Heaven Part 4 Preparing for Heaven.

Transcription

1 Heaven Part 4 Preparing for Heaven. 1. There is a story of Billy Graham when he was visiting a city for one of his crusades. He had finished writing a letter and began to look for a place to mail it. Walking around the city for a while, he came across a young boy. He asked the boy if he knew how to get to the post office. The boy gave Billy Graham the directions and before leaving, Billy said to the boy, Come on over to the arena tonight and I ll tell you how to get to heaven. The boy looked at him and replied, How can you know how to get to heaven? You don t even know the way to the post office! 2. Review a. We ve learned that heaven is a reality, what it looks like and what we can expect. b. But what do we need to know about getting ready for it? How do we pack our bags and be prepared for the journey? What can we do to get ready? 3. We Send our Building Materials Ahead a. JOKE: There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him. An angel hears his plea and appears to him. "Sorry, but you can't take your wealth with you." The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules. The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed. Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. St. Peter seeing the HUGE suitcase says, "Hold on, you can't bring that in here!" But, the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his story with the Lord. Sure enough, St. Peter checks and comes back saying, "You're right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I'm supposed to check its contents before letting it through." St. Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, "Why would you bring pavement to heaven? i. What we value on earth will be worthless and commonplace in heaven. b. Matt. 6:19-21 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. i. The contrast Jesus makes is between the locations and durability of our treasures. 1. On earth, they will rot, rust or be robbed. 2. In heaven they will be safe and secure. 3. We are told here to store up our valuables in heaven. a. We can t take our riches here with us but we CAN send them on ahead of us. ii. Buy A CD: (Celestial Deposit) by giving of your time, talent and treasure for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Bob Higgins Page 1 1/25/2007

2 1. According to this passage it will never lose value! c. Charles E. Fuller once announced that he would be speaking the following Sunday on Heaven. During that week, a letter was received from an old man who was very ill. The following is part of his letter: i. Next Sunday you are to talk about Heaven. I am interested in that land, because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for over fifty-five years. I did not buy it. It was given to me without money and without price. But the donor purchased it for me at tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation since the title is not transferable. It is not a vacant lot. For more than half a century I have been sending materials out of which the greatest architect and builder of the universe has been building a home for me which will never need to be remodeled or repaired because it will suit me perfectly, individually, and will never grow old. Termites can never undermine its foundations for they rest on the rock of ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks or bolts will ever be placed upon its doors, for no vicious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling stands. It is now almost completed and ready for me to enter in and abide in peace eternally, without fear of ever being rejected. I hope to hear your sermon on heaven next Sunday from my home in Los Angeles, but I have no assurance that I shall be able to do so. My ticket to heaven has no date marked for the journey -- no return coupon -- and no permit for baggage. Yes, I am all ready to go and I may not be here while you are talking next Sunday, but I shall meet you there some day. (Ency of 7700 Illust. P. 545, #2183) d. Jesus finished his parable with this statement, Where your treasure is, on earth or in heaven, there will you heart be. i. What He is saying is that Your investments hold the attention of your affections. 1. I got a few stocks. I check them every day. Sometimes they go up in value. Sometimes they go down in value. They hold my attention. a. I have a bank account. I get a few percentages of interest each year. I check my monthly statement. In fact, b/c of the dangers of ID theft, I check my account with Quicken almost every day. b. I have a retirement account. It gains a bit every year as well. c. I check these things from time to time because I am invested not only financially in them but emotionally and physically as well. d. They represent my past earnings and the sacrifices I have made to set aside something for my and my family s future. 2. What, then, are the sacrifices, investments and earnings I have set aside for eternity? a. What are the investments that last for eternity? b. Do they exceed the investments I have made upon this earth? c. Do they hold more of my attention than those I have made here? Bob Higgins Page 2 1/25/2007

3 ii. Jesus says that your heart will follow your treasure. 1. If you choose to store up your treasure in heaven, your heart will be more excited iii. about heaven, and as a result, you will end up growing closer to God because you will be eager to see Him face to face. 2. When you chose to invest your life in God s purposes, you will find that your heart will fall deeply in love with God. a. Your heart will become passionate and excited about whatever you give your money and time to because you ve invested your heart and treasures in it! 3. Personal Illustration: When I was a young Christian, I went on a mission trip with a Christian organization to Appalachia. (I gave a week of my time). After I returned, I gave money regularly to that organization for many years. a. And what do you think I did with their monthly newsletter? b. Do you think I tossed it in the trash? NO! I read it because I was emotionally and financially invested in their organization and in what God was doing through them! Lu 12:33 - "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. iv. Mr 10:21 - Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." 1. These passages tell us that we not only CAN but SHOULD send things on ahead to heaven. v. I read a story about a man who died and went to heaven. He was met at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter who led him down the golden streets. They past mansions after beautiful mansions until they came to the end of the street where they stopped in front of a shack. The man asked St. Peter why he got a hut when there were so many mansions he could live in. St. Peter replied, "I did the best with what you sent us." vi. What will your mansion look like? 4. Not only do we send our materials ahead, but The materials we build our mansion with will be tested. a. (1 Cor. 3:11-14). For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. b. Every one of us builds a mansion! What we build it with will someday be tested by fire. We will either receive a reward or suffer loss. Bob Higgins Page 3 1/25/2007

4 i. I read a quote this week that said, Eternal legacies aren t built from combustible materials ii. The differences in these materials (gold, silver, precious stones) versus (wood, hay, straw) is: iii. 1. One group is combustible and the other is not. 2. One group is pure and lasting, and the other is not. 3. One group is valuable, and the other is not. How do these equate to the quality of each man s work? 1. What are you doing that will last forever? (we talked about this in my sermon series on legacies). 2. What are you doing that involves sacrifice versus what are you doing to merely meet your selfish needs? 3. Sacrificial acts of love are gold, silver, gems! They last forever! 4. The stuff and time we spend indulging ourselves in are mere wood and stubble. a. They won t last a second in the judgment! iv. What kind of materials are you building with? 5. Related to the previous 2 points is my next on, Our deeds will follow us to heaven. a. We are told that in heaven the Bride of Christ's wedding dress stands for "the righteous acts of the saints" done on earth (Rev. 19:7-8). i. Our sacrificial deeds on earth will not be forgotten but will "follow" us to heaven (Rev. 14:13). `Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!' " "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them." b. It will only be in heaven that we will know the impact our lives have had because our deeds have led others to heaven. i. You may or may not know the story of how the layman Edward Kimball gathered the nerve to witness and win the soul of a young shoe salesman named D.L. Moody to Christ. D.L. Moody went on to become one of the greatest evangelists in his world. But, do you know THE REST OF THE STORY? D.L. Moody went to England and worked a profound change in the ministry of F.B. Meyer. F.B. Meyer, with his new evangelistic fervor, influenced J. Wilbur Chapman. Chapman helped in the ministry of converted baseball player Billy Sunday, who had a profound impact upon Mordacai Ham. And Mordacai Ham, holding a revival in North Carolina, led BILLY GRAHAM to Christ. And the man who started it all was a layman, Edward Kimball, who took seriously Christ s commission to be a witness in his world. ii. I believe that Edward Kimball is in heaven right now, enjoying the eternal reward of seeing that his life on earth had been well invested. c. Who will follow you to heaven? 6. My final but most important point this morning is that We Must Be Prepared For Heaven Bob Higgins Page 4 1/25/2007

5 a. This week, you might have heard that if you are flying into the United States that you will be required to obtain a passport in order to get back in. This rule change was announced almost a year ago, and yet there are thousands of people who are scrambling to get their passports because they have booked a trip next week. If you know anything about passports, they take awhile to obtain. i. How many of you would wait until an hour before your plane left to pack your bags and get your passport? ii. How many of you would begin a trip across the United States without consulting a map before hand? (I know, most men would). b. Matthew 25: "Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. "Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. "For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. "Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. "But at midnight there was a shout, `Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' "Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. "The foolish said to the prudent, `Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' "But the prudent answered, `No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. "Later the other virgins also came, saying, `Lord, lord, open up for us.' "But he answered, `Truly I say to you, I do not know you.' "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour. i. Explanation 1. Jesus is telling his audience that the kingdom of heaven can be compared to the procession of the bridegroom to the wedding feast. a. The virgins represent people who profess to believe in and profess to belong to Jesus Christ. i. They are people who attend church. ii. They are people who live good lives. iii. The 10 virgins in the story all look alike. iv. They are all attending the party, they are all waiting for the same bridegroom.. b. The difference between them is that 5 are called wise and 5 are called foolish. c. The five who were foolish did not see the necessity of putting oil in their lamps 2. Now all of them INTENDED to be ready when the bridegroom came, because they all brought lamps. a. The foolish five had lamps, but they didn t have oil. b. They were ready for the bridegroom to come but they were not really ready. Bob Higgins Page 5 1/25/2007

6 i. They were dressed properly and had been invited by the bride to be a part of her bridal party. ii. They were in the right house with the right people. iii. The five foolish ones had every intention of getting the oil, because they knew they would need oil in the procession. iv. They even had the money on them to purchase the oil. c. But something happened to them they had not planned on happening. i. They got to talking with each other and carrying on having such a good time, nobody was watching the clock. ii. The bridegroom and his party hadn t come yet, and they fell asleep. iii. Now there s nothing wrong with falling asleep, except its hard to watch and to be asleep at the same time. iv. The women didn t intend to sleep through their opportunity to be prepared for the bridegroom. v. No doubt they planned just a little cat nap, and they then would hurry to the store to get the oil that they needed. 3. The Oil is representative of the Holy Spirit, indwelling and in control of one s life. a. One receives the Holy Spirit when he truly receives by faith the gift of forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus Christ by trusting what He has done on our behalf AND surrenders control of his life to Jesus. b. Without the Holy Spirit in our lives and in control of our lives, we have no power to light our lamps, we cannot be saved, in fact, we cannot do anything that even resembles love. 4. Each Sunday two churches gather in buildings across the world. a. First, there is the professing church made up of people who claim to know Jesus Christ. b. Second, there is the true church which is made up of people who are actually living for Jesus Christ and putting Him first in their lives. c. Only you and God know which church you re actually in. i. Simply making a confession of Jesus Christ as the Son Of God is not enough. Even the devil makes that Confession. 5. Does your life indicate you have been touched by God? 6. There are many pretenders in churches today. a. They have never surrendered their heart to Jesus, never given control of their lives to the Holy Spirit. And as a consequence, they have no oil in their lamps. b. This parable is representative of the way unbelievers in the church will react when they find out their lamps really weren t burning. Bob Higgins Page 6 1/25/2007

7 i. They ll try to get into heaven by the help of their friends. These are members that think if they go through the motions, be good people, come to church, take communion, and come to Bible class, they ll somehow go to heaven. ii. They figure if they look like Christians, God will accept them as Christians. iii. They put on the Christian mask, and try and borrow some oil from the rest of the church members. iv. These are the kind of people that come to church, but never get into a worship service. v. They go through the motions, and don t ever really feel like they re getting anything out of it. vi. The Word of God seems boring to them. vii. They never feel a sorrow over their sins. viii. They never rejoice in the fact that their sins are forgiven. ix. Their flames aren t really burning. x. If their friends or family didn t come to church, then they wouldn t either. c. Some even think that they can convince God to let them into heaven by what they say, or by the things they have done. Jesus tells us that on that day many will come in his name and say, Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name we prayed in your name we went to church in your name we tithed in your name and He will say to them be gone, for I never knew you. 7. Those who do not have oil in their lamps are rebuked, it is too late, when the day of reckoning comes there is no second chances. 8. This is a very important lesson for us. We must be PREPARED. a. The very word prepared comes from the Latin word praeparare, which is a combination of prae- (pre-) + parare (to procure). b. Essentially the word Prepare means to procure in advance. c. If you have said over and over, I will give Jesus my heart and life later you are compared to the foolish virgin. d. If you have said, I go to church, doesn t that count for something? you will come to the day of reckoning and find that only those with their lamps lit will enter. ii. I have a short video to share with you at this time. 7. Are your bags packed? Are you ready? Have you made your preparations already? Jesus says,, for you do not know the day nor the hour. 8. Let s pray. Bob Higgins Page 7 1/25/2007