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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/eric-mccullough/heaven-2/
I preached with a man on one occasion and he said that in heaven, we're all going to be six feet tall and have blonde hair and blue eyes but I don't really believe that. I want to read from John's Gospel and chapter thirteen.
It has been said that most preachers beg, borrow, and steal. Now, what I intend to say has not been begged or borrowed or stolen. Although some here I think have heard me before, I want to try and speak a little bit about heaven.
I've been thinking a lot about heaven recently since my good friend and compatriot, Mr. Tom Bentley passed away a few weeks ago and my brother just last week. So, I've been thinking quite a bit about heaven.
Need a pair of pliers. Here we go. Chapter thirteen of John's Gospel and verse thirty six. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go thou canst not follow me now but thou canst follow me afterwards.
Now, chapter fourteen. Let not your heart be troubled or agitated. The word is, you believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions, many abiding places. If it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there, ye may be also. Whether I go, you know, and the way you know, Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father but by me. Verse eight, Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the father and it sufficeth thee. And the end of the first nine says, he that hath seen me, hath seen the father.
And how sayest thou then, show us the father? Believe it is now not that I am in the father and the father in me. The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Now, second Corinthians and chapter five for some selected verses. Second Corinthians five verse one, for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved or dismantled, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. Now look down the chapter, please. Verse six, therefore, we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.
For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he has done, whether it be good or worthless, good or bad. Now, Philippians chapter one, chapter one of the epistle to the Philippians, verse 20, according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death, for to me to live Christ, the word is, is italicized, not necessary.
Paul said for me to live, it's Christ to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, I want not for I am in a straight betwixt to having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. Now, finally, the book of the revelation, chapter 21, verse one, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea.
And I, John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people.
And God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things have passed away.
Now, one final reading at the end of that chapter, verse 22, I saw no temple there there in for the Lord God almighty and the lamb or the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it.
And the lamb is the light thereof. Verse 26, and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defile it, neither whatsoever work of abomination or make it a lie, but they which are written in the lamb's book of life.
And God, we know will bless the reading of his word to our hearts. Heaven. The Bible doesn't tell us too much about heaven. The writer to the Hebrews tells us in long about verse 11 of chapter two, that it's a place of glory.
The writer tells us about our blessed Lord Jesus, the captain of our salvation, bringing many sons onto glory. That's heaven. How would you define glory? We look at a beautiful flower, a rose for instance, but we don't say it's glorious.
We say it's beautiful. It's fragrant, but glory seems to be something that's associated with God and that which is heavenly. It's displayed essence. It's beyond our comprehension. What glory really is.
But I know this much. I'm looking forward to the glory. I heard a song recently as I was driving along in my car. And, uh, part of the diddy was this heaven is a wonderful place because grandpa's going there.
And I'm glad to tell you that this grandpa will soon be there. What about you? Some of you boys and girls that heard the gospel aptly preached last night, the Lord is coming. You know that your breath is so fragile in the hand of God.
If he would close it, his hand, your next breath would be an eternal fire. You wouldn't be in glory. You'd be in a place of undescribable torment. And the Bible says where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched and forever and forever you will wish that you would never, never heard the gospel message and rejected it.
But now where we have read in John's gospel, God is telling us about heaven. You know, there are three heavens that we speak of. There's the atmospheric heaven. That's, that's the abode of humans and floral and fauna and plant life and animal life.
The atmosphere, that's where we breathe and exist. Then beyond that, there's the starry heavens, innumerable. When it came to the creation, you remember when God spoke and the worlds came into being, the Bible tells us he made the stars also.
He just flung them in space. And you know, he names them all. They're all numbered. He calleth them all by name. Beyond our understanding, the starry heavens. But then there's the heaven of heavens, the abode of God, the abode of the Lord Jesus.
He's the only man in heaven today with a glorified body. The one that went to Calvary, he bears the marks of his suffering, not the wounds, the marks. He's in heaven, a real, touchable, tangible, glorified man, our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we have access as the people of God to him. Writer to the Hebrews tells us that. But how do we know that there is a heaven? Well, I could take you to John chapter six, where the Lord tells us, I came down from heaven.
And over and over again in that chapter, John tells us that he came from heaven. That's where he was eternally. Just as God, he had no beginning. He always was before the beginning began. He was there, but he came into this world.
He couldn't go any higher. Someone has said, if move, he must, he had to come down. And he stepped from that rank of eternal glory into humanity. He took upon him the form of a servant. He did not divest himself of all that he had, but he added to who he was.
He added humanity to his deity. What a blessed, glorious person our Lord Jesus. He came to this world to go to the cross. Paul tells us when he writes to the Corinthians about that occasion, when he said, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell God north, how he was caught up to the third heavens.
And he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Now, most think that Paul was referring to that occasion when he was stoned and left for dead outside the cities of Lystra or Derby in Asia minor.
He says, I didn't know if I, if I was on earth or in heaven, he didn't know, but he knew he was in Christ. What a wonderful thing that is to be linked with heaven. Again, in revelation chapter four, the writer John tells us about being caught up.
He heard that voice come up hither and he was caught up to heaven. And then in the book of the revelation, he unfolds to us something of the future from chapter four through about 16 or 17. He tells us about the judgments that are coming into this world.
And he tells us about the marriage supper of the lamb, where the church, the bride of Christ will be presented to our Lord Jesus in garments of fine linen, pure and white, which are the righteousness or the righteous acts of the saints.
And what John is saying is you and I are weaving down here, what we're going to wear up there. Don't forget that when we get to heaven, everyone will not be on an equal plane. Rewards are based on my interest and your interest in God's things right now.
Used to be an old Irishman that I knew as a boy in Ireland, quaint old fellow, a lot of quaint Irishman. He used to say there's some people when they get saved, they say goodbye Jesus. I'll meet you in heaven.
But that's not what God wants. God wants us to be weaving into that garment of fine linen, pure and white by our interest in God's things right now. And so Paul tells us about heaven. John tells us to again about not only the marriage supper of the lamb that I take to be in heaven, not on the way to heaven, and then the eternal state, and then the judgment seat of Christ that will be set up after the rapture.
We read that in second Corinthians chapter five, you and I are going to give a count, not an account by the way, but a count. Absolutely accurate. I was thinking when our son was a little fellow, he had a little red wagon and boys think their daddy can fix anything and it needed to be welded, but he says, daddy, you can fix it.
Use Elmer's glue. He thought that cured everything. And when I was away from home and I would come back and I would say to him, how'd you get along? Were you a good boy? Well, I would get an account. But when I talked to his mother, I got the account.
Now, dear brethren, that's how it's going to be when you and I get to heaven. We must all give a count. If there's anything brings me up short in Christian experience, it's this. When I think of that day, when I'll stand in the august presence of my blessed Lord, and from the moment that God saved me 73 years ago now, I was a boy of 12.
Now you know how old I am. Until that moment, everything will be open and viewed with a true assessment. You know, there's not much that I'm afraid the Lord will say too much of the flesh and that no rewards for that.
But little things, deeds of merit as we thought them, he will tell us were but sin, but little things that we've forgotten. He will say we're done for him ever do some little thing. You know, I've had the experience, all of our preaching brethren have come down from a conference platform and somebody says, brother, I really enjoyed that word, but they didn't make any comment on what you had to say.
Ever think of telling a man you enjoyed what he spoke on? You won't see it listed in the pages of the magazines, but it's all recorded up there. You sisters, someone that's laid aside, you ever think of sending them a little card?
You don't have to send a hallmark card. You'll go to the dollar tree and get one for 50 cents. Little things. It's all recorded up there. What a wonderful day it will be when those rewards are given in heaven.
But I want you to think John asks, John, Peter asked this question, Lord, whether goest thou? And the Lord answers in verse one of chapter 14, I go to prepare a place for you. Then Thomas says, he asks the question, how can we know the way?
And the Lord says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the father, but by me. And then Philip, he asks the Lord, who's the father show us to him, show him to us. And the Lord introduces him to that lovely study of that divine person of the Holy spirit, the comforter that draws alongside under every circumstance in life.
He's right there. He meets the need, a comforter, one just like himself, another comforter. And so heaven is a prepared place, a prepared place for a prepared people. I want you to think from, I didn't read it in revelation, uh, chapter 20, revelation 14.
It's a place of rest. They shall find rest from their labors. When you and I get to heaven, all of our labors, as far as this world is concerned, will be ended. Now we'll be engaged in active service.
When our children were small, my wife, once in a while would say, I'll be glad to get to heaven and I'll have a good rest. And I would say, now, listen, dear, when we get up there, the Lord has work for us to do.
We'll be engaged in active service. God doesn't tell us what it is, but there'll be nothing of fatigue or weariness that plagues us now. We'll have bodies fashioned like onto his glorious body. What's it like?
Listen to what John says. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Sinless, glorious, absolute perfection. All that plagues us now of the world and the flesh and the devil, it'll be ended.
And likely the flesh is my biggest enemy and your biggest enemy. It'll all be finished when we get home to heaven. A place of service. Chapter 21 of the revelation tells us it's a holy place. John writes, and he tells us about the new heaven and the new earth prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
You know, at a wedding, I had one recently, everybody wants to see the bride. What's her gown look like? Hope is modest anyway. What's the color of the bridesmaids? Nobody's interested in the groom. He just has to be there.
It's the bridegroom in a coming day in heaven, the bridegroom, our Lord Jesus will be the focal point and we shall be presented to him as the bride of Christ. What a glorious day. It's a place of worship.
The writer to the revelation tells us, I didn't read it in chapter 19. Listen to what he says that day when honor will be given to him. And our brother mentioned his prayer this morning of that expanding volume, anthem of worship, the four and twenty elders, representatives of the throne, the church, the living creatures, the representatives of the throne, the four and twenty elders, the church, and innumerable company of angels, 10 ,000, 10 times 10 ,000 and thousands of thousands.
And it expands farther to things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth so that every created intelligence is going to ascribe honor and glory and power to him that sits upon the throne forever and ever.
A place of eternal worship. But quickly in second Corinthians chapter five, Paul tells us that it's home. Absent from the body and present or at home with the Lord. Now, there's no place like home. You know that.
Some men that I know, when they finish a series of gospel meetings, they like to make three or four stops on the way home. Not this man. I like to get right home. You know why? That's where loved ones are.
The Lord's people are more than kind. We know that. They treat you royally. Here's your credit card. Here's the key of my car. Help yourself. Make yourself at home. Mr. Maxwell used to tell about a room he stayed in one time and the lady said, make yourself at home.
And when he opened the cupboards in the bedroom, boxes of hats and everything started falling out on top of him. Well, she didn't have it very much in order for him coming to stay there. But there's no place like home.
You know that. Paul says we're absent from the body. We leave these bodies. These earthy bodies that he tells us are so unfit for heaven. That he says we have in heaven a body. It's there. It's made with hands.
It's eternal. And Paul says, I'm groaning to have that new body. I hope you are a new body. We'll be at home then. More than that, he says, we'll be with our Lord. What a blessed day that will be when we shall be like him.
Very quickly in Philippians chapter one, Paul says, it's far better. Paul says, for me to live Christ for me to live. How do you finish that verse? If you would write out those two words for me to live, what is that?
To lay up a big bank account, to do what our brother Oliver Smith used to say, grow more corn, to feed more hogs, to buy more land, to grow more corn, to feed more hogs, to buy more land. What am I interested in?
You young men and women here today, our brethren reminded us yesterday of priorities. You know, life is so fleeting and when the end comes, it won't matter how many CDs you and I have laid up. All that matters is what have I been weaving into that garment, pure and white.
So Paul says, as he looks at these believers in Philippi, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ. He says, that's far better. But he said to abide in the flesh is more needful. You see, Paul chose to exchange what was more, what was far better for and for what was more needful, far better to be in heaven.
But he says it's more needful for me to stay right here. A glorious place, home, better than anything we know here, a place of beauty. We read in Revelation 21 and I'm going to finish in that beautiful city four square.
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. You know, there's nothing wrong with weeping. The savior wept. He stood at the grave of Lazarus and tears flowed from his eyes. Jesus wept and he's touched with a feeling of our infirmities.
Many of the people of God are suffering. We know that. But God knows all about it. But there are a day coming when every tear will be wiped away and there'll be no more death. How final death is. So many here have stood beside an open grave and laid aside a loved one.
I said to my dear brother Murray and his brother, his brothers at their mother's funeral, I said, you've only got one mother and there's numbers here have had that sad experience of saying goodbye to a loved one.
But how good to know there's a day of glad reunions when our Lord comes. There'll be no death, no more partings, no graves on the hillside of glory, no sorrow, no pain. All these artificial hips and knees that have been replaced and foot appliances.
When the Lord comes, there's going to be an awful clang. They're all going to stay right here. Our bodies will be changed in a moment and we shall be like him. When Paul talks about heaven, he seems to be overjoyed with that prospect of being with Christ.
He says it's far better, far better, better than anything we can imagine. Peter writes about that heavenly prospect. He says that inheritance is reserved for us who are kept by the power of God. The world can't corrupt it.
It's incorruptible. Sin can't defile it. It fadeth not away. Time will never erase it. The devil can't touch it. It's reserved. I'm glad I'm going there. What about you? Are you thinking too much about this world and all of its fleeting, transient tinsels?
They'll soon all be ended, but how wondrous to be able to say heaven is my fatherland and heaven is my home. The Lord help us to appreciate that prospect and bless his word and what follows for his namesake.