September 28, 2020
“A Place Prepared – A Message About Heaven” John 14
On September 27th, 2020, Pastor Eric spoke about “A Place Prepared – A Message About Heaven”.
Watch video here:
Video Transcript
We are going to talk about heaven today.
Now, a little disclaimer before I start, whatever I am going to say about heaven this morning, heaven will be much greater than that.
Illustration
When I was about 7-8 years old, friends talked to me about a place called Europa Park.
Now, back then I lived in Germany since my dad served in the Canadian military and was posted in Lahr, Germany before the Berlin wall came down and they were sent back to Canada
But when I was 8, my friends talked about Europa park.
They tried to describe it, and were telling me their experiences, but when my parents took me there, wow, what a place! It was nothing like my friends described.
Europa Park
Today, I look back and it’s really a combination of La Ronde in Montreal and Calypso together and more.
For me, that was heaven.
So today, whatever I say about heaven, it won’t do it justice.
Because we don’t have the full picture of what heaven is going be like.
And part of that is that none of us actually went there to see it.
And secondly it is out of this world.
So try to describe something that is out of this world to make sense to us is very difficult.
Some of you may think, well why talk about it if we can’t know for sure what it’s going to look like?
Well, we have enough information to know that it’s where we want to be.
It’s going to be a great place.
So here’s a couple reason we need to talk about Heaven:
Why talk about Heaven?
The Bible calls us to think about Heaven
To set our heart and mind on it.
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
You know, back in the days there was a common saying that non believers used to say often about christians that we don’t hear often in our day anymore.
And I wonder if that’s a bad thing to be frank with you.
They used to say:
Christians are too heavenly minded to be earthly good.
And some feared that statement so they tried to show that they are normal and they tried to tone in down to show that they are not different.
But since when is being heavenly minded a problem?
I fear that we today are not worthy so much to have that statement said about ourselves.
I fear that the statement that could be said about us is christians are too earthly minded that they are no heavenly good.
set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
Secondly, why talk about heaven?
It is where our true citizenship is
But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
The Bible says that the day you and I accepted Jesus Christ into our lives, by calling on him in prayer with faith, that our names were then added in a book called the book of life.
Your are now part of heaven.You have a right to enter heaven.
You have your passport to heaven.
Illustration
If you try to enter Canada from another country and say: sir, I’m a good person, I do good deeds, I am a hard worker, I don’t steal, let me in.
Do you know what the officer at the Canadian border will say to you?
Passport please.
You don’t have a passport, I’m not authorize to let you in.
See, it’s the same thing with heaven.
We have a citizenship in heaven.
The moment you and I walk at border custom in heaven, they will check your passport and they will compare it with their list of names in the book of life.
And when they look at your passport they will see the blood of Jesus on it and they will let you in
Because
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
Thirdly, why preach about heaven, well because
Earth is only a pit stop
You ever wonder why all our time, all our thoughts, all our efforts and all of our lives seem to be so consumed with living in this life comfortably?
Yet the Bible reminds us over and over again that this life is like a vapour.
What is your life? You are a mist (some versions say fog, vapor) that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Listen to Psalm 103:15-16
15 Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.16 The wind blows, and we are gone—as though we had never been here.
We need to talk about heaven because, it reminds that no matter how good we think our lives are here on earth, it will only last for a short moment.
The writer to the Hebrews said it well when he wrote:
Hebrews 13:14 ESV
For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.
This world is not our permanent home.
Yet we often treat it that way.
But we need to be looking forward to heaven.
Fourthly
It gives hope when we are weighed down with the burdens of this life
Whatever you may suffer, it is nothing compared to the glory to come.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Words cannot describe what is coming for us.
And so whatever pain your in, whatever hardship you may experience right now, it is not comparable with the glory that is to come.
How we live here, affects how we live there
Now make no mistake, the entrance to heaven is not based on anything we do or don’t do other then placing our faith in Christ finished work at the cross.
But the levels of rewards, Jesus talked about laying treasures in heaven.
So we get the idea that some will have more treasures up there than others based on choices, generosity, and actions they did here on earth.
The idea is you can’t bring it with you but you can send ahead.
You will be rewarded for :
Actions
Decisions and character
Prayers
Generosity
Service
Sacrifices
Persistence
Loving your enemies
Words
(i.e: Mat 6:20, lk 12:33, Mark 10:21 Mat 19:21 Luke 18:22)
It’s exciting to talk about Heaven
In Luke 10:17-20 NIV Jesus had sent the believers 2 by two to go into the cities he would go to and they came back saying
17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name. He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Jesus is saying to them, don’t get excited that you can rebuke devils, if you want something to be excited about, be excited that your names are written in heaven.
It is the most impressive and exciting thing to look forward for the believer.
Illustration
You know, for the past 2 months, my kids have been watching videos about dogs on YouTube, chocolate labs to be more precise.
And they started watching this since we told them that we would be getting one.
One video went viral probably because of my youngest son who watched this one video over and over and over.
So the owner of that video probably got his 1 million views just from Gabriel alone:)
But why?
Why was the subject of dogs on their mouth all the time?
Why did they never get bored of watching the same videos over and over again?
Because they were excited to have a dog.
They counted days and how many nights until the dog would come home.
They told their friends at school all about it.
They dreamed about what it would be like to have a dog.
They gave it a lot of thought.
They gave him a name before he was born.
When Gaudence my wife brought one of the boys to the grocery store with her, he would put things like a dog bowl and dog toys before the dog was even at the house.
They were so excited about the idea of having a dog.
Application:
Well, what if christians would talk about heaven a little bit more?
What if we were a bit more excited about where we will spend eternity?
Why only talk about heaven in funerals when a believer has passed?
Heaven is the most exciting thing to look forward too.
And it should be on our mind, heart and our lips.
The greatest life of a believer is not this life.
It’s the one to come.
Its the life of heaven.
Now, other words for heaven is : Paradise, Father’s house, Matthew refers to God as the Father in Heaven or the Heavenly Father. So it’s where the Father is. It is the habitation of God and of angels. 31 times we find the Kingdom of Heaven
Heaven is a Real place, it’s not a figure of speech. It’s not just clouds with angels and harps.
It has streets, water, homes, there will food.
Jesus stated that He would one day eat again with His followers.
We get the idea that we don’t need to eat to live but food will be available for us for the pleasure of eating.
Heaven is also described as a city (Heb 11:16)
A place where God will dwell with us.
You won’t have to believe by faith you will see.
It is a place where the will of God is done perfectly.
No wonder when Jesus instructed us to pray, He said when you pray, pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Because in heaven it is perfect.
Heaven is a place where rewards will be given.
Heaven Is the place that Jesus ascended but said in JN 14 that he went to prepare a place for us.
So that we can be with Him.
Heaven was designed for us.
Mat 25:34
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
See hell was prepared for the devil and the fallen angels who participated in Lucifer’s rebellion and pride.
But heaven was prepared for God’s family the church.
To spend eternity with him.
It’s a place where there will be no more tears for Revelations 21:4 says
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
You wont be sad in heaven.
You wont be depressed.
You wont suffer from any illness.
You will have new perfect body 2 Cor 5:1-5 NLT
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. 4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
When Jesus rose from the dead he had a new body.
He walked through doors and walls a couple times and he also ate a meal.
No sin.
No death.
You will have god mode on.
You wont need your medications and the pills you need to take every day.
You wont need to wear a mask.
We will be able to recognize each other.
It’s going to be amazing.
You know what else there won’t be in heaven?
Marriage.
And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”
And many have asked, why can’t we marry in heaven and I like how the Focused on the Family answered this question.
The reason is because
Marriage is a picture of the union between Christ and His people and in heaven, the picture will be superseded by the reality.
There’s a lot of needs we have in this life that you won’t need in heaven.
No wonder our funerals, the funerals of believers is different then the rest of the world.
We may weep but at the same time we rejoice because of the assurance we have.
No wonder Billy Graham said:
Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.
Are you ready for it?
If not then start by praying this prayer:
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, for too long I’ve kept you out of my life. I know that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. No longer will I close the door when I hear you knocking. By faith I gratefully receive your gift of salvation. I am ready to trust you as my Lord and Savior. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming to earth. I believe you are the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead on the third day. Thank you for bearing my sins and giving me the gift of eternal life. I believe your words are true. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and be my Savior. Amen.