Can you know for certain that you'll go to heaven? You can if you follow God's plan, which is simply and clearly presented in His Word. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah considers what it takes to make sure you spend eternity in heaven. which is often at odds with what is taught by our culture.
Listen as David introduces the conclusion of his message. The promise of heaven. And thank you for joining us for this new week and this new broadcast. We're studying heaven together. The Bible has a lot to say about it.
And we're going to try to cover as much of it as we can during these days we have in October. Here in the study room of Turning Point. Today we finish up what we started on Friday with the seminal passage on heaven, which is John 14:1 through 6. We've learned that heaven is a place, and in that place there is a person, and that person has made a promise. Today we'll talk more about the promise.
And by the way, we also want you to know heaven is available. There's a direct access to heaven if you put your trust in Christ. Listen carefully during these messages. If you do not know Jesus, the Bible says you can't go to heaven. But if you want to go to heaven, the way is simple, and all you have to do is put our trust in Him and go to heaven.
Here's part two of the promise of heaven. Jesus says that heaven is a literal. district, neighborhood, region, or habitat. Hebrews 11, 16 calls it a heavenly country. Revelation describes it as a vast capital city.
The Psalms refers to heaven as Zion, where God dwells. And during the course of these messages, we'll look at all of those designations. But most of all, it's important for you to know that heaven Is a place, and he describes that place with my favorite term for heaven. Listen to this. It's the father's house.
It's the Father's House. When Donna and I were in seminary in Dallas, Texas. We went to seminary from Cedarville College, where we were students. Got married after college and went there to go to seminary. Believe it or not, we both had jobs.
You worked there, and I had a job plus going to school because you had to do that in order to afford the seminary. Every once in a while we get so homesick. We would leave after work on Friday and drive 1,050 miles to Cedarville from Dallas. To be there for maybe five or six or seven hours because we had to turn around and drive back because we had to be at work on Monday. Why did we do that?
We were enamored with the father's house. My mom and dad had a home, and we had known so many wonderful things there. Donna went to college there, and we had a lot of meals. at the father's house. It was home.
In fact, when my parents got older, decided to downsize. I was mad at him for two or three years because That was a special place. And you all know what I'm talking about: the father's house. And that's how God describes heaven. Heaven is a place.
What kind of place is it? It's the Father's house. The father's house is where God lives, and there are many mansions there. And the Greek word for mansion means a place to stay. a dwelling, a home.
But mansion is a perfectly good word to describe any kind of place in heaven is a mansion compared to what we got down here. Amen? The key word in this section is father. And the word Father occurs 23 times in this section of Scripture. He's the one who brings peace and perspective and performance.
and permanence to our troubled hearts through His Son Jesus Christ. In this comforting image of the Father's house, We come face to face with closeness. intimacy and everlasting Heaven. Heaven is not a feeling, it's not a fantasy. It's a prepared place.
for a prepared people. We're going to gather there and we're going to congregate there and we're going to interact there and we're going to enjoy our time. Jesus said something really comforting. He said, I go to prepare a place for you. He didn't just say heaven is real, he said it's personal.
A place for you. A place for me. When you get there, what will happen? In the first few moments of your existence in heaven, you're going to go.
So that's what I've been waiting for. Amen. It reminds me of something I read about in a Swiss doctor's book by the name of Paul Toignier. He wrote a book called A Place for You, and he was a counselor, and he believed that One of the deepest needs we all have is to belong somewhere, to have a place. In his book he told a story about this young man who had a rough life.
His family was unhappy. He never felt like he fit in at home. And he, even as he grew up, couldn't connect with the people at work. He always just felt lost. One day in counseling, This young man said, I think the real problem is I'm just always looking for a place.
someplace to be. That's something that we all feel in our hearts. We want to know we belong. We want a place where we're wanted, where we feel at home. And some people go their whole lives searching for that and they never find it.
But Jesus gives us this promise. He says to all of us who are Christians, Y'all have a place. A place he's preparing it right now. It's not just a house. It's your home.
It's your future. It's where you're going to be with Jesus. and with all of his followers. This will be our lasting home. Remember.
We're not home yet. Remember the old spiritual, this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through.
Well, that's true. The Bible describes us as pilgrims and strangers on this earth. We may have our own homes, even beautiful ones, but they're only temporary because. We're not here for long, are we? Just ask Edward Harriman.
He was a preacher's kid who dropped out of school to become an errand boy on Wall Street. In less than ten years, he was a member of the New York Stock Exchange. He later became one of America's leading railroad giants. He was known as the king of the railroad. He purchased nearly 8,000 acres north of New York City.
for his forever home, 8,000 acres. And a mansion he called Arden. It was a 100,000 square foot mansion on 20,000 acres at the top of Mount Arama. with breathtaking views. The mansion, which is today an exclusive conference center, some of you may know about it.
boasts wide corridors, sprawling sitting rooms, sweeping courtyards, spewing fountains, and lavish bedrooms. It's one of the largest private homes in all of America. Harriman made certain everything about this house came from the United States: the carved wood, marbles. painting, tapestry, sculptures. Furniture, even the great organ in the gallery was made in America.
Harriman moved into his sprawling mansion early nineteen oh nine. and he died there on September the 9th of the same year. He was 61. He only enjoyed his mansion a few months. before death took it all away.
Our earthly homes, whether we live in a cardboard box or in a sprawling estate, They're all temporary. Heaven is your forever home. Which you will enjoy in a resurrected body with a glorious friend named Jesus Christ.
So heaven means believing in a person. And it means believing in a place. But it also means believing in a promise. Jesus said, I go. and prepare a place for you, and I will come again.
and receive you to myself. that where I am, there you may be also. within the context of our Lord's impending death. His resurrection and ascension. The only logical interpretation of this promise involves His return.
and rapture of the church. It's incredible to consider how much the Lord wants to be with us. He wants us to be where he is. He prayed in John 17, 24, Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am. That they may behold my glory.
I don't know that I ever realized that until recently. In studying the New Testament, how many times it says in the New Testament that Jesus wants us to be with Him.
Now, we want to be with Jesus. But it's amazing. Jesus wants us to be with Him. It's the desire of Jesus Christ to be with us. He had many things to say on earth, and the Bible has much to say, but some of the words are truths for us to accept.
Some are prayers for us to echo.
Some are warnings that we should avoid.
Some are words of reassurance. There are long passages devoted to the praise of God's glory, and Jesus had a lot to say about the ethics of life. About loving God and loving one another. But to me, the most wonderful category of biblical teaching is the promises the Lord has made to us. They represent the foundation of our faith.
He said, I'm going away. To prepare a place for you, and I'm going to come and get you and bring you where I am so that where I am, you can be also. And that's a wonderful truth.
Someone has said God makes a promise. Faith believes it. Hope anticipates it, and patience waits for it. Of all his promises, the Lord's simple words that he is preparing a place for us and will come again. and receive us and take us to be with Him for eternity.
Well, I don't know there could be a better promise than that. We all need our Lord's promise. We need it badly. And we have it. Vaneetha Rendell Reisner has learned to rest on that promise.
I'm going to tell you her rather sad story. Veneta contracted polio as an infant. She was misdiagnosed. She lived with widespread paralysis. Things began improving after she found Christ as a young person.
She got a dream job in Boston. She earned her MBA from Stanford. where she met and married a classmate. Then things unraveled again. She had four miscarriages.
and her son died from a doctor's mistake. She was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, meaning she would likely be a quadriplegic. and that's when her husband betrayed her and moved out. Through all of this, Venetha's walk with God kept growing stronger and her faith Deeper into the word, and she has been a testimony of victory to many. She wrote a book.
It's called walking through fire. She simply put it like this. She said, life is a journey. but only if there's a destination. I'm on my way to my father's house.
And I absolutely cannot wait for the party. When I get there, I will jog, run, sprint, race, and finally leap into the arms of my Savior. She long ago discovered that her suffering was temporary and it was preparing her for heaven. Where there would be incomparable glory far greater than any pain she has ever known. People ask me all the time: why is it important to study heaven?
we're not there yet. Heaven is the anchor of your soul. The Bible says that. And when you know that God has got this all worked out, and the plan for the future is definite, and there's no possibility that can fail, that one day you're going to be with Jesus.
Somehow the things you have to go through down here are a little bit easier to deal with. because you know this is not forever. God's got something better planned for all of us.
So heaven means believing in a person. It means believing in a place. And it means believing in a promise. Here's number four in the four things. Heaven means believing in a plan.
Now, the problem is, everybody who thinks they're going to heaven isn't going there. I don't know if you've noticed this, but oftentimes in sporting events, here's what usually happens. One of the athletes loses their father. the week before. And he goes out the next week and he either scores a touchdown or he Throws a no-hitter, he hits a home run.
And then they say, My dad isn't here right now, but he's Watching from heaven.
Well, that assumes his father is in heaven. And the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible doesn't teach that the people in heaven watch us. It comes from a passage in Hebrews 12 that says, There's a great cloud of witnesses. watching, but that cloud of witnesses isn't the people in heaven.
That's the people in Hebrews 11 who did all those great things the Bible talks about. And they're witnessing to us that we can do those things. They're not looking at us, watching us do them.
So, the interesting thing about heaven is that everybody sort of thinks they're going there. But it's not true. And if you don't know for sure, how to get to heaven, you should listen up because I'm going to give you the plan. I'm going to tell you what the Bible says right from this passage of Scripture. It couldn't be clearer.
And if you're watching on television at home, I hope you will listen up. If you're not a Christian, you say, well, I don't know if I'm a Christian or not. When you get done with these next few moments, you're going to know. Whether you have done what the Bible says you need to do. to go to heaven.
Not everybody who says they're going to heaven is going to heaven. You don't just get to go there because you think you're going there. That brings us to this final truth in John 14. Jesus said, Where I go you know, and the way you know And Thomas said to him, Lord, We do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?
And Jesus said, I am the way. the truth and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. When Thomas asked about the way, Jesus didn't offer a list of instructions. He offered himself.
That's the heart of the gospel. Jesus is our plan for salvation. William Barkley illustrated it this way. He said, Suppose you're in a strange town and you ask for directions. And suppose the person asks, says, take the first to the right.
The second to the left, cross the square, go past the church, take the third on the right, and the road you want is the fourth on the left. The chances are that you will get lost before you're halfway there. But suppose the person we ask says, come along, I'll take you there. In that case, the person to us is the way. And we cannot get lost because the person is the way and he's taking us there.
That is what Jesus does for us. He doesn't just say, heaven's that way. No, he says, I am the way to heaven. If you want to go to heaven, you have to come through me. He doesn't give us advice and directions.
He takes us by the hand and he leads us. and strengthens us and guides us personally every day.
Now that can sound narrow to our culture.
Some say it's intolerant. But if we follow Jesus, we don't get to revise His words. You know, somebody said God created us in His image, and ever since then, we've been trying to create God in our image. We want God to be the God who serves us and makes all of our dreams come true. Unfortunately, God makes the rules, and here are the rules.
Here's how you get to heaven. You have to come through Jesus Christ. There aren't many ways.
Some people say, oh, your way is as good as my way. No, the only way that counts is his way. God is the only one who gets to make the choice on that. The Bible is very consistent about that, men and women. The Bible says, Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven whereby men must be saved.
There's only one way. 1 Timothy 2:5 says, There is one God and one mediator between God and man. the man Christ Jesus. In this age of tolerance, when everybody thinks their way is as good as anybody else's way, we need to remember what Proverbs says. There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Somebody said, well. They're sincere. How many of you know you can be sincerely wrong? You know, I could say I'm sincerely believing that if I jump out of this plane without a parachute, I'll be okay. But I will be sincerely wrong, and pretty soon the ground will remind me of that.
You know, sincerity is a good thing, but it's not the one thing you need to go to heaven. You need Jesus Christ. You need to put your trust in him. Listen to me. God doesn't change his mind.
About going to heaven for each person. Just as every person is physically born the same way. through a mother and a father. Every person is spiritually born the same way. through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.
You know, I know a lot of people are saying, well, they're finding new ways to bring children into the world. They can find all the ways they want, but they still need two things: they need an egg and a sperm for there to be a child. And the Bible says, if you're going to go to heaven, you need the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. You can't be born any other way. That's it.
So listen to me. If Almighty God thinks it's all right to have one way, for physical birth, why should we think it's strange if he has one way for spiritual birth? There is one way. D.L. Modi once told the story of a wealthy man who was dying And when the doctor said there was no hope, the man called for his lawyer to make out his will.
He had a little four-year-old daughter who didn't understand what death meant. Her mother gently explained that daddy was going away.
So the little girl tiptoed to her father's bedside, looked into his eyes, and said, Papa, Do you have a home in the place where you're going? That question hit hard because the man had spent his life accumulating properties and possessions. but none of it could go with him. He had many homes on earth, but no home in heaven.
Someday each of us will leave it all behind. We'll leave our homes, our titles. Our bank accounts. When that moment comes, one thing will matter. whether we've prepared for eternity.
I remember as a young man growing up And listening to the voice. of a man by the name of Charles E. Fuller. He used to be on the radio every Sunday old-fashioned revival hour, I think is what they called it. When I was growing up in the Midwest, he preached.
Every weekend, and he always was accompanied by a tremendous guy who played the piano named Rudy Atwood. It was the highlight of my weekend, I think probably even then, God was putting the seed in my heart. to having a ministry of evangelism as we've had over the years. Before one of those broadcasts, Dr. Fuller announced that he'd be speaking the next Sunday.
on the subject of heaven. But before he could, he received a letter from a listener, one that said it all. He said, next Sunday, you're speaking on heaven. I'm interested in that land. I've held a title to a bit of property there for over 55 years.
I didn't buy it. It was given to me, paid for it, great sacrifice. It's not vacant for over half a century. I've been sending materials to the greatest architect. who's been building a perfect home.
one that won't need repairs, won't wear out, and stands secure on the rock of ages.
Now, there's a valley of shadows between here and there. I'm not afraid. My best friend went through that valley and took the fear out of it. He promised never to leave me and he'll walk with me all the way. I hope to hear your message next Sunday.
But if not, I'll meet you there. When you know that to be true. That's the confidence. Most of us in this room have probably had to say goodbye to somebody that we love who's left this life. My parents are both in heaven.
My sister is in heaven. Donna's parents are in heaven, her brothers in heaven. And I remember one day my father said something to me. He said, David, as I get older, I got more friends in heaven than I got on earth. And I think that's true.
That's what happens as you get older, more and more of your generation goes to heaven. And the joy of knowing about that is that heaven is so real. It's not an imagination. It's not just a good feeling you have because You need to have a good feeling about something. No, heaven is promised in the Word of God.
And during these days that we spend talking about it, I'm going to try to make it as real for you as I can. I'm going to tell you a lot of the things the Bible says about it that you may not know. And you're going to get excited about heaven.
Now Most of us would be honest that we want to go to heaven someday. Not necessarily today. And I think that's normal. I remember when Donna and I were in school. And we used to go, and we'd had evangelistic meetings at the college, and a guy would come and he'd preach on the rapture.
We would actually ask the Lord not to come back until we could get married. We didn't want the rapture to come. We were looking forward to getting married. You know, there's things that you do on this earth. I love to tell the story about the little boy who was in class one day, and the teacher asked, How many of you want to go to heaven?
Everybody raised their hand, but this little boy in the back row and the teacher went back and said, Johnny, don't you want to go to heaven? He said, What do you mean? She says, Don't you want to go to heaven when you die? He said, Yeah, when I die, but I thought you were getting up a load for tonight. And that's where a lot of us feel, you know.
We don't want to go to heaven now, but we want to be ready to go to heaven when the time comes. In the meantime, God wants us to live our lives down here, and one of our goals ought to be not only to go to heaven, but to take as many people with us as we can. Amen? That's what Turning Point is all about. That's what we do.
That's why we do what we do.
So many people have come to Christ listening to Turning Point on the radio and reading books that we've written. That's our goal and it should be all of our goals. To go to heaven, don't just hoard it yourself. If you really believe it's true, if you believe what we've read and studied today, Tell somebody about it. Ask them.
One day, God is going to say to everybody, Why should I let you into my heaven? You better have the right answer. And the answer is: the only way you get into heaven is through Jesus Christ. Can I get a witness? Amen.
Amen. That's right, that's what Jesus said. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man comes to the Father except through me. When you come to Jesus, You Enter into heaven.
Ultimately, it's waiting for you. Knowing Jesus is knowing heaven.
Well tomorrow We're going to talk about this. What's up with heaven? Actually, where is heaven? Does the Bible tell us, is there only one heaven, or are there more than heaven? One heavens?
We'll answer those questions tomorrow here on Turning Point as we continue our journey through the discussion of the promise of heaven. Make sure you get your copy of this book during the month of October. When you get it from Turning Point, you can receive it for a gift of any size. This 240-page hardback book will be sent to you right away when you send your gift and ask for the book. We're happy to do it.
It's also available in bookstores everywhere. More important than anything else is that you get your copy of the promise of heaven during this time when we're emphasizing this topic. I'm David Jeremiah. See you next time. Today's message from Dr.
David Jeremiah came to you from the Appell Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. We always welcome your notes of encouragement.
So please write us at Turning Point, P.O. Box 3838, San Diego, California 92163. Visit our website at davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's new book, The Promise of Heaven. 31 Reasons to Get Excited About Your Eternal Home.
It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also stream more than 1200 of Dr. Jeremiah's messages on demand on any screen. With our streaming service Turning Point Plus for a monthly gift of any amount. Visit TurningPointPlus.org for details.
This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series The Promise of Heaven on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
