A story has been told of a dying man who asked his Christian doctor to tell him something about the place to which he was going. As the doctor fumbled for a reply, he heard a scratching at the door, and then he had his answer. "Do you hear that?" he asked his patient. "It's my dog. I left him downstairs, but he has grown impatient, and has come up and hears my voice. He has no idea of what is behind the door, but he knows that I am here. Isn't it the same with you? You don't know what lies beyond the Door, but you know that your Master is there."
Hence Paul said "I would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord"
We have been talking about Heaven for the last 2 weeks. It's a topic of great interest for many people. We have learned from God's word, our only source for what Heaven is like, that .
1. Those who are the committed followers of Jesus Christ that in Heaven we are going to get new, imperishable, perfect, eternal bodies. The ground of our assurance? The indwelling Holy Spirit who testifies to our hearts that we belong to God and that Heaven is our home.
2. Every Christian ought to be longing to be with Jesus. Jesus is the focal point of our heavenly hopes. Paul said "I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and be at home with the Lord"
3. In view of the blessings lavished on us now and promised to us for later we ought to live a life pleasing to God. If that doesn't motivate us, the fact that we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ should.
4. Judgement Day is coming. While it holds no terror for those who are the followers of Jesus, we who his servants will still be examined for we are accountable. On that day some will find themselves rewarded and commended by Jesus and others will find themselves in Heaven by the skin of their teeth I Cor. 3.
One of my goals in preaching this series on Heaven is that we all may be assured of its reality. There are some who deny that Heaven exists. There are some who mock it as being 'pie in the sky' thinking.
Is our hope for Heaven an empty one? Is it merely fanciful thinking? Is it nothing more than an invented bribe to make people 'live right'?
I am convinced this is not the case. I am convinced that Heaven is a reality. I am convinced that I am going there, that upon my death or the Lord's impending return that I will be with God in Heaven.
READ TEXT
A CRISIS OF FAITH
At times the words and teachings of Jesus disturbed and agitated his disciples. In v.1 of our text we find out from Jesus that his disciples are in crisis. There faith is under pressure. There faith is being stretched. 3 years earlier, at the call of Jesus, they had left their jobs, homes, and families to follow Jesus. They had left everything. Jesus has just told them that he is leaving them and that where he goes they cannot follow. Jesus has just told them that Judas was going to betray him to death. Jesus has just told Peter that before the rooster crows the next morning that he will deny him 3 times. Jesus has just told them that he will shortly die.
Because of the shocking nature of Jesus' words the disciples are at loss, they have been thrown into disorder. They are confused, they are agitated, they are alarmed. They are anxious. No doubt they are wondering what is going to happen to them when Jesus is gone. No doubt they wondered what they were now going to do for how could they go on if Jesus wasn't there with them?
In essence what is being inferred is that there is a crisis in their faith.
JESUS RESPONDS TO THE CRISIS
The Lord never wants us to be left with a wavering or troubled faith. He continually is working at building in our lives.
JESUS' WORDS OF ASSURANCE. Words to calm troubled hearts
Begins by commanding them to trust in God and himself
The word for trust here is the Gk word for "faith"
Jesus never says "Try and trust me" He says "Trust me" He commands that we trust him.
Q Why should a person trust Jesus? Q Why should a person put their trust in Jesus?
Q Why do you and I trust the people we do?
Now some people don't. Some people say "the only person I'm going to trust in is myself for I can't trust anyone else" People say that because they have been hurt and betrayed in the past by others. Yet people who are at that point I would figure are pretty miserable people. If the only person you'll trust is yourself then you'll never have deep relationships with others, you're suspicious nature and behavior will drive away those who may be able to help you.
However, for those people whom we do trust, why do we do so? Why for instance does my son trust me not to drop him on his head. You see I often put him over my shoulder and hang onto him by his ankles over my back. Is he afraid? NO Does he cry? NO. He has a great time and why? Because he trusts me.
We generally trust people and ask them to trust us based upon what they know of our characters. People trust other people because they are deemed trustworthy and have given evidence that they can be trusted.
It's the same with God. We are told to trust in God and we can have every confidence in doing so because of his character. God is perfect. There is no evil in Him. He is holy and pure. He is righteous. He cannot sin. He can do no wrong and never has done anyone wrong. He is a God of justice, He is merciful, He is loving. We have every reason to trust God. He has an impeccable track record as recorded time after time in the scriptures by those who love him.
So, when Jesus commands us to trust God and Him we have every reason to. The problem occurs when we don't. Isaiah 7:9 is a very interesting verse. Given to a king in crisis. Words of assurance and deliverance given then this verse "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." The consequence of not trusting God.
Consider also these words given to the Israelites as they were going out to battle a superior enemy "Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful" II Chr. 20:20
IMBEDDED WITHIN JESUS' COMMAND TO TRUST GOD IS CLAIM TO BEING GOD v.1
As we consider reasons for our being assured that Heaven is a reality we must find ourselves affirming the divinity/ Godhood of Jesus Christ. If Jesus is not God, as he claims, then all that he said must be rejected, including what he said in regards to Heaven.
However, I am convinced that Jesus is God and hence what we are learning from him in regards to Heaven is true.
Over and over in the book of John, Jesus communicates that he is God in the flesh.
-Jesus claimed to forgive sins (which only God can do). To back up his claim he healed the person of their disease, proving his power to forgive
-the miracles Jesus performed are evidence that Jesus was no ordinary man but that he was God in the flesh. Raising the dead, casting out demons, healing the sick and diseased
-Jesus said "I and the Father are one" "If you have seen me you have seen the Father"
-Jesus was recognized as God over and over again "you the words of eternal life" said Peter. Over and over again he was called "Lord" a title by which God spoken of in the OT. A title which Jesus accepted
-claimed to be the way to eternal life
-accepted the worship of people. Only God to be worshipped
Also further proof to his being God and Savior is the testimonies of others. John 5 argues that John the Baptist, Moses, the OT scriptures, God the Father, and Jesus' works all affirm Jesus' diety. In addition to this Jesus' disciples testified to Jesus being God. They risked their lives and many of them died at the hands of their enemies for that belief.
The scriptures portray Jesus as being God. Hence he is to be trusted. Hence he can be trusted. Hence, heaven, of which he speaks is a reality.
Our hearts ought to be reassured of the reality of Heaven. We are commanded to trust God and Jesus in this matter.
"In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you." v.2
What we have hear are further words of assurance from Jesus. Words to calm a troubled heart that is agitated over the future. Words to assure us of the reality of Heaven.
Here we learn something very important about Heaven: WE WHO ARE THE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CAN HAVE A CERTAINTY IN OUR HEARTS THAT THERE IS ENOUGH ROOM FOR US.
"mansions"
-misunderstood term which has given to many imaginative flights of fancy on our parts regarding what heaven is like
-the term literally means that there are many places to stay in heaven, many place to dwell or abide. The point being that there is room for all who call on the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Heaven is not like an overbooked hotel. Hotels and airlines routinely overbook. Inevitably someone is turned away because there are no more vacant rooms. Jesus tells his disciples "you can be assured of your place in Heaven" You are not going to be turned away. There are many rooms.
To get them to believe what he has just said Jesus appeals to them to believe him based upon his truthfulness. "If it were not so I would not have told you"
In the midst of their anxiety and doubt Jesus says "trust in me" "I'm telling you the truth"
None of Jesus' disciples ever said "I think you are lying about this heaven you keep talking about"
They believed Jesus! They had every reason to. In their 3 years with him he had never lied to them. In fact all that he did continually reinforced their faith in him. Jesus gave them reason to believe him and trust in him.
Again we can be referred to the words of John 5. The OT scriptures, Moses, John the Baptist, God the Father, Jesus' works. They all testify to his deity. They all testify to his truthfulness. In fact 29 times in the book of John, Jesus is recorded as beginning a sentence by saying "I tell you the truth". Jesus' disciples responded. In John 6:68-69 Peter says "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God"
There's a few more things that this text teaches us about Heaven which Jesus communicates to us to reassure us and to give us hope and firmness as to its reality
1. In his absence from the earth he is preparing it for us who are his
What does this exactly mean? I'm not sure. When my imagination runs wild I can almost see him with a hammer and tape measure in hand as he looks at a huge blue print called Heaven.
The point here for us to take to the bank is this: Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.
The most important question for you to answer today is "Are you prepared?" Are you going to heaven?
Jesus told his disciples in v.4 that they knew the way there. The task of every believer is to tell people how to get to Heaven. The task of every believer is to tell others how they can have peace with God.
In v.6 Jesus says "I am the way and the truth and the life. NO one comes to the Father except through me"
Pt: only 1 way to Heaven. I Tim. 2:5 says "There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus" Jesus being God reveals God to men and at the same time exposes the sinfulness and neediness of people.
Q Are you prepared to meet God? Are you prepared for judgment Day
Listen to the words of Jonathan Edwards "If you ever truly come to Christ, you must come to him to make you better. You must come as a patient come to his physician, with his diseases and wounds to be cured. Spread all your wickedness before him, and do not plead your goodness; but plead your evilness, and your necessity on that account: and say, as the psalmist in the text, "Pardon my iniquity for it is Great"
2. Jesus is coming back to get us.
Listen to I Thess. 4:15-18 "According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage each other with these words."
Again, more words of comfort. More words to build a person's faith in God and assurance of the reality of Heaven.
Jesus is coming back. The scriptures tell us it will be visibly, in the clouds. The glorious coming of Jesus Christ. Coming to take us who belong to Him to our eternal home.
CONCLUSION
I trust you will walk out of here today assured as to the following truths
-Jesus is God
-One is to have faith in Jesus. We are to trust him (not blind faith, many reasons provided)
-Heaven is a reality of which Jesus did not lie about
-The truthfulness of Jesus. He has not lied to us in any respect. He is completely trustable and trustworthy
-Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people
-The way to heaven is known and clear
-Heaven is more than big enough to hold those who have called on the name of Jesus as Savior and Lord
-Jesus is coming back to get those who remain on the earth and who are his, to take them to heaven
Before I finish this morning I want to address one last thing in respect to the topic of faith.
-some of you may not believe the words of God
-some of you may believe but find your faith to be weak
Ultimately, saving faith is a gift from God. Yet the scriptures also tell us this
Rom. 10:17 "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God"
If don't have faith and want it get into God's word. (I'm speaking to you who are not saved)
To you who are Christians: It shocks me to hear of the number of Christians who don't regularly read God's word. Reading the Daily Bread or some other book is not God's word. You want a strong faith. Immerse yourself in the word of God. You want a weak faith read it sporadically, don't attend Bible studies, don't memorize the word of God, don't meditate upon it
A strong faith also comes through service in God's kingdom. I Tim. 3:13 says "Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus"
Q Why? Because they can see the fruit in their lives for themselves which evidences that they are the children of God. People who don't serve don't show much evidence that they are God's children and hence don't get great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus
So let's together get into God's word and let's serve God together with the gifts he has given us that we may be assured in our faith and all the more assured in the knowledge that Heaven is our home.
