If you've given your life to Christ, That decision has changed the course of your life for eternity. But has it also changed the way you think? Today on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah looks at how you're exciting an amazing future. ought to affect your mindset here and now.
Get ready to be challenged and inspired as David introduces the conclusion of his timely message. tough-minded about heaven. Friends, if you're going to go to heaven and you know it because you put your trust in Christ, that knowledge should change the way you live. You should live your life in such a way as you know you're a candidate for heaven. You're going to spend eternity with the Holy God.
We should never allow things to come into our lives that would embarrass us if we were to be in heaven today. We are to do heavenly things. I don't mean we walk around with a halo around our head, but we do the things that honor God. We do things that reflect our citizenship in this wonderful place. We'll talk more about it today in just a moment as we open our Bibles together.
We are in 2 Peter 3, if you want to follow us in the Scripture. Hey, let me tell you about Turning Points magazine and devotional. It is a very beautiful thing to have. Come into your home every month and grace your place of living. You will find articles to help you grow.
It's always beautifully designed, and it's prepared specifically to help you in your daily walk. Devotions for every day, Monday through Friday, and one for the weekend, plus many articles on the principles of faith and what the Bible says about various subjects. Also, information about the Turning Point and what God is doing through this ministry. We want you to have this magazine, and you can have it by asking for it. We'll send it to you.
You can have the devotional content downloaded into your email box, and it will come up every day.
So, look into that and go to our website, and you can negotiate all that there and make sure it happens for you in the future. Here is Part 2 of Tough Minded About Heaven. 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. 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 times, scoffers will come. walking according to their own lusts 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.
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 1806. He was known for his diligence. He worked day and night. for many years to produce his world famous work in which he defines 70,000 words And helps 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 are responsible before God to stay rooted and grounded in faith. To rightly divide the word of truth. Do you know that one? Peter, Paul, and James were doing their job. They were inundated by false teachers.
We have a lot of false teachers today. They're more seductive, they're more kind of in the background, they just sort of sneak their way in. They get their little false teaching and they surround it with biblical truth as if it were from God. But in Paul's day, it was just blatant false teaching, and they were constantly exposed to it. And I want to tell you, the devil still has his agents who ask.
Did God really say that? That's how Satan works. He makes us doubt his word. And then the next thing we know, we become a victim of his craft. The word steadfast means to fix our mind.
and constantly be ready. to face the challenges to come. Finally, Peter says, be tough-minded about your progress. This is my favorite point in the whole list. He says, but grow, and this is 2 Peter 3:18, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory, both now and forever. Amen. You know why that's important? That's the last thing Peter ever said that's recorded in the Bible. He said, grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord.
And the question then comes to all of us, am I growing in grace? Am I growing as a Christian? Do you know it's possible to get your foot in the door and just stagnate? Don't go anywhere, don't grow anyway, don't do anything. And this is one of Peter's exhortations in this chapter.
He says we're to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And the best way to overcome those who are coming after you is keep growing. You're going so fast they can't catch you. You're becoming a Christian of such magnitude that they don't know where to get at you. The least thing you can do is sit back and worry about people coming after you to destroy you and you're not growing.
Be a growing aggressive Christian. And if you are that, according to Peter, you will be blessed. You say, Pastor, how do I grow?
Well, you grow through the will of God. Philippians 1:6, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Did you know that God wants you to grow? That's the simple truth behind Philippians 1.6. He's the one who started the work in your heart when you first believed, and He's not going to quit on you.
He doesn't leave things half finished. He wants you to grow and be mature. That's his purpose. That should be your purpose. Growth comes through the watchfulness of prayer.
1 Peter 4, 7, but the end of all things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. The closer we come to Christ's return, The more we need prayer, I know it's not always easy, but praying creates a climate for spiritual growth. Praying Christians. are growing Christians. And then number three, growth comes through the Word of God.
Revelation 22, 7 says, Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. And ladies and gentlemen, that's what we're all about here in this church. When you come to this church every weekend, you should expect to be nourished up in the good word of God. I don't have a motivational message for you, I don't have any travelogue I'm going to give you.
I'm not a historian. I know how to do one thing, and that's nourish you up in the good word of God. And the Bible says. that the Word of God is the source of our growth. When you read the Word of God and study the Word of God, and the Word of God gets in your heart, it causes you to grow.
That's why it's called the milk. That you drink when you're first a Christian, and then later on, it's called the meat of the word. And the Bible tells us. that God wants us to grow. He wants us to grow in Knowledge.
not just in knowledge. but also in practice. as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word. that you may grow thereby. 1 Peter 2.2.
And then growth comes not only through the will of God and the watchfulness of prayer and the word of God. Growth comes through the work of the church. And I want to just explain all of this today the best I can. Hebrews. 10 says, We're to consider one another in order to keep up love and good works, and we're to assemble together.
Every week we're to come together as God's people.
Now, I know that's a strange thing. Many of you who are listening on the internet, you're going to be upset by this, but I hope you do get upset and do something about it. Here's what I want to tell you: if you're able-bodied and you live near a church, you should be in church. You shouldn't be listening to me on the internet, you should be in church. You say, well, Pastor, I'm going to just shut you off then from now on.
Well, you won't do that. You won't do that. I'm on the radio, as you know, all over the country, and every Friday. I give this impassioned speech to everyone I hardly ever miss. Go to church.
God does some of his best work in the church. That's why he wants you to be there. He knows that you need to be there, and he knows the church needs you to be there. because that's where you will grow. I don't know many growing Christians who never go to church.
I just don't know anybody like that.
Someone once said, You can be a Christian without the church, just like you can be a husband who never goes home, but I don't recommend either one. God never designed the Christian life to be lived alone. Hebrews tells us that the return of Christ is coming. And in that case, we need the church more, not less. The Bible doesn't say we should go to church less because Jesus is coming.
He says, and all the more because He's coming. Growth doesn't just happen, it takes showing up, speaking up, lifting up. You can't walk away from that and be the same. It will change your life, but you have to submit to it. You have to be willing to take advantage of it.
You say, well, I've served the Lord a long time. I don't think I've got anything to offer. Biggest problem we have in our churches right now. are people who are older. Maybe like me.
who think that now they can just retire from serving God and let everybody else do the work. You guys need to be involved. You need to figure out how you can use your talent, whatever it is. I don't think you can be a really happy Christian if you're not serving somehow. Serving is How you grow.
No one has written more helpfully about heaven. Then C.S. Lewis. I love what he says. It's in mere Christianity, his signature work.
Here's what he says. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the mixed. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world. that they have become so ineffective in this aim at heaven. and you will get earth thrown in.
Aim at the earth and you will get neither. One man who embodied all of this was a man by the name Dr. Charles McCoy. Dr. McCoy.
Never married. but he devoted his life to pastoring a church in Oyster Bay, New York. During the time he was pastoring that church, he earned seven college degrees. And at 72, he retired. not certain what he was going to do for the future.
Then he met a missionary who invited him to India. Though hesitant at first, he agreed, and when warned of the risks, McCoy simply said, it's just as close to heaven from India as it is from here.
Soon after arriving in Bombay, he was robbed. He lost his passport. And then he discovered the missionary he'd planned to meet was gone. At a loss, he decided to visit the mayor's office. Dr.
McCoy handed his business card to the receptionist and was told to return that afternoon. And when he did, he was surprised to find a reception in his honor. attended by prominent officials of Bombay. His commanding presence, his white hair, and long list of degrees made him appear like he was some U.S. dignitary.
So they all came out to welcome him. Dr. McCoy spoke for 30 minutes, giving his testimony about Jesus. Afterward, a military officer invited him to speak at India's equivalent of West Point, and more invitations followed.
Soon he became a sought-after preacher across all of India. And for the next 16 years, he proclaimed Christ with power and purpose. Finally, at the age of 88, He arrived in what was then Calcutta. stopped at the front desk for his room key, stepped onto the elevator, and was whisked right up to heaven. That's another reason why heaven is transformational because it's never very far away.
It's only a breath away when you get down right to it. Wherever life takes us, Our eternal home is secure. A city built by God, prepared by Jesus. And we have to live with joyful anticipation as we await the final journey, and it should change our lives every day, knowing. that we're going to be with Jesus forever and ever.
One of my favorite sports stories is about Florence Chadwick. Who was no stranger to long-distance swimming. In fact, she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. But one of her most memorable swims didn't end in victory and At least not at first. It was 1952, and she set out to swim the 26 miles from Catalina Island to the California coastline.
The water was cold and the fog was thick. And after swimming for 15 hours, she finally gave up. She was physically exhausted and emotionally spent. Here's the part of the story that stung. When she got back in the boat, she was less than a mile from the shore.
Later, she told reporters, I'm not excusing myself. but if I could have seen the shore, I might have made it. Two months later, she tried again. Same distance, same cold water, same heavy fog. But this time she finished.
What made the difference? She said, I kept a mental image of the shoreline in my mind the entire time. Florence Chadwick succeeded the second time, not because the fog was gone, but because she kept the shoreline in mind. Just thinking about her destination gave her the strength to keep going. And that's what heaven can do for us.
When life gets foggy, when the days feel long and the struggle wears us down, just knowing what's ahead can give us the courage to keep swimming. Heaven is our shoreline. It reminds us that this isn't the end of the story. God has something beautiful waiting for us. Keep your eyes on the shore.
Yeah. the way you know God would be pleased if He should. intervene in your life at any moment. I hope that God will use this to challenge us. Maybe some of us need to take a little inventory.
It's so easy in a church like ours. To just settle down into the comfort of biblical messages every week, good worship songs, maybe a class to go to, social life that's meaningful. But what are we doing for God? What are we really doing with the gifts he's given us? And you know what the Bible tells us?
Every single one of us has a gift. God gives every one of us a gift. when we become His followers. Are we using that gift for His sake? There's so much that needs to be done.
You say, well, it looks like this big church is well equipped with a lot of. I don't ever know a time when we haven't need leaders somewhere in a church. And if you're willing to be used of God, I want you to use this challenge. To do something about it. You say what I'm going to do: be diligent.
Go after it. Exercise yourself. Do something about it. You know, we can live in the comfort of what we think we'd like to do for a long time. without ever doing it.
Don't let that strategy get you. Sit down this week and make a list of the things you think God might be able to use. From what you know how to do and what he's equipped you to do, and find a way by the grace of God to do it. Amen. You know, everybody has a gift.
People don't believe me when I say that. You cannot be a Christian and not have a gift from God because the scripture says every believer is given a special gift, a gift of service and ministry. What is yours? Find out and get busy serving the Lord. That's the message, and that's what knowing about heaven will motivate you to do.
We are going to put a period at the end of this discussion, and tomorrow we're going to talk about one way. How many ways are there to heaven? You know, there's current discussions would lead you to believe that you can go to heaven in a lot of ways, that all roads lead to heaven. You just have to be sincere. But the Bible does not teach that.
The Bible says there is one way, only one way to heaven. You say, well, that sounds very stubborn and exclusive, and it is just as exclusive as the Bible. The Bible says you go to heaven through Jesus Christ. We'll unlock that all tomorrow on the next edition of Turning Point. Thank you for listening.
I'm David Jeremiah. See you next time. Our message today came to you from Shadow Mountain Community Church and senior pastor Dr. David Jeremiah. We always welcome your notes of encouragement.
So please write us at Turning Point, PO Box3838. 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 download the free Turning Point mobile app for your smartphone or tablet. or search in your App Store for Turning Point Ministries to access our content. Visit davidjeremiah.org slash radio for details.
This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we conclude the series, The Promise of Heaven, on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
