HEAVEN (Part 1)

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: JOHN 14:1-4




INTRODUCTION:


1.     I am sure some of you heard about the woman upstate that was driving five children from summer camp on Thursday.  She was speeding and got into a wreck, killing herself as well as all five of the children.

2.     Then there was a big wreck up in CT on Friday morning.  A loaded dump truck careened out of control, crashing at the bottom of a mountain.  Four people were killed and 19 were injured.

3.     Among the dead was the dump truck driver, who screamed for help as flames consumed the truck's cab.  The newspapers said that other motorists tried to rescue the man, but were driven back by intense fire fed by spilled fuel.

4.     The other three who died could not escape their burning cars.  We can only wonder, where are they now?

5.     Nearly 4,000 years ago, Job asked this question, “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14).

6.     It is an important question, and the Bible and only the Bible has the answer to this question.  Job himself wrote in Job 19:26, “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”

7.     The apostle Paul said that for the Christian, to be absent from the body meant to be present with the Lord (II Cor. 5:8).

8.     In Philippians 1:23, 24, Paul writes, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.”

9.     Our Lord said to the repentant thief on the cross, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

10. I am going to speak about heaven this morning. There are hundreds of Scriptures which speak of heaven and Lord willing we will look at several of them.  However, let me add that the Bible also has much to say about hell (cf. Matt. 25:41, 46).

 

I. WHAT IS HEAVEN?

1.     First of all, heaven is a place.  Our Lord spoke often of heaven and He always referred to it as a specific space.  Men may speak of heaven in vague terms but the Bible never does (cf. John 14:1-4).

2.     Secondly, heaven is the place where God dwells.  Notice our Lord said in John 14:2, “In my Father’s house…” (cf. Deut. 26:15).

3.     In I Kings 8:39, King Solomon refers to heaven as God’s “dwelling place.”

4.     Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 5:2, “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.”

5.     The apostle Paul says in Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…”  The wrath of God is “revealed from heaven” because heaven is God’s dwelling place.

6.     So we know that heaven is a specific place.  It is referred to in the Bible as God’s “dwelling place.”  It is also the future home of all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

7.     Again, let us consider the words of our Lord in John 14:2 and 3.  “I go to prepare a place for you.   And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

8.     These words of Jesus remind us that the emphasis in heaven is not on a place (as wonderful as that place will be) but on a Person.

9.     Many people have this notion that they are going to heaven, but the Bible says only those that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ are going to heaven (John 14:6). 

10. Jesus said, “Ye must be born again.”

 

II. WHERE IS HEAVEN?

1.     I do not know why this should puzzle people.  Even as a little boy I knew heaven was up in the sky.  Recall what Moses said in Deut. 26:15, “Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us…”

2.     Consider what Jesus said (John 3:13; 6:33). 

3.     Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:10, 11 all say that our Lord ascended “up” into heaven.

4.     In John 17:1, the Bible says, “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven…”

 

III. WHAT IS HEAVEN LIKE?

1.     The apostle Paul describes a trip to heaven in his second epistle to the Corinthians (II Cor. 12:1-5).

2.     The “man” (12:2) was probably Paul himself, and he said he “heard unspeakable words” (11:4).

3.     Heaven is so glorious and so wonderful that words cannot adequately describe it.

4.     It is interesting to note that the Bible uses negatives to describe heaven, so that we might know what is not there.  For example, there is no sin and there are no sinners in heaven (Rev. 21:27; 22:15).

5.     Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

6.     Just look at what sin has done to this world!  It has brought disease, death, wars, misery, and woe.  Look at all the jails and prisons, bars and nightclubs, infirmaries and mental hospitals.  But there are no prisons in heaven, no hospitals in heaven, and no nightclubs in heaven!

7.     In fact, not only are there no nightclubs in heaven, there is no night in heaven (Rev. 21:23-25; 22:5).

8.     There is no curse in heaven – everything is blessed (Rev. 22:3). God cursed the earth after Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:17), but there is no more curse in heaven.

9.     There are no tears in heaven (Rev. 21:4).  No more heartaches, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more crying (21:4).

10. “And there shall be no more death” (21:4) – no more funerals, no more graveyards, no more undertakers, no more obituaries. 

11. First Corinthians 15:25 & 26 says, “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”

 

IV. WHO WILL BE IN HEAVEN?

1.     We know God is in heaven.  Jesus told us to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven…” (Matt. 6:9).

2.     The Bible says there is an innumerable number of angels in heaven.

3.     Believers will be there.  I remember one of my professors in Bible college saying, “You know you are getting old when you have more friends in heaven than you do on earth.”

4.     What a joy it will be to be reunited with our loved ones that have gone on before us!  And in case you are wondering – yes, we will recognize each other in heaven!

5.     In heaven there will be saints from every nation, and every tribe, and every tongue. What a meeting that will be!

 

V. WHO WILL NOT BE IN HEAVEN?

1.     I would be derelict in my duties if I did not mention that there will be many people excluded from heaven.  Psalm 9:17 says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

2.     Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 that “many” people think they are on their way to heaven when in fact they are headed for hell.

3.     Our Lord said, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15, 16).

 

CONCLUSION:

1.     Some of the saddest words ever uttered have been spoken by those facing eternity without Christ.  The philosopher Thomas Hobbes was a materialist.    He did not believe in the immortality of the soul.  He said, “All that is real is material, and what is not material is not real” – The Leviathan.

2.     When facing death, Thomas Hobbes said, “I am taking a fearful leap into the dark.”

3.     Another famous unbeliever was Aldous Huxley.  When his mother died, this is what he wrote to his sister: “My dearest sister, I offer you no consolation, for I know of none. There are things which each must bear as best he may with the strength that has been allotted to him.”

4.     Bertrand Russell, the famous atheist, said these words: “There is a darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within.  There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment and then, nothing.”

5.     Contrast these gloomy statements with DL Moody’s last words: “I see earth receding; Heaven is opening; God is calling me.”

6.     George Washington’s last words were, “Father of Mercies, take me to Thyself.”

7.     There is a true story about the Civil War that I shall never forget.  On a battlefield, a nurse was binding up a soldier’s wounds, and a short distance away she heard another soldier crying out, “Here, Here!”

8.     Thinking that perhaps he was in desperate need, she left the soldier she was attending and ran over to him.  “What can I do for you?” she asked the dying soldier, lying on his back on the battlefield.

9.     “Nothing, kind nurse,” replied the dying soldier.  “Nothing, thank you.”

10. She went back to binding the wounds of the other soldier, when again she heard, “Hear, Hear!”  She ran back and again asked, “What can I do for you?”  And once again the dying soldier said: “Nothing, kind nurse.”

11. She again ran back to the soldier to complete the binding up of his wounds, when for the third time she heard, “Here, Here!”  And for the third time, she dropped what she was doing and ran over to the dying soldier and asked what she could do for him.

12. “Nothing, kind nurse,” replied the dying soldier.

13. “Then why do you keep on saying, ‘Here!  Here!’” she asked.  “Oh, nurse,” said the dying soldier, with a smile on his face, “they are calling the roll of Heaven and I am answering my name.”

14. Just then with a far-away look in his eyes and that smile of Heaven on his face, he looked up to heaven and said: “Here!  Here!” and raised his hand to heaven and died. 

15. It is my earnest and fervent prayer that everyone assembled in our church this Lord’s Day will answer “Here!  Here!” when the roll is called up yonder in heaven.

 



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