Will Heaven be Boring- The Truth about Heaven, Hell, and the Hereafter 11/25/18

well that's good to see you hope you did have a great Thanksgiving some of you look like you are exhausted I mean giving thanks can be tiring can it but I do hope you did have a good time and maybe some fun times with your family over the holiday time well today we continue our series of messages that I started a few weeks ago entitled Heaven Hell in the Hereafter and today we're going to kind of finish up looking at heaven this will be our last look at heaven in this series I hope that it has been encouraging for you and and challenging for you as it has been for me and maybe a little enlightening as we've made some discoveries together and and maybe some that you didn't know others that just reinforce what you already know and I I pray that for every believer it has given to us a sense of excitement about our future and and we're able to recognize that there is a better place waiting and a better day around the corner and that kind of keeps us motivated right now and we live our life today in light of the reality that heaven is around the corner and when we know that then we can live in such freedom today we don't have anything to prove to anybody we know what our future is and the security that is there and and so we find our hope and confidence in that reality well over the last few weeks we've discovered several things that I just remind you of them again we we have discovered first of all that heaven is a real place there are many in our world today that would challenge that and say that heaven is a figment of your imagination it is a state of mind but according to the scriptures and what we have done is looked at what the Bible says and the Bible tells us that heaven is a real place the Bible tells us that it is up up there in the heavens there are three heavens that the Bible describes there is the heaven that we see by day where the clouds are and the Sun shines and there is the cloud there is the heaven that we see by night where the stars and the galaxies are and then there the heaven that we see by faith and all of those heavens in the Bible are described as up then we have also discovered not everybody goes to heaven there are some who think that when we die everybody will die and eventually end up in heaven the Bible tells us that heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people and if you're not prepared you're not going to go there and the way we are prepared is through faith in Jesus Christ we have discovered that every one of us can go to heaven heaven is not restricted for just a certain group of people are certain kind of people heaven is available to every person because Jesus is the doorway to heaven and he invites all of us to place our faith and trust in him and the Bible tells us that he died and rose again for every one of us and so through trusting in Christ we all know that we will experience our eternity in heaven we don't get there by being a member of a church we don't get there by being baptized we don't get there because we're good we go to heaven because we place our faith and trust in Jesus who is the only way there we've also discovered that heaven is a place that has a capital city in the name of the capital city is the New Jerusalem and we looked at the description that the Bible gives us of that city and it is also a place with a countryside that is a new earth we've discovered that the rules of heaven are not the same as the rules on earth so the rules that define and confine us in the world that we live in today are not the rules in heaven in heaven we will not have earthly limitations there is no time in heaven all of the rules that govern the world that we live in today are not the rules that govern a heaven there is no night there there is no sea there all of those things that we discovered revealed to us that heaven has a different set of rules we also discovered that that the best way I can describe it is that there are two heavens there is that intermediate heaven that is the place where people who have died until right now go that is the intermediate heaven if you are to die today you would spin your you would immediately be carried into the intermediate heaven but there is also in the Bible the eternal heaven and that eternal heaven will be available for all of us when everyone joins those who have died and gone to heaven in the second coming of Christ when Jesus returns and he takes us with him that at the ultimate end of time will be when God establishes the ultimate heaven the new heaven and the new earth that John describes in Revelation chapter 21 I told you we don't know a whole lot about the intermediate heaven but I do believe that the description we have in the book of the revelation of the heaven that is to come many of the characteristics that we will experience there our loved ones are experiencing right now in that intermediate heaven I believe that the New Jerusalem the capital city of heaven is the place that I call or refer to as the intermediate heaven that's where our loved ones are right now because the Bible says in the ultimate end when God establishes that eternal heaven that John saw the the the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven it already existed and it comes down and takes its place as the capital city of this new heaven and so we've learned a lot about heaven and some of the things the scriptures teaches us and today I want to focus on a final question many questions you have given I'll try to answer some of those online and some of you have sent personal emails too with regard to questions that you have sent to me but today I I kind of want to finish up our study in heaven by answering one of the most pop other questions that I have received in the course of my my time as a pastor and one of the most popular questions that many of us have even as believers now I'll have to tell you if you're a child of God and you ask this question I worry about you and yet I'm convinced every one of us have asked this question it's one that I've thought about and and it reveals I think a very disturbing issue and that's why when I answer the question in our time together today so here's the question are you ready is heaven bori I believe that there are a lot of folks who believe that heaven is just gonna be a boring place and the reason I can't get excited about going to heaven one day is because I'm just I'm just not thrilled about sitting on a cloud plucking a heart for all eternity all right just can't get excited about an endless worship service because the Bible says that we're gonna worship God for all eternity and it's all we can do to get through an hour of Sunday morning can we imagine forever and ever and ever see or maybe in a choir you think if you're in the choir you love singing I mean endlessly you're in a choir robe for all eternity that's just not a warm fuzzy thought for us to have but meaning people have that now let me just say this as common as that question is as appropriate as that question is to ask it seems there's a major problem that the question reveals if you've ever asked the question is heaven boring it reveals a faulty understanding on your part as to who God is if you think heaven can be boring that tells me something about your view of God that tells me something about what you think of God it me that that you might have bought into a myth that is prominent in our world today that somehow God is a cosmic kill joy all the fun stuff in life God says we can't do and as Christians we can't be really happy on this earth and if we are happy then then it's probably a bad thing and B you know there's this ideology that being holy means that we must be bored and if we are not holy life is one big party and it's exciting and if that's true the idea is that God is a cosmic killjoy and Satan is the life of the party man he is he's the one where it's where it's all happening and we buy in to that reality and it reveals what I consider to be a wrong assumption and there are two things that we're gonna look at in our time together today in the first is simply this I believe that to ask the question is heaven boring reveals a wrong assumption it reveals in our mind that if heavens boring that hell is exciting it was interesting you can just do a Google search and discover that that's exactly the ideology and in the world today I just kind of did a Google search looking at images and and these are a couple that came up mark twain made this statement once and it's really interesting mark twain says go to heaven for the climate but go to hell for the company you want to go to heaven because it's a great place but hell is where all the fun people are look at the little cartoon next to it heaven is that way fun people go that way hell is the party place it's a place where where we really kick back and enjoy the company of others who don't believe in God who have rejected God who don't live by all of those those hearts titling rules that God puts on us and that really is the ideology of our that's the picture of heaven that heaven is there and God is here we have an idea that that that that Satan is a creative person he is innovative he is fun he is challenging but do you know that that is exactly the opposite of truth Satan never created a thing he never created anything all Satan has ever done is take that which God created and destroy it he has never made anything good he takes that which is good and destroys it we have an idea today today that sin is fun and one of the things that Satan does is he he sells us a bill of goods and the bill of goods is that that God doesn't want you to enjoy saying Satan wants you to enjoy life and all the rules and the regulations that God gives us stifle creativity stifle fun we're supposed to just kind of walk around with our hands folded and and kind of live our life like a monk giving up everything that is fun and we have embraced that ideology and there are some that are in listen and and you know we we have really bought into that ideology you look around at the life of a lot of Christians and you see man it looks like they drink pickle juice for breakfast or something I mean they're there their whole life is sour and I mean we can't enjoy the things I've got me too it's in is we've been painted the picture of sin being fun do you understand that all sin is is a perversion of everything good god gate that's all it is sin is a perversion of the good that God got everything Satan offers us God offers us perfectly Satan comes along to say you don't want to do it God's Way because if you do it God's Way it's not fun do it my way but let me tell you what happens and all of us know this from experience the longer we live when we pervert God's truth it always always costs us sake never created anything all he ever did is destroy and we think heavens gonna be boring and hell's going to be exciting because we think sin is fun and entrusting and following and serving God is is dull and that ideology we have bought into but because we have followed the lies that have offered been offered to us by the father of all lies another reason I think that we think heaven is boring is because for a whole out of you that are Christian your Christian life is pretty boring you think serving God's boring and so as a result of serving God it's going to be boring there I mean my whole experience of being a Christian I want to tell you something if you were a child of God and your life is boring it's your fault not God's that's your fault God has called us to a an adventure God has called us to a chat God challenges us to be more than we could ever be do you know what God wants you to do every day he wants you to do things that you can't even in your own capacity do he wants you to live your life so for that you must depend on his power to accomplish it God wants to put in you supernatural power that you can live by every day we walk through a a study not long ago talking about how how to hear the voice of God and how to respond to the promptings of God that's what God wants you to experience every day he wants you to every day hear his voice he wants you to every day follow his promptings he wants to lead you and guide you in an exciting journey and I want to tell you if the Christian life for you is anything less than exciting if it is anything less than an adventure that's your fault what God has called us to is much bigger than that another reason I think that we somehow think that heaven might be boring is because for us two months of the same thing is monotonous right I mean same thing over and over again when you begin to look at the book of the revelation it talks about worship forever and it's like you know it's probably gonna be fun for a week or two but then after that I mean goodness are you serious for all eternity maybe good for a day but but for our eternity listen I want to say the problem with you is that you're trying to apply the world's rules to heaven and and I told you a moment ago the rules of Earth don't apply to heaven who says that the same thing every day has to be monotonous I'm 60 years old and for 60 years every single day every day without exception for 60 years the Sun comes up every day but you know something amazing not one time in that 60 years has the sunrise looked the same every day for 60 years the sunsets and not one time in 60 years think about that not one time in 60 years there's the sunset and paint the same picture across the western sky every day it's different there's nothing boring about it but it happens every day every day I want you to understand just because something happens every day doesn't mean it's boring doesn't mean it has to be monotonous now it might be by your standard but not by God's he's the one that raises the Sun every day and he paints the sky beautiful there are times when I'm coming home from the gym and I'm driving toward the east as the Sun begins to rise and there are times that I've said to the Lord God I think today you outdid yourself I'm gonna tell you I don't think I've ever seen a sunrise as spectacular as this one I see colors I've never seen before I see clouds arranged and as the Sun reflects upon them this isn't a magnificent sunrise I've never seen anything like it until the next day and the next day I'm driving say god I thought yesterday was pretty cool but I think you did a better job today than you did yesterday and there are times that I've seen the sunset and I've said no it'll never get more beautiful than that and then I'll see a picture on Facebook that you took out of your backyard and I'll say well I don't know maybe that one is a little bit more beautiful than that one listen just because something happens everyday doesn't mean an F do you understand what I'm saying the concept that that life is boring and that God is boring than at heaven is boring means that we have a wrong assumption so what's the right answer now here's the key if you want to know what Heaven's like you've got to know who God is you see we have we have a tendency to want to spend all of our time looking at every one of the passages of scripture that describe heaven so that we can get a picture of what heaven looks like listen you want to know what heaven looks like just get an idea of what God looks like the better you know God the greater understanding you'll have of heaven you remember in Revelation chapter 21 and I want you to turn there because in answering this question there are two key issues that you need if you're gonna understand heaven in Revelation chapter 21 verse 1 we've looked at it together but I want to bring you back there again because I think that there's there two key points that we've got to understand if we're gonna if we're gonna get a picture of what heaven is and faced with a challenge of describing the indescribable faced with the challenge of comprehending the incomprehensible faced with a challenge of obscene and putting into words what words cannot capture two things have to happen you're never gonna understand heaven until you understand who God is you'll never answer the question have been boring him too you know who God is if you know who God is you'll never ask that question again and the second thing is found in that verse one that I think is so critical for us then John says then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea the key for us to understand heaven is an understanding of who God is but number two it is to recognize that it is new I told you the first time we looked at that passage of Scripture the word new there there are two words that are used in the new testament for new or several words actually but the two most prominent one of them means new like a new car I got a new car it is chronology and then there is new in kind and the word that he uses there to describe heaven is new in kind never been anything like it not anything that compares to it and so the challenge for us is to see understand comprehend get a glimpse of something that has never been seen before and John is trying to describe that to us and then the early parts of the description he allows us to recognize that the key to heaven is God when we looked at the New Jerusalem coming down and John describes the New Jerusalem I told you that that new capital city is made out of something kind of like diamond John even describes the streets of gold but not gold like you and I have ever seen because he said that it is made of gold but it is translucent you can see through it Gold as we know today we can't see through but the gold in heaven you see through and then he goes on and he describes the different colors and and and and different all of the different jewels that are a part of heaven and then he says this and there is no light in heaven because the throne of God is in the capital city and God Himself is the light and so the whole city becomes a reflection of the light of God heaven itself is like a prism that miles us to understand who God really is sake a beam of light and shine it into a prism and on the other side comes out what light is made of and it is as if God is in heaven and and he is the beginning and the end the Alpha and the Omega everything about heaven starts and stops with God and so to understand heaven we got to understand God so I'm going to do something in just a few moments that we have to kind of put it in perspective for us so that you can get a glimpse of just who this God is and maybe as you glimpse who he is you'll begin to understand to comprehend the heaven that he has prepared for us heaven can't be boring if you know who God is because I just want you to look around at the creation that he's made that we live in today some of the most amazing things you and I have ever seen are in a world that has fallen and cursed by sin and we're afraid that Heaven's not going to be as exciting as this so fallen cursed world that we live in we somehow think this what God has made here is better than what's there well I just want you to know a little bit more about him because I think you've forgotten I told you a moment ago that he is a Creator God when God created this world all the way back in the beginning of time he filled it with bugs you notice that in fact let me ask you a question you have any idea how many species of bugs there are how many species of insects there are in the world that we live in right now you venture to guess according to Smithsonian there are 900,000 species of insects and we hadn't even discovered them all we're still discovering insects that we didn't know were there now what answer you listen why did God make 900 thousand different bugs he didn't have to make but one but God was like that's pretty cool let's just make another one and another and another and and every one of them are different and as if that's not enough do you know that there are eleven thousand different species of just grasshoppers he could have made one grasshopper and that would have done and they would be here but now look and look what he does with him I mean of the eleven thousand grasshoppers the color the beauty the individual articulate look at that do you understand who your God is your God made nine hundred thousand insects different kinds and they mean he got to the grasshopper and he just stuck there for a while said man this is pretty cool let's see what we can do with this if we come with a variation so he comes up with eleven thousand variations do you know there are a hundred and twenty thousand different kinds of flies God could have just made one one I don't need you know one hundred and twenty thousand different kinds of flies but God says you know what I'm gonna make a fly that was pretty cool let's make another one let's give one some real cool looking antennas let's make one that really annoys people and while we're at it let's just put two or three more down there to annoy them God has a sense of humor don't you think so I'm gonna put a fly there watch watch it watch it he makes a wasp you talk about make a church come alive you put a wasp in here a little church I used to pastor when I was out in the country we had a little bitty church it wasn't big is this one section and I had a owl down the middle of it and about half way back was it was a church a little bitty church building and and we had these lights that kind of hang down and had ceiling fans on them and I remember you had a red wasp in that building and red wasp can't fly real well have you noticed they just kind of they'll fly them they'll fall and people are just dodging and jumping all over the place don't you know gods in heaven just laugh and say that is hilarious that is just so funny 120,000 flies do you know many species of birds there are 18,000 18,000 species of birds and we're still finding birds that we've never seen before and and get this when God made it out he said this is so cool I mean it's think I'm gonna make it his head working just kind of carry on look let's put some ears on no it's like it said ears we say and God had so much fun he stopped with owls guess how many owls there are 20 different species of owls 20 different ones look at the picture is that not a God that has a sense of humor is that not a God that loves to create is that not a God that says 1al that's boring now I'm gonna make 20 different species one bird now man that's boring I'm gonna make 18,000 different kinds of birds and man some I'm gonna be weird-looking birds I'm gonna put on ostrich down what was he thinking when he did that do you understand who this God is do you know how many plants there are in the world today over 1 million species of plants and when God started making grass he said you know what I'm not gonna just make st. Augustine I'm not gonna just make hey let's just see ya 120 120 thousand no 12,000 different grasses and that incredible this is a guy who's in creation mode he makes beach grass and grasses that that go across the plain blue grass all kinds of grass well let me just wrap it up and say this do you know how many galaxies there are the heavens that we see by night in the 1990s get this we're still discovering in the 1990s we thought there were about 200 billion galaxies and then we kind of perfected the Hubble telescope and some other things and scientists say today their best guess that 200 billion galaxies thing we missed it what you need to do is multiply that time 10 and that's the number of galaxies that there are beyond this one look at the next picture galaxies that you can't see with your naked eye that the Hubble telescope has picked up light-years away from where we are now here's my question for you if God did that here in this broken cursed sinful world you really think that the next one is going to be boring do you understand that this is what God did here and what God's gonna do in heaven is beyond any of this it doesn't even doesn't even follow the same rules God's gonna say hey you you thought that ostrich look funny watch what I do now then watch what heaven looks like I want to show you the ability that I have we were amazed at the world after the fall and under the curse but what about there oh listen our God is a creator god words won't capture what heaven has but I want to tell you one thing for sure it will not be boring what are we gonna do there we've already touched on some of these things the Bible says that we're gonna work when we get to heaven but as I told you last week it's not a Jo B some of you have a Jo B know the work God gives us is gonna be work that is fulfilling it's work that we were made for work that we were created to do work that we absolutely loved to do work that is meaningful and has purpose and the kingdom of God we will serve Him the Bible tells us in Revelation you know what the Bible says we're also gonna rest in heaven we're gonna rest now if we were resting every day for all eternity that sounds boring but I want to tell you something if we're gonna work I think rest will be nice and we're gonna rest from our Labor's and from our work I think we're gonna discover things if God created all of those universes I think you and I are gonna have the opportunity to go and explore them might get tiring you might want to just take a nap you might want to sit down and enjoy the splendor of what God has made the Bible says you're gonna worship Him in heaven for all eternity but I want to tell you something the worship there's not anything like the worship here now let me tell you why we call this a worship service we sing and we praise them what do we do we come into the presence of God that's what worship is we pray God's show up holy spirit come down speak to us be present with us worship is when we are in the press of God but when we get to heaven we're forever in the presence of God so everything we do in heaven is worship because we're in the presence of God we don't have to invite his presence down we don't have to sing songs hoping that the Holy Spirit will be activated and move and move among us in Liberty and in freedom we're there we're in the presence of God will worship Him and all that we do will have deep and meaningful conversations who will tell stories and he'll share stories when we're at heaven I believe we will laugh until we cry I know you said there's no more tears and heaven not just simply says this God wipes away the last tear from their eyes doesn't mean there might not be some more but if there are I think there gonna be there's a result of a good hearty belly laugh to hear the stories of creation to see the things that God has done and is doing to sit down and laugh and enjoy our family did together the Bible tells us in Psalm 16 verse 11 that we will experience joy at its greatest level that there will be a sense of contentment that we have never known a new level of joy I believe that in heaven we will enjoy creation somebody asks the question will there be pets in heaven I told you at the end of the late service last week I didn't answer that in the early service but some people said are there going to be pets in heaven I said well if you have dogs yes if you have cats No there'll be animals in heaven they were animals on earth a Bible tells us in the Book of Isaiah that there will be animals in heaven gives a allusion to that reality and in Psalms in Isaiah it says in the wolf Oh lay down with the lamb and the Bible speaks your God there will be animals inhabit God created them for his glory and for our enjoyment they were in the Garden of Eden it's reasonable to assume that they're going to be in heaven as well now animals don't have a soul Jesus didn't die in order to save them but but he preserved them in the ark when he got rid of mankind he he preserved of all of the animals one of every kind one of every species he preserved them we're gonna be in heaven enjoying animals as God created them not worried about what's gonna happen in our interaction with them you got to throw all the rules out the window when you start thinking about heaven and what's gonna happen there and a whole lot of the questions you have I can't give you a definitive answer for because the Bible doesn't give us a definitive answer and I think the reason it doesn't because the rules are so different we wouldn't understand it anyway but here's the main point of the whole series you don't want to miss this you hadn't seen a sunrise you hadn't seen a sunset that compares to the splendor of the light of God himself that will light the universe called heaven you don't want to miss it and here's the neat part you don't have to every one of you in this room can go to heaven every one of us have access to this every one of us will see with our own eyes what John saw and tried to describe we will have the opportunity to experience it if we walk through the door and I told you in day one of our study you walk through the door of heaven before you leave this earth jesus said I'm the way the truth and the life no man comes to the Father but by me I'm the Bloor way if you want to go to heaven you got to come through me I'm the way you see you were a sinner separated from God and God is a holy righteous God in heaven as a holy place and only holy righteous people are allowed there there's no sin so you can't go because you're a sinner but I've come to earth and the person of Jesus and I made a way for your sin-debt to be cancelled I made a way for you to be forgiven and I made a way that you could be holy and you could walk into the splendor of heaven because of what I've done for you and if you'll accept me as your Savior confess your sin turn from it and receive me as your Savior then heavens you're home you're home heavens my own because there's a nine year old boy I accepted Jesus as my savior and at that moment I received from him eternal life I'm not going to get eternal life when I die I already have it so that when I die just changed places deaths not the end of the road it's just a bend in the road and we walk around the bin and see the splendor of this place we can't describe and we are welcomed in because of our faith in Christ you don't go there because you're Baptist you don't go there because you're good you don't go there because you're baptized you go there because you place your faith and trust in Jesus so the question is have you have you well don't leave today without it I don't have to convince you you're a sinner you know that and most every one of you probably believe that Jesus came and lived and died rose again well why don't you act on that belief today and receive the gift of eternal life he offers let's pray father I thank you for your word I thank you that you've given us just a little snapshot glimpses into heaven and you've given us a reminder today that all we have to do is look around at this world and it's spectacular and amazing it is as it is here to think that heaven will be anything less than that reveals that we don't know who you are but we've discovered today that you are a god it creates and all your best creation is still on the horizon it is that place where we will spend eternity with you but you're also a God who loves us and you made it possible for us to experience that together with you and today you call us to yourself and if there's one here's never accepted you as as their Savior I pray that today would be the day that they would receive you as their Lord turning from their sin so that they know that they know that they know as I do that one day when we die and we all will we will wake up in your presence and we thank you for that assurance let those in this room who have not made that decision make it now as our prayer in Jesus name well it might be that you want to make that decision we'd love the opportunity to help you understand in Scripture how to do that and I'm gonna stand here at the front in just a moment we're gonna stand and I would just invite you to come and we're not gonna embarrass you or put you on the spot but with an introduce you to somebody that can help you understand what's the scripture saying that I have to do to have that eternal life and we've talked about it you can have that and our time together so would you stand with me in and just as this song plays you listen and you respond right now just as you are to the invitation that God gives you to receive that gift of eternal life [Music] Oh

Channel: Southcliff

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Keywords: heaven, hell, southcliff, church, services, bible, teaching, expository, storyteller, Marr, biblical

Id: LPwdkQbfo08

Length: 41min 28sec (2488 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 19 2018