How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life | Part 2

What can we expect heaven to be like?

Listen to Adrian to love worth finding. You know, the devil's deceitful and counterfeit thrills never last. In fact, our enemy always gives his best first and the worst last. On the contrary, every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. And even still, he saves the best for last. As we just heard from pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers, heaven is the presence of all that is good in the absence of all that is evil.

We really do have a lot to look forward to. If you have your Bible, turn to Psalm 23 and look at verse six as Adrian Rogers reveals how to make the rest of your life the best of your life. Now here the Psalmist talks about the house of the Lord.

Do you see it? Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I want to tell you three things about the house of the Lord that came to my heart as I contemplated and thought about this and prayed over it. And there are many things we could talk about when we talk about heaven. The very first thing is we think about the house of the Lord that I want to lay on your heart and help you to get excited about is what I want to call the certainty of it.

The certainty of it. Look at that verse. Surely I will dwell in the house of the Lord.

Do you see it? Surely I will dwell in the house of the Lord. No ifs, ands, and buts about it.

It's a sure thing. One of the sweetest passages in all of the Bible is that passage in John chapter 14 where the Lord Jesus Christ reiterated and underscored and ramified what David said when Jesus said in John 14 verse one, let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house. He's talking about the same place that David was talking about. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.

Now let me just pause right there and say this. That Jesus Christ was truth incarnate. He never lied.

He always told the truth. And he said if it were not so, I would have told you. Jesus Christ would not let the hope of heaven go beating within the human bosom if it were simply a lie, a superstition, a fond delusion.

He said if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also.

So let me say this about the certainty of it. That this place called heaven is just that. It is a real place. It is not merely a state of mind.

It is not a condition. It is a place that is so real that Jesus is there in a literal resurrected body. I mean He is there in a body. There is a body in this place called heaven.

It is His resurrected body. Heaven is a place on God's map. And when a Christian dies, he steps right on into heaven.

When the days of his life come to an end, all the days of my life, sooner or later, the days of your life are going to end. And then immediately you're going to step into heaven if you know the Lord. Listen, heaven is a present place.

Let me tell you something else about it. Oh my dear friend, it is a perfect place. It is a perfect place. Revelation 21 verse 4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away. No more sin, no more sorrow, no more suffering, no more death, no more disease, no more dying, no more doubts, no more pain, no more groan, no more moan. These things are gone.

They are passed away. Now sometimes people ask a question about heaven and they say, well now really, what's heaven going to be like? Are we going to have beds? Are we going to sleep on beds? Will we comb our hair? Will we eat? How old will we be?

What will we do? You know, all of these kind of questions. Folks, I don't know, but that doesn't bother me. You don't know and nobody knows and so don't pretend you do know. For the Bible says it does not yet appear what we shall be like.

You don't have to know. Let me tell you what heaven is going to be like. Are you ready for this? Friend, it's going to be the presence of all that is good and the absence of all that is evil. Now if that doesn't satisfy you, let me give you something else. Heaven is going to be this, dear friend. It's going to be all that the loving heart of God can conceive and all that the omnipotent hand of God can prepare. That, my friend, is what heaven is going to be.

Oh, it's a present place. It is a perfect place and bless God, it is a purposeful place. Don't get the idea that when you go to heaven you're going to get a wooly robe, a rusty halo, you're going to sit around on a fluffy cloud and pluck a harp for all eternity. That's not what heaven is.

You don't get that idea from the Word of God. The Bible teaches in Revelation chapter 7 and verse 15, His servants shall serve Him. Oh, how all of us who love the Lord Jesus Christ desire to serve Him better than we do. Every time I preach I say, oh God, I wish I had done better. Every time we pray we say, Lord God, why isn't there more power in my prayer?

I suppose every singer that ever has sung would wish that they could sing with more power and with more tears and with more unction and with more beauty to give God the glory. But we have this old sin flesh that holds us down. But one of these days, one of these days we're going to serve Him like we've never served Him before. My friend, this house of the Lord is a present place, a perfect place, a purposeful place. Think of the certainty of it.

This is what He says, I go and prepare a place for you. I will dwell, surely I will dwell in the house of the Lord. The certainty of it. But think secondly, not only of the certainty of it, but think of the company of it.

The company of it. Notice what He says, surely I will dwell in the house of the Lord. Now when He means house of the Lord, He doesn't mean building of God. There is a building of God eternal in the heaven, but that's not what He's talking about. He means the household of God. That's what Jesus meant when He said, in my Father's house, in my Father's household are many dwelling places, many mansions. That is, He's saying that we all of us together, all of the saints of all of the ages are going to be there together. All of our brothers and sisters in Christ, all of those in the household of faith, the company of heaven.

What a grand company it's going to be. People say, well we know our loved one's in heaven. Oh yes, as a matter of fact that's the only place we will ever really truly know them. Remember the story of David who had a little son who died, an infant who died and David fasted and prayed and cried and wept and asked God to spare the life of the child while the child was sick. And then the child died and David got up and washed his face, anointed his body and took food.

I'm reading here in 2 Samuel 12 and his servants said unto him, what thing is this that thou has done? Thou didst fast and weep for the child while it was alive. But when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. And he said, listen to this now, and he said, while the child was yet alive I fasted and wept. For I said, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he is dead.

Wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him. Isn't that wonderful? I shall go to him. Do you have a little baby in heaven? Joyce and I have a little baby in heaven and I'm going to see Philip.

I am. You call that sentimentality, I call it Bible truth, dear friend. You've got a mom and dad step over on the other side.

We're going over there to see them. I think of every time a little baby goes to heaven so many times I think of a story I heard years ago about a shepherd who had brought his flock to a turbulent stream and wanted to lead the flock across the flowing stream and they were afraid of the water and the wise shepherd took a little lamb out of the flock, put that lamb in his bosom and waded across that chilly stream and set the lamb down on the other side. Over here was that mama sheep and that papa sheep and that mama sheep saw that little lamb on the other side. And that papa sheep saw that lamb on the other side. And the old mother ewe started through the water to get to her little lamb. And here came the father sheep.

And here came the flock following behind. And I think so many times God in His infinite wisdom sometimes takes the little lamb out of the flock and just sets it on the other side like He did David's little lamb. And we don't understand all the mysteries of God but we know one thing, dear friend, on the other side of those chilly waters of death is a place that has been prepared and we can go and meet our loved ones there on the Mount of Transfiguration when Elijah and Moses appeared with the Lord Jesus Christ there. After they'd already died and had already gone to heaven, God brought them back to this world and the disciples were there at the Mount of the Transfiguration and they saw Moses and they saw Elijah and they'd never seen them before but they knew them.

They didn't have to be introduced. Moses was Moses. Elijah was Elijah. Yes, we'll keep our personalities. We're not going to be absorbed into nothingness. Heaven is a place and real people are going to be there and we will know our loved ones when we get to heaven. Dear friend, Moses will be there. Won't it be something to talk with Moses about the wilderness wanderings? And David will be there. We'll say, David, would you play the 23rd Psalm and sing it for us?

Won't that be something? And David will say to me, Adrian, you never did squeeze all the juice out of that Psalm when you preached it. I want to tell you, you just touched the surface and for a few centuries he can tell us about the 23rd Psalm. And the Apostle Paul will be there.

How would you like to sit at the Apostle Paul's feet and have him teach the book of Romans and talk about our great redemption and what our God has done for us? And dear friend, John, the ancient Apostle will be there and he'll open all the mysteries of the book of Revelation and we'll know as we're known and see the mysteries of God when that book is open and when the Lamb sits upon the throne. And you know, Simon Peter will be there and I still think he'll have a big mouth and he'll say, didn't I tell you?

Didn't I tell you? It will be glory unspeakable and full of joy. We are going to be there with the saints of all of the ages, but that's not really what's going to make heaven heaven. Listen, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, I'm willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.

To see the Lord Jesus Christ, to be with Christ. He said, now we walk by faith and not by sight. That's what the prophet Isaiah meant in Isaiah 33 and verse 17, thine eye shall see the King in his beauty. That's why Jesus prayed in John 17 when he prayed, Father, I pray for them whom thou has given me that they may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, the glory I had with thee before the world was.

What a time that's going to be. But I want you to notice a third thing about this place called heaven. I want you to notice not only the certainty of it, surely I will dwell in the house of the Lord. And I want you to notice not only the company of it, the house of the Lord, but I want you to notice the constancy of it.

Surely I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, forever, the constancy of it. You see, sheep are nomadic. They always wander. And if they're not wandering, they're being led by the shepherd. Beside the still waters, in the green pastures, through the dark valleys, over hill and moor, they're led.

They don't settle down and stay in one place. The book of Hebrews talks about it. God doesn't intend for us to settle down here because this world is not our home.

We're just passing through. Hebrews 11, verse 8, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed he went out, listen, not knowing whither he went. He didn't have to know. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise. Now notice he didn't settle. He sojourned in the land of promise. As in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles, that means in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. But now listen, for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God.

I feel the same way. All of us here are just pilgrims right now. And it's going to be a place of constancy, a place of constant joy, a place of constant service, a place of constant praise.

Have you ever thought about that? I will dwell in the house of the Lord for how long? Forever. Forever. Have you ever thought about eternity? Have you ever thought about eternity, my friend?

The length of eternity. There used to be a great preacher that preached over in Arkansas. His name was Joe Henry Hankins, mighty preacher, wept when he preached. He pastored in Texas before he went to Arkansas. And in Texas, upon an occasion, he had a woman who gave her heart to Christ and was going to be baptized Sunday night in the church.

She was married to a businessman. Joe Henry Hankins went by to see that businessman on Saturday to try to lead him to Christ, the man who had no time for God, no time for Jesus, no time for church. But Joe Henry Hankins went by the house and pled with this man, presented the plan of salvation, and begged this man to give his heart to Christ and to be baptized along with his wife. The man listened to the preacher's earnest plea, and then he said this to the preacher. He said, preacher, what you have said is right. I do need to give my heart to Christ. I do need to be saved, and I promise you, tomorrow morning when the invitation is given, I will come down that aisle. I will accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and I will be baptized with my wife. The preacher said, great!

That's wonderful. Praise God. And he left the house. As he started out, he put his hand on the doorknob, and the Holy Spirit said to him, there's something not right about that.

There's something not right. He went back to this businessman. He said, listen, if you're going to do that anyway, let's get it settled now. You give your heart to Jesus now, and then you come tomorrow morning and make it public and then get baptized tomorrow night, but let's get it settled now. This businessman said, preacher, I've got a reputation in this world for keeping my word. I'm an honest businessman, and if I say that I'll do it tomorrow morning, you don't have to worry about it.

I will do it. You have my word. He said, well, all right.

Thank you. Praise God. Started out, and again the Holy Spirit stopped him and said, go back and talk to that man. Joe Henry Hankins went back the third time, and he took with him this time his Bible, and he opened it to 2 Corinthians 6, 2 that says, behold, now is the accepted time.

Behold, now is the day of salvation. Put it under his nose and said, Pat, you read it. Pat read it. He said, now, Pat, that's God's word. Satan says tomorrow, but God says today. Who are you going to listen to?

Who? He said, well, preacher, I've been listening to Satan for a long time, and he's never brought me anything but misery. I'm going to listen to God. And he got down on his knees with that preacher and gave his heart to Jesus Christ. He said, tomorrow I'll be there to make it public and get baptized. The next morning when Joe Henry Hankins was standing on the front steps of his church greeting the people as they were coming in, Pat's nephew came up and said, preacher, Uncle Pat has had a heart attack in the night, and he's at home, and he told me to tell you he's so sorry he couldn't be here.

He intended to be here, but he's sick, and the doctor won't let him come. That noon when Joe Henry Hankins was sitting at his noon meal eating, the phone rang, and it was Pat's sister-in-law. She called and said, preacher, you need to know, Pat has had another heart attack, and it's much worse than the first one.

And the doctor says that there doesn't seem to be any hope. Joe Henry Hankins said to himself, well, I'll finish my meal and go right over there. But before he could get up from the table, the phone rang the third time. It was the sister-in-law again, and she said, preacher, don't hurry. Pat has died. He's already gone. But he said to tell you, thank you, and tell the preacher, I'm sure glad I took God's way rather than Satan's way.

I'm so glad I settled it. Tell Dr. Hankins thank you for causing me to say yes to Jesus. My friend, I want to tell you, eternity is a long time.

Eternity is a long time, and when you die, you're not going to have an opportunity then to get saved. Loved ones will weep on my silent face. Dear ones will clasp me in sad embrace. Darkness and shadows will fill the place five minutes after I die. Faces that sorrow I will not see.

Voices that murmur will not reach me. But where, oh, where will my spirit be five minutes after I die? Not to repair the good I lack.

Fixed to the goal of my chosen track. No space to repent. No turning back five minutes after I die. Mated forever with my chosen throng. Long is eternity.

Oh, so long. Then woe is me if my soul be wrong. Five minutes after I die, can you say it? The Lord is my shepherd. Surely I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Surely I will. Are you sure if you died right now you'd go to heaven? Woe is me if my soul be wrong five minutes after I die.

Behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Precious friend, if you want the Lord Jesus, let me help you to pray and ask Christ into your heart. May I just quieten your heart now and turn your heart toward God. He loves you.

He wants to save you. Would you pray this prayer? Dear God, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for me. Lord Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that you died on the cross to pay my sin debt.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for doing that. Lord, you said if I would trust you, you would save me. I do trust you, Lord Jesus.

Would you tell him that? I do trust you, Lord Jesus. Right now, this moment, with all of my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Forgive my sin. Save me, Jesus. Save me now. And then pray this way.

Thank you for saving me, Jesus. I receive it by faith. And then pray this. Lord Jesus, I will acknowledge you as my Lord and Savior. In your name I pray.

Amen. Well, if you prayed to receive Jesus Christ, we want to celebrate with you and invite you to our Discover Jesus page on the website. There you'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith.

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