Our Eternal Home - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, May 10th. How much do you know about heaven? Today's podcast continues the study of final things with a look at how the Bible describes our eternal home. I wonder why we don't say much about heaven. Maybe it's because we don't know much.

Maybe it's because we're not too excited about going there yet. You remember the little quip about the little boy in Sunday school and his teacher asked, How many of you want to go to heaven? Everybody raised their hand except one little boy. And she says, Johnny, what about you? You don't want to go to heaven? He said, Oh, I thought you were getting up a load to go now and I'm not quite ready yet.

But I want to tell you something. There are a lot of believers I know are not ready. They don't want to go to heaven. In fact, they like it so well here, they're not very interested in heaven.

Somebody says, Well, I'll think about that one of these days, but not now. So here's the whole purpose of this message to show you why you and I ought to be thinking about heaven, preparing to go there. Somebody says, I got saved, I'm prepared.

No. No, that's on the part of the preparation is what I have to do besides get saved. Well, you don't have to do anything to get in, but that's not all the preparation. We ought to be sharing our faith, not only with someone about the nature of their sin and God's forgiveness, but the eternal home that God has provided for them. We ought to know enough to talk intelligently about what heaven's all about.

You say, I don't understand the book of Revelation. Well, the message I'm going to give you today has, you don't even have to know the book of Revelation to know some very important reasons. You and I ought to be thinking about heaven, talking about heaven, having it on our mind, in our heart, and sharing it with people who today are not going there. Why should you and I be thinking about heaven?

Let me tell you the first reason. First of all, because our heavenly Father is there. It's interesting in the gospels that in the Sermon on the Mount, four times in chapters five, six and seven, Jesus addressing the people who were His listeners. He said, my Father who is in heaven, our Father who is in heaven, the Father who is in heaven. Four times He mentioned in that sermon. Eighteen times in the Gospel of Matthew alone, Jesus refers to the Father who is in heaven. And when He gave us the pattern prayer, how did He begin that prayer?

He said, now this is the way you pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Why would Jesus say so often and refer to the Father as being in heaven? Because that is our eternal home. That is our final resting place. One of the reasons you and I ought to be thinking about heaven, talking about it and sharing is, that's where our heavenly Father is. The second reason, that's where our Savior is. You recall what He said in the sixth chapter of John when He was talking with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they were arguing with Him.

Listen to what He said. He made it very clear where He came from. He says in the thirty-eighth verse, for He says, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me. He says, I came down from heaven. You remember what the angel said to the apostle standing there when Jesus ascended? He said, why do you stand here gazing up into the sky? This same Jesus whom you have seen as sin shall so come in like manner, which means that He ascended visibly and physically.

He's coming back visibly and physically. And the Bible says He is at the Father's right hand in Colossians chapter two, seated at the Father's right hand. And in Romans chapter eight thirty-four He says, He's there interceding for you and me. Jesus Christ, seated at the Father's right hand, is there praying for you and me day and night, watching over us, answering our prayers, seeing to it that our needs are met. Now you think about this. When you think about heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ who stretched out His hands and His arms and was nailed to the cross for your sin and my sin, bore in His body the penalty for all of our sin and has chosen to live within us all the days of our life and to walk with us answering our prayer and loving us and forgiving us and cleansing us all the days of our life.

Let me ask you a question. Don't you want to meet Him personally? There may be a lot of folks in heaven, but I want to tell you there's not going to be anything like meeting Him. There's a third reason you and I ought to be thinking about heaven and that is the Bible says in John fourteen that the Lord Jesus Christ has gone home to prepare it for us. He says He is going to prepare a place for us and if He prepares a place for us, He's coming again to receive us unto Himself that where He is there we may be also. That is our future home is in heaven. That is the Lord Jesus Christ, He says He was going back to prepare a place for us. Now if you were to pass away today, you would not go to the heaven He's preparing. You would go into the presence of God, but the final heaven is where you and I are going to spend eternity following the judgment seat of Christ. He said I'm going to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, He said in My Father's house are many mansions, many dwelling places.

He said if that were not so, I would have told you I'm not going to tell you a lie. So He's telling us that they're dwelling places, places to live in heaven, and He's going to prepare a place for us. So one of the reasons we ought to be interested in talking about it is that's where we're going to spend eternity with Him. And listen, He's building your place.

But there's a fourth reason. And that is, and it's found in Philippians chapter three, that's where our citizenship is already. He says in verse twenty, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will, when He comes now, transform, listen, He will transform the body of our humble state, that is these physical bodies of ours, into, listen, into conformity with the body of His glory, that is His glorified bodies. Our bodies are going to be transformed like His glorified body which will fit us for heaven. That is, part of the preparation is not only being saved, not only being conformed to His likeness, but ultimately the preparation is going to be when our body is transformed into the same substance of the glorified body of Christ.

Verse twenty-one, Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power, the supernatural power of God that He has, even to subject all things to Himself. Now He says, one of the reasons we ought to be interested in heaven is that's where our citizenship is. Does He not talk about us being aliens and sojourners and pilgrims down here? God never intended for us to sink roots down here as if we're going to live forever.

We're just passing through. There are a lot of folks who just, they think this is it. And they're living like this is it, but this is not it. And we shouldn't be living and acting like this is where we're going to spend eternity. We should be living as strangers, aliens, pilgrims, sharing the wonderful gospel eternal message of grace to those about us on our way to heaven and hoping and trusting they'll get on the caravan with us and we'll take them with us to glory.

But there's another reason is I look at the Scripture and that is not only am I a citizen of another country, but the Bible says something else significant I think about this whole idea and that is that our names are recorded in heaven already. Look, if you will, in Luke chapter ten. Remember when Jesus was sending His apostles out and He told them that He would give them power over serpents and all these things and they had returned and they said that demons are subject to us. We've seen people healed and all kinds of things take place. Listen to what Jesus said. He said, having told them what He was going to do for them and having heard that great testimony in verse twenty, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. Now, one thing you can be assured of that the angels in heaven who are sitting before the computers and they are tabulating all the names of those who are being saved, they're not going to get you mixed up with anybody else. The Bible says, by the grace of God, you and I have been saved and our names have been written in the Lamb's Book of Life and we offer eternally the children of God because we were saved not by conduct, not by performance, but by the unmerited, undeserved, unconditional, non-negotiable love of the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated on the cross two thousand years ago when He died for you and me. There's another reason you and I ought to be interested in heaven and thinking and talking about it and that is, that's where, listen, that's where our rewards are.

Go back to Matthew chapter five, what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount here, talking about our rewards and in the Beatitudes He says something very interesting. Now, I want to give you a little idea here that might help you the next time somebody criticizes you. I want to give you a little something, another way to respond.

The next time somebody really gives you a difficult time, oh, I got something real good I want you to hear. Listen to this, what He says. He says in verse nine of Matthew five, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men cast insults at you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of me. He says rejoice and be glad. He says get excited.

Why? For your reward in heaven is great, for so persecuted are the prophets which were before you. So now you don't mean to tell me that if I get insulted, I mean terribly insulted, my reputation has been destroyed and people are saying all kinds of ungodly, un-Christ-like things about me and you tell me I'm supposed to rejoice? Yes indeed. When you and I are persecuted, insulted, whatever it may be, harmed in any fashion, when you and I respond correctly in loving forgiveness, you know what that insult and all these things they're doing?

They're just adding rewards to our account. So you know what that means? That means that sometimes our worst enemies are our best friends because what they're doing for us. Now, in this old human carnal thinking of ours, we say well now, did I tell you, did I read you the truth?

Isn't that what it says? Blessed are you when men shall persecute you and revile you and insult you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, for listen, he says great, great is your reward in heaven. Not that you'll be rewarded, great is your reward in heaven. There is a great reward for those who understand how to suffer persecution and are able to take it in a loving, forgiving response. He says to your account there is being added reward. So our reward's in heaven.

That's one reason. Well there's another reason for thinking seriously about it and that is the Bible says that, listen, He says that our inheritance and our treasure and our inheritance is in heaven. Well let's look, if you will, something else Jesus said here about giving and about how we ought to think in terms of material things. Look, if you will, in Matthew six and look at verse nineteen. He says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth destroy.

And that was the two damaging things in those days. And where thieves break in and steal. But He said lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Now listen to what He says. He says one of the reasons you and I ought to be thinking about heaven and sharing it with others is He says not only are our rewards there, but our treasures are there. What treasures? All the money that you and I give to the Lord for His work. All the energy and experience and gifts and talents we share in the Lord's work. The giving of ourselves in doing the will of God.

You know, today we're so conscious about security and preparation for the future and wanting to be sure that we're well taken care of and having enough for a rainy day when the Bible says don't let yourself get caught up in building an earthly empire or getting your treasures attitude about things down here. But rather we ought to have it on the things of God and secondly, we ought to be laying up treasure in heaven because first of all, you didn't bring anything in the world with you. Oh, you say, well, but I was born into a wealthy family, but you didn't bring anything with you. Now I want to tell you something, my friend, when you leave, not one copper penny are you taking with you.

Not one. You say, well, I'm waiting for my father to die so I can get the inheritance. Friends, you can lose it all and besides that, he may spend it all before he dies.

May be the best thing ever happened to you. You and I have an inheritance that is undefiled, imperishable, will not fade away waiting in heaven for us. Listen, don't you think we ought to be sort of interested? That's where our rewards are. That's where our treasure is.

That's where our inheritance is. The Bible says that's where we're going to spend eternity. We were made temporarily to live here, but he says when the real life begins in all of its ultimate beauty and satisfaction and bliss, he says God's going to have to change this old body of ours.

He's going to transform it in a moment in the twinkling of an eye and it's going to be conformed like the body of Christ. He's getting us ready. We're just moving through here on our way somewhere else. But when I think about all the wonderful things about heaven, the things that attract me to it, one of the most important is this last thing I want to mention here. We think about talking to our lost friends about heaven and thinking about ourselves and asking, should we be thinking about heaven? Are we living down here serving the Lord?

Yes, because one of the most exciting things about heaven is the great reunion you and I are going to have up there. Now think about what he says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, beginning in verse 13. He said, I will not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who are asleep, that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, if we believe what he says, we believe in him.

He says he's coming again one of these days and bringing the saints with him. And he says in a moment in the twinkling of an eye in 1 Corinthians 15, he says that the sound of the trumpet, at the shout, the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, the dead in Christ, that is the bodies of our loved ones shall be resurrected. Then we which are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, great reunion in the clouds to be with them in the air and for to ever be with the Lord. Now when you and I get to heaven, you think about all the folks that you and I are going to look forward to meeting there besides the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. All of us have some loved ones up there, out there, wherever heaven is. And one of the reasons you and I ought to keep our mind on heaven is one of these days that's where we're going to spend eternity and we're going to have a glorious, exciting reunion of all of our loved ones who've passed on.

Wherever you find the apostle Paul, you'll find about three or four million people lined up to ask him questions. And there'll be Pat and Peter on the back end saying, Peter, oh, I'm so glad you came on because I was so much like you. It'll be amazing what happens when you and I get to heaven. And you and I meet all the loved ones who've already passed on before us.

But let me ask you a question, my friend. You've never received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You know what's going to happen if everybody in your family is saved and they get to heaven?

You won't be there. So what are they going to think? I want to tell you, they're not going to walk around heaven grieving over you. At the judgment, Jesus is going to wipe away all the tears in their eyes as they weep over the fact that you wouldn't trust Jesus as your Savior. You see, there's only going to be one type of folks who go to heaven. You say, is that going to be all those good people?

No. It's going to be sinners who trusted in the shed blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary for the forgiveness of their sin and who walked in His ways, who had to keep on being forgiven, making mistakes, falling and faltering, and having to come back and say, Lord, I blew it again. But being able to receive the forgiveness of God again and again and again. You see, heaven isn't for perfect folks. Heaven is for saints who are believers, still learning, still faltering, still failing, still growing, still being conformed to His likeness.

And my friend, heaven has been open to you. And when you think about all the things that are there, listen, if you miss heaven, you know what you're going to miss? You're going to miss God. You're going to miss Jesus. You're going to miss the Holy Spirit.

Not going to have any rewards. Your name won't be in the Lamb's Book of Life. You're not going to be there for the great, wonderful, exciting, eternal reunion with loved ones. But my friend, the Bible says you're going to a dark, eternal, endless separation from everything that is good. And because of your own selfish choices, you're going to live there and suffer there for eternity.

Wouldn't you agree that that's a foolish choice to make when there is another choice? If you're willing to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and you're willing to repent of those sins, you're willing for God to turn you around, change your life, if you're willing to tell Him today that I receive Jesus Christ as my Savior, believing and meaning that you accept His death on the cross as payment for your sin and you're receiving Him into your life to be your Savior, your life and your Lord, He'll write your name in the Lamb's Book of Life forever. Everything we've just said, you'll have the right to look forward to it by placing your trust in Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening to Our Eternal Home. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.