Heaven (Part 1)

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No Compromise Radio Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author,

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Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the

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Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

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How often do you think about the topic of heaven itself? For me,

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I tend to think about it more when I've lost a loved one, a loved one who

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I am positively certain is in heaven. Sometimes I'll do a funeral and I'll think to myself,

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I don't know by that person's life and profession if they're in heaven or not.

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God knows, God will do the right thing. But when I know someone is a real

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Christian, blood -bought, born -again, kind of sound like a

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Southern Baptist pastor right now, blood -bought, born -again Christian, amen, I think about heaven much more.

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You know, we live in a society where we do almost everything we can to delay our access to heaven.

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It's fine to have health, it's fine to have a sense of protecting family and wanting to be healthy and to live, but it can almost be taken too far.

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We do almost everything we can to delay heaven, so does that mean we don't really believe in heaven?

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Does that mean we really don't think heaven is as great as the Bible says it is? Sir David Wilcox of Cambridge said that he wanted to be buried with a pair of earrings, earrings, easy for me to say, that would be even weirder, blood -bought, born -again, a pair of earplugs, this was 50 years ago, today it would be earrings, a pair of earplugs he wanted to have in his ears in case the heavenly choirs in heaven sang out of tune everlastingly.

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Modernity is pretty good in lots of areas, but sometimes our modern society pushes out of our mind really what is heaven, how great is heaven, what has

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Christ purchased for us, and how we should be longing to go to heaven.

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And there's only one way we can find out about heaven. What does the Bible teach us about heaven?

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We only know about heaven from the text, no more and no less. The Bible doesn't want us to know more than what's revealed in the

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Bible, and the Lord doesn't want us to know less. People consult mediums, what's heaven like?

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People write books 90 minutes in heaven or 90 seconds in heaven, I don't know what the name of it is. What is heaven like?

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How can we know? Is this all there is to life right here, eat, drink, be merry, hedonism, epicureanism, this is just it, go for it.

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Living paycheck to paycheck, everybody's living for the weekend. Yet Jesus said, in my

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Father's house are many dwelling places, if it were not so I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you.

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Can you imagine telling that to the disciples, I'm going to go to heaven and prepare a special place for you.

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Just how great would that special place be if Christ himself, the creator of the universe, was going to prepare it for his people.

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I don't know about you, but I'd like to go to heaven. Turn your

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Bibles to Philippians chapter 1 this morning, and I want to show you Paul's heartbeat when it comes to gospel ministry and the desire to go to heaven.

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I hope this morning that I can show you from the text that you need to have an increased desire to go to heaven.

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Certainly this is not some kind of, I don't even want to say it, but I will so everyone understands. This is not, well, let's desire to go to heaven so we'll let ourselves go, we won't take care of ourselves, we'll take extra chances in life, we don't have to wear seatbelts now, or we don't have to do this, that, or the other.

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I don't mean any of that. I just mean that we should have a desire, a longing to get to heaven, and when life is really great, it sometimes is hard to have such a desire to get to heaven.

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Now if we were being persecuted in the catacombs of Rome, it might be a little bit different. But for Paul here in Philippians chapter 1, as he writes to this church, you can just hear his heartbeat where he says, you know,

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I have a lot of ministry to do and I'm happy to do it for the Lord's sake, but I want to go to heaven.

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Now it's hard for me because I'd kind of like to stay on earth a little bit longer, I'd love to be a grandfather, in due time

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I'd love to be a grandfather, I'm kind of crazy with kids now, but I can't wait to just have grandfather license and just let the kids just run around like little

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Tasmanian devils all day, and then hand them back to my kids, and yeah, they obey, they're really good.

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Now I was too strict with my kids, but boy, those grandkids, it is going to be lovely.

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And if it's the Lord's good pleasure for me to be a grandfather and live to be 98 years old, 198 years old, or you know, 51, that's up to Him.

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It's fine to have longings and desires and hopes, and if you're 18 and you think I'd love to get married and have kids one day, or you're 25,

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I'd like to do such and such, it's good to have all those, I'm just saying it's better to be in heaven. There's something that's better, and so the text here,

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Philippians chapter 1, Paul is talking about how the gospel goes forward, and in the middle of all that, he makes a statement that you know very well, for to me,

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Philippians 121, he prays, he gives thanks to God, he says,

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I want the gospel to go forward, and he says, but this is my mental attitude as I'm ministering the gospel, for to me, to live is

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Christ, and to die, gain. If Paul could use modern hymnody, he would love the song,

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Jesus is everything to me. It's all about to live is Christ, what I do on this earth is all about exalting

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Jesus Christ in my life, in my body, with my body, with my ministry, and by the way, for the

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Greek students here, the word me, for to me, to live is Christ, me is pushed up to the front of the sentence, and that just shows in Greek, this is emphatic, me, myself, and I, when it comes to my life,

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I'm living it full throttle for Christ Jesus. It's all about Him, and if my life continues as I sit in this jail,

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I'm going to live for Christ Jesus. If I get out of this jail, I'm living for Christ Jesus. If I don't live another day, that day still will be filled with gospel preaching, fruitful work for the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to Acts 20, don't turn there, but here's Paul, but I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course and the ministry which

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I receive from the Lord Jesus Christ, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

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Listen to what he said in chapter 21, what are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart, for I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the

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Lord Jesus. Listen to the heartbeat of Paul in Romans 14, for not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.

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For if we live, we live for the Lord, if we die, we die for the Lord, therefore whether we live or die, we are the

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Lord's. Paul says with present tense, continuing,

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I am here to live for the Lord, for me to live as Christ, that's my life. I see bumper stickers like you see them,

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I live, what's the most famous bumper sticker this kind of theme, I live to, I guess you don't drive much, at least this is in California, I live to shop.

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Can you imagine Paul in jail, saved from his sins against Christ, maybe being involved with more than putting people in prison, but up to and including murder,

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Paul's completely forgiven, he has a Damascus road experience, and he's sitting in jail, and if his goal in life was to shop, his life is over.

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If his goal is, you know, I just need to learn Arabic, my goal in life is to get remarried and have another wife and have some more kids.

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My goal is to make a lot of money. My goal is to make a name for myself.

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My goal is to have influence and power and to be into politics. If Paul's goal is anything except the further proclamation of the gospel of Christ, he is sunk.

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What can you get done in prison, especially that prison? Paul doesn't live for money, fame, power, pleasure, success, he says, as long as I'm on this earth,

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I live for Christ. Isaac Watts says, we're the whole realm of nature, mine, that we're a present far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

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I'm the Lord's, I've been bought by this risen Savior's blood, and I will pour my life into gospel ministry, a passion to live for Christ.

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And then he says in verse 21, you know, if I'm alive, I'm going to live full bore for the gospel, for Christ Jesus.

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But he says something interesting here, for to me to live is Christ and to die, what? Gain. To die, it's profit.

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To die is an advantage. That's what the word means.

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It's an advantage to die. I mean, can you imagine that going on in the world now, on the internet,

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CNN? It's an advantage to die. When could it possibly be an advantage to die? Well certainly when you've lived your life for the

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Lord, and certainly when you realize what Jesus said about heaven is true.

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Eternal rewards, eternal rest, eternal refreshment. Paul said in 2

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Corinthians, we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be home with the

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Lord. So you say, what's the best thing you've got in your life? What's the very best, the closest?

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You say, it's my spouse. Do you know, if you're a Christian, that heaven is better than your spouse?

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You say, I love my kids. They're everything to me. My grandkids are everything to me. Death will be gain for you if you're a

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Christian. Can you imagine? I think one reason why we have these family relationships is so we just get a little taste of how great heaven is with communion with God.

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Say, I love my job. Death, gain. I love my friends.

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Death, gain. Look what he says down in verse 23 of Philippians 1, but I am hard -pressed from both directions.

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I feel like I'm hemmed in. I'm torn. The desire to depart and be with Christ, I want to go to heaven.

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For that is what? Very much better. He just stacks a bunch of Greek words together.

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The highest superlative you can get. Very much better. I don't know if I can mix my metaphors here and still stay on target, but when

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I was a kid, my biggest super -fragilistic, expialidocious metaphor was exactly that, but I think that's a show about witchcraft, so I can't use it.

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He just stacks a bunch of words. Good, better, best. It's my good, better, best. It's the very top. It's to go and be with the

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Lord. I'd rather break camp with this striking of a tent military metaphor.

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Paul the tent maker says, you know what? When it comes to death, it'd be good.

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I put up so many tents in my life. You ever put up a tent and then you take down the tent? You put up the tent, you take down the tent.

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You put up the tent, you take down the tent. You say, you know what? This is my last time I ever have to put that tent of my flesh down.

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It's over. Rest. Gain. Matthew Henry said,

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I'm going to write something and I want it read after I die. After I die.

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Just in case you think I didn't live long enough, well, you know how old was your loved ones when they died?

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Oh, you know, they were only 63. That's sad. You know, they didn't really live to be in their nineties.

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Matthew Henry said, you read this after I die because I don't want you to think that I believed death was not gain.

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Would you like to know where I am? I am at home in my father's house in the mansions prepared for me here.

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I am where I want to be. No longer on the stormy sea, but in God's safe, quiet Harbor.

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My sowing time is done and I am reaping my joy as the joy of harvest.

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Would you like to know what I am doing? I see God not as through a dark glass, but face to face.

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Henry goes on to say, I am engaged in the sweet enjoyment of my precious redeemer.

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I am singing hallelujahs to him who sits upon the throne and I am constantly praising him.

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Would you know what blessed company I keep? It is better than the best on earth.

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Here are the holy angels and the spirits of just men made perfect. I am with many of my old acquaintances with whom

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I worked and prayed and who have come here before me. Lastly, would you know how long this will continue?

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It is the dawn that never fades after millions and millions of ages. It will be as fresh as it is now.

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Therefore do not weep for me. My death and departure to Christ, Paul said and Matthew Henry echoed it, is gain.

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I think all of us could use a good dose of longing for heaven, don't you? In the time that I have left, let me give you some vivid descriptions of heaven so that you can long for heaven.

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Let's turn to Revelation chapter 21. What's heaven like? Well, we only know what heaven's like by Bible revelation.

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If you'd like to know what heaven is, you can't eat a bunch of peyote and go to some sweat tent. You can't eat a bunch of refried beans before you go to bed, write your dreams down.

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How do you know this other place, this place in another dimension? What do you do?

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Well, God has told us, He has revealed to us what heaven is like.

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The Bible tells us more about heaven than Revelation 21 and 22, but we're going to look at some of these vivid descriptions from Revelation designed so that by the

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Spirit's power that you'll live for Christ and you'll think death is gain.

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And for me, on a personal note, as I think about Grandma Evie now, my wife's grandmother, essentially her mother,

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I think to myself, I'm sad. I love Grandma Evie, but you know what? Grandma Evie is just like Matthew Henry today.

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She is not saying, weep for me. She is saying, I have entered into the fullness of my master's presence.

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The vivid descriptions, I've heard Grandma talk to people about heaven. Now she's there. And so these descriptions

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I want this morning to lock in your mind so you say, while I'm on earth, I'm going to serve full speed ahead for the

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Lord. And when I die, it's going to be gain. The best I have now is still not going to be as great as heaven is.

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For those of you that are savvy to my preaching style, I have a number of these vivid descriptions, but I'm afraid to tell you the number because I think it's going to take us two weeks to get through this number, but I'll tell you anyway, 13 vivid descriptions.

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Now you know it's going to be a four part series, but you know what? How great will it be to just talk about heaven?

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For those of you that want to get back to first Corinthians, I'm trying to get back there and sick and family emergencies and we'll get back there.

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But today, you know, as much as I love first Corinthians six today, I need a good dose of my soul about heaven and longing for heaven versus Christians couldn't, shouldn't sue each other.

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Now there are some good principles and I'm going to love that text, but right now, personally, even for my own family,

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I want them to get a good view of what heaven is like because it's real.

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What Jesus said is true about heaven. Are he's a liar and a faker and a poser, 13 vivid descriptions of heaven designed to make you declare death is gain.

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Now this will be almost verse by verse exposition, but we'll kind of be in revelation 21 through 22 five and we'll be moving around in that chapter and a quarter, sometimes verse by verse fashion, sometimes focusing on some keywords, but I think you'll understand revelation 21 better as we go.

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The first description of heaven designed to make you declare death is gain is that heaven will be new.

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Heaven will be new. I don't know about you, but the laws of entropy, thermodynamics, things break down.

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You just look at your house and all the to do list and things that are old. Heaven is going to be new in the best sense.

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Look at chapter 21 verse one, new, new, new.

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Then John said, we've moved to the chapter 21 and 22 about the eternal state.

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There's been the second coming, has been the millennial kingdom. Now we have the eternal state. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.

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John gets this vision from God and he says, there's going to be something new. There's going to be a wipe out of the old and then there's going to be the new.

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There's going to be major global warming over here and then there's going to be something new over here. It's done.

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This planet is not meant to last forever because God is going to take his fire of cleansing and clean the whole thing and there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth and there's no more sea.

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By the way, if you stand on Patmos, I wasn't on the Patmos island, but I can imagine what it would be like being in Greece and seeing on the islands.

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Paul incarcerated on the island of Patmos, small little island and everywhere he looked, what do you think he saw?

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What do you think he saw that prohibited him from having fellowship and communion and concourse with people?

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It's that ocean and here there's no more sea. The entire universe destroyed, 2

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Peter chapter 3, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up.

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Literally Revelation 21 is heaven new and an earth new.

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Not new in time, but new in quality, fresh. Do you ever go pick fresh new radishes?

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That's the word, not radish, but new, fresh. This thing is, what's the

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Greek word for radish? The Greek word for pearl, we'll learn just in a moment, is marguerite.

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So not that far off, pearls, radishes. The first heaven and the first earth are passed away, they're gone, it was temporary and now comes the permanent.

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The literal first earth has to pass so the literal second heaven can come.

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You see all kinds of illusions in the Old Testament, Isaiah 24, the earth is also polluted by its inhabitants for they transgressed the laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant, therefore a curse devours the earth and those who live in it are held guilty.

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Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left. Here you have this earth that's tainted by the fall and God says,

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I'm going to cleanse that and it's going to be new, there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth.

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And no more sea, 70 % of the earth, maybe 75 % of the earth is dominated by water.

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No more separation of fellowship, no more wild cosmic evil that the sea was believed to be by the

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Jews, rebellious nations, it's gone.

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Look down at verse 2 with the same theme of new, we live in this old world that's winding down and heaven is going to be the first thing is new.

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Even the city is called what? And I saw the holy city, Revelation 21, 2, new Jerusalem.

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It's a holy city, but it's a new city. Down to verse 5, and he who was seated on the throne said, behold,

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I am making all things new, new in kind, not new in time. We need new.

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Satan has just been doomed, sinners have been judged and now God makes a glorious new heaven.

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We're just building a platform. Number 2, the second description of heaven designed to make you declare death is gain, not just the newness, we're not anywhere close yet, but we're just putting the pieces together.

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Heaven is not just new, heaven is a real place. It's not made up, it's a real place.

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Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try, no? Heaven's not just some state of consciousness.

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Heaven is not some adjective where we just use, well, would you ever use the word heaven? I was thinking about the word heavenly hash ice cream, you know, it's just some kind of word we use.

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No, it's a real place. It's not some spiritual consciousness. Here the language is, it's a city.

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Look at verse 2, and I saw the holy city. It's got a capital and the capital is

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Jerusalem. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.