I don't know about you, but I'm really looking forward to heaven. A new life, especially a new body, no pain, no evil, no sorrow.
I mean, what's not to be excited about? The vital question is this. How can you know for certain whether you're actually going to heaven or not? Stay with me. That's today on Living on the Edge. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
I'm Dave Drouie, and Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. Now, in just a minute, we'll wrap up our series, The Real Heaven. Over the past several programs, Chip's brought some much needed clarity to our vague ideas about heaven and revealed a tremendous beauty and a rewarding life that awaits us in that amazing place. So, let me just say, if you missed any part of this series, you owe it to yourself to go back and listen. It'll completely change your perspective on heaven.
The easiest way to do that is through the Chip Ingram app. Well, with all that said, let's join Chip now for part two of his message, A New Home for the New You. Isn't it amazing, the word new for us? Boy, when I get that new car and then you get it, and it's like 90 days later, it's just not new, right? But if we get a house of our own, if I could just be the... And I don't care what it is. You know, if I owned so much, if I had this, if people thought that, if I wore that, if I... Right?
We're human. And no matter what it is, you know, it's like, man, I've been in the gym for five years to get this way. And two surgeries. And it's still fading. And I still down deep don't love me or feel any more worthy. You know that's something that no matter what you do is still missing? Lewis says that's built in by God into the human soul and heart to remind you there's something more. In fact, more than there's just something more, there's someplace more. No matter what you achieve, what you get, there's this little window of... And then there's a...
It doesn't quite deliver what you hoped. That's gonna end in this new heaven that's on earth. The next part is maybe the most exciting for me. He talks about a new city and people to enjoy. And he made it really clear that this is gonna be a perfect environment. And in passing, he said, you know, those people that rejected me, those people that didn't want the free gift, those people who wanted their own throne, those people said, I'll be in control. Hey, I don't want God telling me what to do. Those people who said, I'll find my fulfillment, my... What do you say?
You know what? You can have your own way. Heaven is reserved for these kind of people that want to receive and experience my love. And to those people who say, no, God, he says, well, your will be done. And then he says, okay, there's a city.
Now think of this. There's this city that has come down from heaven on the earth. And now he's going to describe what your experience is gonna be like. We pick it up in verse nine. One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came to me and said, come and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb, speaking of Jesus. And he carried me away in the spirit to a high, great mountain.
And he showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down from heaven, from God. It's an amazing city, but it's to enjoy. I grew up in the suburbs, so I didn't know a lot about really big city life. And I grew up in the suburbs of a sort of nice city, really nice Midwestern city.
So I thought that was a city and it was a good city. And then my kids went to school in Chicago. I love Chicago. Chicago's a great city. Chicago, as you walk down Michigan Avenue and there's a lake over here and there's a band playing over here and there's a, you get a meal over here and then you walk by and some of the most amazing museums and stuff.
And people actually live in Chicago. It's not like everyone's, I mean, there's life and culture and food and then my travels, I ended up, I've been lots of times to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an amazing city. I mean, you're over there, you know, and you can look across that bay and you see that huge thing and you know, it's so safe and wonderful. And at two, three in the morning, you can walk out and get all kinds of food and cultures and people from all around the world. And if you've never been to New York, if you've never been to New York, like at Christmas time, go.
It's just unbelievable. Think of the joy there is and you meet people and there's new food and you catch a play here and you do something here and you hear some stories. This is a city that's 1400 miles wide and long and high of all the saints of all time. 37th floor, get off. Moses, how you been? Could you, could you like tell us, I brought one of my buddies, would you like kind of give me the Red Sea story one more time? I mean, what were you really feeling? Tell me what was going on. You know, down to the 10,000th floor. Elijah, man, were you like scared to death? You know, all those prophets and the fire came down and Hudson Taylor, what was it like? No one believed you.
No one would help you. You're away from your family. I mean, who would know there'd be like 1.4 billion people in China and you were like the first person that crossed through all that and you translated the Bible and like, wow, can you, for eternity, amazing food, amazing people. I mean, if you're an architect, you're so, right? And so there's new books to be written and new songs to be sung and new things to explore. I mean, this is the brilliance and the glory and the majesty. It's like take your best experience in any city and then go, wow, infinitely beyond. This place that God has prepared because He loves you so much means you'll have a new kind of relationship with Him, a new kind of relationship with sin.
You have complete satisfaction. You have a new city and people to enjoy and watch this next aspect, a new earth with new nations, commerce, culture and capabilities to serve and love your God. Now, have you thought about that? See, this isn't that boring place sort of hanging around suspended as sort of some spirit somewhere. This new world has no sea.
Now, if you're sailing, don't get up tight. There's got to be lakes, okay? But sea, especially in scripture, sea is what separated countries. There's going to be unity. And what we're going to find is there's nations.
We're going to find that there's kings. We're going to find that the capital is Jerusalem, this magnificent city, and we will come and we will worship. But there's going to be other cities and it's the earth. It's not just a place. It's the whole earth.
Come on, look at this with me. This is amazing. Verse 24, chapter 21, the nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it, speaking to the city. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. So I guess there's glory. I guess there's honor. I guess there's other nations doing things.
There's people groups. There's, gosh, it sounds like a real earth with real action. Nothing impure will ever enter it. No cheating in business.
No competition. Nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, which is why it's so important to make sure your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And we'll talk about how you can know for sure today. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life as clear as crystal. Notice flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.
This makes Broadway look like nothing. On each side, the river stood the tree of life bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the trees for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb, Jesus himself, will be in the city and his servants, guess what we do, will serve him. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads and there will be no more night and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun for the Lord God will give them light and they will reign. That's doing something important.
How long? Forever and ever. You're going to be a part of a new earth with nations and commerce and culture and capabilities and you will serve God the way you were originally intended to serve God. And that was not just in a worship service, but where who you are, what you're made to do, what your gifts are, what your passions are in a perfect environment serving by what you do. In fact, just notice some of the implications. If there's nations, there has to be organization. If there's kings, there's authority, roles, and jobs. If you bring splendor, there has to be commerce, culture, art, music, and manufacturing. If you bring it to the city, it means there's other cities. And if you serve and reign, it means there's actually monthly, if fruit comes each month, then there's not a sense of we're in heaven floating forever.
There's spatial time and sequence. And you will reign and where you will reign will be directly proportional according to Jesus by how clearly you take what he has just taught because he's given to every single person in this room and every true follower of Jesus, talents, gifts, abilities, time, a season of history, and money and resources. And according to Jesus, there's only two things that will last forever, the word of God and people. And he said, I put you on the earth as my representatives and ambassadors to first and foremost live the life that we would call a Romans 12 Christian. And then to be an ambassador or a conduit of God's love and grace where you verbally tell people about the love of Christ and by your hands and your heart, you actually do acts of service and justice and compassion so that the light of the gospel and the saltiness of true justice and love, people see that and realize Jesus is real. And to the degree that you do that faithfully, there is reward so that what your role will be on this new heaven down on this new earth is directly proportional to how you live your life with your priorities and values and what you do with your time, your talent and your treasure. When Jesus was saying to the 12 disciples, it's going to be really tough. You're going to reign with me. Hey, they got their names on the foundation stones.
They're just regular guys. God has an agenda. The eyes of the Lord are going to and fro that he might seek to strongly support those whose hearts are fully his. History is going to make its tracks with or without you. God's purposes for the church will get accomplished with or without you, but he wants you to know this is an open book test. He's saying, look, this is how it's going to end. This is how you'll be graded.
And this is what I'd like you to do. And by the way, those people who by faith you can't see right now, then guess what? In heaven, there's no such thing as faith. Faith and sight merge because it won't be a God you can't see. It won't be promises that you need to cling on to.
It will be the very reality and substance of those things. Why? Why all this? Because he loves you. Because it's God's character.
Because he's good. All those commands in scripture have nothing to do with when he says don't have sex before marriage. It's because he knows what great sex is and what he wants to protect you from. When he says give the first portion of your time and your energy and your money, it's to keep you from going down paths where lust and fulfillment and significance and all the junk that we find ourselves caught up in, it's just to keep your heart in the right spot so you get the best. And what he's saying is, look, look at this city I made for you. I've been busy since I left. I love you.
I want to be with you and I want it to be great. Oh God, let's stop. God Almighty, will you please help the information that we have just heard to supernaturally go from our head and our understanding into our hearts and conviction. Lord, my life and my priorities and my passion and my joy would be far different if I could remember and believe and live with an awareness of a new heaven on a new earth doing what I was made to do, completely satisfied with the greatest people to deeply enjoy because you made everything new. Amen. And that's my heart. I've been deeply impacted by this series.
I hope it helps you, but it's transforming me. See the summary of all this is, behold, I will make all things new. There's three implications of this that I want to touch on because we've got to ask ourselves if this is in fact true. I believe it is. The Bible's true.
It's clear. There's three questions we need to ask and answer. Question number one is, are you certain you were going to heaven and if so, why? I mean, this is God saying, look, I've prepared this for you at great expense. It costs the second person of the Trinity to come and be embarrassed and humiliated and then crucified to pay for your sin and then rise from the dead. So he doesn't want anyone to miss it.
And so let me briefly tell you how you can make sure you don't miss it. First John chapter five, verses 11 through 13, I've put it in your notes and might want to look at it later more carefully, but there was some issues happening and some Gnostics and people shooting a lot of stuff at people and John says, wait a minute. I'm going to be clear how you can know for sure you have eternal life. This is the testimony or literally he's saying this is the record that God has given us eternal life.
That means it's a gift. And this life is in his son, Jesus. Axiomatic principle. He or she who has the son has life.
He or she that does not have the son does not have life. These things I've written to you in order that you might know you can know. I've written this to you who believe that you can know without a shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life. So the question isn't, are you sincere? The question isn't, do you go to church?
Do you give the United way? Are you trying harder? You want to be a good person. Isn't it better to make it a nicer world? Nah, nah, nah. It's not, are you religious? It's not what this philosophy or that philosophy or what their opinion or your opinion.
Here's the deal. If you have the son living in you, you have life. Everything I described is yours. If you don't have the son, I don't care what anything else is true of you. You do not have life.
It's about relationship. God did not send his son to make little nice moral people who tried hard to make the world a better place. He came for you to love you. And the only way you have life is when you recognize you've sinned against a holy God, repentance, I have a change of mind, and I put my faith and receive eternal life.
Turning from my old life, receiving the gift of his salvation, covering of my sins, and I follow him. Now I'm going to pray a very simple prayer that if you're sitting here thinking, I want that, or if you're sitting here thinking, I'm not sure. Don't leave unsure. And then I want to tell you in advance what we're going to do because I really think the whole church thing has gotten like, we're trying to be so cool and so hip and so politically correct. You know what Jesus said? Jesus said, if you are ashamed of me before men, I, when I come, will be ashamed of you when I come in the glory of my father and the holy angels. And I think we've kind of gotten into this deal where yeah, you know, I don't know. And I just, if you're embarrassed to say you're a follower of the one that created this heaven for you and died for you, then guess what?
You probably don't have it. Because at some point in time, you're going to realize you're going to care what people think or what God thinks. And the moment you die, you will really wish you cared what God thinks. In fact, I'll tell you this, the moment you live, when you really live, all those people that you care what they think, they don't even think about you.
We just live with this world. What would they think? What would they think? What they think?
Does this look okay? And you know what? I've got news. They don't even think about you. And we live with this crazy stuff. But this is so clear.
God loves you. So I want to tell you in advance so there's no sense of manipulation because I'm telling you there's some of you that have a war going on in your heart because you want this, but what does it mean? What about this? What about that? And you ought to have that.
Second question is for those of us that are, you know, for sure you're in Christ, do your present priorities and passions demonstrate a focus on eternity or almost temporal? I mean, when I talked about treasure, when I talked about time, when I talk about your talent, if the truth are known, I mean, if we were like super good friends and I'd say, hey, give me your taxes. Let me see your PDA and all your schedule for the last year. I'll show you mine. Your time's gone here.
Your money's gone here. This is the pressure you're living with. You know, this is what wakes you up at night. Is it the things of God or is it doing the deal? Got to do this.
Got to do that. Because what the apostle Paul says is our citizenship is in heaven. And he talked of some in that church in Philippians. He said some of them little by little by little that they got consumed so much with the right now. He says with tears I see their life eaten up with their own appetites, trying to find that significance, security, success and stuff that's temporal and that's going to burn.
Last question is very simply this. Do you know someone that the thought of this amazing city forever and ever doing what you were made to do that's perfect with no sin, where you see God face to face, where you think I want them to be there. Oh, I want them to be there.
This is real. And could I then ask you, who do you think is going to tell them? You see, the other thing that's happened is we get kind of sheepish about, I mean, here's the deal. If you just married the most handsome man in the world or you married the most beautiful woman in the world and I said, hey, I'd like to meet her. And you said, no, don't, please, you know, I'm kind of embarrassed.
You know, like down deep I think she's ugly. If you're embarrassed about the people you love, you don't really love them. And see, I think we got all kind of people that are so open they've never heard about heaven. All they've heard about is religion. They've never heard that there is a real God who came and died and rose and loves them. And you know what? They're not going to be in heaven if those of us who say we love our friends and relatives and neighbors and co-workers, if we don't just simply, we don't bombard them, we just let them know, are you aware how loved you are? Why don't you think of maybe two names?
Just etch them on your mind, two names, that this week it's a phone call, it's a lunch, it's a coffee. And maybe the simplest way you even say to them is, you know something? I never thought much about heaven, but I, you know, this guy was talking about heaven. Have you thought much about it? No, I really haven't. I tell you, could you listen to this?
Let's get coffee next week and let's kick it around. I've got news for you. God has appointed many.
He's drawing many. They just need to hear. Ready to pray that prayer? Father, thank you right now for your presence that woos and pulls us and just makes real inside of us, this is right, this is what I need to do.
If you need to have the Son to have life, then right now say, Dear God, will you please forgive me for my sin? Would you come into my life right now and be my Savior? I believe you died for me. I believe you rose from the dead. I want to be in the heaven you made for me forever. Thank you for loving me. Dear Jesus, give me strength to follow you.
Help me be bold. Use me to tell other people about the heaven that's real and the forgiveness that I have just received from you. I want to say to you before we continue in our program today, for those of you that prayed with me, you might have prayed inside your mind in a car. You might have verbalized the words out loud because you were privately someplace.
You might be on a treadmill somewhere. And at this very moment, what you did is you prayed and you said, Yes, Lord Jesus, I want to go to heaven. Thank you for forgiving my sins. I invite you into my life. And you might be asking right now, Okay, now what do I do? Well, let me first welcome you to the family.
You're a brother or sister in Christ because you've received the grace of God. And second, the Bible says that when we're born again spiritually, we're like a brand new baby. And like any brand new baby, you need love. You need food. You need encouragement. The food is God's word. Get a New Testament you can understand and open it up and begin reading it.
You need love. Find a Bible teaching church where the people are real and go and begin to attend and find the best Christian you know, someone the best Christian you know, and say, I want you know today I was listening to this program and I prayed to receive Christ. I asked him to come into my life, forgive my sins, and I know it's about following him.
I don't know how to do that. Will you help me? And I will tell you, you will be received well and they will be excited. And God is going to provide for you the people to help you walk in this new life.
Congratulations. It's a thrill to be a part of your new life in Christ. If you prayed with Chip, we'd love to put a resource in your hands.
It's called Starting Out Right, and it's absolutely free. Now this resource will help you gain a clear biblical understanding of what it means to put your faith in Jesus. And that's our whole mission here at Living on the Edge, helping Christians really live like Christians. So let us help you get started in your faith journey. You can request this resource by calling us at 888-333-6003 or visiting livingontheedge.org, then clicking on the New Believers button. That's livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. Chip, as we wrap up this series, could you give us a sense of why you're so passionate about heaven?
I mean, why should people dig into their Bibles and use our resources to better understand this topic? You know, Dave, I had an experience that really blew my mind. It was just a few years ago, and I met a guy that was a, he would call himself a kind of cultural nominal Christian. He's an older guy, and he lives in a part of Florida, sort of the retired community.
And I mean, everybody, I don't mean this in a bad way, but everybody's senior, senior, senior citizens, right? And he came to know the Lord, and he had this tremendous salvation experience and really got in the Bible. And he met a mutual friend of ours, and my friend gave him the book, The Real Heaven. And he read it. And I mean, he wrote me this long, long email and said, Chip, you don't understand. No one knows about this.
I'm living in a world where most of these people have very little time left. So he reads the book, and he started teaching all these small groups. Then he started teaching it in community centers.
And it was just absolutely amazing what happened. Because, you know, we've all lost loved ones, or we know someone who's lost really close loved ones. And even as believers, if you don't have hope, or if you just, if heaven is some vague idea, it is not, it is not what God has promised. The early church lived and endured because it had this hope of heaven, a real place with Jesus, with him, that's concrete, that I mean makes a difference, that's an eternity that you look forward to. And Dave, I've just seen that people don't know much about heaven. My confession, I say in the book, I didn't know much about heaven even as a pastor. And so if there's ever a time to learn about heaven, it's now. And I really hope people will either get the book or, you know, jump in and do the small group with us. So Dave, why don't you give them the details so they know how to get it.
Thanks Chip. Well, if you've been searching for some solid biblical answers about heaven, let me encourage you to get plugged in with our resources for this series. Whether it's Chip's book, The Real Heaven, or the small group study, you're going to walk away with a more accurate and exciting view of the place God's preparing for us. For complete ordering details, go to livingontheedge.org, or call us at 888-333-6003.
That's 888-333-6003. Or visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap special offers. Just before we close, our mission at Living on the Edge is to help Christians live like Christians. And one of the best ways we can continue to do that is through programs like this one. So when you hear a message that's especially helpful, we hope you'll pass it on to others. You can easily do that through the Chip Ingram app, or by forwarding the free MP3s from livingontheedge.org. And don't forget to include a note about how it made a difference in your life. Well, until next time, this is Dave Druey, thanking you for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.
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