going to live forever, get used to this fixture, because this fixture doesn't change. These fixtures are forever, and the first one we come to is the existence of God. Surprise. God is a fixture of eternity. Listen to Revelation 4:9.

And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him, and here is the expression, who lives forever and ever, who lives into the ages of the ages, the 24 elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him, who lives into the ages of the ages.

This one, who is the living one, these are the ones that the elders fall before, who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before him. The throne saying, Worthy are you, O Lord our God, to receive glory, honor, power. For you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.

Guess what? God is a fixture of eternity, and to him and to him the highest orders of angels bow down, confessing his worthiness, always worthy to receive glory, always worthy to receive honor, power, ruling authority, tribute always, glory, praise, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.

And in every age, Creator God is worthy. Turn over to chapter 7 and look at verse 12. Again, you have this statement, verse 12, saying, Amen. Blessing, they're worshiping God. Again, bowing before blessing and glory. Glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God into the ages of the ages.

So, guess what? Eternity. God is a fixture of eternity, and to him, into eternity, into the ages of the ages, in every age, whatever existence eternity rolls out, whatever ages they are, and however they are put together into that eternal state of the ages of the ages, blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever.

You want to know what's eternal? God is, and His worthiness is always going to be that. He's always going to be worthy because that's who He is. In every age, He is worthy for you to bless Him. In every age, He is worthy for you to give Him glory.

In every age, He is the one who has wisdom and is empowered with wisdom and whose wisdom is to be sought. In every age, He is to be given thanks. In every age, He is to be given tribute and honor, power, might, ruling authority, dominion forever and ever.

That's a fixture of heaven, into the ages of the ages. He is worthy of that forever, and guess what? He's worthy of that now. So, as you start thinking about this fixture of heaven, think about that which is eternal and start orienting your lives to that now. You can turn to Revelation 15:17.

Revelation 15:17. I'm sorry, 15:7. There is no 17. We get this expression again: then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. The wrath of God who lives to the ages of ages.

You see, his wrath is into the ages of the ages because there is something about him that he is displeased with. And that is what the occupants of hell are going to reveal forever and ever. He is one. This is a permanent fixture of heaven. He will always be.

He will always be who he is. He will always be worthy of being recognized for he is. This is a constant personality of eternity. So set your minds on. Eternity. Second is the existence of Christ. Not only is God a permanent fixture of heaven and all that is due God, he is God always, forever.

We are not, never will be in any age, and nor will anyone else. He will always be worthy of all these, but so is his Christ. If you look at Revelation chapter 1, Revelation chapter 1 and verse 17, listen to what Jesus says about himself. When I saw him, verse 17, I fell at his feet like a dead man, and he placed his right hand on me, saying, Do not be afraid.

I am the first and the last, the living one, the one possessing life, the living one. And I was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. I am alive into the ages of the ages. And I have the keys of death and Hades. The existence of Christ. Just as God will be a permanent fixture in heaven, so will be his Christ, permanent fixture in heaven.

And Christ's likeness. This is where. Glory, blessing, honor, dominion, power, ruling authority. It is going to be characterized by God and His Christ. Christ's likeness into the ages of the ages. Christ's likeness is going to dominate the ages of the ages, it's worthy of being welcomed in our life now.

Existence of God, the existence of his Christ. Third concept that this into the ages and ages statement is made is to God's reign. Listen to this. Revelation 11:15. Then the seventh angel sounded. By now, these should be pretty familiar statements. The seven angels sounded. You know what we're talking about.

The seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. So godliness, Christ-like godliness, is going to be the ruling norm into the ages of the ages.

Put on Christ-likeness now. If you have your mind on eternity and you're looking at, you're standing here on the shore, you see what's coming, you see that God exists forever, you see. That Christ is a permanent fixture of eternity, and you see that his reign is a fixture of eternity, then as you order the few hours and days that you have on this earth, have that in mind.

Have in mind the universe into which you have been born. There is a fourth fixture of eternity. This is in Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5, beginning in verse 11. And this is the glory of the Lamb. The glory of the Lamb. Revelation 5:11 says, This, Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

This one, the Lamb, the one that went to the cross, all the angels, the myriads and myriads worshiping him, worthy. Is the one who rules and reigns upon the one sitting upon the throne is worthy, so is this Lamb, and to him he is worthy to receive all ruling authority.

That's what the angels are declaring. He is the one to be enthroned in splendor, he is the one to have his personality, his ruling preference, on the whole. Power, riches, to him, all, and this is Christ, the Lamb, the God-man, glorified God-man, Christ. To him, all power, all riches, to be infused with all wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing.

It is right for this one to be eternally blessed, to be the centerpiece of eternal glory, eternal tribute, eternal honor, to be given eternal power. All of this, worthy is he. And every created thing which is in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb be blessing, honor, and glory, and dominion forever and ever, into the ages of the ages.

So in eternity, he. Glory. He is the one to be showcased. His likeness is to be showcased. He is the one to be seen. Psalm 115, 1 says this: not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your loving kindness, because of your truth, to your name.

May that Christ name, that Jesus Christ, may that name give glory to the one who sits on the throne and to his Lamb. You see, the eternal well-being of all in heaven is directly linked to the elevation of God's name. See, the well-being of all is directly linked to the elevation of God's name in the hearts and minds of all.

That's a fixture of heaven. Do you want to go there? It's a place where He is showcased. No one individual. There isn't one individual that overshadows any of that. There is one who is exalted and glorified, and that is what all of heaven, all creatures, have in common.

Is this one who is worthy to be exalted, honored, and given power and glory and blessing? It's his name. It's interesting, it's no longer the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the name of the Lamb. Oh, yes, same God. But now we see this name brought to an individual from Nazareth, born of Mary.

His name. But it's, as the psalmist says, because of your loving kindness, because of your truth. You see, it's because of his loving kindness and truth. That is the source of everything good in the created universe. His glory. There isn't another worthy of glory. He is the source of everything good, and as such source, all are dependent upon his supply.

Look, we're not dependent upon anyone else's supply. The foolishness of exalting man is that man cannot supply you anything. But he, his loving kindness, his truth. That's why he is to be showcased. He is the source. And so those who are cut off of this source, they perish.

He is the source of life. Therefore, the worthy, he is forever worthy of. Glory. That is an eternal fixture. If you don't like dying and yielding your way to Christ, eternity isn't a place for you. You will find it miserable. That is an eternal picture. That is an eternal fixture of eternity.

The ages and the ages to come is He is exalted. And how that should work into our lives now is that as we go through the days and hours, we are to constantly be dying to ourselves, to His ways, loving like He loves, forgiving like He forgives, giving like He gives.

That is that loving kindness of His. Are you ready to die and come under that? Well, that's a wise way to spend your life imitating Him because this glory is going to go into the ages of the ages. And if you can't stand it now, you're not going to stand it then.

The glory of the Lamb calls all of us to die to ourselves on a very routine, mundane, and daily way. That's what the Christian life is about: yielding to His glory so that He can be seen. Through us. And those who cut themselves off from this source, they perish.

That's the only thing worth living for. And that's going to be that way into the ages of the ages. So as you stand on the shore, think about these things. We've got the existence of God, He is an eternal fixture of eternity, the existence of Christ, God's reign, and the glory of the Lamb, eternal fixtures.

Number five: This is the reign of believers. The reign of believers. Fellow fixtures in heaven. Revelation 22, verse 3. Listen to this. There will no longer be any curse. And the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it. And his bondservants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

And there will no longer be any night, and they will not have need of the light of the lamp, nor the light of the sun. Because the Lord God will illumine them and they will reign forever and ever. They will reign into the ages of the ages. The reign of believers.

They will reign. That is, they will exercise His dominion, the glory of the Lamb, His power, His might. Guess how that is going to be played out? It's going to be, they will reign, they will exercise His dominion into the ages of the ages. That's what reigning with Christ is about.

And if such is our eternal destiny, if you're standing here on the brink of eternity and you're thinking about the things in life that get you down, you're thinking about things that overwhelm you, remember who you are. Your eternal destiny is to reign into the ages of the ages, to exercise his dominion into the ages of the ages.

Guess what? You can start doing that now. That's who you are, if you're in Christ. If such is our eternal destiny, then let's get on with it. In this brief age, let's reign with him. Whatever that looks like here. But this is what he wants for us. And he is glorified when we do so.

That is how we put him on display. When we reign with him and let him be seen, we exercise his dominion over our lives and in our world, and he is glorified. He is glorified when you reign with him over the ordinary, mundane issues of this life. The issues are ordinary.

The temptations common to all men. Nothing is going to overtake you that isn't facing, hasn't been seen before. Ask him for power. Ask him for guidance. Ask him to reign with him now. The reign of believers is eternal. And by the way, that should help you treat one another with a great deal of respect.

Such is who you are. He will eternally reign, exercise his dominion into the ages of the ages. That's the fifth category of thoughts, fifth category. Fifth fixture of heaven that Revelation mentions as going on into the ages of the ages. The sixth is the doom of the devil.

The doom of the devil. Revelation 20:10 says this: And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Into the ages of the ages, they will be tormented.

This slanderer, devil, the devil, that is who he is. He has discredited God from the very beginning. And in that discrediting God, he cuts people off from God. And he has his most infamous icons, the beast and the false prophet. So here they are: the devil, the slanderer, the beast, that political and that false prophet, that religious deceiver.

They are all there. And this is Earth's icon examples of all this. These are the ones who embody the kingdom of this world. Slanderer, slanderer, a political leader, and a false religious system. All of this united this unholy trinity against God. That is God's adversary. But this kingdom's world, this is who they are.

And they will be tormented day and night into the ages of the ages. It doesn't cease. The doom of the devil is also a fixture in the eternal state. It doesn't just annihilate and go away. Somewhere, yeah, after a couple ages, yeah, that just goes away. No, it is into the ages of the ages.

This, too, is a fixture of eternity. So, as we deal with the daily, day-to-day affairs of our lives, which may seem very insignificant, they're mundane, but they all become very profound because they testify to who do you give glory, to whom are you in allegiance with. So, you don't want to be allied with the devil.

Think about that about eternity. Standing on the shore, seeing the eternal fixtures of eternity. You don't want to be allied with him. And guess what? You're not to fear him either. No, he's not the one to ultimately be feared. There is one who is to be feared. And that is the one who sits upon the throne, his eternal reign, his Christ.

This is the one. So we can look and see, no matter what happens to us in the few days we have on earth, we can see eternity and know these big establishments and navigate our course of life here. This is what investing in eternity looks like, having eternity on your mind, and these are fixtures of it.

And then, number seven. Number seven, the last category to which this expression into the ages of the ages is attributed to is to the torment of the lost. Not only the doom of the devil, but the torment of those who are allied with him. Revelation 14:9. Listen to some of this.

Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, into the ages of the ages, the smoke of their torment, a visual, a reminder, into the ages of the ages, smoke of their torment. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.

This expression is also speaking, the fall of Babylon the Great in Revelation 19:3. And a second time they said, Hallelujah, her smoke rises up forever and ever. So another fixture of heaven is the torment, the doom of the devil, and the torment of those who allied with them.

We may not be part of this generation. That's not the point. This may be a future generation. We may not be part of it. But this is what happens to the kingdom of the world and those who are allied with it. And so, as you're looking at these fixtures in eternity, you have to ask yourself: who, to whom are you allied with?

And as you take this in, as you're thinking about the torment of the lost, this should help you in your day-to-day routine and your day-to-day thinking and your day-to-day feeling and your day-to-day actions. First of all, I hope something like pity comes to mind, torment forever and ever, to be an eternal reminder of what God despises and hates.

Pity. I don't want that on anyone. I hope it helps you to pray for the lost, knowing that where they end up, and praying for those who are currently allied with the devil and his false system. I hope this helps you to want to spread the gospel. And to be part of that active enterprise of bringing people out of the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of light.

I hope it will motivate you to evangelize. I hope it will motivate you not to take vengeance upon your enemies. It's coming. I hope it will motivate you to be like your Heavenly Father and do good to them. You see, they have a part of eternity that's not to be envied.

So don't envy them now. Don't envy them. Don't envy their possessions, their positions now. Don't fear them now and don't be like them now. If you stand on the shores of eternity and you see where the lost end up, and what's going to be a fixture of eternity is this smoke rising up into the ages of the ages.

Don't envy them, don't fear them, and don't be like them. And be part of that gospel enterprise. So, think about this: fixtures of eternity. Maybe I'll be able to continue this thought in another setting and bring that more practically. How does specifically do these thoughts of eternity have a mind on eternity?

And here are the eternal fixtures. Now, how does that get more and more practical in our daily lives? Well, you should be able to just have eternity on your mind, and it'll be self-evident, but maybe we can spend some time and go a little bit deeper into that, but not on this occasion.

But just right now, if you sum up these seven concepts out of the book of Revelation of that which is going to go into the ages of the ages, it's the existence of God, the existence of Christ, God's reign, the glory of the Lamb, the reign of believers, the doom of the devil, and the torment of the lost.

That's eternity. You know, when a child comes into the world, and it's fun to see all the new life springing up all around, guess what? When a child comes into the world, He or she immediately begins learning the fixtures of his or her environment, don't they? They understand very quickly who mom is, who dad is, get the understanding of the concept of the crib, family, and all of that.

And what, when a child comes into the world, guess what? Little Britches has to learn how to adjust to the world around him or her. Because these are fixtures into which they are born into. Likewise, same is true about those who have been born into eternal life. If you've been born of God, you have eternal life now.

You already possess it, and that life continues into the ages of the ages. And as God and Christ, and His reign, and His glory, and the reign of believers goes from the ages of the ages, it even begins now in this age. We have been born into this eternity.

There are fixtures of eternity that we simply, like a little child, must recognize, be mindful of, and to which we must adjust and take in. Is your mind on eternity? I've given you some things to set your mind upon: eternal fixtures. Start adjusting if you haven't, or keep adjusting to the eternal environment into which you have been born.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this reminder to help us stand here and look upon eternity to come and the fixtures of eternal life. And, Father, you have exhorted us over and over to be mindful of eternity, to invest in that which is eternal. So, help us to use the hours that we have this week, the days, the time, and may all of it, Father, be an investment into eternity, into that which is eternal.

Christ's likeness never gets old, never will go out of style. Your glory, your power, your coming to you for all things and ascribing to you all honor doesn't get old, doesn't wear out. Heaven and earth will pass away, but these. Things are not going to pass away. So, Father, help us to be mindful of them as we go this week.

And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.