What We Will Be Like in Heaven

Thank you so much for leading us.

If you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, when we think of heaven,

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

our curiosities run wild.

And as we wonder what it'll be like,

and we try to figure it out,

and we have a tendency to embellish the things

that we're most concerned about.

Sadly, what I've noticed over the years

is people focus so much on the physical beauty

and the materialistic aspects

that they often miss the spiritual

and the worshipful reality of heaven,

which is the greatest part, by the way.

Heaven's not just about the walls of jewels

and the streets of gold.

Near as much as it is about the fulfillment of God's kingdom,

about the opportunity of believers to see him face to face

and to worship at the feet of Jesus.

Now, we still have our curiosities,

and I want to deal with one today

that I often am asked,

and that is, what will we be like in heaven?

What will we be like in heaven?

Let us never let our imagination

leave the Bible

and its revelations behind.

The only evidence that we have of heaven on this earth

is from the word of God,

and it may not answer every question that we have in our mind,

but it answers all we need to know.

And so I want to talk this morning about

what we will be like in heaven,

and I hope this morning is more than just a,

more than just giving you curious facts,

but instead to see the Lord of heaven,

to sense his glory,

and to allow him to move in our individual lives.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, beginning in verse 13,

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

it says,

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers,

about those who are asleep,

that you may grieve as others do who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

even so through Jesus God will bring with him

those who have fallen asleep.

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord

that we who are alive,

who are left until the coming of the Lord,

will not perceive those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven

with a cry of command,

with the voice of the archangel,

with the sound of the trumpet of God,

and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left,

will be caught up together with him in the clouds

to meet the Lord in the air,

and so we will always be with the Lord.

And my favorite verse of this impactful passage

is verse 18 when it says,

Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

My friend, this is not all there is.

Thank God.

And if you are a child of God,

you have a lot to look forward to.

And I want to talk about that this morning

because we're describing this morning

what we will be like in heaven.

It is simple to explain,

yet complex to understand.

It's a concept that we can try to imagine,

yet one that we have never seen,

and one that we'll have a hard time grasping.

To state simply,

what will we be like in heaven?

Well, we'll be perfect.

We'll be perfect.

Did you catch that?

Do you understand that?

I don't think we understand that.

But the Bible helps us understand it

as best as we can.

There are several ways we'll be perfect in heaven.

One is our salvation will be perfect.

Now, salvation is made up of three processes.

It begins with conversion or regeneration.

That's when we give our hearts and lives

to the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we surrender our lives to follow Him.

We convert from running our own lives

down the wide wrong path,

as Christ put it,

and give all that we have over to God

to walk in His less traveled right path.

That is a heartfelt commitment on our behalf

and a promise on His behalf.

And my friend,

if that has never happened to you,

you have an open invitation today,

not only from me,

but more importantly,

from the Lord Jesus Christ

to surrender your life

to the Lord Jesus today

and allow Him

to regenerate you,

to convert you,

as He put it,

to be born again.

Once that happens,

the second stage of our salvation

is the sanctification process.

And sanctification is the process

of our Christian life.

It is in our salvation,

we are declared holy.

He has set us apart.

That's what that word means.

Don't mean perfect.

It means set apart for His purposes.

And as He sets us apart,

He begins a process in our lives

to help us to walk

and be more like Him,

to be made more holy.

Chuck Swindoll wrote a book years ago

called Three Steps Forward

and Two Steps Back.

That kind of describes the Christian life.

We begin to progress

and then we have setbacks in our lives.

But you know,

if you go three steps forward

and two steps back,

that's a step of progress.

And the job of the sanctification,

what we need to be doing

in our sanctification

is growing in the Lord,

becoming more like Him.

And then one day,

there'll be glorification.

Now some folks may look like

they've reached glorification,

but they haven't yet

if you're still walking around with them, okay?

And that is the perfecting

of our salvation.

That completes our salvation.

In Romans 8, verse 30,

Romans 8:30

it tells us that

whom God has justified,

thank God,

He's also glorified.

Justify means who He's made right.

That's done through conversion.

The glorifying speaks of the perfecting.

And it's the promise

that we will be made perfect

in eternity.

As 1 John 3, 2 says,

we shall be like Him

for we shall see Him as He is.

Now, as far as being perfect

in our salvation,

I want to make sure

you know two truths today.

One is,

if you're here this morning,

you're not there yet, okay?

You are not perfect

in your salvation.

Don't pretend to be.

We know better, okay?

Preach done said it.

You ain't perfect.

You're not there yet.

We are frail human beings

in need of a Lord and Savior

every day.

We are not there yet.

We are not perfect.

The second truth,

if you're a child of God today

and have given your heart and life

to the Lord Jesus Christ,

you will be perfect.

You will be.

The perfecting of our salvation

is the completion of our salvation,

and that happens in eternity,

and that only comes in eternity.

If we die before the Lord returns,

our souls will go to heaven.

Upon His return,

we'll be unified again with our bodies.

That is what 1 Thessalonians 4 speaks of.

However, our bodies won't be

like they are here.

Our bodies will be perfect.

How can we know

what our glorified heavenly bodies

will be like?

Well, there's some evidence in Scripture,

some things that I've touched on

in the last few weeks

that I'll hit again quickly.

And it comes from a few descriptions

in the Bible

of the post-resurrection body of Christ.

Luke 24 tells us

about the glorified body of Christ,

that He could be touched

and He could be handled.

He was not merely a fathom or a ghost.

In Luke 24, verse 39,

Luke 24:39

He said,

See my hands, my feet?

That is, I myself.

Touch me and see.

For a spirit does not have flesh and bones

as you see that I have.

He looked human.

However, when He was on the road to Emmaus,

they never questioned His humanity.

They knew He was human,

but they were slow to recognize Him.

They didn't quite recognize Him.

In that glorified body,

He ate real food with His friends.

Yet He passed through solid walls

or through a locked door.

Hello?

It's a little different.

He could appear in ways

in which His identity

was not immediately known.

He could suddenly appear

and disappear out of nowhere.

We see no evidence of that

in the Gospels before the resurrected body.

And He ascended into heaven

in bodily form.

And my friend,

that is as close on earth

as we can understand

of our heavenly existence.

Now, how much of that applies

to us and our future?

I don't know.

Let's be honest with you.

I don't know.

But Paul said this.

In Philippians chapter 3, verse 21,

Philippians 3:21

he says this.

But our citizenship is in heaven.

And from it,

we await a Savior,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will transform our lowly body.

How many of you feel like

you got a lowly?

No, you don't have to say it.

Will transform our lowly body

to be like his glorious body

by the power that enables him

even to subject all things

to himself.

In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1,

2 Corinthians 5:1

Paul calls our body

an earthly tent,

but shares that we will have

an eternal house in heaven,

not built by human hands.

And I want you to listen

to this passage.

It's in 1 Thessalonians chapter 15.

It's 42 through 44

and 50 through 57.

Listen to this.

So it is with the resurrection

of the dead.

What is sown is perishable.

That means what you put

in the ground when you die.

What is raised is imperishable.

It is sown in dishonor.

It is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness.

It is raised in power.

It is sown a natural body.

It is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body,

there's also a spiritual body.

He goes on to say in verse 50,

I tell you, brothers,

flesh and blood cannot inherit

the kingdom of God,

nor does the perishable

inherit the imperishable.

Behold, I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep,

but we shall all be changed.

Now let me clarify something real quick,

okay?

Because he refers to this sleep

a couple of times.

Do not believe that when somebody dies,

that their soul rests with that body

that you put in the casket

and that you put that body and soul

in the ground.

No, no.

The body lays there for a time.

But the soul is in the presence of the Lord.

The apostle Paul said to be absent from the body

is to be present with the Lord.

I'll give you further evidence in future days

about the instantaneous nature.

As I called it a few weeks ago,

one minute after you die,

and I'm just giving you about 59 seconds of grace

because I really believe that when your eyes close in death,

they'll open in eternity,

whatever that may mean for you.

So the reality is,

when he says sleep here,

don't ever believe that one that passes away is sleep.

They're not talking about the soul.

Soul sleep is a heresy.

Not at all.

It's that body that's resting there.

But he says, listen,

we shall not all sleep.

We shall all be changed.

Because in a moment,

in the twinkling of an eye,

at the last trumpet,

for the trumpet will sound

and the dead will be raised imperishable,

and we shall be changed.

For this perishable body

must put on the imperishable,

and this mortal body put on immortality.

But thanks be to God

who gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank God

that he takes care of us

and will provide for us

and gives us

the victory.

Our bodies will be

made perfect.

Not only that,

but our minds will be

perfect.

Our minds will be perfect.

In 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 13:12

chapter 13,

verse 12,

Paul put it

so well,

he said for this,

for now we see

in a mirror dimly,

but then face to face.

Now I know in part,

but then I shall know fully,

even as I am fully

known.

Now when it says

that

we will know fully,

I don't believe that's

speaking of

perfect omniscience.

I believe that's what it speaks of,

because I believe there's evidence

of other ways.

And let me assure you,

you will not turn into gods,

as some cults

say you will.

It does mean

that we'll know things

on a much more

comprehensive level

than we do here.

In other words,

our minds will be

as complete

as we could ever

desire.

Therefore,

the questions that you have

about heaven,

if you ever say,

you know,

when I die

and I get to heaven,

I'm going to ask,

let me tell you

my personal opinion.

No, you ain't.

No, you ain't.

You're going to be so caught up

in the atmosphere

of being in the presence

of the Lord,

I believe the questions

that are digging

at you today

will be answered

instantaneously.

I believe you'll

know.

I believe the questions

you have about this life

that sometimes nobody

can answer for you.

I believe if you're

a child of God

and you die

in the Lord instantly,

there'll be answered.

There'll be no more ums.

There'll be no more confusion.

There'll be no more

forgetting,

no more ignorance,

no more needing

to walk by faith.

Hello?

We'll know it then.

We'll walk by sight.

Our minds will be

made perfect.

The fourth thing is

our love

will be perfect.

If I told you

I had seven points

this morning,

when I started

it had scared you to death.

But we more than

halfway there.

Our love

will be perfect.

Now when we look

at 1 Corinthians 13

we see a pattern

of love to live by.

However,

we cannot fulfill

that completely.

It is the goal

to set forth.

We should not

forgive our,

we should not

excuse ourselves

from some that

we're not so good at.

We ought to work

harder at it.

Do more for it.

However,

we won't fulfill

it completely.

Much like the

examples of Christ

in our lives,

we won't fulfill

those things.

1 Corinthians 13

13 closes out

the love chapter

saying this,

Now faith,

hope,

and love

abide.

These three,

but the greatest

of these

is love.

love.

Why is love

the greatest

of that?

Because it's

the one

that is eternal

that's there.

Because you see,

our faith

will be fulfilled

when we see

Him face to face.

Our hope

will be met.

Our love

will be made

complete

and be

perfect.

Thank God.

Our love

will be perfect.

Fifth thing

is our

joy

will be

perfect.

The Christian

has the opportunity

in this life

to live

in the joy

of the Lord.

However,

that joy

is not

perfect.

That joy

is not

perfect.

Sin,

sorrow,

discouragement,

loss,

worry,

all that stuff

gets in the way.

But that

will not be

the case,

thank God,

in eternity.

in the account

of the beggar

Lazarus.

There's a couple

of Lazarus

in scripture.

The account

of the beggar

Lazarus,

he was comforted

when he went

to heaven

after he lived

a tough life

on earth.

And in the same

way,

thank God,

there'll be no

more sin,

there'll be no

more sorrow,

there'll be no

more discouragement,

there'll be no

more worry.

Matthew 25

Matthew 25:23

verse 23

says that we

will be invited

to come and

share our

master's happiness.

In other words,

we will be

welcomed into

the joy

of the Lord.

Our joy

will be perfect.

Now I think

you ought to

practice that

here,

okay?

But it ain't

going to be

perfect

until we see

him face to

face.

Listen,

our relationships

will be

perfect.

Not only

will the

relationships

that we know

on earth

be enhanced

by sinlessness,

but we'll

know those

in heaven

that we

didn't know

on earth.

If Peter,

James,

and John

recognize

Moses and

Elijah at

the

transfiguration,

if Lazarus

and the rich

man were

known in

eternity,

then so

shall we

be.

Jesus said

in Matthew

Matthew 8:11

8 verse

11 that we

should sit

down together

at the

feast in

eternity.

And unlike

some of those

sit-downs that

you're a part

of now,

there'll be no

family squabbles

in glory.

You know?

There'll be no

bickering at the

table.

Thank God

there'll be no

politics in glory.

No talk of

that.

Nothing to

divide.

We won't even

get tired of

each other.

Our relationships,

thank God,

will be

perfected.

But not only

that, but our

worship will be

perfected.

You know why?

To put simply,

we'll see him

face to face.

We'll see him

face to face.

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 13:12

13 verse 12

tells us that

we shall know

him like we

can't hear.

We'll know

him.

It says,

for now we see

in a mirror

dimly, but then

face to face.

Now I know in

part, then I

shall know fully,

even as I

have been

fully known.

We will

enjoy unhindered,

no longer

clouded by

sin,

separation,

ignorance,

all those

things.

The greatest

delight that we

will ever

experience in

heaven, the

greatest delight

will be seeing

him face to

face as we

reign with

him.

Revelation 22

Revelation 22:3–5

verse 3 through

5 says,

forever we'll

reign with

him.

Now how do

you respond to

all that?

Well, 1 Corinthians

15, Paul

describes the

resurrection.

He describes the

glorified state,

and he closes out

with this, his

purpose for

sharing it.

In 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15:58

15 verse 58, he

says this,

therefore my

beloved brothers,

talking about

today folks,

be steadfast,

immovable,

always abounding

in the work of

the Lord,

knowing, thank

God, that the

work, that in the

Lord your labor is

not in vain.

What difference

does it make?

It ought to make a

difference today in

how we live.

Fanny Crosby wrote

some of the greatest

hymns that's ever

been written.

I'm not going to

sing, don't panic.

But she wrote a

hymn, and it says

this, when my life

work is ended, and I

cross the swelling

tide, when the bright

and glorious morning I

shall see, I shall know

my Redeemer when I

reach the other

side, and his smile

will be the first to

welcome me.

I shall know him, I

shall know him, and

redeemed by his side,

I shall stand.

I shall know him, I

shall know him by the

prints of the nails in

his hand.

Fanny Crosby was born

blind.

She never saw a thing

in this life.

How wonderful it must

have been to know that

the first thing that she

would ever see would be

the smile of the Savior

welcoming her into

eternity.

And the same is true

for you.

You shall see him like

you never have.

And you shall see you

like you never have.

What difference does that

make in our life today?

Well, my friend, if

there's never been a

time in your life when

you've asked the Lord

Jesus to forgive you, to

cleanse you, that you've

asked him to remove the

sin in your life and

acknowledge the fact that

you've done wrong, if

that's never happened to

you, thank God today's the

day of salvation.

And if you ask the Lord

Jesus to forgive you of

your sins, to come into

your life and save you, I

thank God today he'll do

it.

He's the one that gives

you the passion to do

it.

He's the one that came to

you.

You just respond to him in

obedience.

I want to be clear.

If that's never happened to

you, and you were to slip

into eternity today, it's not

a threat, it's just the

truth.

If you were to slip into

eternity today, you would

forever be separated from

the Father.

Forever.

Hell's just as real as

heaven.

If you've never given your

heart and life to the Lord

Jesus Christ, come today, I'd

love to guide you in that

process.

Maybe you're here and you

have done that privately, but

you've never told anybody

about it.

You've never made that

public.

And Scripture tells us that

the way we do that is to

acknowledge that just the

way that Christ gave us an

example.

He didn't even need it, but he

gave us an example of being

baptized as a believer.

If you've never acknowledged

your faith in Christ publicly

by baptism, I encourage you

to come this morning.

We'd love to line that up.

We're not going to do it

right now.

We'll love to line that up in

the days ahead.

Maybe God's drawing you to

this church, and you know this

is where you are to serve.

We'd love to guide you in that

process.

I encourage you to come.

Or maybe you just got stuff

going on.

You're just burdened about

stuff.

You just got weight in your

life that you need relief

from.

I'd love to pray with you.

Or you can come to these

stairs and make this your

altar and just lift that up

to the Lord.

You can do it where you are.

I'll never ask you to do

anything more than what God

tells you to do.

And I'm going to try my best

never let you be satisfied

doing anything less than what

God tells you to do.

Just obey him today and

trust him.

Lord Jesus, I love you and I

thank you for your love for

us.

And I ask, oh God, today that

you'll guide us to simply

follow your will, to simply

do what you tell us to do,

dear God.

I'm thankful for an eternity

that we can rest in when we

leave this place.

But until we do, dear God,

help us to live for you.

Help us to make the decisions

that please you.

Guide us today.

Right now to be obedient to

follow your will and your way

in our hearts and lives.

We love you dearly.

Thank you for the privilege.

In Jesus' name, amen.