Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The following program is a production of
Truth For The World.
♪ "Day by day and with each passing moment,
strength I find to meet my trials here.
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear." ♪
If you will turn to Hebrews chapter eleven and I kind
of want to use this as a launching pad.
Our subject: A Heavenly Home a Better Place.
In Hebrews eleven we have the great chapter
on faith demonstrated by so many in the Old Testament.
It is interesting in verse thirteen, "These all died
in faith, not having received the promises,
not having seen them, but having seen them," that seems
like a paradox, having seen what the eye can't see.
That's what you and I need to be able to do, by faith,
we need to see what the eye can't see.
"Having seen them and greeted them from afar and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For they say such things make it manifest
that they are seeking a country of their own."
If, indeed, they had been mindful of that country
from which they went out they would have had opportunity
to return.
Now, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly,
"Wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God
for He hath prepared for them a city."
So, here is that heavenly city.
Earlier we read that Abraham went out into a country
which afterward he was to receive
for an inheritance, by faith.
The Bible says, he went out not knowing whether he went.
Now, why did he do that?
Why did he become a sojourner in the land of promise?
"Because he looked for the city", verse ten,
"Which hath the foundation whose builder and maker is God."
So, he was looking for a better country.
The heavenly country is a better country
and that is what we are seeking.
Now, in preparation, thinking about this I want us to turn
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, I really wonder, maybe,
except for several verses like Psalm 23,
maybe 1 Corinthians 15, I have an idea
that these verses have been used at more funerals
than any other verses and they are so meaningful to us.
1 Thessalonians 4:13, Paul said,
"But we would not have you ignorant brethren concerning
them that fall asleep that ye sorrow not,
even as others that have no hope."
Now, death is perceived as a sleep,
that's a kindly expression that is used to indicate death.
You know there are a number of things about sleep,
sleep is not annihilation and death is not annihilation.
There are some people when you mention death they
think annihilation.
It is interesting that the father of the prodigal son,
when the prodigal son returned home, said,
this, my son, was dead.
Was he annihilated?
Have you ever heard of an annihilated boy feeding hogs?
He was dead, but now, he is alive.
So, this boy wasn't annihilated, he was separated from his father
and that's what death means, a separation.
When we die we are, our spirits, are separated from out bodies
but we are not annihilated.
When Paul uses the term sleep, when we think
of sleep we see a person's body here but the person has gone.
"The body returns to dust the spirit returns to God
who gave it," Ecclesiastes 12:7.
"That ye sorrow not as others that have no hope,"
really our hope is great it's tremendous,
because heaven is a better place.
For as we believe, or since we believe, it could be translated,
"Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, now,
death is no dead end street those who have died are going
to be resurrected, "Even so, them also that are fallen asleep
in Jesus will God bring with Him
and so not only are they conscious, those righteous dead,
not only are they conscious but they are in paradise.
When Christ comes back personally then He is going
to bring them with Him.
That's an amazing concept.
I don't know how the wicked get back,
how their spirits come back from Tartarus back to Earth,
but I know how the righteous are going
to get back Christ is going to bring them back
and they are coming with Him.
Even so them also that are fallen asleep
in Jesus will God bring with Him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,"
in other words by the authority of God and Christ.
"I say this because I am inspired
and this is what the Holy Spirit has inspired me
to write to you."
Now, notice what he says, "That we that are alive
that are left unto the coming of the Lord," the second coming,
the second appearing of Christ, "shall in no wise precede them
that are fallen asleep."
Now, the Thessalonians were worried about their loved ones
who had obeyed the gospel, they had gone
through the same persecutions having to do
with their Christian lives that they had experienced,
and they died and they believed
that Christ's coming back was imminent,
that it's about to happen.
They're worried.
What's going to happen to my loved ones?
Christ said, don't worry about that, Paul said,
don't worry about that they are in the hands of the Lord.
You are not going to see the Lord before they do.
You are not going to go before them
to see the Lord in the resurrection.
He details that for the Lord himself, he is not going
to send anybody, "he's going to come with his holy angels
in flaming fire," 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9,
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout
with the voice of the arch angel" and so,
the Lord is coming back he is going to shout
and everybody is coming out of the grave.
There is going to be the voice
of the arch angel probably commanding the angels
that are under him.
They will have work to do at that time
and with the trump of God.
A trumpet announces significant events.
There is going to be a trump sound and the dead
in Christ will rise first in other words,
before you meet the Lord.
Instantaneously, quicker than a cat can blink it's eye.
All of this is going to happen just all of a sudden.
Then we that are alive that are left shall together with them,
the saints that died, we shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air He isn't going to set foot on Earth.
Premilenialism is a doctrine of men,
but it is shade tree doctrine, it's not in the Bible.
"So shall we ever be with the Lord wherefore comfort ye one
another with these words."
Let's talk about the better things of heaven.
Heaven, a better place, when we think
of heaven being a better place I think we are reminded of fact
that from the cradle
to the grave we are always seeking to better ourselves.
I have an idea that this is true of every generation
that the world has ever known.
They have tried everyway in the world to better themselves.
I hear that today.
I hear that among parents who say, I want my child
to have it better than I had it.
Did you ever hear it?
We want to send our children to school we want them
to get good educations so, that they can have it better than we.
You and I can say that heaven, and we can be assured
that heaven, offers a great number of better things.
We are not satisfied with the status quo.
We want things that are better.
So, often, though a lot of people
in this world do not think about heaven, they are satisfied
with the world in which we live
and they are not looking for something better.
Now, I'll tell you brethren I've suffered enough
to want something better.
You think about the person who is crippled now, I have an idea
that that crippled person would like to be able
to walk normally again.
Yet, when we think about better in this life,
how in the world can we fully describe heaven and the fact
that it will be so much better?
In Romans 8:18, the apostle Paul said that "The problems
in this life are not worthy to be compared with the things
that await the faithful."
It is hard to realize.
Paul, what things do await the faithful?
You and I read Revelation 21: 21- 22,
we read about every gate made of pearl, one pearl per gate.
We read about the street of gold, and we read about all
of that room, and we read about the tree of life, and the water
of life, and we read about the throne of God, and the throne
of the lamb and we read about no need for light
because Christ is the light of it.
It is hard to imagine the beauty and, no doubt about it,
we are going to ask the apostle John, John,
why didn't you really tell us how great it was?
And he will say, well, words are limited.
To what could I compare it?
There is not anything to which to compare it for you
to get the full picture.
In Philippians 1, you know Paul said, "For me to live is Christ
and to die is gain", he went on to say I am
in a strait betwixt the two, whether to go on and be
with the Lord or stay with you" and it is best for me to stay
with you and help you go to heaven, but to go on and be
with the Lord would be far better.
Abraham was looking for a land of promise,
but I will tell you what,
he knew that would just be temporary.
Really what he was looking for was the better land to come.
Let's think about a few of the better things of heaven.
We just have time to mention several.
In heaven one has a better future.
The truth about the matter is: one has a future.
I'd like to ask you, what is your future?
What future do you have that is guaranteed in this life?
If I were to ask you, everybody that is guaranteed,
absolutely knows, that you will be living this time tomorrow
afternoon, raise your hand.
There would not be a hand go
up because life is uncertain and death is sure.
We have absolutely no promise of tomorrow.
James says, "We don't know what a day will bring forth.
How can you say you are going into such a city and there buy
and sell and get gain?"
You don't know that but I will tell you this, you and I know
that if we go to heaven we are going to have a future.
Heaven is eternal.
Number two, one of the better things of heaven is
that we will have a better body.
In Philippians 3:21, the apostle Paul talked about the fact,
well, let's read verse twenty, "For our citizenship is
in heaven here we are but straying pilgrims".
If we are Christians our citizenship is in heaven,
that's where our home is, we are just temporarily here.
"Whence also we wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation,"
I'll tell you what we have a body made out of dirt,
and eventually, and it may not be too far away for some of us,
our body is going to go back to the dirt.
But he says, "It may be conformed to the body
of His glory", that is, the Lord's,
"according to the working thereby He is able even
to subject all things unto Himself."
I have a disease within my body and it is cancer
and the doctor said, Mr. Cates, you will never be
without cancer, you will never get over it,
there will never be a time when you will be able to say
that you are cancer free.
I think about that.
It could be that there are some
in this audience who have cancer.
He said, your cancer will never be in remission
but we are going to control it.
I am thankful for that.
How would it be to have a celestial body?
That cancer can never ravish, that you never have to wonder
about and worry about, and you don't have to go to the doctor
and have injections and implants put in your arm
to keep you from dying?
And you don't have to keep going and having your blood tested
and you don't have to keep going and have bone scans
and other things like that to see
if it is getting ahead of the treatment.
It's a better thing.
Isn't it? Pardon the personal expression, but I can empathize
with those who are battling serious disease.
I think I am a better person since I was face
to face with my mortality.
I think I am a better person.
I think I am no longer a person that takes life for granted.
Everyday that I get out of bed I thank the Lord
for giving me another day.
I thank the Lord for the privilege
of seeing those sweet grandchildren,
and to try to have a positive influence on them,
and you feel the same way.
But, there comes a time, brethren, and it will come
for me and it will come for you that we are going to be
out of this body, our spirits are going to be carried
by the angels, if we are Christian, to Abraham's ***
and we won't have to worry about anymore pain.
That's one of the better things of heaven but in addition
to that there will be a better companionship.
I'll tell you what, you and I have some privilege today
of being with some great folks as a Christian.
But, I am here to tell you that there are some evil people
in this world and sometimes you have to deal with them
and sometimes I have to deal with them.
Sometimes it is greatly disappointing what they do,
sometimes those whom you have a lot of confidence
in will stab you in the back try to undermine you.
There won't be any of that in heaven.
You and I live two-thousand years
from the time Christ was here on Earth, and Paul, and Peter.
Some of these folks were so human, not Christ,
He was without sin, He was a human being
but He never succumbed to sin.
I've done a lot of study in Job and I can identify with Job
in a lot of things, although I haven't suffered nearly
like he did.
We are separated, sometime, from great people by time and space.
We won't be separated from them in heaven.
There will be some of our loved ones that have gone on
and we will get to be with them
and we will never be separated again.
Paul said, I sure would like to go on
and get to be with the Lord.
One man said: What care I for the Jasper walls
or the golden streets, if I might
but take my mother in my arms, again.
There are things that prevent the full society of good people
on Earth, but I will tell you what,
we will be with the truly good, forever.
Then, it will be a better environment.
Everything will be good, everything will be bright,
everything will be positive.
There will not be any temptation,
there will be no more tears, no more separations,
but it will be eternal bliss.
I will tell you, there will be no more sin.
When you have no more sin, friends,
you realize that there will be no more suffering and problems
that sin brings about.
The great people of faith of Hebrews 11,
look for a better country and that better country is heaven.
I enjoy life, I love life, I enjoy being with good people
and great people, like you folks, I enjoy being
with my family, and I enjoy trying
to have a good influence upon this world,
for what little I can do.
But, heaven is going to be
so much better; it is indescribable.
If you would like to learn more about God's word with
a free Bible Correspondence Course,
then write us at Truth For The World
P.O. Box 5048 Duluth, GA 30096 USA
Or visit us online at truthfortheworld.org
Truth For The World is a work of the Duluth Church of Christ
in cooperation with Churches of Christ throughout the world.
♪ "Day by day and with each passing moment,
strength I find to meet my trials here.
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear. ♪