Heaven - Paradise Found - Part 1

What is it like in heaven?

Hmm.

I don't really know that I don't really know.

Um, well there's trees and lots of clouds.

I don't know.

I don't know.

It's a little confusing.

I think it's um huge.

It's probably uh um with our new church what it's gonna be like.

It's probably gonna be that big.

Really?

Plus the parking lot.

Yes and no.

We we don't want to stay in heaven.

If we stay in heaven, we never get out.

The walls are made of just beautiful jewels and um it's and the gate is just golden with diamonds on it.

And there would be a mansion just for you.

I think maybe there is gonna be lots of people coming out for walks just to see what God has made up there in heaven.

It's like huh?

Kind of.

Just a nice place.

Maybe it's everything that you think about.

Those are good answers.

Very good answers.

You notice how many of them said, I don't know?

Well, that was the same answer we got from the adults.

Last night, you know, I was watching the video, so I took my six-year-old out to the back porch and we're you know, right before dark, and I said, So tell me what do you think about heaven?

She goes, I don't know.

She goes, but I think you're gonna be there before me because you're older.

Yeah, thank you very much.

I appreciate that.

You can go inside now.

Let's go.

They're always very encouraging.

Well, we're gonna start a new series today called Heaven, Paradise Found.

And in the next five weeks, we're gonna take a great journey together.

And I mean this because the Bible is so full of details about heaven, and I'm gonna try to open up the word to you in the next five weeks and show you some of these marvelous details about heaven.

So turn in your Bible to Ecclesiastes chapter 3, because this is a foundational scripture when we think about eternity and about what is next after death.

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

And it's normal for us to think that question.

It's not uh dark or foreboding to think about what happens after death, because uh that's the reality is death and taxes, we're not getting out of either one.

So what happens next is a good question to ask.

In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 11.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

This is Solomon talking, and he says, God has made everything beautiful for its own time.

And he has planted eternity in the human heart.

Now put your hand over your heart, if you will, and I want you to repeat after me.

God has planted eternity in my heart.

It is okay to ask questions.

Let's keep reading because he says that.

But even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

Now, this scripture says two things.

Number one, we are going to think about eternity.

Human beings are designed to think about eternity.

And it says a second thing.

You're not going to know all the answers.

There are more questions than answers.

However, there are a lot of answers in the Bible.

Heaven is not near as mysterious.

It is not so mysterious as we've made it out to be.

And you wouldn't believe some of the questions that I get asked about heaven.

Here's one that I get asked all the time.

Will my pets be in heaven?

Yours might, but I have a few that I know are in hell of my own.

There is not enough grace for this cat that we once owned.

A second question I get asked is I got asked this the other day.

Why does heaven have gates?

Why is it in a gated community?

What kind of neighborhood is heaven in anyway?

It's a good question.

Will we be married to our current spouse in heaven?

By the way, Jesus answered that in Luke 20, and he said, You will not be married to your spouse in heaven.

So enjoy it now while you're on the earth.

There's a better groom coming, though.

For all you ladies, know that the perfect groom is waiting for you in heaven.

Will we have wings like angels in heaven?

Will heaven be boring?

Listen, that is the number one question that unchurch people are asking right now.

That is the number one question.

Will heaven be boring?

And the reason they think heaven will be boring is because all of their religious encounters to date have been boring, and it's guilt by association.

Honestly, they think that heaven's going to be a never-ending Sunday school class that never lets out.

With those felt things that, you know, the little things that you put on the felt board forever.

Here's another question: will there be any other music in heaven besides harp music?

How many of you have some hot harp music right now playing in your car on the CD, huh?

On your iPod.

And that's what people believe.

You see, Satan wants us to believe, he wants the world to believe that heaven is boring, that it's a state of mind.

In fact, a key religious leader of a mainline denomination recently said heaven is simply a state of mind.

He's telling his delegates, he's telling the people that he oversees that heaven's not a real place.

It's more of a state of mind.

And so recently, uh, you know, I go to Starbucks and I pay$5.

It's 50 cents for the coffee and$4.50 for the philosophy written on the side.

I don't know if you knew that or not, but on the side of the Starbucks cup, the guy named Joel Stein, who's a columnist for the LA Times, wrote something about heaven.

And so let me read this to you.

This is what the world's saying.

It says, heaven is totally overrated.

It seems boring.

Clouds.

Listening to people play the harp.

It should be somewhere you can't wait to go, like a luxury hotel or Texas.

He didn't add that.

Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17th century, but heaven has to step it up a bit.

They're basically getting by because they only have to be better than hell.

Now listen, I know you can get upset with Starbucks, but the point is that's a valid question that the world's asking.

They're asking it because the church has done such a poor job of marketing heaven.

We've done a terrible job of telling people what's going to happen in heaven.

You know, when I grew up, the only thing I really heard about heaven is there was going to be a big throne, and I was going to stand before it and give account for everything I did.

I didn't know what was going to happen in the hundred billion years after that.

You know, the sheep go this way, or the right, yeah, the sheep go this way, the goats go this way, you know, blessed are you.

And so anyway, I didn't know what was going to happen after that.

No one really explained to me what is heaven going to be like after you pass through the judgment.

Well, let me tell you something.

It's pretty exciting what's going to happen after that.

Heaven is a thrilling place.

Heaven is not boring.

And so the church has spent all of our time, we've spent all of our time telling people how to get to heaven, and I don't think we should stop that, by the way.

We should need to keep telling people that it's easier than you can imagine to get to heaven, that the price has already been paid.

We need to share our testimony.

But you know, if I'm an unbeliever and an unchurched person who's never really been in church, these are good questions that they should ask.

Well, if I give my life to Christ and you say that I'm going to go to heaven, I do agree that heaven does sound a little bit better than hell.

But can you give me more details about heaven?

And if as believers we look at them and say, well, it's a nice place.

It's going to be really bright all the time.

Uh, there's going to be some music there, but uh, well, what am I going to do?

How am I going to spend my time?

I don't know.

Well, am I going to have, I think there's some houses up there.

I do know that.

There's a house.

And you're going to have a house.

But if we can't give them any more detail than that, that's a really poor sales job.

I mean, the radical Muslims right now are getting people to strap bombs around themselves and blow people up because they tell these martyrs, these so-called martyrs, that there's 70 virgins waiting for them in heaven.

Here's what the radical Muslims have figured out.

Heaven motivates people.

And I believe as believers, we've missed it.

Heaven motivates people.

Heaven motivates me.

And we shouldn't feel guilty about thinking about heaven, being motivated by heaven.

Many times we're called escapist if you think too much about heaven.

Listen, you're not an escapist, you're a realist.

Heaven is a real place.

And I'm going to be there for a really long time with a really good God.

And I'm going to have a really good assignment there.

This is one of the reasons that I chose the Caribbean kind of theme for heaven, because I believe heaven is going to be a paradise.

It's going to look a lot like whatever you consider to be paradise.

And to me, I love the blue waters, clear waters of the Caribbean.

I love going there with my family.

We've been there a few times.

And it's my favorite place on the earth.

It's paradise to me.

And when I think about heaven, I've already asked the Lord if I can do enough good works that if you just get a little tiny island out in the Caribbean, and that'd be my spot for eternity.

I'd be so happy.

And so let's look at heaven.

Let's look at what the Bible says about heaven.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13.

1 Thessalonians 4:13

Now, this is a scripture that you hear a lot when you're at a funeral, and it's a good time to read this scripture when you're at a funeral, but it's for us right now as well.

It says, and now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know, I want you to keep that in your mind.

I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died, so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope.

God is saying that He wants you to know what happens next, and the more you know about what happens next, the more hope you will have now.

Do you agree with that?

That the more we know about heaven, the more we know about what happens next, the more hope we will have right now.

That's what that scripture says.

And I'm telling you, I need hope.

I want more hope.

I want to believe more.

I want to hope more.

And the more I know about heaven, the more hope that I have right now.

Now, the reason that I chose this paradise theme also is because the word paradise is used three times in Scripture.

Three times.

It's all in the New Testament.

And on all three times, the word paradise is used to describe heaven.

Jesus, Paul, and John all use the word paradise to describe heaven.

We're going to take a look at all three today.

But before we dive into those things, can I ask you one question?

It's the same question I asked myself when I began to study this topic.

Are you willing this morning and in the next five weeks to lay aside any belief or opinion that you have about heaven that cannot be supported with Scripture?

Are you willing to?

Honestly, a lot of people's theology is based less on scripture and more on tradition.

Or maybe one night you ate a lot of pizza and you had this weird dream about heaven, and that's become your theology, or some movie that you've seen.

You wouldn't believe how people have based their theology on heaven on things other than the Bible.

So I'm asking you, would you lay aside any opinion that you really strongly have right now about heaven if you cannot support it with Scripture?

Because I took that challenge and I'm telling you, I'm radic, my thinking about heaven has been radically changed as I look at the Word of God.

Alright, so let's look at the three times in Scripture that the word paradise is used to describe heaven.

The first time, John said that heaven is a paradise of trees.

Heaven, according to John, is a paradise of trees.

Now, this is a significant, okay?

Go to Revelation chapter 2, verse 7.

Revelation 2:7

Now, John is getting this revelation.

Now I know when I told you to turn to Revelation, some of the deep theological minds in the congregation said, I know what you were thinking, I heard it.

I mean, I just caught it just like that.

You said, now listen, you can't take anything in Revelation literally.

It's all figurative language, apocalyptic language.

Because there's really two kinds of people.

There are people who never read the book of Revelation, are terrified of it, or you only read the book of Revelation.

Can we somehow agree that there's a balanced approach to the book of Revelation?

That yes, a lot of the language in Revelation is figurative.

However, there is more literal language in Revelation than we give it credit for.

And I believe John saw what he saw and he wrote it down literally.

Okay?

Revelation chapter 2, verse 7.

Revelation 2:7

Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit, capital S, Holy Spirit, and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Everyone who is victorious will eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God.

John's talking about heaven, right?

He's talking about the place after death.

Yet he says there's a tree of life there.

I wish there was another place in Scripture where we could find something about another tree.

It seems like that seems familiar to me.

That there's a tree of life that you can eat from?

Well, John goes into more detail in Revelation 22.

Revelation 22, verse 1, he's having another encounter and he's seeing things in heaven again.

Revelation 22:1

Verse 1.

And the angel showed me a pure river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, coursing down the center of the main street.

Can any of us relate to that in the last couple of weeks?

I mean, we've seen this.

I've had this exact same vision every day watching Channel 8, all right?

On each side of the river grew a tree of life.

On each side, remember this, so it's very important.

Bearing twelve crops of fruit with a fresh crop each month.

And the leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

Now we don't know, most theologians believe that what he was describing was a group of trees on each side of the river, another row after row of trees.

But we know by reading this that there are at least two.

And that's very important.

That there's at least two.

You see, in the book of Genesis, if you read Genesis, the story of the Garden of Eden, if you've just started reading that, let me tell you how it ends.

It doesn't end well.

When you begin to hear about the Garden of Eden, sin came in, and that story does not end very well.

The enemy came and stole everything from us.

In fact, the Bible says that he put two angels at the entrance of the Garden of Eden with flaming swords that no one else could ever go back there.

Everything that God had designed, the perfect earth, the perfect utopian environment for a perfect people, was destroyed because sin came into that world.

We lost it.

Genesis is the story of paradise lost.

But when we read the book of Revelation, it's the story of paradise found.

And this is why I want you to catch today.

The reason that I believe there are two trees or more in this heavenly vision that John had is because everything we lost in the Garden of Eden is going to be given back to us and more.

Everything that we lost there will one day be restored back to us in the final heaven, the new earth, the new Jerusalem that God's going to establish, and it's going to be better than anything that was ever stolen from us.

There's going to be more than one tree of life.

And it says that these trees are on both sides of the river, that they bear fruit every month, they bear a new crop.

You know why they're bearing crops every month?

It's because you have to eat them.

It's fruit to eat.

This is not figurative language.

It's literally fruit that you're going to take from the tree in heaven and eat.

And people are going to eat so much fruit that they have to bear a crop every month.

And even the leaves have a purpose.

Isn't this great?

There's not going to be raking and bagging of leaves in heaven.

Even the leaves have a purpose.

Those trees bear fruit all the time.

The leaves are used for things.

On both sides of the river.

See, humanity takes a final lap.

One full lap.

Genesis, paradise lost.

One lap around at the end in Revelation, it's paradise found.

And restored back to us, multiplied over and over again.

This is what we're going to explore in the next few weeks because I want you to know something.

Heaven is going to be paradise.

A paradise of trees and fruit and things to eat.

Your appetites will be satisfied.

People will say, why is there food in heaven if we're never hungry?

Hey, I have an appetite even when I'm not hungry.

And every appetite, every good appetite that you have will always be satisfied in heaven.

There's going to be really good food in heaven.

In fact, Jesus said he's going to eat with us.

That's not figurative.

He said, I literally will eat with you in heaven, drink with you in heaven, be with you in heaven.

Heaven is a paradise of trees.

And then Paul, when he describes heaven as paradise, Paul says that heaven is a paradise of sounds.

Heaven is also a paradise of sounds.

2 Corinthians 12, this is a really confusing passage of Scripture to most people when you read it.

2 Corinthians 12.

Now, in some of your Bibles, it's going to say that he knew a man that had this vision.

Most theologians agree, most commentaries agreed, that Paul was simply being humble, that it was improper for him to refer to himself in the first person, that he was referring to someone else, but everyone agrees that it was Paul that had the vision, okay?

So know that as we read this, because some of you are going to read a different version of the Bible that I'm going to read.

Okay?

It says, verse 1.

This boasting is all so foolish, but let me go on.

I kind of like that about Paul.

He said, you know, I don't like to brag, but I'm on a roll right now, so I'm going to keep going.

Let me tell about the visions and revelations I received from the Lord.

I was caught up into the third heaven 14 years ago.

Now we're going to I'm going to tell you what the third heaven is later in this series, okay?

That's very important for you to see.

You see how we kind of run through these things about heaven and we just read past it and we never stop to say, well, what is the third heaven?

There's a third one?

And so it's important for us to know what he's talking about.

And he says, it was 14 years ago.

Whether my body was there or just my spirit, I don't know.

Only God knows.

But I do know that I was caught up into paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be told.

They were so astounding that Paul took 14 years before he even brought it up again.

Have you ever been in a concert?

I mean, the best one you've ever been in in your life.

And it was over, and you just sat there and you didn't want to leave.

No one wanted to leave.

And so they call for the, what do they call that?

They call for the encore.

So they come back out and play again.

The reason they call for encore is no one wants to leave.

They want more.

And then after it's all said and done, people just sit there and don't want to leave the stadium or wherever you were.

And then you want to, your friends call, the one you offered the ticket to but didn't want to go because they didn't think it would be that great.

And they want to say, Well, how was the concert?

And you want to do it justice because it's the best thing you've ever witnessed.

And you can't really describe it.

You can't come up with any words for it.

So you just say it was awesome, it was the best thing, but even when you say those words, they seem so inadequate.

This is what Paul says.

Paul says, I just heard something in heaven.

The sounds of heaven, and I cannot describe them.

I can't even.

So why even try?

Can't you imagine in 14 years he wanted to bring this up to like Barnabas or someone?

Hey, by the way, I had something really weird happen last week.

But he didn't even want to talk about it.

It was so amazing, so astounding, and he couldn't even describe it, so he just kept it between him and God until here.

Because the Corinthians upset him, and so he blurted it out.

And then it's all out in the open now.

And it was meant for us to know.

He heard words, sounds.

He didn't try to explain it.

However, John in the book of Revelation heard some sounds too.

Revelation 19, verse 6.

Revelation 19:6

So you're going to keep your finger in Revelation a lot in the next five weeks, okay?

Revelation 19, verse 6.

Revelation 19:6

John also heard some sounds in heaven.

Then I heard again what sounded like.

Now again, John's about to try to describe what he heard.

And he listen to what he does.

It sounded like a shout of a huge crowd.

No?

Or maybe it was the roar of mighty ocean waves.

John goes, I don't know.

It was more than that.

Or maybe it was the crash of loud thunder.

And this is what they were saying.

He said, I do know what they were saying.

I just can't tell you the sounds I was hearing was so amazing.

Those are the three best explanations he could come up with.

Those are the three best sounds he had ever heard in his life.

And so that was the best he could do.

But here's what they were saying.

Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

Let us be glad and rejoice and honor him.

For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself.

This is one noisy wedding.

Have you ever been around a bride or a groom like a few hours before the wedding or the day of the wedding?

They're a mess.

I mean, they're nervous, they're talking, you know, they're sweating bullets.

Can you imagine millions and millions of people getting ready to marry Jesus Himself?

How nervous and talkative we're all going to be, how excited we're going to be.

The greatest wedding of all time.

And we're the bride.

And the groom is going to step out in all of his splendor.

Jesus Himself in heaven.

The very thing that he died for, the very thing he created all of us for, dressed completely in this very best, going to step out.

And we're going to look at him for the first time and realize I'm going to spend eternity with him.

It's going

It's going to be a noisy place.

It's going to be loud and exciting.

If you think for a moment that heaven's going to be quiet and boring, you're going to be in the wrong place.

It's going to be loud.

You're not going to want to be by yourself.

You're going to want to be a part of the event, one event after another, one feast after another, one celebration after another.

It's not going to be boring.

It's going to be an exciting place full of sounds that you've never heard before.

Music and dancing and singing.

Your creativity will always, there will be no boundaries on your creative ability.

If you like to write songs down, when you get to heaven, you're going to write song after song after song.

You're going to sing music, music you've never heard before.

You're going to create music.

Your creativity will continue and continue and continue.

And just when you think you've reached the absolute limits of your creativity, you're going to see something else about God and your creativity will grow more.

That's what heaven's going to be like.

And you'll be required to be creative in heaven.

You'll want to be creative in heaven.

Heaven's a place of sounds and music and dancing.

Here's the third thing.

Jesus himself said that heaven is a paradise of great stories.

Luke chapter 23 is one of my favorite stories.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

Luke 23, verse 39, Jesus is on the cross, two thieves close enough to him that they can have conversation and hear one another.

Luke 23:39

But it seemed like the two thieves were getting off pretty easy with ropes tied around their hands.

They were kind of just hanging out.

But that's not true.

The truth is all three of them were beaten, flogged, beaten by the soldiers.

All of them had their nails, nails in their hands and nails in their feet.

They all three were crucified the same way.

There was a common method of Roman crucifixion, and all three of them were crucified.

So all three of them are on the cross in absolute agony, trying to breathe, trying to hold themselves up so they could breathe and stay alive, but in absolute agony.

And then they had this conversation.

Verse 39, one of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, So you're the Messiah, are you?

Prove it by saving yourself and us too while you're at it.

In other words, do something for me.

But the other criminal protested, Don't you fear God even when you're dying?

We deserve to die for our evil deeds.

Now, this is one of the first times in recorded human history that a criminal on his execution day actually confessed to the crime.

He said, I did it.

I'm guilty.

I did everything they accused me of.

He says, We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man hasn't done anything wrong.

Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And Jesus replied, I assure you, today, today you will be with me in paradise.

Now the thief probably sat there, we don't know how much longer, maybe one hour, two hours, three hours, but it wasn't long.

He died.

And he's in heaven.

Can you imagine in the last 2,000 years that thief walking around heaven and people coming up to him and saying, What are you doing here?

And I want my watch back.

What are you doing here?

And I bet the thief is looking at a few of them and saying, What are you doing here?

Listen, you're going to be shocked, surprised at who you see in heaven.

And there's going to be people shocked and surprised that you're in heaven, that I'm in heaven.

What?

People that haven't seen me in 20 years, they go, Brady, what are you doing here?

I say, what are you doing here?

Because we're all going to have a story to tell.

Here's a story the thief's telling.

I was guilty.

Dead to right, guilty.

And I was being led out to be crucified.

I've been beaten and scourged.

And I hear people shouting things at this guy in front of me.

They're calling him the Messiah.

He goes, Can you imagine how fortunate I am that the day that I'm crucified, that they choose to crucify me, right next to Jesus?

I'm being led out to die.

I know that I am not getting out of this deal.

I'm about to die.

Can you imagine how blessed, how favored I am, that right next to me, close enough for me to talk to, is Jesus.

There he is.

And I don't know what happened, but it just seemed like that my eyes were opened suddenly, and I realized that it is possible, maybe even probable, that this guy could be the Messiah.

So I just, I had nothing to lose.

It was time for me to be honest.

Maybe for the first time in my life.

In fact, I think it was the first time in my life that I was ever honest.

I said, look, Jesus, I'm guilty.

I'm guilty.

I did everything they accused me of.

But if there's any hope at all for me, when you get into your kingdom, could you just remember me?

See, the thief didn't know what to ask for.

He just wanted to be remembered by God.

And there he is, right next to Jesus.

Maybe for that last couple of hours, something strange happened in that thief while he's hanging on the cross.

Maybe even though he was in excruciating pain, maybe for the first time he had hope in his life.

A strange feeling came over him.

Something different is in me.

The thief says, You know, I wish I could have gotten off the cross.

I wish I could have gone and told my mom and dad that I'm sorry for embarrassing them, for shaming the family.

I wish I could have gotten off the cross and went and apologized to the people that I'd stolen from.

I wish I could have gotten off the cross and been baptized, but I couldn't do any of those things.

All I could do is say, Jesus, would you please remember me?

And he says, here I am.

You think you're surprised that I'm here?

Have you seen this place yet?

I can't believe I'm here.

And we may all agree with that story about the thief, but that's my story in heaven, too.

It's going to be your story in heaven.

You're going to walk around heaven, no matter how good you were on the earth, you're going to walk around heaven and it's going to be such a spectacular place.

And we're all going to have the same story.

I can't believe that I'm here.

I have people in heaven that I love very much.

And if tomorrow morning I walked out into my mailbox and there was a postcard there from most people, my dad, my uncles, my grandparents that I know are in heaven.

You know what the postcard would say?

Dear Brady?

It really is paradise.

Can't wait to see you.

Wish you were here.

And because I know they're in heaven, and because I know what heaven is like, to the best of my knowledge, that gives me great hope for them, comforts me, and it gives me hope for my eternity.

Can I pray for you this morning?

Can I just pray for everyone in the room right now?

I don't know if you've lost hope about today or about tomorrow, but there is hope in heaven.

I grew up and I heard people say this to me.

Don't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good.

And I think that's a false statement.

I believe life on the earth is better when we're thinking about heaven.

The Bible tells us to long for heaven, to pray for the return of Christ, to dream about heaven.

I want you in the next five weeks, just to throughout the week, throughout your day, I just want you to start thinking about heaven.

It's a good place, a really great place.

There's a great God there waiting for you, and you're going to be there a really long time.