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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/stanley-wells/heaven/
Matthew's gospel chapter 6. The subject that's on my heart for this session and for my part of it is heaven. I want to talk a little about heaven. I'm going to read a few scriptures as briefly as possible.
Matthew's gospel chapter 6 verse number one. Take heed that you do not your hands before men to be seen of them otherwise you may have no reward of your father which is in heaven. Notice that please. Verse 26 when we're here in this chapter.
Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Chapter 24 please for a verse as we're in this book.
Matthew's gospel 24. Matthew's gospel 24. I'll read one verse here. Verse 35. Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away. Now that brings us to the epistles. The book of Romans please.
Chapter 13. Romans chapter 13 verse number 11. Romans 13 11 and that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent the day is at hand.
2nd Corinthians 5 for the next reference as we pass by these epistles. 2nd Corinthians 5 verse number 1. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, that's the body, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
I take that to be the glorified body. For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life and so on.
Let's move now into the book of Revelation. Let's read a verse in chapter 5 please. Revelation chapter 5. I'll just take time to read part of verse 13. Revelation 5 verse 13. Heard I saying blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever.
Mr. Newbery says for the ages of the ages. Chapter 21 now in this book please. Chapter 21 and we'll just read it. Verse 4. Revelation 21 4. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying.
Neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things are passed away. I'll read one verse in Hebrews chapter 7 to conclude. Quite a number of others we could read but these will suffice. Verse 26 of this chapter.
The Lord Jesus. For such an high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separated Mr. Newbery points out from sinners made higher than the heavens. Now that will do for our reading to commence this part.
Now one can sense that there are several of the Lord's people and they're hurting. I have been in several places this year already and in private conversation I have certainly detected that several of the Lord's people are burdened and the life that we're living down here and so before we rise and go away this evening it might be fitting for to have a little word of comfort.
We never can go wrong my dear beloved brethren to give a little word of comfort along the road of life. You think even of these three requests that our brother has read several times. These dear people they're hurting and so I want to lift our sights a little higher than the world that we live in and place them in the location where the last step will be taken for all of us.
When we arrive in our desired haven, drop the anchor, furl the sail, safe at home within the veil. I would like to ask you today fellow believer, have you thought of heaven today? We're so earth bound in our thinking and I'm just the same as you.
I love that hymn that we have sung. Heaven is our fatherland and I make a slight change on the last line of that last stanza. Heaven will be home. Now let me introduce the subject to you this afternoon like this.
Those of you who know Mr. W .E. Vine's New Testament words, he suggests that there are three different words for heaven. I read an example of each of them to you right there in Matthew's Gospel. Number one, the aerial heavens.
The fowls of the air. We see it as the atmospheric heavens. That's where the fowls of the air fly. There's another word used in chapter 24 and verse 35. Heaven and earth will pass away. That's what we term the serial heavens.
That's the expanse, the sky. That's where the astronauts have moved for decades on their way to the moon and so on. I read recently what Neil Armstrong had to say as him and his associate were the first Americans to put their human stamp on the moon.
And as he passed through the expanse, he was absolutely enthralled. He said there must have been someone that brought it into being. He recognized a creator God and the record shows that the dear man was saved by the grace of God.
And the day that he landed on the moon, he put the stars and stripes yonder on the lunar surface. But he put on it Psalm number 8. When I consider thy heavens, the moon and the stars that thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him?
Now Mr. Newbery in his Bible is a scholar as you know. And if you read Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1 and you'll find out in his signs, in the beginning God created the heavens. He has two little dashes.
If you don't believe me, look at it. And I believe that he's telling us there that the aerial heavens and the serial heavens were created. Hebrews chapter 1 and 2 Peter chapter 3 shows that when divine purpose is finished for these two heavens that were created, they will be rolled together as a scroll and they will be burned up and purged by fire.
But I want to talk about the heaven of heavens that never was created. The dwelling place of God. Dear saints of God, it's the perfection of divine revelation. If we want perfection, we look at heaven.
The number that's used in the Bible so many times, seven, the number of perfection. Let me just summarize my thoughts to you right now and as time permits I'll say a little about each of them. I have seven things I want you to think about as far as heaven is concerned.
We're going there to spend eternity with the Lord Jesus. I want to think of the entrance into heaven. I read you 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 to show one way that we will arrive there. More about that in a minute.
I would like to show you the eminence of heaven. That's Romans chapter 13. Now is our salvation in the final sense nearer than when we believed that will be heaven. I want to think of the enthroned one in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many verses describe it. Hebrews chapter 1, when he had purged our sins, he sat down, made purification, purgation for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. He sits in heaven. He sits on the throne of his father and he has sat down in perpetuity four times in the Hebrew letter.
The enthroned one of heaven. I want to spend a minute on the events of heaven. People are asking what are we going to do in heaven? Well, several passages deal with that. One of the events in heaven is the judgment seat of Christ, the bema.
And if the Lord Jesus Christ comes today, instantly we will be at the great, at the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of how we have lived. It's a solemn thing. I want to touch a little on the environment of heaven.
People ask us, what is heaven going to be like anyways? Well, I have read you some of the passages. See Revelation chapter 21 and 22 says there'll be no night there, no darkness forever. I want to notice that heaven is for the ages of the ages.
Thirteen times in the Apocalypse it says forever and ever. The endlessness of heaven will never end. And then I want to talk about the expectation of heaven. Surely I come quickly. Now I'll just deal with one or two simple ideas.
Before I know where we are, the time allotted to me will be up. Did you think of heaven today? Somewhere in the world, more than one believer has taken their flight from time into eternity and they're arrived in their desired haven.
Every born-again believer, John's Gospel chapter 3 shows that we will arrive in heaven in one of two ways. We'll either arrive through the article of death when our bodies will go to the grave and the spirit and the soul will arrive in heaven.
Paul's the man that tells us a bit about it in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. To arrive there in the unclosed state, that means without our bodies. Paul desired to be with the Lord Jesus, which was far better than to be on earth, but he recognized he had a work to do and God overruled in his case.
And so dear saints of God, from the day of Pentecost until now, likely millions of believers have died in the Lord Jesus. Their bodies have gone to dust in the oceans of earth or the graveyards of land, and their spirits and their souls are in heaven.
Loved ones have gone before whose pilgrim days are over and soon we'll meet them on that shore where partings are unknown. My parents are there. We had the privilege of being at each of their funerals and had the opportunity to say a word to the glory of God.
Many in this audience, maybe most, have loved ones in heaven. There's another way we're going to heaven and we'll enter. The entrance to heaven is via the rapture of the church. 1st Thessalonians chapter 4, 1st Corinthians chapter 15, John's Gospel chapter 14, and on and on it goes.
And if we hear the shout today, beloved saints, in an instant we will arrive in heaven. I leave that for your consideration. I want to think of the eminence of heaven. And so Paul picks up on that thought on Romans chapter 13 and he says, now is our salvation nearer than when we believed?
We're nearer heaven today than ever we were before. The eminence of heaven. Look at the next verse. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. There's a sense in which the Lord Jesus Christ left for heaven, Acts chapter 1.
And when he left, he was the light of the world. And there's a sense in which the world that we move in is a night scene. Darkness permeates our world. We have had it already in the ministry. Days are getting darker.
Do you think that conditions will continue the way they are? Pretty obvious they won't. Are we understanding today that we're nearer heaven than ever we were before? Let's think about it. Let's work toward it.
Let's do all we can to bring others with us for that great day. I want to think of the enthroned one in heaven. I was reading recently in Revelation chapter 3 unto the church at Laodicea that sometimes we think are far away and the likely where.
But he stretches out to the overcomer and he said to them, people, the day is coming when I will, as I have sat down with my father on his throne, you will sit down with me in my throne to share his throne while endless ages row their course.
The enthroned one in heaven, the Hebrew letter is full of it. I just read you one verse. That one that was holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, made higher than the heavens, he's there today in an indissoluble life.
A real person in heaven. I'll summarize it for you. You see, as the great high priest he makes us, let me take the example of these three requests that have been presented for our consideration and prayer.
These dear people are only samples of all of us and we're learning in the school of God. As life matures and develops, things happen that we have no account of. But you see, a sovereign God and the Lord Jesus Christ allow us to go that way.
Otherwise we couldn't move and develop in spiritual matters in the school of God from the very moment that we're saved until we arrive in heaven. And so God has likely brought you and I into circumstances that we have no control over.
We can't understand it. I have sat with people recently in other parts of this country and they can't understand why they've gone the way they've gone. You see, the great high priest is making us what we are.
He's there as the intercessor of his people, as the Hebrew passage and the Roman passage shows. He is there to maintain our cause, to supplicate on our behalf, and he's there as the advocate of his people to mend us.
As we have pointed out, nothing to do with our conversion. That's absolutely settled. But the big point in Christian experience is to have communion with divine persons. That's what 1st John 1 and 2 are all about.
And based on propitiation, he is our advocate yonder. And when that is interrupted, he mends us based on the work of Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ, the enthroned one. Let me just give you an example from the Holy Bible of a man that got a glimpse of the enthroned one on earth, the first martyr of the church, Stephen.
Acts chapter 7, he left the world with those rocks and stones that wrecked his body. And the Lord Jesus Christ is standing in heaven to welcome his servant home. That's divine purpose, we can't explain it.
That's the sovereignty of God. You read Acts chapter 1, he was an outstanding teacher around Jerusalem in the assembly there. But there was another young man that God was dealing with, Saul of Tarsus, and when he took the Stephen home, he had a young man there to take his place.
Chapter 9 saved and all the rest of it. Fantastic. Let's be occupied with the enthroned one in heaven. Let me talk about the events of heaven for a minute or two. It's been on my heart recently to talk a little about the judgment seat of Christ.
Now maybe some of my beloved brethren don't agree that whenever the Lord Jesus Christ comes to the air and calls us waiting people home, that the next event that we will be at is the judgment seat of Christ, and I take it it will be in heaven.
Beloved brethren that are better taught than I am tell us it will be in the atmosphere. I asked with all due respects to some of these accredited teachers one day, I said, brother, do you think that the Lord Jesus would examine his bride, the saints of this dispensation, in the atmospheric heavens permeated with the devil and his evil emissaries?
And he said, brother, I never thought of that. And so I wouldn't be dogmatic, but I would suggest we will be in heaven, and we will have to give an account of how we have lived in this life. I read you part of one verse, wasn't time to read them all.
You see, here's what it's all about. From conversion's day, from the day we were born to conversion's day, that has our sins have been forgiven and settled when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross.
Scripture, Romans 8 verse 1, there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Ah, beloved brethren, our entrance into heaven is secure based on what Christ has done, but the big thing is we have to give an account from salvation's moment to the last step we take.
And there, according to 2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 10, we must all appear, be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ. That word means turned inside out. I tell you, that's something. To give an account of the deeds done in the body, whether they be gained or drossed.
If the Lord Jesus Christ comes today, you and I have got to be there. I don't know how it'll take place. People give us all kinds of suggestions that the Lord Jesus will take us into a little cubicle and examine us as individuals.
I doubt it. We'll all be in glorified bodies. Time considerations are not in view. And no wonder Revelation 19 says the bride hath made herself ready. All the dross has been removed. Little acts we had forgotten, he will tell us wherefore him.
Ah, dear saints of God, how are we living? Sometimes there's a carelessness comes over our living. See, it rubs off on that whole world out there. But I have come to tell you, when we arrive in heaven, we have to give an account of how we live.
The next event in heaven, if I have read the Bible correctly, is the presentation. Ephesians chapter 5. Oh, what a thought. You see, in a normal marriage on earth, it's usually the bride's father that gives away his daughter, the bride, and presents her to the groom.
But this is different. He will present to himself his compliment without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. What a moment it will be in the presentation. I take it after the beam of Christ. Then the marriage.
Revelation chapter 19. Then the marriage supper of the Lamb, chapter 19. Here's where we come into the controversial. Some brethren believe it will be in heaven. Others tell us it will be on earth. All I say to that is, at this point, it doesn't really matter.
It won't change the truth of it. But imagine, to be married to the Lord Jesus, to share his glory for the ages of the ages, and to enjoy the supper of the Lamb, and then to be the administrators of the Millennium Earth for a thousand years until the end of time.
Somebody says, is there anything else we'll be doing in heaven? Well, Revelation tells us we're going to sing the new new song. That day, John's on earth, John the Apostle, and he's raptured right into the courtroom of heaven, and he sees the saints of this age and divine purpose complete, and as one man they bow to the Lord Jesus Christ and give him the preeminent place.
Let me go to another thought before the time is over. I want to think of the environment of heaven. We speak of the land of the blessed, the country so bright and so fair, and after his glories confessed, but what must it be to be there?
We often point out that the last writer of the Holy Bible wants to impress those that read it, and the only way he can put across the truth of heaven, the environment of heaven, is to use negatives. What I mean by that is this.
He's saying there'll be no more tears, no more sickness, no death, no crying. The former things are passed away, and the last verse of chapter 21, here they are. No death, no disease, no distress, no darkness, no defilement.
That's where we're going, beloved saints of God. All of these things belong to our world, but when we arrive in heaven, they're absent forever. In the land of fadeless day lies the city foursquare. It shall never pass away, and there's no night there.
God shall wipe away all tears. There's no death, no pain, no fears. They count not time by years, for there's no night there. You ever think of that? Oh, that I could comfort your heart today. You're likely in distress of one kind or another, be it family life, assembly life, individual life, commercial life, whatever.
It'll all be over when we arrive there. Some time ago I was in a coffee shop with a beloved brother that helped me in younger years in Vancouver, British Columbia. We sat down to have a cup of coffee and some toast.
It was late at night, and he looked into my eyes, and he said, Stan, I want you to tell me all about heaven. One of my best friends. I tried to go over the ground, and some of the things that we have talked about today.
He wept. He never said a word, but I believe he had a premonition that he was going to heaven. That was a Wednesday night, Friday of the same week. He took a massive heart attack, and in seconds he was in heaven.
The years of life have passed. I was very impressed. Someone in this audience, maybe the speaker, maybe you, will be the first to go to heaven if the Lord doesn't come. I hope we have sent on a little spiritual treasure to lay at his feet when the days on earth are done, and cast ten thousand trophies at his feet, adoring forever the expectation of heaven.
One of the last verses in the Holy Bible, the answer to John in his nineties, lonely man in the Isle of Patmos, with all his struggles. Surely, I come quickly. We can almost hear his footfall on the threshold of the door, and my heart is longing to be with him evermore.
I've just got a minute or two. I thought of five men in the Bible that are linked with heaven. Now, I won't develop it. You can think about it yourself. You see, Enoch was translated, Genesis chapter 5.
Elijah was taken up to heaven. That's what the authorized text says, and a whirlwind. Paul was caught up to the third heaven, 2nd Corinthians chapter 12. Peter writes about it in his first epistle, chapter 1.
The inheritance, undefiled, reserved in heaven for you. John the Apostle, rapture to the courtroom of heaven, Revelation chapter 4. These are tremendous scenes. We're so earthbound. I'm the same as you.
We're all in the same category, but I want to lift your thoughts today before we rise and go away to the land of fadeless day, where our heaven will be heaven forever. Don't forget these seven things, and it's time for me to sit down.
The entrance into heaven, the eminence of heaven, the enthroned one of heaven, the events of heaven, the environment of heaven, the endlessness of heaven, and the expectation of heaven. The Lord stir our hearts as we leave the comforts to live more for the one that died and rose again and is coming for us.
Thank you very much.