Sermon Tone Analysis

Two weeks ago, we began this six week series entitled “Heaven Bound” and we answered the question “What is heaven’s door?”

What was the answer we found?

Exactly.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Heaven’s door.

There is one entrance to Heaven.

You can’t paint enough fences or walk enough grandma’s across streets to get into Heaven.

There aren’t enough volunteer projects or church services that you can attend that will usher you into Heaven.

One entrance - Jesus Christ - by faith in Him - what the Reformers called Sola Fide “by faith alone” will in Sola Christus “in Christ alone” allow you access to Heaven.

So that’s the door.

Have you ever watched a Youtube video on how to do something?

Like how to replace a toilet.

Or, how to change a tire.

Or, how to get oil based paint off of the black blur.

Or, how to cut a watermelon with a diaper?

I’ve watched a lot of these videos and imagine if together we decided “hey, the station needs a new roof, let’s go to Youtube so we can know how it’s done.”

So we watch hours upon hours of videos.

We learn what type of wood is best for the beams, we learn how to shingle a roof, we learn how to insulate the attic.

After a day or two of research, hours of research - we feel confident.

We know what to do.

So we get our team together, we get up on the roof and we realize “hey, we don’t have any of our supplies.

We don’t have two by fours, we don’t have a nail gun, we don’t have a power drill, we don’t have screws, we don’t have plywood, we don’t have shingles, we don’t have insulation or the machine that can blow the insulation.

We are just up on the roof with some knowledge.

Well, that is what it will be like for you if you spend the summer learning about Heaven, but you never first walk through the door by repenting of your sin and believing in Jesus Christ as your Lord.

Transition: now tonight’s message is called “The Present Heaven” and we are going to talk about (1) The Nature of the Present Heaven, then we will ask these two questions (2) Is it a Physical Place and (3) What is it Like?

Listen to what Paul wrote in :

Students God does not want you to be uninformed about “those who fall asleep” that’s a euphemism - new word of the day - everybody say it together - euphemism.

Now what is a euphemism - it is a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

So if Pastor Glen came to me and, with the support of the Deacon body told me that I needed to fire Trent & Jennifer.

When I went up to them, rather than saying “you’re fired, pack it up” I would say “the church has to make cuts in personell and somehow I didn’t make the list.”

Cuts would be a euphemism for fired.

It’s softer.

It’s more pleasant.

So when talking about death - Paul uses the phrase “those who fall asleep”.

So here Paul wants us to understand about those who’ve died.

Why? Well he tells us - so that we would have hope - that we wouldn’t grieve.

He wants us to be encouraged about the afterlife - not afraid or terrified.

The truth is many of us have loved one’s who have died - and the present Heaven is where any of us go who are Christian.

Transition: so what is the nature of the present Heaven?

1.

The Nature of the Present Heaven

First, t

When a Christian dies, he or she enters into the state which theologians call the “intermediate state” which is a transitional state between our life on Earth and the future resurrection to life on the New Earth.

Most of the time, when you and I talk of Heaven, we are talking about the Present Heaven.

One thing I talk about often with Noah & Emma Kate is the fact that their grandad, my dad is in Heaven.

If you ask them, on a good day, where is daddy’s dad, where is Grandad, they would probably tell you he is in Heaven with God.

Now, when we talk like that we are talking about the Present Heaven.

And the first thing we need to know about the Present Heaven or the intermediate state is that it is temporary.

By definition, intermediate means in-between or temporary.

Even though the Present Heaven is temporary, that doesn’t mean it’s like lame or something.

Listen to Paul’s words in Philippians 1:

Life in the Present Heaven is “far better” than life here because of the presence of Christ.

It will be a wonderful place, but ultimately the Present Heaven is not our eternal home - it’s not what we will be refashioned for in the bodily resurrection.

We are destined for life in our resurrected bodies on resurrected Earth - if we lose sight of that, we may feel disoriented when we think of eternity.

So, first the Present Heaven, where you go when you die if you are a Christian, is temporary.

So a follow up question to this - will we live in Heaven forever?

If by that we mean, will we be with the Lord forever - then yes, but if we mean will we live in the place of the Present Heaven the answer is no.

When we die, believers in Christ will not go to Heaven where we’ll live forever.

Instead, we’ll go to an intermediate Heaven.

In that Heaven - where those who died who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ - they will await the time of Christ’s return to the earth, our bodily resurrection, the final judgment, and the creation of the New Heavens and the New Earth.

You cannot understand the doctrine of Heaven without understanding this.

Panama Illustration flying from Wichita, stopping in DFW joining up with a team (several hours), and then heading to Panama.

When asked where are you going what would you say?

Panama, by way of Dallas maybe.

But probably just Panama.

That’s what the Present Heaven is like - it is not our eternal destination.

It’s temporary.

It’s a stop on the way to our eternal home, the New Earth.

Make sense?

One of the road bumps to understanding this is coming to terms with the fact that Heaven can change.

Students only God is eternal.

Even Heaven was created.

Heaven is not essential to God’s character, it is not a place that He must live, but it is a place where He chooses to live.

Because God created Heaven (), it had a beginning and is therefore neither timeless nor changeless.

So, once we abandon our assumptions that Heaven cannot change, it all makes sense.

God does not change; He’s immutable; He’s eternal.

But God clearly says Heaven will change.

It will be relocated according to :

And the same thing goes for Hell:

So, the Present Heaven, the one where all Christian’s go now when they die - is temporary and will change.

So the Present Heaven is like an angelic realm, whereas, the Eternal Heaven - called the New Earth will be here on Earth, but it will be renewed and remade.

They are two different places.

Another question that should be asked is: when we die and go to the Present Heaven, will we be conscious and aware?

At death, our human spirit will either go to Heaven or Hell.

When Jesus told the parable of Lazarus, he was fully aware moments after death.

What did Jesus tell the thief who was dying on the cross next to him ()?

Today you will be with me in paradise.

teaches us:

It’s important for us to understand that we will be aware and we will have consciousness as soon as we die.

There are people that will tell you that when we die we go into “soul sleep” where we have no consciousness - that’s a lie.

That is not biblical.

We will be fully aware, whether we are in Hell away from the Lord or in Heaven with Christ.

Think of it this way when we die - our bodies await their resurrection, but our spirit will be fully aware and will be with Christ.

And here is why it’s important to understand that we will be aware.

Immediately following our death we will experience our first judgment (we will go through 2): it’s called the judgment of faith.

This judgement will be about what we’ve done with Jesus.

Have we trusted in His death, burial and resurrection - that He was God’s spotless lamb who would take away the sin of the world - or did we deny Him.

And this judgment will place us in the Present Heaven and Present Hell.

This judgment is different than the Great White Throne Judgment that we read of in where we will be judged for our works.

The Present Heaven isn’t some place that if we could just go up high enough we could get there.

It’s more to be understood as another universe or dimension.

That’s why I love Narnia, because it picks up on the idea that Narnia is another universe or dimension.