Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. Lord, we worship your holy name. We thank you.
Father, for what you have done for us. Lord, we thank you that. You continue this work of salvation in our lives, this work of sanctification. That Lord, you don't leave us where you found us. You transform us.
And honestly, we wish the process was a little faster at times, but Lord, we thank you that it is a process that you work our entire lives. The Bible tells us, He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. Lord, be. Take confidence and hope in that Lord. We thank you that you continue to work in us, that we're constantly a work in progress.
And Lord, we give you the glory for it. And so, Lord, now as we open up your word. And we look at Jesus' words said over 2,000 years ago, we see the relevance that they have even for us today. And we pray that you would convict and convince us of sin. As we talk about being citizens of heaven, that Lord, you would help us to see that this life, it is temporary.
But being in heaven with you on the new heaven and the new earth, the future that awaits us, that is eternity. And so, Lord, we want to live in anticipation of that fact, that we will be with you forever.
So, Lord, help us as we look at your word to see the things maybe in our lives revealed to us through the power of your Holy Spirit, the things that maybe we're holding on to, the things that we're trying to fit into our lives that maybe don't line up with your word. Lord. Convict us, convince us, bless us, Lord. It is a blessing to hear from you. And so we thank you.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. You guys can have a seat. Welcome to church, everybody.
Good to be with you all. Happy Sunday. You can turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17.
Well, how many of you have ever traveled internationally? You've gone internationally, you've gone to another country, right? Different language, different economy, you know, different currency.
Sometimes the values are different.
Sometimes just the way of life is different.
Well, when you prepare for those trips, the way you prepare for them is different based on where you're going.
Now, I am thankful that I've been able to travel to some pretty cool places in my life and see different ways of life. And I feel like every time I go, it always gives me a perspective. It always helps me see how blessed I really am at home. Because As we go on about our day-to-day lives, and we've got our office politics and maybe classroom dynamics that are taking place, and we just get caught up in our day-to-day lives, and usually that puts us in a place of like, oh, I wish I had this lifestyle. I wish I was married to that girl, I wish I had this car, oh, I wish I could go on this vacation, and you're kind of just in this place of want.
But when you do get to go and travel, And you see there's people that live differently than you do, especially if you go to like a third world country. And you see that people are living in squalor or dirt. Floors and no plumbing or anything like that, it always gives me perspective to be thankful for the things that God has blessed us with, right? Gratitude is really important. And yeah, amen.
You can clap for that. And one thing that I'm always so appreciative of, no matter where I am in the world, there's no place like home, right? There's no place like home. I'm so blessed when I, you know, land, especially if it's at John Wayne, LAX, I can't stand, but John Wayne, I'm always happy to land at John Wayne Airport. And it's like, oh man, it's so good to be home and have my own house and the things that I'm comfortable with and the food that I like to eat.
And you just realize that we live in a country where we're so fortunate. We don't have to worry about being hungry. We don't have to worry about health care. We don't have to worry about supply chain stuff. We can worship openly and freely.
And it always just brings that perspective, but especially because we're so fortunate to live here in Southern California, right? This is really the best place on earth. And so we're really blessed.
Okay.
Now the people watching in Maui are like, actually, Jonathan. We've got you beat in that one. And you may be right. Maui is a pretty great place to go home to, so you're fortunate if you live there. And so, as we talk about just this idea of traveling internationally and having the right perspective.
If you were traveling there, you would prepare in one way. If you were going and moving there, Full time. you're going to prepare a different way, right? You're going to make sure that you know more than just how to say hello and goodbye and where's the bathroom and that language. Like, you're going to try and learn the language.
You're going to learn about the history. You're going to learn about the customs. You know, in some countries, there's things that you just don't do, right? Even the way you greet people is really important. Like, you would never, in some countries, shake somebody's hand with your left hand.
You know, you would never wave with your left hand because, you know, in some cultures, the left hand is. They don't have toilet paper, so the left hand is designated for something.
So, like, you just don't do that. Like, that would be a huge disgrace to go and do that.
So, there's just things you would want to learn about because there's values, there's culture, there's customs in that place that you would be moving to. And you'd also want to pack appropriately. Are you moving to Tahiti?
Okay, well, you probably don't need your North Face gear. You probably want to bring more shorts and bathing suits and hats and sunscreen, right? As opposed if you're moving to Alaska or somewhere that gets really cold, you would want to pack appropriately.
Well, for the Christian... We want to pack appropriately. We want to prepare for our future destination, which is heaven. The Bible tells us that we are called citizens of heaven. And heaven has a culture.
Heaven has a language, it has values, it has a king, and it is every Christian's eternal destination. Philippians 3 tells us. There are many whose conduct shows that they are actually enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their God is their appetite.
They brag about shameful things and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven. Where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly awaiting for Him to return as our Savior. Amen?
And it goes on: He will take our weak and mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. We are citizens of heaven, and we need to live in anticipation of our future home. To live out the culture, to begin to live out the values, to worship, love, and obey the king. And ultimately, to take as many people with us to heaven as we can, right? That's the goal, that's what we're here for.
Hebrews 13, 14 says, For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. That is the city that we are all going to live in someday. Heaven. It's going to be amazing. Unlike anything you've ever seen, it's going to be more beautiful, more incredible than anything you've been able to visit.
Everything else in this world is going to pale in comparison. We have some amazing places we can visit here on planet Earth, super cool countries, and food, and cultures, and just natural sights to see, history. And we're so fortunate to get to experience those. But really, none of these are a lasting city. None of them will last for all of eternity.
Only heaven is going to last, and that is our future home. And so I've titled this message, Packing for Eternity. Just like you and PAC for that trip, whether it's a month long, a year long, or the rest of your life. The way you pack is important.
Well, the same thing is true. While we live life here on earth, what are the things we should pack in anticipation of moving to heaven someday? Because again, Heaven is the destination for every follower of Jesus Christ.
So, my message title is Packing for Eternity, and we're looking at Jesus' words in Luke chapter 17. And we're starting at verse 11. Let's read together.
Now it happened. As he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And then as he entered a certain village, there met him ten men who were lepers, and they stood afar off. And they lift up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And so when Jesus saw them, he said to them, Go show yourselves to the priests.
And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God. And he fell down on his face at Jesus' feet, and he gave him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And so Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed?
But where are the other nine? Were there not any found who returned to give God glory except this foreigner? And he said to him, Arise, go your way, your faith has made you well. Let's pause there. That brings us to point number one.
The first thing that we should pack. Is gratitude. Number one, pack gratitude. That is one of the things that we should take with us to heaven.
Now, I want you to know just where we're at in the timeline of Jesus' ministry here as we've been studying through the Gospel of Luke. What we're seeing here is it says Jesus was going to Jerusalem. This would be Jesus' last time going to Jerusalem. This was the beginning of the end for Jesus' physical, earthly ministry, okay? This trip to Jerusalem was going to result in him being crucified, right?
And so while Jesus was walking towards the cross, He was ministering. He was healing, knowing that the most important miracle, the greatest miracle, was going to be coming very soon. But what a great Portion of scripture, honestly. What a great story. And I don't think there's a whole lot of explaining that I need to do for us to understand what the point is here.
Gratitude matters to Jesus. I think that's the obvious takeaway. Gratitude matters to Jesus. Ten lepers cried out. Only one came back.
Ten lepers cried out. Ten were healed, but only one returned to thank Jesus.
Now today, Leprosy, it might be lost on most of us. I don't think any of us have ever known a leper. They actually call it Hansen's disease today. They kind of sterilize it. Leprosy has certain connotations.
If I had leprosy, I'd for sure want to be called a leper. Like, I don't know. I think that's kind of cool. I don't think I'd want to say I have Hansen's disease. I'd for sure tell people I had leprosy.
But leprosy, it's lost on us today because nobody has leprosy. It's been wiped out. Fortunately, it's a terrible disease, and we're able to treat it with modern medicine like penicillin and other antibiotics. And so that's a great thing. Actually, there was a leper colony over on the island of Molokai, which is one island over from Maui, close to where our church is there in Maui.
And it actually, I think, there were people with leprosy or Hanson's disease up until the 1950s.
So that's how recently it was affecting people. And so we see that leprosy, it was a terrible, terrible disease. Leprosy infected people and it forced them to live away from the rest of society. In leper colonies, they had to quarantine because it was extremely contagious.
Now, leprosy, it would actually damage the nerves. It would damage the nerves, and it would cause a numbing sensation to happen. And so, you no longer felt in your extremities, your fingertips, and even your nose, your lips, your toes. And so, what would happen is you would inadvertently, as you go on about your day, you'd stub your toe and then you'd stub it again and then you'd cut it, and then there'd be an infection. And at times, you wouldn't even realize it.
And your bits of your toes, and your fingers, and even your nose and your lips could fall off. You'd burn yourself, you'd cut yourself, you'd get infections. It was terrible. I actually heard, I read an account about how, in some leper colonies, rats would come in at night and actually nibble away at the pieces of flesh on your toes that were left exposed in your hands, and again, even your face. To catch leprosy actually was not a death sentence.
It wasn't like some versions of cancer, some forms of cancer that are really deadly. It wasn't a death sentence, but it was actually worse because it was living death. It was living death. Again, it would mean that you were completely removed from all contact. From normal society.
That would mean your family and friends.
So you can imagine if you were married and you had a family, you would never again get to be able to sleep in your home with your family again. You would have to live on the outskirts of society. Never again would you be able to embrace your children like you once had been able to. You wouldn't be able to go to your daughter's wedding day. You wouldn't be able to go and see your son graduate from college and attend that.
You would have to watch and maybe, you know, view from like a long way off if you were lucky. But again, you had to be separated from everybody else because you were so contagious.
So you'd be removed from normal community life. Anybody that walked within your vicinity, we see the lepers doing it here. You would have to announce, unclean, unclean, I'm a leper, don't come any closer, right? That would have been a really horrible thing just to have to do all the time. You would slowly watch your body develop deformities, again, as your fingertips and parts of your face began to fall off and deteriorate.
And you would have to endure shame. And hopelessness with this incurable disease for the rest of your life. It was worse than death. It was living death. And so these ten lepers, they weren't just healed of any disease.
They were healed of maybe the worst disease that they ever could have contracted. But notice again how all ten were healed, but only one returned to Jesus to thank him. And it says that as that one leper went, he was commanded by Jesus to go show themselves to the priest, which was the custom. Actually, the command at the time: if they were healed from leprosy, they would have to go to the priest and show that they were clean, and then they would be allowed to reintegrate into society.
So Jesus told them, go and see the priest. And it says that as he went, obeying Jesus' command to go show himself, as he went, he saw that he was healed and he turned back, praising God with a loud voice, just like we were a few moments ago, singing together. His deepest need was just met by the Lord. His most longed-for request has just been answered. Has God ever done that for you?
You had a great need in your life. And it was your deepest need and deepest desire. And God reached down and touched your heart, and He answered that request. Isn't that amazing when He does that for us? I know He's done that for me.
He's blessed me, He's forgiven me, He's delivered me, He's restored my life, and He's done that for all of us. He's met our deepest and most important requests And it's great that he does that, and he does that for all of us. He came back praising the Lord with a loud voice. But honestly, I feel like a lot of us. are like those other nine lepers a lot of the time.
We ask God for something. We have this great request, this really important thing. God, do this for me. God, do that for me. And then he answers the request.
Sometimes you'll do it through a doctor.
Sometimes you'll do it through some other means, very tangible. It's not like a magic trick where the money appears in your bank account mysteriously, but he gives you the opportunity to get that side job, and you're able to make those ends meet. And we forget to come back and thank the Lord for it, don't we? How often do we pray and ask God for something, and then we don't come back and say thank you and show gratitude? Gratitude is so important.
As a parent, especially when my kids were little, I loved to give them gifts and do nice little things for them and buy them a toy and go to the toy store and take them somewhere. I don't think toy stores even exist anymore, actually.
Now it's like, hey, I was buying a 12-pack of toilet paper and I thought of you and I bought this toy on Amazon, and so here you go. But I love it when the kids would show gratitude. Thank you, Dad. Oh, thank you so much. Even if you take them to dinner or take them on a trip, it's important to show gratitude.
Young people, you should write this down. Gratitude. Can go a long way because I'll tell you what. I remember one time in particular, my son, when he was little, I bought him some small, little thing. And he came to me like two days later, and he said, Dad.
You know, he was probably like five. He was like, Dad. You're a good dad. You bought me that toy and you didn't have to do that. And I love you and you're a good dad.
Baby, don't play with my heart. Like, whatever you want, man. Yeah, you want that monster truck? Like I'll buy it for you like no problem It's amazing how much we can get with just a few kind words, right?
Well, gratitude matters to us as parents and grandparents and just people in general, right? It's nice when someone says thank you and you hold the door open for them. But gratitude matters to God. In the same way, when He answers our prayers, we need to come back and say, Thank you, Lord, for what you did. Thank you, Lord, for healing me from that cancer.
Thank you, Lord, for bringing my grandson into a relationship with you. Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord, for not allowing me to marry Becky Cornwall from high school like I asked you to, because I saw her recently, and God, time has not been kind to her. Right? Don't worry, Becky Cornwall's not a real person.
But as the theologian Garth Brooks said, hey, thank God for unanswered prayers, right? That is very true. It is very true. Thank you, God, for unanswered prayers. Gratitude is an important value in heaven.
It isn't just good manners, though, either. It's not just good manners. Oh, saying please and thank you. That's nice. But it's not just good manners.
Showing gratitude to God actually aligns your heart with the giver of the gift rather than just the gift. When you show gratitude to God, you're saying thank you to the one who has the means, and it further aligns your heart with His rather than just focusing on the gift.
So often we want God to be our genie in a bottle. God, give me this, give me that. I need this thing taken care of. Take care of it for me. When you show gratitude to God, you're saying, I want more than the gift.
I want your heart. I want your heart. I want to be like you. I want to show generosity. I want to show forgiveness.
I want to show love. I want to show the attributes that you have shown to me. That's what happens when you show gratitude. To God. We need to make sure we say thank you to the Lord for what He has done for us.
1 Thessalonians 5. Tells us this. Paul says, Always be joyful.
Some of you should write that down. Always be joyful. You think it's never be joyful. You confuse these two. Never be joyful.
Always stop praying. No.
Okay, so it says, always be joyful, never stop praying. Verse 18, be thankful in all circumstances. For this is God's will for you who belong to Jesus Christ. I love that. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Jesus Christ.
And um You know, a lot of us, a lot of people, they want to know what God's will is for their lives. They want to know who they should marry, what kind of car they should drive, what should I even eat for lunch, should I move out of state for this job? What should I do, God? Very important questions. And it's a great question to ask: what is God's will for my life?
That's why we should take special note whenever we come across scriptures, and there's a number of them, that say this phrase specifically. For this is God's will for you who belong to Jesus Christ. That means this should be like on lock. Like, you should be really paying attention to this. Be thankful in all circumstances.
And that can be hard, and we'll get into that in a moment. But actually, showing gratitude, being thankful. The secular world, the non-believing world, has actually picked up on the positive benefits of having gratitude. There's articles written all the time saying, Hey, here's the amazing effects that it has on your body when you have a diary of gratitude or a gratitude journal. This is an amazing thing, right?
It's saying that when people are thankful in their lives, that actually affects them physically. Yes, gratitude is good for your weight, studies have found.
So move over to GLP1, right? Gratitude is good for your weight, it's good for your cortisol levels, it's good for your attitude, it's good for your skin. It's good for your sleep, and yes, they've even found it's good for your dog. Yes, it is good for your dog to have gratitude. An academic study actually found that dogs who have owners with higher levels of stress and cortisol in their bodies have synchronized long-term stress levels.
That means if you're a jerk, your dog's going to be a jerk too. I didn't need to study an academic review of that. I probably could have just told you that. But be thankful in all circumstances, for this is the will of God, and this is also the will of your dog. which for some of you might actually carry more weight, and that's not good.
You know, it's easy to be grateful when times are good, when things are going okay. It's easy to pray also when you're desperate, like those lepers. But we are told to be thankful. And all circumstances. Yes.
Even when Jesus doesn't answer that request, that thing that you're longing for, you know, like these lepers, how long do they pray and ask God and call out? You know, we don't know for sure. But we too are called to be thankful even when God doesn't answer our prayers, even when he doesn't meet that need. The Apostle Paul asked the Lord three times to remove this thorn in the flesh. We don't know what it was exactly, but to remove this thorn in the flesh.
And each time the Lord responded to him and said, My grace is sufficient for you. My power, my strength, is made perfect in weakness. And that caused the Apostle Paul to depend on the Lord even more. And that's the lesson that we should all learn as well. is that in our weakness, in that struggle, we should still depend on the Lord.
So yes, be thankful in all circumstances, not because God isn't answering our request. Oh, great. Yeah, thanks, Lord. I have to live with this disease. I have to live with this physical ailment for the rest of my life.
Oh, thanks so much for that. No, no. But what we can be thankful for. What we can be thankful for is what I mentioned earlier What Jesus was heading towards. You remember what Jesus was doing as he headed towards Jerusalem?
It was the last time he was going to be crucified on a cross. That was the greatest miracle of all. The greatest miracle is what Jesus did on the cross. And you could say that all miracles we read about in the Bible. Are created by God to point to the greatest miracle, which is what Jesus did on the cross for us.
2 Corinthians 5:20 says, So we are Christ's ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead. Come back to God. Verse 21: For God made Christ, who never sinned.
To be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through Christ. That right there, ladies and gentlemen. The greatest miracle in all of the Bible. Let me summarize it for you. He made him who knew no sin.
To be sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in Him. When God looks at you, He sees you with the righteousness of Christ. He doesn't see you with your imperfections. He doesn't see you with your struggles. He doesn't see you with your afflictions of sin and the stuff that you did in the past.
No, he sees you with the righteousness of Christ. And that identity is enough to make you a new creation, to allow you and to cause you to do things you never would have been able to on your own. That is the greatest miracle of all.
So you can be thankful for that. Because that is true for every follower of Jesus Christ. And as we are citizens of another kingdom, we are called to be. Ambassadors. What a perfect picture of our role.
Again, but the greatest miracle is what Jesus has done for us.
Now, these lepers, they were healed. All ten of them. Amazing. All ten of them were healed. But what happened to those lepers?
They died. They died. They're not running around today, right? Still proclaiming Jesus healed me from leprosy and I'm still alive today. Super wild, but no, they didn't do that.
I mean, they're speaking to us through the pages of scripture. But they all had to die, and they all had to face judgment. And that is what matters most: what happens when they stood before God. Only one of them returned back to Jesus to say thank you. These lepers were all healed.
But only one came back, a Samaritan. And we are told that his faith made him well. And Jesus commends him in verse 19. The original language actually offers some insight here that distinguishes this one leper. Jesus says to him, Your faith has made you well.
You know, where are the other nine? You know, and only a foreigner returns, you know, go your way, your faith has made you well. The word used that we translate our phrase, your faith has made you well, is the Greek word sozo. And it's used throughout the New Testament in a number of places, and it's exclusively used. To mean something a little bit differently than a physical healing.
It is a term used exclusively to refer to being saved from your sin.
So, this leper wasn't just healed of leprosy, he was healed of his sin, a second miracle of salvation from sin. All the lepers had faith in Jesus to heal. They even called him master, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. Only one had a faith that resulted in trust. In gratitude, in humility, love, praise, and worship.
And so I want to ask you today, what kind of faith do you have? What kind of faith do you have? Do you have a faith that results in gratitude? You know, some might say, well, you know. God is, you know, He's forgiven me of some stuff, you know, but I don't know.
My life was actually okay. It wasn't that big of a deal. You know, the Bible does say, He who has been forgiven much loves much, right? As we read about the woman who was washing Jesus' feet with the ointment. Oh, yeah, you know, he has been forgiven much loves much.
The fact is, All of us have been forgiven much. All of us have been forgiven much. Whether you were born and raised in the church and you never really walked away from the Lord in your life, you too have been forgiven much. You don't have to have some radical story where you're shooting heroin into your eyeball, addicted on the streets, you know, and your life is over and it's just crazy. God does this crazy miracle.
No, all of us have been forgiven much because one sin is enough to keep us out of heaven. One sin is enough to completely separate us from God for all of eternity.
So all of us have been forgiven much, and all of us should have faith that results in gratitude for what Jesus has done for us. Amen? Amen. All right. Let's continue in verse 20 now to the second part.
Oh, uh Luke 17. When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered, and he said to them: The kingdom of God does not come with observation. Nor will they say, See here, or see there, for indeed the kingdom of God is within you.
Now skip down to verse 31. In that day. He who is on the housetop And his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife.
Verse thirty-three. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Therefore, I tell you, in that night, There will be two men in one bed, and the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together, the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field, the one will be taken and the other left.
And they answered and said to him, Where, Lord? And so Jesus said to them, Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
So that brings us to number two.
So the first point was what we should bring, right? We should bring gratitude with us, along with some other things. We'll talk about that in the future, other spiritual traits that we should have.
So bring gratitude, but the other thing, number two, is how we should bring things, what we should bring, and it's pack light. Number two, pack light. How many of you are overpackers? You're chronic overpackers. Yeah.
I try, whenever I travel, um. To just go with a carry-on, carry-on, just a little wheelie cart.
Now, I figured out what the largest carry-on I can take is, and so, of course, I got that carry-on. And I also have a gigantic backpack that is inappropriate, and I just pack it full of stuff.
So, I still overpack, even with my carry-ons, I don't do very well. It's a challenge for me, it's a challenge. I just hate when you get to the airport and you have to wait a baggage claim for everything, and then they lose your bag sometimes, and that's the worst ever because that can completely ruin your trip. But it is inevitable that you overpack. Usually, you know, it's like you get there and you're like, why did I think I needed 12 pairs of socks for a four-day trip?
Like, what did I think was going to be happening? I was just going to be sweating through my socks the entire time. Like, what is the thought process here? It's inevitable that you bring too much stuff, maybe too many jackets or too many pairs of pants, whatever it might be.
Well we have an idea here. about what necessities to bring to heaven. But Jesus tells us that we need to pack light, that we need to pack light. Spiritually, we need to pack light. in this life.
We pick up all kinds of baggage, all kinds of spiritual baggage and beliefs and different things that we carry with us through life about what heaven is going to be like, about even sometimes what God is like, what Jesus is like, how we get things. You know, oh, it's through performance. And no, no. It is so important that we understand the character of God, the king, and ultimately that we understand the values of heaven. And so Jesus here is making some really important distinctions about the kingdom of God.
He says, it does not come with observation.
Now the Pharisees that he was talking to They had a very specific idea of what the Messiah was going to be like. They were expecting a physical kingdom. But of course, Jesus came for a different purpose, didn't he? There will come a time when Jesus establishes his future kingdom on earth, and that will come at the second coming. But the Pharisees had all kinds of misconceptions about really, well, everything.
Like they had misconceptions about everything. And their constant seeking after signs around the Messiah were misguided.
Now, how do we know that the Pharisees were misguided and that they were so wrong?
Well, for starters, they killed Jesus.
So that's a good place to start. They were misguided there. They persecuted his followers. They killed some of his disciples. And so, yeah, good place to start there.
They were definitely wrong about a lot of the things that they expected from the Messiah. These were religious professionals. They were students of scripture. There were men who dedicated their entire lives to studying the Old Testament and the prophecies and looking for the signs of the Messiah. And yet, When the king himself, when the Messiah himself was standing right in front of him, here they were questioning him about the coming kingdom.
They completely missed it. They were so busy looking for the event on the horizon that they missed it standing right in front of them, having a conversation again. The Pharisees were expecting a political messiah. At the time, they were occupied by Rome, the reigning superpower, and they just wanted to get the Romans out of Israel. And they wanted to return to the days of King David, right?
And they wanted to get back to the time when the Lord was their God. It's great hope for them to have that, but ultimately, it paled in comparison to what the real Messiah, Jesus, was coming to accomplish. He didn't come to set the Jews free from the Romans, He came to set mankind free from sin, a much greater purpose. And so the Jews looked for the Messiah and they completely missed him. The Pharisees failed to understand.
because they were spiritually blind. The Pharisees failed to see because they were spiritually blind. Jesus said to Nicodemus, one of the ruling Pharisees in John 3, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
So again The Pharisees were so loaded down with their baggage, this spiritual baggage, of their own expectations, their own theology, their own beliefs of what the Messiah should look like that they failed to welcome the king. himself. They missed Jesus' first coming. But Jesus goes on to tell his disciples and us how to not miss his second coming. And he lines some of these things out.
And he gives some interesting instructions. He says: if you're on the rooftop when that day comes, don't go inside to get your stuff. If you're in the field, don't go back to the house. The point that Jesus is driving at here is: what are you willing to leave behind? Jesus is asking, What is so important to you that you would hesitate in that moment?
If the Lord was returning, what would you run back for? Your stuff, your phone, your savings account, your social media followers, your reputation, your comfort. What is it? This has a way of revealing to us the things that potentially own us spiritually. You know, my wife and I have talked in the past about how if there was ever a fire, Uh, what would we do?
What would we go for?
Well, of course, our family is the most important thing, but assuming that they're safe, what would be the things that we go after? I'd go grab all my lizards, right? And make sure I have all those. But there's some things that my wife said that she would go after, and I told her, you know, I think the things that I would grab was probably my hard drives because that's where I store all of our photos of our kids, you know, years of photos. I like doing camera stuff and taking pictures, and so all of our stuff is on there.
I couldn't pay enough money to have the cloud storage that I would need to upload the raw files.
So they're all on hard drive. That's probably what I'd go for, right? But that question has a way of showing us what really matters to us. And Jesus, again, he's doing the same thing here. What would you be willing to go back for?
That you wouldn't want to enter into heaven without.
So that's an important question. And then Jesus hits us with this banger in verse 32. He says three words: remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife. Now, if you know the Bible, you know that those three words resonate.
That carries some weight for sure. If you don't know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, I would encourage you to read about it in the book of Genesis. Basically, God was judging this super wicked, sexually perverse kingdom of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his wife and his family all lived there, and God was going to judge it. And so they were trying to get Lot and his family out, and they were kind of refusing to leave.
Finally, some angels showed up and literally let. Led Lot's family out of Sodom and Gomorrah by the hand, bringing them along. They didn't want to leave. Lot's wife made it out. She made it safe from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the fire and brimstone coming down.
But what happened was she looked back. She looked back at the kingdom of Sodom and Gomorrah because that's where her heart was. And the Lord actually specifically instructed them: don't look back. Don't look back on that destruction. And what did she do?
She looked back. And what happened to her? She turned into a pillar of salt. Wild story. That's definitely one of those scenes that when I get to heaven, I'm gonna be like, all right, all right.
So, number one. You know, Jesus rising from the dead. Number two, the parting of the red sea. Number three, like this seed turning into salt. Like, that's wild.
What is that actually?
Okay, is this like, you know, is there interpretation here or is it literal? Like, I want to know. She turned into a pillar of salt. The point that Jesus is driving to us, he is saying to remember her because we are not going to necessarily dramatically renounce our faith and run back into the world, right? We're not going to be saved and have this life and be where we're at today and just run back full-fledged, make a 180 and run back into our old sinful lifestyles or turn away from God.
What's going to happen is. We're going to look back. We're going to look back, and that could be enough for some of us to completely stumble and fall back into old sinful patterns. It could be enough just to look back, just to reminisce. Just to drive down that old street.
Just to type in that old whatever person's phone number in your phone. I just want to punch the digits again, you know. It could be just enough to just type the website in. Oh, I'm not going to hit enter. That's enough.
Listen, it's been said you can't stop a bird from flying over your head. But you can stop it from building a nest in your hair. And that's a great picture of what temptation is. You can't stop a temptation, a thought, a tempting thought to enter your mind. But you can stop from taking it to the second, third, and fourth place.
The fact is, even when we're in church, a tempting thought will come out of nowhere.
Some impure thought. You're like, what the heck? I'm in the middle of church. Where did that come from? I am so sick.
Can anybody see this right now? Hopefully, that's not just me, right? Where did that come from? And it's important that in those moments, we rebuke those thoughts. Get behind me, Satan.
I'm worshiping the king right now. It's important to rebuke those things.
So, you can't stop those thoughts from entering your mind, but what you can do is you can stop from dwelling on that tempting thought. You can stop yourself from taking it to the second place. Oh, and then what would I do? Oh, and then, oh, and then where would I go after that? And next thing you know, you've got plans.
And the next thing you know, you're executing on those plans. You can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from building a nest in your hair. That's temptation. Don't look back. Remember Lot's wife.
And now we'll wrap with Jesus' words in verse 33. I think he summarizes this whole point, this whole section, really well in verse 33. He says, Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life We'll preserve it. Jesus is saying, You cannot hold on to your old life and your new life simultaneously.
You have to decide which one you are actually living for. The person who packs heavy. And loads up on comfort in this life and possessions and the things of earth, you'll find that they're weighing you down, and you can even be kept from entering into your true home of heaven, because you're so weighed down by these things. But the person who packs light. Who holds this life loosely and practiced gratitude for the blessings in their life and lived as citizens of heaven, that person arrives with everything that actually matters.
I heard the story about a rich man who was determined to take some of his money with him to heaven. And over the course of his life, he just begged the Lord, God, let me just bring some of my stuff with me. I've got so much cool stuff. I want to take it with me to heaven. And for years in this guy's life, he's just petitioning the Lord, going back and forth with God.
And finally, God relents and says, Okay, you can bring one suitcase with you. True story. And. Years passed. And the guy decided what he was going to put in that suitcase, and he finally died, suitcase in hand.
And he arrives at the pearly gates of heaven, and there's the Apostle Peter to meet him. And he says, Hey, we heard about you up here in heaven.
Some negotiating skills. You got to teach me some of that, right? And he says, So? What's in the case? What'd you bring?
And he opens it up and it's full of 24-karat gold. Is it 24-karat gold? Is that the most pure? Or is it 14-karat? Thank you.
24 a carrot. 24 karat gold, the most pure that you can get, right? Opens up and he goes. Bro, why'd you bring asphalt with you? You know, it's a silly It's a silly picture.
It's all right. I don't know if you're laughing at me or with me. But it's a silly picture, but it really is so true. The Bible actually does tell us that the streets are paved with gold in heaven. And so, what that tells us is the most valuable things in this life.
Are going to be stepped on in the next. The most valuable thing is that you can own in this life are going to be stepped on in the next. The most amazing experiences that you can have in this life are going to pale in comparison to the next.
Now, let me be very clear. I am in no way saying that we should not Pursue academic excellence, that we should not pursue financial excellence and prosperity. Absolutely, you should. Absolutely, you should work hard, you should make a good living, and you should try and better yourself and leave an inheritance to your children. Amen.
God bless you. You should absolutely go on beautiful trips that allow you to enjoy the creation and see beautiful things without question. But don't get caught up thinking that's what this life is all about. It's not all about you, it's all about the king. And we are called again to be ambassadors of heaven.
If you are rich in faith, it will be evident. It's been said You know That if you're too heavenly-minded, then you're no earthly good. Oh, you're just thinking about heaven all the time, and like you're just spiritual, but like, I don't know, you're kind of weird, and whatever else.
Okay, that may be true for some people. But I would actually say, in reality, it's the opposite. Those that are the most heavenly-minded do the most. Worldly good. Those that are the most heavenly-minded do the most worldly good.
Did you know that it was the church that created the hospital? It was the church that created the orphanage. It was the church that created the first universities of Oxford, Yale, Cambridge, and Harvard. And they've deviated quite a bit, haven't they? It was the church that looked at the unwanted Roman babies left to die on a hillside and went out and got them and adopted them and made them their own and raised them and fed them and nourished them and led them to the Lord.
Did you know that? Did you know that it was the church that drove the abolition of slavery with Wilberforce in England and the abolitionists in America? It was the church that fed the hungry, that clothed the poor, that visited the prisoner, and sat with the dying when nobody else would. The most heavenly-minded people in history actually do the most earthly good every time.
So pack light. Pack light. Show me a thriving, healthy society, and I'll show you a church that was at the center of it every time. Every time. And so we started the sermon today talking about packing for a trip, what kind of things we should take, you know, and as we talk about heaven, what kind of things we should bring with us.
Well, we see gratitude is an important thing to God. We should have gratitude. It aligns our hearts with God and so forth. We also talked about being a citizen of that nation, how we want to model the traits of the king and of the kingdom and so forth. And then, of course, packing light, not carrying around a bunch of earthly values that are weighing you down, that are worth nothing in heaven.
Pack light. But if you're ever traveling somewhere, you need to make sure you have a ticket, right? You want to make sure you have a ticket. And in this case, the ticket to heaven There's nothing you have, no suitcases full of gold that's going to pay for your ticket to get there. You could never earn it.
You can never get to heaven on your own. In fact, your sin has marked you so that you'll never be able to get to heaven. You are going to be eternally separated from God because of what you did. One sin is enough to keep you out of heaven. And all of us here have committed many, many thousands, maybe millions of sins even.
But that's the good news. Jesus came for that very purpose. He came to pay for your ticket to heaven, so to speak. He came and paid a price that you could not pay. It's been said that He paid a debt He did not owe because you owed a debt you could not pay.
That's what Jesus came for. He came to die on the cross for your sin. His eyes were fixed on the cross the entire time he had his ministry. And that is why Jesus came for us, to give you that hope today. And so I wanna encourage you: if you have not yet made that decision, if you don't have the hope of heaven, What's holding you back?
What's holding you back? You know, as we think of Lot's wife, She almost made it out, didn't she? She was delivered from Sodom and Gomorrah. But she ultimately didn't make it out. She died on the way there.
She turned into a pillar of Saul. And as we think about those ten lepers. Only one was truly saved. All ten of them were healed. They were delivered from that disease, that temporary disease of leprosy.
But only one we read about was delivered from the greatest disease of all, which was sin. Don't be like Lot's wife and almost make it out. You know enough about God, you know about Jesus, you know some Bible verses, you maybe even know the gospel, that's not enough. It's not enough to even say, like the lepers, Jesus, Master, you need to have a faith that results in spiritual fruit. How do you have that?
Well, first, it starts with calling out on His name, recognizing you're a sinner, believing Jesus is the Savior. Would you like to do that today? You can have that hope. You can have the hope of heaven. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your love for us. We thank you for your principles that we read in Scripture, Lord, 2,000 years later, and we're still learning. I'm still learning. And we thank you that your life is excuse me, that your word is alive and active and true.
And that it still speaks to our hearts. We thank you for your Holy Spirit. God, you are a father that gives good gifts to his children. Every good and perfect gift comes from above.
So, Lord, we thank you for that. Help us, Lord, to be citizens of heaven. Help us to be ambassadors. Help us to bring people with us, God. Convict us, convince us of this fact.
It's not all about us. Lord, it's all about you. Even in our marriages, in our professions, in our parenting, in our careers, whatever it might be. Even our hobbies, Lord. Yeah, even that.
We can put you first. We can glorify you through them. Help us, Lord, to accomplish that. Give us wisdom through your Holy Spirit. While our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, and we're praying together, there may be some.
who have not yet put their faith in Jesus Christ. If you would like to have that hope, if you would like to go to heaven when you die. Pray this out loud after me. This is you talking to God. Your Father in heaven who loves you.
Pray this now, say this: Dear God. I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that Jesus is the Saviour. who died on the cross for my sin. And I turn from my sin.
From this moment forward. Help me to walk with you. and to be like Jesus. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. It's in Jesus' name I pray.
Amen. Amen. God bless you that prayed just now. Congratulations. God bless you.
Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Mm.
