Sermon

“What Awaits Us In Heaven?” | Revelation 21 | Pastor Keith | Sunday Morning

Calvary Chapel Secret Harbour

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  1. Chapter 21, the Book of Revelation, verses 1:00 to 8:00.

  2. I've been praying hard and long. I don't want to get in the way

  3. of how wonderful this passage is.

  4. So I I need to pray again. Lord, you are my strength.

  5. You've become my salvation. I'll give thanks to the Lord for

  6. his good, for His mercy and Jews forever.

  7. Lord, let our ears hear from you.

  8. Holy Spirit, teach us the wonder.

  9. Help us to see and hear the wonder of the scriptures as they

  10. reveal to us this passage. Father of Heaven, pray and ask

  11. this please in Jesus name, Amen. So we come near to the end.

  12. We're close. We've had the tribulation

  13. period, 7 year period. Then Jesus came second coming at

  14. the end of the tribulation. Then there was 1000 year reign.

  15. It's called the millennial reign.

  16. And now we look at a new heaven and a new earth.

  17. The word heaven in the Book of Revelation is mentioned 55

  18. times. The Bible speaks of heaven 532

  19. times. So heaven is a very real place.

  20. It's just not a thought or a concept.

  21. It's our ultimate home. We're citizens of it.

  22. If you're a born again Christian, Paul wrote to the

  23. Philippians. He said for our citizenship,

  24. where we belong, our passport, our heritage, our who, who I am,

  25. where's home is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for

  26. the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

  27. Our reward is there eventually will be rewarded there every St

  28. everyone from the beginning of creation right through everyone

  29. who has received Christ as the Lord and Saviour will be in

  30. heaven. And it says let's read verse one

  31. now I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the 1st heaven and the

  32. first earth had passed away and there was no more sea.

  33. No more sea always freaks out the surface.

  34. They go oh man, but please listen.

  35. There are many people here who love the beach, love the ocean,

  36. but whatever you loved and enjoyed in this current world,

  37. heaven will be seismically better and beyond than which you

  38. could currently fathom. So if you love the ocean,

  39. fishing, the the beauty of the ocean, listen, heaven is going

  40. to be way beyond. It'll be like looking back at

  41. the sea now and going that's like Lake Munga.

  42. It's, it's, it's, it's no comparison.

  43. And we, we try to compare good things here on Earth and we say,

  44. well, how will heaven? It's beyond that.

  45. It's so beyond that words can't describe.

  46. The oceans currently cover over 75% of our planet.

  47. This mass of water separates the continents, doesn't it?

  48. Australia, we're way down the bottom here, away from everyone

  49. else. Well, that separation will be

  50. gone on the new heaven and the new earth, but there's more.

  51. Verse 2 Then I, John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming

  52. down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for

  53. husband. I saw this, this new city.

  54. It's just dazzling. And I heard a loud voice from

  55. heaven saying, behold, the Tabernacle will explain that

  56. simply means the dwelling place or the tent of God is with men.

  57. He will dwell with them. God will dwell with them, and

  58. they shall be his people. To explain it even deeper, John

  59. says God himself will be with them and be their God.

  60. You know God has desired in his heart to enjoy with you, yes,

  61. you, you and I and his church intimate fellowship.

  62. Remember in the book of Genesis and Revelation is is is not only

  63. winding the clock back putting things right, but he's making

  64. everything new that we had in the beginning and was ruined,

  65. damaged and made sin. Now we're we're getting the

  66. rewrap, but a far better deal. God walked with Adam, remember

  67. in the cool of the evening, Imagine walking with God.

  68. Yeah, look at that flower. That's amazing.

  69. Look at that plants and talking with God face to face.

  70. Commune with him. Or God wants to do that with

  71. you. He wants to have fellowship and

  72. not fellowship. We kind of use a a churchy word

  73. fellowship, but it's it's, it's much more than that.

  74. It's it, we can't describe it. It's more intimate.

  75. And we we use the word communion when we have communion.

  76. God wants to have communion, but it's, it's more than just being

  77. in the same communion, like hanging out with someone who has

  78. the same thoughts and ideals. It's, it's a bond that is only

  79. found in heaven by God and he desires to have that with you.

  80. We don't have that just yet because sin has always been in

  81. the way for that relationship to be possible.

  82. But through the journey through the Bible, God has set the path

  83. forward because He wants to be close to you.

  84. He wants to hold your hand. He wants you to see His face.

  85. He wants you to hear His voice. He wants you to be present with

  86. Him personally. In the Old Testament, God gave

  87. to Moses a plan and it was a a tent, a flash tent didn't look

  88. very flash on the outside, but it was awesome on the inside and

  89. it was called the tent of meeting.

  90. It was the first Tabernacle, Tabernacle, place of dwelling,

  91. tent of meeting during the great Exodus, as the children of

  92. Israel were led by Moses out of Egypt on their way and they

  93. wandered through the desert to the Promised Land.

  94. They would erect this Tabernacle and God would meet Moses in that

  95. place and talk with him the things that were needed to to go

  96. on at night. Each of the tribes, the 12

  97. tribes had a designated position around the camp and in the

  98. centre of the camp at night, there was this massive pillar of

  99. fire that just charged up in the air.

  100. And that every tent as they are allocated, no matter whether

  101. you're the tribe of Judah or Benjamin, whenever, when you got

  102. went to the front of your tent and you put your head out, the

  103. kids put their head out. They could look directly and

  104. they would see the centre of the camp and they would see this,

  105. this pillar of fire charging in the air.

  106. That was God saying, I'm with you, I'm here.

  107. During the day as they journeyed, there would be a

  108. cloud that would keep them cool and would lead them and guide

  109. them, and they could see the gods with us.

  110. Then Solomon built the temple. The children of Israel arrive in

  111. the promised land. Time goes on.

  112. Solomon decides to build a temple.

  113. David couldn't this magnificent temple, it was a tent of meeting

  114. to to replace the tent of meeting.

  115. And in one Kings chapter 8 we have the description on the day

  116. that the temple is finished, the workers are finished.

  117. Solomon dedicates it and it says and when the priest came out of

  118. the holy place, a thick cloud filled the temple of the Lord.

  119. The Bible calls it the Shekinah glory, the very presence of God.

  120. The priest couldn't continue the service in the temple because of

  121. the cloud. Why?

  122. For the glorious presence of the Lord filled the temple.

  123. God was there. Then Solomon prayed.

  124. Oh Lord, you've said that you would live in a thick cloud of

  125. darkness. Now I've built a glorious temple

  126. for you, a place where you can live forever.

  127. So God was dwelling in the temple.

  128. It was a meaning place, but there was still separation

  129. between God and man and the temple, because there were

  130. rituals that had to go through sacrifices and in the temple.

  131. The priest could work in the holy place, but then only one

  132. day of the year into the holy of holies.

  133. Dividing a veil between the holy of Holies and the holy place.

  134. The priest could go, the high priest one day a year.

  135. So there was this still separation from God, and God

  136. moved to the next thing he did. He sent his son into the world.

  137. Matthew 123 Look, the virgin will conceive a child, she'll

  138. give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel.

  139. Not because he's Spanish, which means God is with us and in one

  140. John, and I'll read it to you. When Jesus came and the

  141. disciples followed Jesus, hear what John says, that which was

  142. from the beginning, which we've heard, which we have seen with

  143. our eyes, which we've looked upon, our hands handled, they

  144. touched Jesus concerning the word of life.

  145. The life was revealed, we've seen, we bear witness, we

  146. declare to you that eternal which was with the Father was

  147. revealed to us. That which we have seen and

  148. heard, we declare to you. The disciples touch God.

  149. And then John tells us in John 114.

  150. So the Word became human and made his home tabernacled among

  151. us. He was full of unfailing love

  152. and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the

  153. glory of the Father, one and only Son.

  154. We saw God's glory in Jesus on the mount of Transfiguration,

  155. Peter, James and John. So Jesus transfigured in all his

  156. glory with Moses and and and and they're talking of Elijah.

  157. They're talking of the death, the coming death of Jesus.

  158. But you know, for you and I, they had that.

  159. But you and I, we still ache within us.

  160. There's something about wanting to see God face to face, to

  161. touch him in heaven. Time will be no more.

  162. We are living in eternity. Solomon wrote about heaven and

  163. eternity. He said and Ecclesiastes 311 Yet

  164. God has made everything beautiful for his own time, and

  165. he has planted eternity in the human heart.

  166. Your heart, my heart. But Even so, people cannot see

  167. the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

  168. We can't see it yet that we have this big hole in us.

  169. We each long to know God. It's built in our DNA.

  170. That's why even an atheist, when they're about to die or they're

  171. they're scared to death, they'll go God help me.

  172. But that closeness that you and I want, it still evades us.

  173. Well, the New Jerusalem had been prepared as a bride.

  174. That means now I saw new heaven and new earth for the 1st heaven

  175. and the first earth that passed away.

  176. Also, there was no more sea than I John saw the holy city, New

  177. Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a

  178. bride, adorned for a husband. Why would he say that?

  179. Prepared as a bride? Speaking of a city, well it's

  180. identified with the residents that are going to be there.

  181. The residents are the bride of Christ.

  182. You and I are going to be in this New Jerusalem, and there's

  183. another loud voice, an important announcement.

  184. Because there will be now no separation forever between the

  185. Saints and God. John now describes heaven by

  186. telling us what it is not like. He describes it in the negative

  187. way. Why would John do that?

  188. Why wouldn't John tell us what it's like when he says these are

  189. the things that won't happen here because heaven is like

  190. nothing. We know we can't, we can't

  191. fathom it. The apostle Paul, he had a time

  192. and he said, I don't know whether I was in a vision or

  193. what happened to me, but I was taken to heaven.

  194. And hear what Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 12 verse 4 as he had

    2 Corinthians 12:4

  195. a glimpse of heaven that I was caught up to paradise and heard

  196. things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words.

  197. Now Paul was a university graduate, a man of high degree

  198. of learning, yet he had no and he spoke many languages Aramaic,

  199. Hebrew, Greek, but he couldn't find words.

  200. He says, I cannot express in words no human is it able to

  201. tell what heaven is like. This is why I believe John

  202. describes heaven as he does. He says in verse 4, And God will

  203. wipe away every tear from their eyes.

  204. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.

  205. There shall be no more pain for the former.

  206. Things have passed away. They're gone, done.

  207. Each and every one of us here this morning, especially those

  208. older in years, usually to a greater degree, have experienced

  209. tears when we've had great sorrows.

  210. The phone rings. Dad's dead.

  211. Granddad's dead, your brother's been killed.

  212. The doctor rings and said the tests have proved that's not

  213. good. We've experienced tears when

  214. we've had great sorrow, we've experienced tears and I think

  215. everyone has in this area too, of being alone.

  216. There's a moment that voice that's risen up in you.

  217. You can be in a happy marriage, have a good job, be of good

  218. health, or you're going to have a whole stack of things going

  219. against you. But for all of us without

  220. Christ, does anyone know I exist?

  221. Does anyone really know out of the eight point 9 billion people

  222. that on this planet, does anyone know that I exist?

  223. We've had tears of misfortune. Things just went wrong.

  224. Some have had tears of poverty, lost everything.

  225. Some of you have come from South Africa.

  226. Many South African farmers have just left everything.

  227. Zimbabwe as well. People have left countries and

  228. come to Australia. They come from a refugee camp,

  229. lost everything. We've had many tears of

  230. sympathy. We've sat with the broken, we've

  231. sat with the morning, those who have lost their loved one and

  232. we've had tears of regret. I have as a father, as a husband

  233. and I look back at my life to be Christ and and I look back at I

  234. can't believe what sort of a person I was.

  235. I wasn't a killer or anything like that in that sense.

  236. And we kind of think, oh, why? How bad were you?

  237. You know, No, no, I was just a selfish, inconsiderate, rude,

  238. well accepted person by everybody else.

  239. But I was all the all those things, tears of regret.

  240. How could I have done that? How could I have acted that way?

  241. How could I have been so selfish, absorbed?

  242. But in heaven, all of that will be gone forever.

  243. Praise the Lord. God will whisper in your ear,

  244. I'm sure. Because it says God will wipe

  245. away every tear. That's an action, isn't it?

  246. God wiping away a tear. And I'm sure there will be many

  247. of us when we get to heaven that will have the wonder of God

  248. saying to us privately, personally, it's all over.

  249. No more tears, my son. No more struggle for my

  250. daughter. You're my child.

  251. That's the intimacy that awaits us.

  252. God will wipe away every tear. It's all over.

  253. In heaven we will have nothing to cry about.

  254. There's nothing to cry about. Death will be dissolved,

  255. banished, the last great enemy. Paul speaks of 1 Corinthians 15,

    1 Corinthians 15:26

  256. verse 26. The last enemy that will be

  257. destroyed is death. Paul says that now at the second

  258. resurrection of the unsaved. We dealt with that the other

  259. night. You need to watch that at the

  260. great white throne Judgement Revelation chapter 20, verse 14.

    Revelation 20:14

  261. It says back there then death and Hades were cast into the

  262. lake of fire. Death is no longer now.

  263. In the beginning, in the book of Genesis, death wasn't the plan

  264. for Adam and Eve. It wasn't God's plan for this

  265. planet, for this world. Adam and Eve were born into this

  266. world, created in this world to live forever.

  267. They disobeyed God. Sin entered the world.

  268. Satan said you won't die if you ain't this.

  269. Then in Genesis chapter 5, the first obituary column, then he

    Genesis 5 chapter mention

  270. died, then he died, and then he died.

  271. It says in heaven, sorrow will also pass away.

  272. We have our trials, our storms, our heartaches.

  273. Don't we sorrow sometimes, you know, we have such situations.

  274. And I'm reading through Charles Spurgeon again about his life.

  275. And he was a man that suffered fits of depression.

  276. Luther did as well. Martin Luther Sometimes we have

  277. sorrows and sometimes these drive us into the pit of

  278. depression. Even the apostle Paul, great man

  279. of faith, had this experience, he says in Two Corinthians,

  280. chapter one, verse 8 For we do not want you to be ignorant,

  281. brethren of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were

  282. burdened beyond measure above strength so that we despaired

  283. even of life. You thought, Oh my goodness,

  284. you're going to die. Remember Elijah, the great

  285. property. Elijah called stop the the the

  286. rain coming down and he took off.

  287. He said, God, kill me. I'd rather you kill me because

  288. Jezebel wants to kill me. It's a bit funny that isn't it.

  289. He's taken off because Jezebel wants to kill him.

  290. And he says, God, you kill me. And God said to Elijah, what are

  291. you doing here in this cave? Even Elijah, great man of

  292. prayer. So God, take my life.

  293. I can't do this. You see, when people feel this

  294. depression and struggle so much, they want to end it all.

  295. It's a massive problem in our world today.

  296. People say it's a mental health problem.

  297. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.

  298. It's our hearts. We need God.

  299. It's a soul problem because you see people looking for

  300. everywhere to find their identity.

  301. I think, well, if I choose this different lifestyle, if I, if I

  302. put this term upon myself, if I call myself this, this will,

  303. this will help my identity. Now your identity, you're

  304. trampling over it. Your identity is that you are

  305. made in the image of God. You're a creation of God.

  306. He formed you, and when he made you, he said it is good.

  307. In fact, he says it's very good. In heaven there'll be no more

  308. sorrow. Therefore we will weep no more,

  309. because we'll have nothing to cry about.

  310. There shall be no more pain. Wow.

  311. For the former things have passed away.

  312. Pain will be a thing of the past, of the old world,

  313. banished, never to be felt anymore.

  314. No more pain. The pain of a death, of the

  315. death of a loved one. I've seen it.

  316. I've done many funerals. The pain of the death of a loved

  317. 1 words can't describe the herd. See a little child sitting in

  318. the front row at a funeral at their granddad or the dad's

  319. funeral. Heartbroken death rips your

  320. heart apart because it's separation.

  321. That person's gone. Can't touch them, can't hear

  322. them, can't hold them. I don't look into their eyes

  323. anymore. Oh, the enemy.

  324. Satan brought that death in and it's a savage pain.

  325. Yeah, so many today are living with chronic pain.

  326. Not an hour without it now. Paul wrote Romans chapter 8

    Romans 8:18

  327. verse 18. He says, for I consider that the

  328. sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared

  329. with the glory which shall be revealed in US.

  330. And he's Speaking of heaven. And when we read this, we think,

  331. no, no, let's listen. Nothing can can compete with the

  332. the hurt and the pain that I feel.

  333. Now, how can Paul write that? Paul saying, listen, he's not

  334. putting down what we feel, how we hurt.

  335. It's very real. Paul's sense that he knew that

  336. himself. But what he is saying is when we

  337. get to heaven, Heaven will open up something to us that will

  338. help us look back on those things.

  339. And it would be like a fire blanket on a raging fire.

  340. The pain is a raging fire in our heart, like a raging Bush fire

  341. and then a sudden thunderstorm and it just go, it's out, it's

  342. done. Heaven will envelope us like a

  343. blanket and our hurt and our pain will be gone, will be done.

  344. And heaven in its vastness and it's wonder will, will just so

  345. overwhelm us with the joy and the wonder of it.

  346. That the comparison. Because Paul's saying the things

  347. that you feel they're real. Yeah, we know how they hurt.

  348. But the he says will not be compared.

  349. Heaven just over overwhelms it. No hospitals in heaven, no

  350. funerals in heaven, no broken homes in heaven, no broken

  351. hearts in heaven, no rehab centres in heaven, no Hospice

  352. care in heaven, no dementia in heaven, no Alzheimer's in

  353. heaven, no wheelchairs in heaven.

  354. It seems as if John is completely overwhelmed by all

  355. the that he sees as he describes us.

  356. And he, he stops riding. He says there shall be no more

  357. pain for the former things have passed away.

  358. Then notice verse 5. There's this kind of like

  359. strange thing coming from the throne.

  360. Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things

  361. true, new. And he said to me, right.

  362. For these things are true and faithful.

  363. In other words, John's going, oh man, you mean no more pain, no

  364. more sorrow, no more tears. Oh, and he's, he's thinking

  365. about all that and he stops, he's overwhelmed by the wonder

  366. of heaven. And he stops, he says, John, God

  367. says to John, I make all things new.

  368. And he said to me, write, write it down, John.

  369. For these words are true and faithful.

  370. Remember they were the words on Revelation chapter 19 when Jesus

    Revelation 19 chapter mention

  371. wrote back faithful and true on his thigh.

  372. John and God said to me, it's done.

  373. In other words, as you write it down, you're writing it down.

  374. It's, it's done in other words, to God, it's happened, it's

  375. going to happen. It's happening.

  376. It's it's concrete. I am the alpha and the Omega.

  377. I am the beginning and the end. I've got all this covered, John.

  378. It's done. It's going to happen.

  379. All that you're writing down heaven, it's real, God on the

  380. throne, tells John. But we're not finished, John,

  381. Don't stop. Keep writing.

  382. There's more, God declares. I'm going to do all this.

  383. I'm going to make all things new.

  384. What I'm telling you, John, what you're writing down is true.

  385. I guarantee it. It's all done.

  386. And then he says I will give of the fountains of the water of

  387. life freely to him who firsts, he who overcomes shall inherit

  388. all things. And notice God.

  389. He's notice how intimate he's saying I'll be his God.

  390. He shall be. Notice the intimacy of the

  391. change now of the talking of you and I and God.

  392. And he shall be my son. That word son there means my

  393. child. God's saying you're, you're

  394. going to be my child. God now describes 2 groups of

  395. people in these verses and the ones that come those who will be

  396. in heaven and those who will not be in heaven.

  397. What's the requirement for heaven according to our text?

  398. The answer You go to the text to get the context.

  399. What's the answer to those who will be in heaven?

  400. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him

  401. who 1st Who first? The word first here defined it

  402. means those who painfully feel their want of they long for

  403. things which the soul needs refreshing.

  404. To get into heaven you must be thirsty to get into heaven you

  405. must be thirsty. You must see your need to drink

  406. from God's well. How do I explain that?

  407. Well, Jesus sent his disciples on.

  408. He said, you guys go ahead, I'm waiting here at a well and a

  409. woman came John chapter 4. And he asked the woman, can you

    John 4 chapter mention

  410. give me a drink out of them? Well, what you, you're a Jew,

  411. you're asking me, a woman, a Samaran.

  412. And then they had this discussion.

  413. It was an arranged meeting. Jesus said to her, Whoever

  414. drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the

  415. water that I'll give him will never thirst, but the water that

  416. I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water,

  417. springing up into everlasting life.

  418. And the woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, that I may

  419. not first, nor come here to draw.

  420. And there Jesus had spoken to her, and he said, Don't get your

  421. husband. Actually, you haven't got a

  422. husband at the moment, have you? You've had five men

  423. relationships. The one you're with now is not

  424. your husband. And he pulled down her mask.

  425. You see, she had tried with the ache, with the thirst in her

  426. soul. She had tried to find it in men.

  427. If you just tell me you love me, I'll be with you.

  428. She's just looking for protection.

  429. She was trying to fill the hole in her with relationship with a

  430. man. Some people try it with career,

  431. some people try it with sport, some people try it with

  432. athletic, some people try it with health and we try and fill

  433. that first. Some people try it with drugs.

  434. Jesus said no, the water that I give you, that's the only thing

  435. that will quench your thirst. This poor woman, but however,

  436. was desperately thirsty for the things of God and Jesus said I'm

  437. the one I'm the Messiah, I am he and she went whoa.

  438. She received him as Lord and Saviour.

  439. She ran into the village. She says hey everybody,

  440. everybody you've got to come. You've got to come meet this

  441. man. Tell me everything about you got

  442. to meet him. Her first was quenched.

  443. Now out of her is bubbling this, this, this, this gallons and

  444. gallons of water. She's telling everyone I'm I'm

  445. no longer thirsty. You come, come and drink.

  446. She was never going to be thirsty again.

  447. Jesus said in the temple when he was teaching in John Chapter 7,

    John 7:37

  448. verse 37, on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus

  449. stood and cried out, saying, if anyone first let him come to me

  450. and drink. You see only those, and you need

  451. to listen carefully to this part, only those who are

  452. dissatisfied with this present life.

  453. You're apart from Christ who are thirsty enough.

  454. How thirsty? The psalmist wrote it this way.

  455. Psalm 42 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my

  456. soul for you. Oh God, a parched soul aching

  457. within will go to heaven and be in heaven.

  458. Heaven will be populated by those who thirsted after God.

  459. Are you thirsty for God? I remember being five years old,

  460. holding a Gideon's Bible, King James, Gideon's Bible, trying to

  461. read it and praying to God. God, please.

  462. And I cried and wept. I remember vividly.

  463. God, will you show yourself to me?

  464. Because in my heart, five years old, I needed to know God.

  465. I had an ache in my heart. There are those of you here

  466. today. You have an ache in your heart

  467. and you've filled it like the woman at the well.

  468. You've filled it with relationships.

  469. You've tried career, sports, you've tried health.

  470. You've tried all academia. You've tried many, many things.

  471. Your first can only be quenched by the water from Christ.

  472. How thirsty are you? Verse 7?

  473. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I'll be his God

  474. and he shall be my son. So you got to be thirsty and an

  475. overcomer to be in heaven. What's an overcomer, you ask?

  476. When you're born of God by faith, when you trust in Jesus

  477. alone and in his provision, you've received Christ as your

  478. Lord and Saviour, then God after you've done that enables you,

  479. empowers you to overcome sin and temptation through the power of

  480. the Son of God in your life. Revelation chapter 3, verse 12,

    Revelation 3:12

  481. Jesus wrote to the Church of Philadelphia.

  482. He says he who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple

  483. of my God. He shall go out no more.

  484. He'll always be with me. I will write on him the name of

  485. my God, the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which

  486. comes down out of heaven. Oh my God, it's linked.

  487. An overcomer. Well, what's an overcomer?

  488. The other group John mentions now are those who will not be in

  489. heaven. He says in verse 8.

  490. Now notes, notice this, and you probably stumble at the first

  491. one, but the cowardly, cowardly, unbelieving, abominable

  492. murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all

  493. liars shall have their part in the lake of fire, which burns

  494. with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

  495. These are those who haven't received Christ, didn't become

  496. overcomers, but are overcome by their sin and would not trust

  497. the Lord. I heard about the Lord.

  498. Not interested, Cowardly. Now this is not Speaking of

  499. natural timidity, but of the cowardice which is the last

  500. resort where someone chooses self and safety before Christ.

  501. They won't deny themselves. Jesus said if you want to follow

  502. me, what are you going to do? You got to deny yourself.

  503. Take up your cross, which kills the old you and follow me.

  504. You see, there are people who go, well, you know, I, I know

  505. what you're saying is true and I believe Jesus is the Son of God.

  506. But you know, I'm, I'm not prepared to go that path, go to

  507. church, you know, turn over a new leaf, live that one.

  508. Nah, these people, the cowardly are those who refuse to take a

  509. stand for Jesus Christ. They don't endure, they quit,

  510. they walk away. They turn their backs on God.

  511. They never had a saving faith in the 1st place.

  512. Maybe they said the sinner's prayer at a church service.

  513. Maybe they had an emotional moment one time, but they never

  514. made a real commitment to Jesus Christ.

  515. You see, the Bible tells us here there is no second chance after

  516. death. There is no reincarnation.

  517. Let's have a crack. Come back the second time.

  518. Hebrews Chapter 9 verse 21 says as it is appointed for men to

    Hebrews 9:21

  519. die once and after after that judgement, it says the

  520. unbelieving, the cowardly, the unbelieving.

  521. These people lack saving faith as demonstrated by their ungodly

  522. lives, the abominable. That's not talking about

  523. snowmen. It means polluted with sin in

  524. your mind and spirit. Murderers, sexually immoral,

  525. sorcerers, idolaters, all liars shall have their part on the

  526. lake, which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second

  527. death. Adultery, homosexuality, incest.

  528. Sorcerers. That says it.

  529. Sorcerers. Well, is that someone wears a

  530. big hat and waves a wand around a gown?

  531. No, it's the term pharmakeias. When we get our English word

  532. pharmacy, it's the use of drugs associated with the worship of

  533. Pagan gods. In other words, you take drugs

  534. to worship Pagan gods in our day it's called spiritism and I just

  535. feel one with the universe might take idolaters.

  536. What is that? Those who give supreme devotion

  537. to anyone or anything other than God?

  538. Liars. This would include those who say

  539. they are Christians but fail to live in a way that honours God.

  540. Timothy wrote, sorry, Titus wrote about this.

  541. He says in verse verse 1, chapter 1, verse 16, he says

  542. they profess to know God. Paul writing to Titus, they

  543. profess to know God but in works they deny him.

  544. You can't see that they're a Christian being abominable.

  545. He uses that term again. Disobedient and disqualified for

  546. every good work. Heaven in heaven.

  547. I've done the funerals of many, and the hardest and most

  548. difficult are those of infants. I remember my nephew going to

  549. the back of the hearse. They had twins stillborn.

  550. He grabbed the 2 little caskets that were joined together by two

  551. bars and he carried them as we're doing the funeral, ready

  552. to be loaded into the grave. My brother in law, my nephew's

  553. dad, very strong man of Italian background culture strong.

  554. I mean really tough man. He's standing there.

  555. And it was at that moment, as his son carried those 2 little

  556. caskets, he broke and he burst into tears.

  557. Couldn't hold them, couldn't hold them.

  558. Heaven wipes away those tears. Heaven removes the herd of that

  559. situation. And I said to my nephew, after

  560. that service, your two little girls will be waiting for you in

  561. heaven. Heaven.

  562. In heaven we are all children of God and in heaven we are all in

  563. the arms of God. Finally, it's that place, it's

  564. that intimacy where actually God will hold us home as we rest in

  565. His arms. I'm looking forward to that

  566. rest. It's hard living here and He'll

  567. wipe away every tear from every one of His children.

  568. No more tears. Our eyes will sparkle in heaven,

  569. but not because of tears, because of joy, our broken

  570. hearts, our broken bodies. No more.

  571. We will be surrounded by our saved loved ones and reunited

  572. forever. No more death.

  573. You see eternity to live in the wonder and glory of God forever

  574. and to enjoy this new amazing life.

  575. I tell you, why would you choose to reject the offer of heaven

  576. through Jesus Christ? Why would you choose not to have

  577. all this that we can't explain because it's so good, so

  578. amazing, so wonderful that it's going to take all of eternity to

  579. unwrap for you to see, for you to touch, feel, enjoy, laugh,

  580. sing. Heaven, I want to ask you this

  581. morning as we close, are you this morning a citizen of

  582. heaven? Are you thirsty?

  583. Are you an overcomer because you've been invited?

  584. No more death, sorrow nor weeping and more pain.

  585. You see, when Noah had preached for 120 years and I feel a

  586. little bit like that today, people ignored his words.

  587. Is this kind of rain judgements coming?

  588. I laughed. Then there came a day and God

  589. said, Noah, get your wife, sons, they what?

  590. Their wife go into the ark. You know what happened?

  591. It says in Genesis, God closed the door.

  592. That was it. Noah didn't shut the door.

  593. God closed the door and the rain fell.

  594. I pray with all my heart that if you're here today and you don't

  595. know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, that this message

  596. today, this time that you're in church today, that you'll

  597. remember with regret was the time that you were invited and

  598. you said no and God closed the door.