Are You Looking Forward? - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. I realized that in heaven there is no sorrow, no tears, no guilt. I'm not going to feel guilty forever. The judgment seat of Christ is not designed to make you and I feel guilty. A few weeks ago I said, look, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. This isn't like, oh, I didn't do what, you should have done this. That is not what this is about. This is to offer you reward.

He said, I will make a distinction. Some of the great things you did for me are wood, hay, and straw. Those things don't enter heaven. They're destroyed.

Others are gold, silver, precious stone. I will honor those. You can be rewarded. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Now, church history is always sort of painted, what happens when you die? And a lot of it of what they based, I think, is all based on a story that Jesus told about Lazarus. Remember he told the story a poor man named Lazarus was in Abraham's bosom and there was a rich man in Luke.

And he said the rich man said, oh, could you go back and tell my brothers and all that. And it says in Luke in that passage, now the poor man died and was carried away by angels into Abraham's bosom. Now, that's OK.

I won't complain about that. But I don't think that's the truth. I don't think angels when you die are going to carry you to Abraham's bosom. In fact, Abraham's bosom was in paradise. Paradise doesn't exist anymore. Jesus ascended.

It is in heaven right now. And so consequently, it's not that angels are carrying me away. It's something much, much better than that. Turn with me to John Chapter 14, Gospel of John Chapter 14.

And the context here is wonderful. It's death. This is the night before Jesus dies. Guess how his disciples fell?

Horrible, awful. And they're full of fear. You see, and Jesus wants to address it with them. So he says, do not let your heart be troubled. Apparently it is. He said, do not let your heart be troubled.

What's the solution? Believe in God. Believe also in me. If you believe me, then you believe what I'm telling you. Let me tell you what I'm going to tell you and ask yourself, do I believe it? In my Father's house are many dwelling places, OK? There are many dwelling places in God's house, in heaven. If it were not so, I would have told you. Then this phrase, I go and prepare a place for you. Interesting, you there is singular, not plural, not y'all, you.

I've told you in the past how overwhelming that is to me. That right now in heaven, there's a dwelling place there. We'll put a door on it. I don't know if we need doors in heaven. But you know what it says on the door?

Bill 1L. It's mine. It's my place. You know who made it for me? My Lord. He did the same thing for you. He said, I'll go and prepare that place for you. Wow.

It's not a generic thing. Always just a nice place. No, there's a place for you. There's a place for me. He said, I will go and I'll prepare a place for you. Then he said, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may be also.

Wow. So what do I believe? The moment I leave this life and walk into the next, the Lord receives me. And I believe he receives you. I'm not dealing with middlemen. I'm dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome. Imagine how overwhelming that would be. I mean, just absolutely overwhelming.

And by the way, not in all cases, but I can tell you something. I've experienced a lot as a pastor. I've experienced a lot as a pastor of people, believers I know who have died and their family describing to me what happened in the last minutes before they died.

I just had one not long ago and it was the same thing. All of a sudden there was a change and the breathing changed. And there was just like a look, eyes open and a look. And there was a peace and I couldn't explain it.

Well, I think I could. You see, it's not like I die and I'm in the dark and I think, oh, now what happens? I believe as I'm dying in the dying grace of God, Jesus says, come home. Do you know how reassuring that should be to us? I don't have to fear that.

That's reassuring. Jesus says, look, I'll receive you to myself. That's an amazing thing when you think about it from that point of view. Secondly, let's go to Luke 6.

Luke 6, 22. Not only do we get a reassuring welcome when you get there, but I want you to understand something for all of us. You're going to be richly rewarded.

Isn't that neat? Not rewarded by each other, not some little club that put a ban. You're going to be rewarded by God himself, by Jesus Christ. He's going to reward you and those rewards will last you forever.

It's an amazing thing when you think about it. You will be rewarded by the Lord. Now, heaven's a great reward in and of itself. But watch what Luke writes in verse 22.

He said, blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you and insult you and scorn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man, for my sake. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. There's a reward. Verse 35, but love your enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High. When you start studying this on your own, rewards are all through the New Testament.

You see them everywhere. Paul wrote this, whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you'll receive the reward of an inheritance. In 1 Corinthians 9, he said, look, if you're going to run your race, now, he said, run in such a way that you'll receive the imperishable crown of your reward.

There's a crown of rejoicing, a crown of righteousness, a crown of life. In fact, in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul wrote this, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Every one of us will. Every believer will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And for some believers, that terrifies you. Oh, boy, this is going to be rough. I've even heard preachers tell people that.

I'm ashamed they would. The judgment seat of Christ. Look, we all know ourselves, and God knows us better than we do.

So you think this is going to be really bad. I've heard a preacher say this, you know, I'll stand before the judgment seat. He'll tell me what a crappy life I lived.

And then I'll just walk away. And all the other guys, look at that guy, look what he... Don't you realize that in heaven there is no sorrow, no tears, no guilt? I'm not going to feel guilty forever. The judgment seat of Christ is not designed to make you and I feel guilty. A few weeks ago I said, look, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. This isn't like, oh, I didn't do what... You should have done this. That is not what this is about. This is to offer you reward.

He said, I will make a distinction. Some of the great things you did for me are wood, hay, and straw. Those things don't enter heaven. They're destroyed.

Others are gold, silver, precious stone. I will honor those. You can be rewarded, richly rewarded. And think who rewards you.

God incarnate rewards you. How long does he appreciate what you've done? Forever. Forever.

It's not going to be a trophy on a shelf. It's going to be affirming word from the Lord Jesus Christ that does this for all of us. It's an amazing and wonderful thing. Thirdly, go with me to Philippians chapter 3. In verse 20. I got a reassuring welcome from my Lord and Savior. You're going to be richly rewarded.

And so are you. Thirdly, verse 20 of chapter 3. Paul reminds him and says, for our citizenship is in heaven. From which also we eagerly wait for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.

There it is again. I'm not waiting for the Lord. I'm eagerly waiting. See, I don't know if we feel that way or not. You eagerly await to be in the presence of the Lord? Now, I know you all want to go to heaven, but none of you want to go tonight. You see, I mean, think about it.

Be honest. But Paul wanted to go tonight. He believed these things so firmly. He said, look, you give me a choice of staying here or being in his presence. I want to be in his presence. Why wouldn't we think that way?

How wonderful was that? You see, it's not just a sidebar. I don't get to be judged and I don't have to go to eternal punishment. That's not it. I go into the presence of God.

It's interesting. He goes on and says this then. Who will transform the body of your humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself?

Did you see that? Transform our body of this humble state into conformity with the body of his glory. This is being conformed into perfection.

And so are you. Conformed into absolute perfection. The glory of his body. Do you think how wonderful that would be? Just imagine what that's like. It's not like, well, that's just a better version of me. Hey, Bill, you lost like 10 pounds since you got here. You know, it's not like that. This is complete perfection.

All by his grace and his power. In that way, my body's going to be just like his. So is yours. Golly.

No, there's maybe a sidebar for you. If any of you are considering some more cosmetic surgery, you might want to just wait on that. Because it can only do so much. But what's going to happen with the Lord is going to be phenomenal. It's going to be wonderful.

It's going to be forever. You see, he says, I'm going to take that humble body of yours and I'm going to turn it into one just like mine. I thought, wow, that is such a tremendously wonderful thing. 1 Corinthians 15, in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, we will all be changed. In the twinkling of an eye, instantly changed.

Wow. We have a reassuring welcome, rich rewards, a resurrected body. And go to the end of the Bible with me, Revelation 22. Revelation 22, the last book of the Bible. Verse 3.

Guess what's happened by now? New heaven, new earth. The great white throne judgment's over. Everything is over now. Now there's just the eternal state. And here's what John writes. Verse 3, there will no longer be any curse.

None. And the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it. Okay. And then this phrase. And his bondservants, that's us, will serve him. Wow. A renewed assignment for all of us. You know, we have such wacky views of heaven, don't we?

Oh my goodness, some of the worst. You know what heaven can be for you? An eternal crawfish boil. It's going to be so wonderful there.

Really. That's what you came up with. You thought about it and you thought that's what heaven will be like. I mean, the limits of what heaven's going to be like is simply this. What is the imagination and power of God? You think you have an imagination. What do you think God's imagination is?

And his power to make everything he imagines come true. It's an amazing thing. And we will serve him. You see, we get a renewed assignment.

It's not that place where, you know, I remember when I was real young, I kept thinking, who in the world would ever want to go there if it's an eternal worship service? I mean, really. Some of you are thinking, how long now? You know, an hour.

I can give it an hour. You know, but much over that, I'm kind of worn out. Now, there is tremendous worship there. I don't deny that. But there's tremendous service there. It's such an incredible place. It's beyond our imagination. I remember Dwight Pentecost many years ago, I think you read in the book or heard in his class, and he said, if God actually told us what we would experience in heaven forever, he said, I'm afraid that most believers would jump off of buildings. You know, there's probably some truth to that. It's so wholly other.

It's so far beyond what you could ever even imagine how wonderful it's going to be. Bill Bright was the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. And Bill Bright died of pulmonary fibrosis in 2003.

And my father died of pulmonary fibrosis just a year or two before he did. And so he wrote this before he died. He said, no reunion in history can even foreshadow what joy we will experience when we see Christ face to face. He said, brought together in the all surrounding presence of the Lord, our faces will beam. What full throated, glad hearted welcomes. He said, these bloodwashed sinners that we have the love we have for him and for each other.

How we will adore our Lord Jesus together forever. That's what he's anticipating. And he's right. He's right. That's what we're all anticipating.

We can't wait for this. You see, the whole idea that it's simply, you know, it's just going to be an extended forever worship service. And, you know, it's just little angels playing harps on clock.

That's nonsense. There's nothing remotely like that in the word of God. This is God's plan for us forever. There are no bad days. You'll never have one tear forever. I mean, just imagine how good this is going to be.

And then the last one I want to say occurs in the next verse. And they will see. His face. And his name will be on their foreheads.

Wow. The son of God, the creator of all things, the sovereign God himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate. And we won't see him from a distance.

Oh, I heard he lives way up on that mountain. You see him face to face. And you look and say, I don't deserve any of this. And he will say, you have it all because I love you.

I did the work for you. How would that make you feel? I mean, eternally grateful. You realize, see, this is the reason you were born. This is the purpose of your life.

This is the fruition of all this. I am going to be welcomed into heaven by the Lord. I am going to get rich rewards from the Lord. I am going to get the Lord's resurrected glorified body. I am going to get a renewed assignment of how the Lord wants me to serve him. And I am going to see the risen Savior face to face. Wow.

Just imagine if you own those true statements I made as your convictions. This is what you believe. I really believe this. You see, the best is yet to come.

It's so much better. Life can be good here. And we have good circumstances and moments of times. But they can't even compare in any way with what the future is for all of us. And it's a forever future. And it's all because of the grace and love of God for us.

I mean, that should affect us. You see, that's why I want to live holy and godly. That's why I want to externally and internally walk with the Lord. Because I now realize just how wonderful that position is.

Not just to have a better life now, but to let him know how appreciative I am of what he did for me. Are you looking forward, as Peter said, to this? Or have you not really thought about it? You're too busy with life.

I'll tell you the best example I can give of how you should live your life. How does an eight-year-old little boy, how does he look forward to Christmas morning? If you've ever had him, you know what I'm talking about. 4.30. Dad, the time hit. Get up yet. They can't sleep, right?

What is that? That's anticipation. I just can't wait for Christmas morning. And they start talking about, what, two weeks before? How much longer? Thirteen days. Nine days.

Seven days. I look forward. That should be us. You see, that should be us.

We're full of this eager idea of how wonderful God has provided for us for the future. Now, without Christ, what I said in the beginning of the mockers, He's not coming. He's not coming. Things are going to be the way they've always been.

I beg you to reconsider. There's something coming in your future, and if you don't have Jesus Christ, it's worse than anything mankind can ever imagine. You're going to stand before the Lord. You're going to be judged by Him, and you're going to spend eternity separated from Him.

That's how much is at stake. God is patient. He has waited 2,000 years. He's given you an opportunity to repent and trust Him as your Savior.

Boy, do that. Just a simple act of faith, but do that, because we're talking about polar opposites here. One group of people to heavenly bliss, and the other group of people to heavenly separation from their sins. But for us, we should look forward to this. You see, we should look forward.

It's an interesting thing that when you read about it, look at the end of the chapter, verse 20. He who testify to these things says, yes, I am coming quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. You know, that should be part of our prayer life every day. Come, Jesus.

I want you to come. I don't know when He's coming, but I would hope it be today. Let's pray. Father, I just pray that we take these truths, that we understand as we transition from this life to the next, that our Lord will receive us to Himself. He will richly reward us. He'll give us a resurrected body.

He gives us all new assignments, and we get to see the face of our Savior who loves us. What a positive view of life. And Father, we know it's the view that each and every one of us should have. Convict us and strengthen us.

Give us that kind of hope. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen.