If you've ever planned and prepared for a big event, You know how the excitement affects your daily life. How much more should heaven impact your life? Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah considers how our thoughts about heaven should influence how we live here on Earth. from the series The Promise of Heaven.
Here's David to introduce today's message, Tough Minded About Heaven. You know, there are some people who think there's no point in worrying about heaven until we get there, but if you're a Christian, Heaven should be at the forefront of your mind. The certainty of heaven causes us to live our lives differently, gives us direction and purpose and strength in difficult times. We learn to grow and mature, allowing the Lord to work through us to bring others into the kingdom of God.
So, today I want to talk with you about the importance of staying focused on our eternal home. We're going to talk about being tough-minded about heaven. Hey, we're in 2 Peter 3, if you want to follow along in the Scripture. We'll get to that in just a moment, but first, we're running out of time to tell you about the Promise of Heaven book. We have just this week and we won't be talking about it anymore.
on the radio. The book will still be available, but we will not have it up at And in the presence of your mind every day.
So if you haven't already ordered your copy of The Promise of Heaven, Here's what you do. Send a gift of any size to help with the cost of radio, time, and production. And when you do that, ask for the book on heaven, and it will come to your home. We'll send it to you. You can also get the book in places where good books are sold.
It's in Target, it's in Barnes and Noble, it's in Walmart, it's in Hobby Lobby, and many other places where books are available. The Promise of Heaven is a book you need to have. It tells you about your future in a way you will not find any place else. It answers your questions and helps you to become comfortable with what God says is going to be your eternal home. The promise of heaven During the month of October is our resource of the month and yours available.
for a gift of any size. Ask for it when you send your gift today. Let's get to our study. In 2017, Tara Wells was drowning in diapers and laundry and sleep deprivation. She had two toddlers.
and a third baby on the way. She looked at her husband and she said, in 2024, We're taking a big family trip. No excuses. He raised his eyebrow and just kind of said, okay. But Tara wasn't kidding.
That night, she circled the year on a calendar. And she began planning. She and her husband sold their small location-based business. They switched careers, didn't take a vacation. Every single decision that they made pointed to one goal: the trip.
of a lifetime. Finally, 2024 arrived, and after years of dreaming and sacrificing, Tara and her family spent a month in California. Hiking big sir. wandering through Disneyland and marveling at Yosemite. Then came seven weeks exploring Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, and finally.
a Caribbean cruise to top it all off. Was everything we wanted to be, Tara says. It instilled a spirit of adventure in the three boys that can never be taken away and refueled my spirit to be ready for whatever comes next. I'm sure you all know. That when you have something to look forward to, it changes everything.
when you're getting ready to do something special, every day is changed because of that. For years, that future trip shaped Tara's future choices. It gave her strength. When the hard days came, it gave her direction when things got chaotic and joy in the waiting. And that's the power of a vacation.
and just a glimpse of what heaven can do for you and me. People often tell me they don't understand why we should be concerned about heaven now. Isn't it true? that people who are heavenly minded tend to be no earthly good? But the opposite is true.
Wayne Martindale said it this way: Some people think that if you're focused on the streets of gold in heaven, You'll ignore the potholes on the streets in Chicago. But history shows that the people most interested in the streets of gold are most interested in the ones made out of concrete and asphalt. One of the most consistent truths of the New Testament is this: what you think about heaven. affects how you live today. The hope of heaven is like an anchor, it doesn't hold you back.
Holds you steady when the storms come and pull you forward and it brings you into the future God has promised. In his second letter, Peter ended his letter with a question. After describing the renovation of the world at the end of the age, she said. Therefore, Since all these things will be dissolved. What manner of persons ought you to be.
That question is at the heart of our study today.
Now that we know what the Bible teaches about heaven, Now that we know that God's future has wonderful plans. for his children. The question then is, how should we now live? Because of what we know is coming, How should our life be changed?
So in the verses that follow, Peter tells us The answer to that question, and I want to share them with you today. Let me remind you that when God gives us truth, He also gives us responsibility. We don't get truth from God so we can be smarter. We get truth from God so we can be holier, so we can walk with Him. God wants His truth to change our lives.
These past messages we've learned about heaven. And now we can no longer be the same as we were before that. We are now accountable for what we've heard. We must be different people because of our exposure. to the word of God.
I've been thinking about how important this is, not just for me, but for our whole church. If we want to experience all that God has for us. We have to train our minds to think biblically. The constant flood of media is pulling us away from that. It's never been so powerful as today.
You cannot turn the television on and escape it. It is everywhere. And every day you turn it on, someone has invented a new way to be evil, and you can't imagine that it would be true. without tough-mindedness. We will be overwhelmed.
So I encourage you to listen with your heart and your head. And your determination today. In 1 Peter 1:13, the apostle uses a term that is the biblical equivalent of tough-mindedness. Here's what he wrote. 1 Peter 1.13, therefore gird up the loins of your mind.
Now, that's not a term we would use today. We don't use the word gird, loins of our minds. I've never said that in any normal conversation. But Roll up the sleeves of your mind would be better. Peter is using an ancient expression Which described the gathering up around the waist of the long Eastern robes that would impede one's progress in running.
They would gird these robes up around them and tie them in a knot so that when they ran, the robes didn't get in their way. In other words, Peter is telling his readers to put out of their minds all of the things that can cause them to stumble. the things that will get in their way of thinking God's thoughts after him. He's saying, gird up the loins of your mind. Tough-mindedness means saying no to the mental junk of the world.
These distractions get in the way of what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our minds. and they keep us from focusing on what matters to God. Here's how Paul explained this concept to the Colossian believers. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above. Where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above. not on the things on the earth. In other words, Be tough-minded. To set your mind means to take control of your mind. Here from 2 Peter are Five things that demand our tough-mindedness.
These are five things that are true because Jesus is coming back. Five things that are true because there is a heaven and a hell. Five things that are true because if we take them seriously, We know where we're headed. You can't know about heaven and believe in heaven. Be confident that you're going to heaven without it changing the things that you do on the earth in anticipation of it.
First of all, Peter said, because we're going to heaven, we should be tough-minded about purity. 2 Peter 3:11 reads like this: Therefore, Since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be? in holy conduct and godliness. In this one verse, Peter describes the lifestyle of a Christ follower. Who understands the future plan of God?
Notice, first of all, he says we ought to be people of holy conduct. That doesn't mean we walk around with halos on our head. It means we live righteously. The word holy means to be set apart for the service of God. Peter addressed this same thing in his first letter.
Listen to these words. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober. Rest your hope fully upon grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lust. as in your ignorance.
But as he who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, be holy. For I am holy. Peter tells us that we're to be tough-minded about godliness. This illustrates the importance of our inward attitude. The word godliness means to have a godward attitude.
that God is included in our thought process. He is the leader in the way we think. He doesn't just have a seat at the table. He is the originator and leader and director of our thought process. We do things that are well pleasing to him.
And let me just tell you something I've learned. This doesn't happen automatically. You don't just become a Christian and the switch goes on, and from that moment on, you think in godly ways. You have to learn to do that and develop that. It's called self-discipline.
And it's interesting to me as you read the New Testament how many times you run into words that are filled with energy. For instance, 1 Timothy says, Exercise yourselves. toward godliness. And you know the word exercise is the word gymnazio, which we get the word gymnasium. And Paul told young Timothy, his disciple: he said, Timothy, Get into the spiritual gymnasium and become a holy person.
Don't be lazy. Don't just think this is going to happen. In 1 Timothy 6, He says, But you, O man of God, Pursue righteousness. How many of you know righteousness is never going to pursue you? You have to pursue it.
You have to go after it. When you're fighting with temptation and all of that, the scripture says one of the strategies you use is you become the pursuer and you pursue righteousness. Titus 2 says, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. looking for the blessed hope.
And the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
So, ladies and gentlemen, if you sensitize your mind to this truth, you will discover that over and over again in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit associates godliness. and holiness With The coming again of Christ to receive us to himself. One writer helps us understand how heaven should motivate us to live holy lives. He said If my wedding date is on the calendar, And I'm thinking of the person I'm going to marry. I shouldn't be an easy target for seduction.
Likewise, when I've meditated on heaven, sin is terribly unappealing. It's when my mind drifts from heaven that sin seems attractive. Thinking of heaven leads inevitably to pursuing holiness. Our high tolerance of sin testifies. to our failure to prepare for heaven.
If I believe I'll spend eternity in a world of unending beauty and adventure, Will I be content to spend all my evenings staring at game shows, sitcoms, and ball games? Even if I keep my eyes off of impurities, how much time will I want to invest in what doesn't matter? What a warning that is for all of us. In this day and age, when so much is available to us. most of which is not health-giving to Christians.
If we're not careful, we succumb to the easiness of its availability. and our lives become more directed by the world system than the things of God. Tough-minded about purity. There's never been a time when more people's lives were at stake at this issue than there is today, because there's never been a time when seduction has been more intense in every aspect of life than it is in this very hour.
So here's what the Bible says. Gird up the loins of your mind. Get tough-minded about this. You take control and don't let that take control of you. Then tough-minded about promises.
In verse 12, he says, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. CS Lewis. was tough-minded about the promise of God. Here's what he wrote. I must keep alive in myself.
The desire for my true country. Which I shall not find until after death. I must never. Let it get snowed under or turned aside. I must make it the main object of life.
to press on to that other country and help others do the same. According to Peter, it's easy to become indifferent to the future and to what it means. In 2 Peter, he says that in the end time scoffers will come. walking according to their own lust and saying, where is the promise of his coming? They will poo-poo.
the coming of Christ. They will say it's just in your mind or I know you guys need to believe that, and if that's what you need to believe, then to keep you okay, but it's not true. They're scoffers. Their mockery stems from a short-sighted view of life. They think because Jesus hasn't come Since he announced he was coming, that he won't come.
and they believe that God's working on their time schedule. And the Bible says one day with the Lord is like a thousand years. thousand years is one day. What does that mean? It means that God isn't constructed by what we are.
God never looks at his watch. And God's timing is perfect. I believe it's soon, don't you? We see the things happening around us today. That reminds us that while we can't tell you.
For sure when the Lord is coming, we can sure identify the season of His coming. And more things are on the plate right now than ever have been before than I can remember. Even the nations coming together in certain patterns and things that are happening around the world. One thing we know for sure: our redemption is nearer now than when we first believed. His coming will be soon, and because of that, We need to be tough-minded about our profession.
Don't let people push you in a corner about your faith in the return of Christ. Our citizenship is in heaven, and the Bible says we eagerly wait for the Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ. One writer captured this perspective with these words. A habitual contemplation of the truth that all we see is soon to pass away.
would produce a most solemn effect on our minds. It would make us serious. It would lead us not to desire to accumulate what must soon be destroyed. It would prompt us to lay up treasures in heaven. It would cause us to ask with deep earnestness whether we are prepared for these amazing scenes should they suddenly burst upon us.
In other words, What if we knew for certain if it was absolutely without possibility of not happening. If we knew for certain two weeks from now Jesus would come and we'd be ushered into heaven, spend our eternity there. How would that change the way we spend these next two weeks? We would make a whole lot of different kinds of decisions, would we know that? But, ladies and gentlemen, we know that.
We know he's coming soon. We know it could happen at any moment. in our lifetime. How then, says the Scripture, should we live? That's the question.
How is heaven, and knowing that we're going to spend eternity there? making a difference. in how we live today. Thirdly, tough-minded about our purpose. 2 Peter 3.14 says, Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, Be diligent.
to be found by him in peace without spot and blameless. Here's the thing I think is really hard for people to understand. Here it is. Holiness is hard. Say that with me.
Holiness is hard. We don't just become holy because we put a Bible under our pillow at night and sleep on it. We're not holy because we come to church. We don't become holy because we know a few scriptures. Holiness is the daily diligent pursuit of righteousness in our life.
And is it interesting that Peter uses the word diligent? To be diligent means to do your best. To make haste to take care. Our modern Merriam-Webster dictionary says diligence is steady. Ernest.
energetic effort. The original author of that dictionary was Noah Webster, who was himself a dedicated Christian. He published his Dictionary in eighteen oh six. He was known for his diligence. He worked day and night.
For many years, to produce his world-famous work in which he defined 70,000 words and helped shape the American language. His original definition of the word diligence is one of the best I've ever read. Here's what he says. Constant in effort or exertion to accomplish what is undertaken, industrious, not idle. or negligent.
Peter says, when it comes to your walk with the Lord, be diligent. Don't be haphazard. Don't be lazy. Don't be passive. Go after it with all you have.
Find out the things that you know that make you grow in Christ and help you to be a better Christian, and concentrate on them. Don't miss church because you want to do something, whatever it is that you want to do that causes you to miss church. Most of it's not worth that choice. And in our culture today, they've programmed everything on Sunday as if to concentrate on people not going to church. And you have to be diligent to not let that happen to you.
You have to stand up and say, no, church is a critical, important issue in my life, and I'm not going to let you take that away from me. Those are illustrations that help me understand what it means to be diligent. Take your goal, put it out in front of you, and don't let anybody dissuade you from it. And if you do that, you will learn how to be tough-minded about your purpose.
So Diligence is hard, it's tough, it's easier to slack off, it's easier to take an easier road, to follow shortcuts, to give up. Diligence is particularly difficult. in our fast food microwave society. As Americans, we don't want to be diligent for something, we just want to do it and have it pay off. We want the maximum payoff for the smallest possible amount of labor, and that's how we live.
and that's built into our current culture.
So Peter says, be diligent. In Paul's day, there were some who thought that since the Lord was going to come back soon. They should just take it easy.
Well, the Lord's going to come back, so what difference does it make? I'm just going to coast on into heaven. And some of that attitude is present in Our churches today among God's people. I know I'm going to heaven, and that's the main thing. And that's all I care about.
I made my reservation for heaven. I'm going to live the rest of my life the way I want to live it.
Well, first of all, if that's your attitude, you should go back and examine whether or not you truly know the Lord. Because if I tried to live that way, I would be the most miserable creature on the face of God's earth. And so should you be if you're a Christian. And we don't always do this life I'm talking about perfectly. We get our priorities mixed up, but down deep in our soul, there is this hunger and desire to please God.
And we want to live for Him. We want to honor Him with our lives. We want to make a difference in our culture. If that's not within you, as a part of your DNA. your Christianity may be subject to a little investigation.
The Bible tells us this: when you become a Christian, listen to me, old things pass away and all things become new. Is that happening? That's what the Bible tells us we should be like as followers of Christ. What urgency this should put into our daily lives. The older I get and I'm getting older.
The more I think about My goal is to go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can. When I hear about people that have come to Christ through radio or television or our church service or listen to testimonies in the baptistry, my heart jumps a little bit. That's one more that's going to be in heaven. And maybe God used all of us together to do something to make that happen. That ought to thrill us.
Because you know what the Bible says? For every one of them, there's an angel party in heaven. Every one of them.
So Peter's given us this incredible list. tough-minded about our purity, our promises, our purpose. Tough-minded about a profession. He's therefore beloved. Since you know this beforehand.
Beware lest you fall from your own steadfastness. being led away with the error of the wicked. Peter says, if you know you're going to heaven, don't get lazy-minded. Don't just sit around and think this is cool. I'm going to heaven, everything's fine, because the enemy will come after you.
The Bible says he goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may destroy. The enemy is out to dissuade you from your holy righteousness. I don't believe Peter was saying we can fall from our salvation. He was exhorting us to be strong in our profession of faith. to know what we believe.
and let nothing keep us from believing it. We've all experienced the upheaval of recent days in our country, and I want to tell you how important it is to really be sure you know what you know. To be sure that you know what the Bible says about faith, about heaven, about sin. About forgiveness. These things are the truths that will help you get through the uncertainty of this day, which is why we focus our attention every day on teaching the unchangeable word of God.
Thank you for your participation with us. Your investment in this ministry helps us strengthen. The backbone of Christians everywhere across the country and around the world. Tomorrow we'll come back with more about being tough-minded about heaven. This is a practical application of all that we've been studying, so don't forget to join us and don't forget to ask for your copy of the book.
promise of heaven when you send your gift to Turning Point this month. Thanks for listening. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series, The Promise of Heaven, Please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected. our monthly Turning Points magazine, and our daily email devotional.
Sign up today at DavidJeremiah.org slash radio. That's DavidJeremiah.org slash radio. or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's encouraging 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 purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International and New King James Versions, complete with notes and articles from Dr. Jeremiah's decades of study. Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Join us tomorrow as we continue the series The Promise of Heaven on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
