A Place called Heaven
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Introduction
Introduction
Over the past few weeks we have been working our way through a sermon series on Heaven and Hell.
Now these past two weeks we have addressed the topic of Hell, the place that is more than an adjective in foul or course talk, it is a real place of suffering, torment for the un-repentant, the sinner. A place where God’s presence is void and of course we know the Devil himself, Satan and those angels that fell with him from heaven are in suffering there as well.
It is an eternal destination my friends....
And today I want us to move forward, to the good place! Heaven!
Heaven was described as the “home of the saved.”
A place that is real place, eternal and where God’s presence resides continually...
Heaven is a wonderful place....
And what do we know about heaven?
There are many things we can say or describe about it and over the next couple of weeks we will try to dive into each little section.
My goal is that we come away with a good understanding of Heaven, and what God has prepared for us in this place.
So if yo have your Bibles with you today, I want to share with you a few passages of Scripture, and we will start with
It is a familiar passage and a good jumping off place today.
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Now why did I choose this passage…
I believe it gives us a message for us, a timeless truth on the value and worth of heaven.
So a little background here.....
We know that this is the night before Jesus crucifixion, He is in the upper room with the disciples and he is teaching all he can before His time comes, before the arrest and the events leading up to his passion.
And it is here that Jesus teaches them some timeless truths about Heaven.
So let us begin ....
What do I want you to see… I want to you see that Faith is the Key that unlocks that God has prepared for us...
1. Faith is the Key....
1. Faith is the Key....
Now I think it is important, that we talk about this truth, no matter if we are dealing with the Old Testament people or the New Testament people… everything single truth and reality of God begins with faith.
Now I think it is important, that we talk about this truth, no matter if we are dealing with the Old Testament people or the New Testament people… everything single truth and reality of God begins with faith.
We either believe God or we do not....
A person must have faith to see God
Look at verse 1....
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
Do you see the key thought here… It is Believe…
Everything we hope for, everything we hang onto is because of faith, do we believe or not.
We got into our car today to come here because we believed it would get us here… we had faith.
The clothes you are wearing, you picked those out to keep you covered and hopefully look good too.... faith
And in this passage Jesus speaks about faith.
Jesus says here, Let not your hearts be troubled..... Do not worry....
Instead as you have believed and had faith in God the Father, do the same concerning me. I have done all these works, and I have taught so that you would have faith.
Believe....
What do you believe?
What is your faith in?
As people we tend to put all our eggs in one basket and then we stumble and fall and suddenly, the eggs are broken, the basket is ruined and we are left wondering what next...
Faith is the key.
It was for so many in the Old Testament… By faith Abraham left his family and all that was familiar to him and followed God.
It was by faith that Moses lead the children of Israel up to the edge of the Red Sea, and by faith it was opened.
It was by faith that Gideon took 300 men into to battle and witnessed the mighty hand of the Lord in battle.
It was by faith that David stepped out onto a battle field to face a giant and it was by faith that Levi, and Peter, Andrew and others followed Jesus...
Faith is the first ingredient to Salvation and entrance into the kingdom and family of God, do you have faith?
Faith is the one “basket” if you will that you can put all your eggs (hopes, desires, struggles etc..) and it will be ok.
Faith is key in understanding and finding heaven at the end of life.
So do you have faith today? Do you know Jesus is more than a good person, a mighty man, that He is indeed the Son of the Living God, come to earth, made flesh to die for your sins..
Do you have faith in Jesus...
So faith in Jesus, that is a must. we have to accept Him as our Lord and Savior.
But by faith my friends know that Heaven is a real place...
2. Heaven is a Real Place
2. Heaven is a Real Place
2. Heaven is a Real Place
2. Heaven is a Real Place
As much as we have talked about the reality of Hell, please know that Heaven is a real place as well.
But Heaven is completely different than hell, it is a place where the presence of the living God resides, it is a place of happiness and reward unlike hell that is a sad, pitiful place of torment.
The Scriptures testify concerning this place and Jesus himself even told the disciples and us through His word that he was going to prepare a place for them.
So what else do we know?
The Scriptures testify concerning this place and Jesus himself even told the disciples and us through His word that He was going to prepare a place for them, a heavenly home.
Go back to our text today and lets consider what Jesus was saying to them and us...
verses 1-3
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Jesus tells us two things in particular that I want you to pay attention to this morning..
The first is this… The Father has a house, a mansion a place that is one of many rooms, a house that will hold His family.
What does that mean exactly? The Father’s house with its many rooms?
Now we have talked about this in the past, but Jesus is reminding them of something they were familiar with...
The Jewish family was a close nit family. The Father would have the son help him build onto the house, and as the wedding day approached there might be long hours. But when they were done, the Father would inspect the work and tell the son he could go get his bride…
The son and the wedding party would celebrate through the streets as they went to get the son’s bride and He would bring her to his house, and the father’s house.
It is a picture of well of the rapture that we await ....
But it is wonderful… The father’s house would grow and grow as the family grew thus many rooms.
The Father of Heaven has a home awaiting, the Son had to finish.... made it ready.
So back to verse 2
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
Jesus says the Father’s house has many rooms… I am going to prepare a place for you.
Jesus had one last thing to do… The Cross, this was the final task set before Jeuss, the cross would ensure all the darkness of sin and separation were forever dealt with, Jesus would die on the cross as an atonement for sin, our sin, the world’s sin.
Thus He would justify us in front of God, making his bride, His church acceptable and able to come into the presence of the living God, most literally entrance into the Father’s house and kingdom.
The Kingdom of God was prepared by Jesus....
So heaven is a real place...
Jesus told his disciples this, look at verse 3 in
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Here is the second thought I want you to hang on too. He will come for us … He will come again…so that we can be where He is.... Jesus is speaking about his second coming here.. He will come get his church, His people
What a beautiful promise my friends, Jesus is telling them this simple truth.
Heaven is real, I am going to prepare a place for you, and all those who would call upon the name of the Lord and be saved…
Don’t worry, I will go away to finish the work, but I will come again.. so that you might be where I am...
So Jesus would leave their presence for a little while, but one day, suddenly when they least expected Jesus would also return to take them home as well.
What does all this mean…???
One day I will be where Jesus is......
I will be with Him, my Savior and Redeemer, my closest friend, I will be with Jesus.
Heaven is the home of the saved....
B. Heaven is a real place.... if that were not so, then I ask you ...
Why would Jesus tell us to lay up our treasure in heaven.
Let me share this passage from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 6
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Listen to what Jesus says here : abandon the paradigm that this is all you have ....so you might as well make the most of it, be rich, eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you die.. no,
This life is not it… because we are eternal, instead of storing up and hording the things if this world, instead of being consumed with this life and the treasures you can store up now...
Store up for yourself treasures in heaven… things of eternal value that can not be stolen, corrupted by the forces of this world.
Friends, how could you store up, keep, the eternal treasures that are of utmost importance if heaven were not a real place....
You cannot, so heaven must be a real place...
C. And consider this my friends, if heaven were not a real place there would be no place for the dead in Christ to go ....
The saved go to heaven immediately upon death
Let me share the words of the Apostle Paul with you again…
here is the passage
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
So what is Paul saying here… if we are here on ole planet earth, living and breathing then we are away from the Lord. Still with him just we have not seen him. But at death the Soul leaves the body… and if we are absent from the body and know Jesus, then we are with the Lord at death.
8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
Heaven is a real place my friends because many have already gone on… Acts chapter 7, Stephen the deacon is being stoned, and what did he see as he was dying…???
Here is where you can shout… He saw heaven opened up, he saw the Lord and Jesus at the right hand side...
Heaven is real!
Now lets move on to my next thought…, so far we have talked about faith, because faith is the key, it is where it all begins when we think about the kingdom of God.
Now lets move on to my next thought…, so far we have talked about faith, because faith is the key, it is where it all begins when we think about the kingdom of God.
And we have just talked about the truth that Heaven is a real place and this moves us onward to my next thought..
3. What kind of Place is Heaven...
3. What kind of Place is Heaven...
What kind of Place is Heaven
Have you ever stopped and thought, and perhaps you have worked your way through the Scriptures looking at those verses that speak to us about heaven, and the grand life that awaits all those in Christ Jesus.
From what we have talked about all ready this morning we know that Heaven is the place where God the Father is,
We know that it is the place where Jesus departed from, came to earth and was born incarnate, in the flesh, lived and died to prepare a place for us...
And we have looked at heaven as a place to store eternal treasure.... And we have looked at death being the gateway from this life to being in His presence.. to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
So what does it look like, what can we say about heaven that we have not already..
Well loosen up your fingers and lets run a bit through the Bible and talk about heaven...
A. First off it is a place of rest....
A. First off it is a place of rest....
One of my favorite passages in the New Testament is
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
There is a great contrast between the world and the religious systems of the world and what the Lord Jesus is calling us to my friends.
Consider the legalistic system of the Jews, they were bound by the law, by trying to keep this rigid system of do’s and don’t the Pharisees and Scribes placed a heavy burden on the people. It was a heavy burden that could not be worn. It was impossible to keep the law and it left the people helpless and hopeless in front of a living God.
There was no way man could keep the law, (law is like a mirror) they could not do enough good works to settle their sin debt in front of God.
But here is the contrast.....
But Jesus says come to me, eternal rest for all who seek forgiveness for their sins. He provides eternal rest, rest for their souls.
Mankind could not satisfy their sin debt but Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary… forever satisfying our debt in front of Jesus.
He gives us rest...
And then if you pop over to Rev 14:13
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
How wonderful, for the Christian, death and entrance into heaven speaks not of work, not toil, but it speaks of rest.
You see in this life, the proving grounds I call them, we work, we live, we witness, we share we literally are called to service for the Lord Jesus and we are to do that until death at which time we cease work...
And we are at rest and our works follow us....
How do your works follow you? What will you be remember by?
Your love, your compassion, your witness in the world, how you lived.... the fruit you bear here it should follow you by the impact you have made in this life and into the next generation.
And if you are not leaving an example, good works, something is terribly wrong......
And then secondly we are called to enjoy heaven, this beautiful place that words cannot do justice....
B. A Place We Cannot Imagine
B. A Place We Cannot Imagine
Have you ever tried to imagine the joy and wonder of heaven....
what does it look like, how will it be, what will we see, who will we see.....
Well listen to Paul...to what the Apostle Paul says in
Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in
Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in
9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
Now think about this verse… The Apostle Paul is quoting the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah, there is no way for man to fully know or explain the wonders that await us in heaven. It is completely indescribable....
and
And if you jump to and 22, you find John the Revelator, the last of the Apostles whose life as Jesus said would not be taken by men… and there on the isle of Patmos as a very old man he receives a vision of a new Heaven and a new Earth…
And the picture is extraordinary.... extroudanary
A great city whose radiance was that of God, with 12 beautiful gates , the streets of the city were pure gold, transparent as glass
A city that had no Sun, moon or stars for the glory of God shown forth as its light...
And then the angel of the Lord showed John a great beautiful river that flowed from the throne of God and of the Lamb, it flowed through the middle of the street and on either side of the river was a tree of life that bore 12 different types of fruit.. and we would worship Him, the one whose name would appear on our foreheads.... for we are his safe and secure in that city…
Heaven is a real place, it is a beautiful place and it is a place where we are with our Lord...
That should put a smile on our face.
But perhaps you are wondering today, how do I get to heaven? How do I find that place the city whose builder and maker is God?
But perhaps you are wondering today, how do I get to heaven? How do I find that place the city whose builder and maker is God?
4. How Do I Get to Heaven....
4. How Do I Get to Heaven....
Well my friends that is a great question… lets go back to our main text for a minute...
Well my friends that is a great question… lets go back to our main text for a minute...
Go back to
Listen to what Jesus has to say...
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The way, He is the only way to God, while the world and its people proclaim many ways, they all lead to a dead end street…
He is our great High Priest who has once and for all atoned for the sins of man through His own blood.
Jesus has made a way for us to boldly walk behind the curtain and commune with God our Father.
The truth… Jesus alone fulfills all the teaching of the Old Testament and revels to us the true God
And He is Life… Jesus is the one who gives life. How can He do that… The one who lived and died and rose from the dead possess true life, eternal life.
Jesus said in “...I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest.” The one who is LIFE Can give eternal life in heaven to all who call upon the name of the Lord, repent of their sins and follow Him.
You get to heaven following Jesus my friends..
You see we come into this world as a sinner, separated from God because of our inheirted sin nature.
The sin of one man, Adam brought sin into the world and we stand condemned because of it.
But God sent his Son, to die for our sin..
I love , but we forget about the blessing of
so listen with me at those two verses....
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
People speak all the time of God’s great love, and He is a good God, a eternal Father who loves his children and sent His one and only Son to die for the sins of the world.
So the whole world can be saved, because Christ died for the world. Jesus is like, He is the key and faith is us being able to take the key and say yes to it.
So in Jesus we can have life…
The son wasn’t sent to condemn the world but to save it… come to Jesus.
But if you live life for yourself, away from God you stand condemned.
and Hell will be your home...
Will you make heaven, or will you make it to hell.
Which ticket to you possess.
Lets pray
