Your Convictions About Heaven – Dr. Charles Stanley
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life today with our free morning
and evening prayer bookmarks. Dr. Charles Stanley: What is
your conviction about heaven? Have you thought about it? Now, a conviction is a belief
that you hold by which you're willing to take a
strong stand for. What do you
believe about heaven? You say, "Well, I hadn't
really thought about it much." Well, the truth is, most people
don't think about it much. When's the last time you've
heard a sermon on heaven? When's the last time you've
given it any serious thought unless you were in the hospital
and thought you were dying? When do you think about heaven? Not many folks think about it. Many people are very,
very ignorant about it. And most people have a very,
very unbiblical view of what heaven's going to be like. And so somebody says, "Well, I
don't have a conviction about some things that I
don't know much about." I understand that. Well, the purpose of this
message is to introduce you to heaven, not to give
you a complete explanation of what
it's all about. Number one, you couldn't do that
in one sermon or a whole book. But at least I can introduce you
to heaven in such a fashion that if you're interested in going,
I'll tell you how to get there and maybe give you some insights
to help you to start living more like you're going there
than that you intend to stay here forever. And the first thing I want
to say is--about heaven, our Heavenly Father is there. And it's interesting, in
Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, you'll notice that
Jesus talked about the Heavenly Father and He mentioned it six
times in the Beatitudes. And then, of course, I think
about fourteen times in the rest of the Gospel of Matthew. So somebody says,
"Well, where is heaven?" This is the simplest
answer: wherever God is. Wherever God is,
because somebody says, "Is He up there, out
there, down yonder?" That's not even an issue. Wherever God is, that's
where heaven is even today. So our Heavenly Father's there. Secondly, our Savior,
the Lord Jesus, is there. You remember when Jesus was
about to ascend in that first chapter of Acts, "And as they
were gazing intently into the sky while He was going,
behold, two men in white clothing stood by him. They also said, 'Men of
Galilee, why do you stand looking up into the sky? This Jesus, who has been
taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same
way as you have watched Him go into heaven.'" So the Scripture says that
Jesus, who was physical and human and heavenly, that
He ascended into heaven, and they watched Him
ascend into heaven. So, when you say, "Well,
who's going to be in heaven? God's in heaven and the
Lord Jesus Christ is there. Now, the question is:
Are you going to be there? And I wonder if you can
say this morning for sure, "When I die, I'm
going to heaven, where God is, where Jesus is." And all through the Scriptures,
God makes it very clear. And if you'll notice also in
the third chapter of Colossians, the first verse says, "Therefore
if any of you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking
the things that are above, where Christ is seated
at the right hand of God." So wherever God is, Jesus is. And then, you'll remember
in Romans chapter eight, in the thirty-fourth
verse, He says that He's making intercession for us, and He also
says it in the Book of Hebrews. And so, where is heaven? Where God is. Where God is, that's
where Jesus is also. The third thing I would say
about heaven is that heaven is a prepared place. And if you'll notice in John,
this fourteenth chapter and second verse there, He
says, "In My 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." So listen to that. Jesus said to His disciples,
and to us, that heaven is a prepared place. That is, you don't die and
just float out yonder somewhere. And I hear people talking
about what's going to happen to them when they die. They have no earthly idea, but
the Scripture says that He has prepared a place
for His children. He says, "I'm going to
prepare a place for you." And then if you look in the
twenty-first chapter of--look at the twenty-first
chapter of the Revelation. And if you'll notice in
the twenty-seventh verse, "And nothing unclean, and no one
who practices abomination and lying shall ever come
into it," speaking of heaven, "but only those whose
names are written in the Lamb's book of life." And so it's very clear
what He's talking about. And then of course, listen
to what the Scripture says, "And I saw the holy
city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, made ready as a bride
adorned for her husband." And so heaven is
a prepared place. Not only do we have
a prepared place, but that our
citizenship is there. Now, what does He mean by that? Turn to Philippians
chapter three, verse twenty and twenty-one. Listen to what he
says, Paul speaking, he says, "For our
citizenship is in heaven, from which also we
eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will
transform the body of our humble state into conformity
with the body of His glory, by the the power that
He has even to subject all things to Himself." And--what is he saying? He's saying these bodies
will not be fit for heaven. So, what he says is these bodies
are going to be transformed to conform toward the
body of His glory. That is, God is going to
change these bodies of ours to fit heaven. We're--our bodies
are fit for earth. In order to live in heaven,
we're going to have a body that's fit for that. And so, when you think about how
you look and how you feel and you think, "Well, am I going
to be this way in heaven?" No, you're not, you're
going to be better than that. It's going to be a body
that will be so transformed, it will fit perfectly
in this heaven that He's prepared for us. And so, you and I
can say, "Well, how are we
going to get there?" Jesus is our passport to awesome
heaven that we read about. And I think about a song
that I grew up singing, this world is not my home,
I'm just-a-passing through, my treasures are laid up
somewhere beyond the blue. And on and on that song goes. Many of you remember that. Some of you do, at least. This, in other words,
this earth is not our home. We're here temporarily
but God's prepared a place for all of His children. So I would say, that
being true, we're not to get too attached to things. If this is not our home,
why should we become so attached to stuff? Have you ever looked in one
of your closets and said, "What am I going to
do with all of that?" all of this or all the other. This world is not my home,
I'm just-a-passing through. My treasures are laid up
somewhere beyond the blue, as the song goes. What's--what real
treasures do you have? What do you own you're going
to take with you to heaven? Not one single thing. It can be on your finger worth
thousands of dollars or in your pocket worth a million, but
you're not going to take any of that with you. And when I think about
people who spend their life accumulating, got to get
this, got to have that, got to have the other, and
recognize that when the moment comes and their heart
beats the last time, forget it, because you're
not going to take it with you. And many people
spend their life, invest their life
accumulating in stuff, things that are very
valuable earthly-wise, but that last
moment, it's all over. And so, our perspective about
life and death changes when we understand what heaven
is going to be like. And the fact that
we, listen, our citizenship is already there. So what does that mean? That means the names of the
saved are recorded there. You remember when Jesus sent His
seventy disciples out and they came back, what were
they talking about? They said, "Even the
devils are subject to us." And they were praising the Lord
Jesus for the power He had given them to heal people and
all the wondrous things that were going on. And you remember what Jesus said
after they gave their testimony of all that had
happened, He said, "You rejoice over this. That's good, but rejoice over
this, that your name is written in the Book of Life." And I remember till
this day for some reason, I went to see this gentleman
many times when I was pastoring a little church in
Danville just for the summer. And there was a fellow
that everybody loved. He was sick, he'd
been sick a long, long time, couldn't get out of bed. I went to see him
probably about three times a week, wonderful guy. But he was lost. And I remember the
day he got saved. And he and I were
talking, and he accepted Christ as His Savior. I still remember for some reason
walking out of his yard starting to sing this song. What's the name of the song? There's a new name
written down in glory. And I remember singing that song
and praising God because I'd prayed over him, prayed for him. He rejected and
rejected and rejected, and finally he accepted
Christ as His Savior. There's a new name written
down the--down in glory and it's mine, it's mine. And you know the
rest of that song. So, when you think about that
and you think about that your name is recorded in heaven. Well, how is it recorded? I don't think it's
recorded on a computer. I don't think it is. You say, "Well, what
is it recorded on?" God's books,
whatever that might be. So we can picture
our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. The issue is, are you sure when
your heart beats the last time, when you're gone and nobody
can do anything about it, that you're going to heaven? Absent, watch this, absent from
the body, present where? With the Lord,
if you're saved. So, our names are there, and
the truth is that spiritually, watch this, spiritually,
you're already there. Now, I want you to turn to
Ephesians chapter two for a moment, and I want you to look
at this passage of Scripture. Ephesians chapter two. When we say that we're
already there spiritually, beginning in verse four, listen
to what Paul says for us in chapter two, "But God,
being," look at this, "rich in mercy," not
skimpy, rich in mercy, "because of His great love
with which He loved us." That is, the only way we're
going to get there is His love. Now listen, "Even when we
were dead," spiritually, "in our transgressions,"
in our sins, in our unbelief, "He made us alive,"
spiritually speaking, "together with Christ." It is through Christ that
our life has been changed. For "by grace you
have been saved." And He--listen to this. We're still down here
now, but he says He, "Raised us up," spiritually,
"seated us with Him," with Jesus, "in the
heavenly places in Christ, so that in the ages to come He
might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus." And then that familiar verse,
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not
of yourselves," it is a gift of God, "not as a result of our
works that we may boast of." Raised us up with Him. Seated us in the
heavenly places. Here's what He's saying. In the mind of God,
He has a place for us. In the mind of God, it's
as if we were seated with Him in heavenly places. That is, once you trusted
Jesus Christ as your Savior, listen carefully, settled. No one's ever been
saved and been lost. Because when we are saved, He
says this is how sure it is, "Raised us up with Him, seated
us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that
in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches
of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." He said, "What's God done?" He's given you eternal
security that you can live with all the rest of your life. I was saved when
I was twelve and, listen, seated in the
heavenlies in Christ Jesus. And the problem is we
don't realize what God has in store for us. We don't even realize what
He has in store for us here, in our relationship with Him. It's a relationship with Him
that makes all of these things that He states very clearly
in the Scripture reality. That is, when you were saved,
you didn't just get saved and God say, "Well, one of
these days, you're gonna die." Here's what He said. He says, "Even when we were dead
in our trespasses and our sins, He made us alive
together with Christ. By grace you have been saved,
raised us up," spiritually, "raised us up with Christ,
seated us with Him in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus." That is, in the mind
of God, in reality, it's as good as we
are already there. Any way you look at those
verses, that's what it means. In the mind of God, He's
already seated us in heaven. We talk about our
names being written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It's better than just
having your name there. He says
spiritually you're there. God sees you there because He
sees us in the light of our relationship to His Son, Jesus. So, when things get tough
and you get down and, you know, everything's wrong, you
have to remember this: Where am I from
God's perspective? Seated in the presence of the
Living God provided by Jesus Himself, so we
have nothing to fear. You may have
desires in your life, but remember this: you may
have some desires in your life that'll never be fulfilled down
here, but you won't have any desire that's a
sanctified desire proved of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you
will be needing in heaven. He--listen to this,
you think about this. He not only saved us,
but in the mind of God, we are seated with Christ in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That is, we are
eternally secure. And listen, the better
you understand that, the more you understand
it, there's going to be an increasing desire for you to
live a holy life because that's what He's getting us ready for. When He transcends us
from this life to the next, to an absolute holy life, the
battle for holiness is over. You will be
absolutely totally holy. And for Him to put
it in those terms, that we're seated
with Him, with Christ, with Christ Jesus
for all eternity. That's His way of
picturing our eternal security. And so, when we talk about
spiritually we're already there, go back again to
Ephesians chapter one, because I think we
don't realize what we have. Listen to what he
says, and Paul, in this wonderful
book of Ephesians, in the thirteenth verse He says,
"In Him," that is in Christ, which means in our--because
of our relationship to Him, because of our
relationship to Jesus, having trusted
Him as our Savior, "In Him, you also,
after," watch this, "after listening to the message
of truth," very important part, "after listening to the
message of truth," which is, "the gospel of your
salvation--having also believed," in Christ Jesus,
"you were sealed in Him with the Holy
Spirit of promise." Now, think about this. The next time you
get down in the dumps, you think about this. The Bible says your
sins have been forgiven, name's been written in
the Lamb's Book of Life. In the mind of God, it's as good
as if you were seated there. And not only that, you have been
sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, and He has
given us a pledge, as He says in the next verse. So think about this, sometimes
we may get discouraged about this, that, and the other. We need to think
about what's reality? Reality is our names are there. From God's point of view,
it's as good as already done. We've been sealed
by the Holy Spirit, and we have become the saints
of God in the presence of Almighty God
for all eternity. You see, He doesn't see us
the way we see ourselves. We see ourselves in this
life struggling for this and struggling for that and we
all go through difficulty, hardship, and pain, but we need
to be ever reminded of the fact what's the reality
from God's viewpoint? God says, "This is
the truth about you." Now, you don't
feel it right now, you don't see it right
now, I understand that. This is the truth, and so He
wants to remind us of the truth, not because it's going to
change my circumstances today, but it's a reminder that
this is not going to last. I'm going to get through this. It does not mean that
I'm going to be here and God's
going to be there. We're going to be in the
presence of Almighty God in such a way, there's not going to
be space and time like we think of it. In the mind of God, when you
trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, all
that became a reality. And that is, when we
say we're already there. The more I understand
my position with Him, the clearer everything is. I may hurt. I may be having a hard time.
But you know what? When I think
about what God says, I don't think about that. I think about what He says. In His presence, it's
going to be perfect. And when we grasp what God
has already said has already happened to us,
then what happens? Then I can look at the future
and realize that whatever's going on now is going to be
fantastic one of these days. Watch this, because,
listen, God didn't put us on this earth to stay here. He didn't put you on
this earth to stay here. Now, some of us live a little
longer than others at times, but that's not the issue. The issue is that one
of these days He's going to call our name. And people talk about
God calling your number. I don't--you're not numbered. You are named, not numbered. What, number thirty-six. What does that say? That doesn't say anything. But Charles Frazier Stanley
says a whole lot very clearly. Ha, ha, ha! So then, of course, the
Scripture says that heaven is where our treasure is. Now, you may think your
treasure is in your property, in the bank, your
gold, your silver, all these things, but listen
to what Jesus said in the sixth chapter of Matthew, "Store up
for yourselves treasures in heaven," not on earth, "where
neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not
break in or steal; for your treasure
is," where it is, "there will your heart be also." Where is your treasure? You hoarding this and hoarding
that and hoarding the other? Do you think your security is
based on how much money you have or how much property you
have or gold or silver or whatever it might be? Our treasure, listen to this,
our treasure cannot be bought. Watch this, anything you
bought, you can lose. Anything you can
touch, you can lose. Our treasure is our
relationship to Him. And all the works that we do,
the right spirit and attitude and so forth, that is, God
is--He has our rewards coming. That's where our
treasure is, not here. "Store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven," things that man can't touch. So, how do you store them up? By your good deeds,
by your obedience, by your holy life, by your
actions of love and kindness and forgiveness and so forth. Then of course, he
says our inheritance and rewards are there. And if you go back to Matthew
chapter five in the Sermon on the Mount and listen to what He
says in this fifth chapter and the twelfth verse, after
He's given us the Beatitudes. Listen to what He
says, the twelfth verse, "Rejoice and be glad, for
your reward," listen to this, "for your reward in
heaven is great." Your reward in heaven is great. What is that reward? It's not what I've
done to be saved. And there are people
who think--and now, all of us should
have good works, but not to get
ourselves to heaven. We do good works
because we're sons and daughters of Almighty God. And we're not doing them so
things will be better in heaven if I do thus and so. No. It's the natural life of a godly
person who does what the Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to do. We're to be godly
and holy and help, love, forgive, and so
forth, all of those things. And so, Jesus said our
inheritance, He said, "Rejoice that your inheritance is
in heaven, not here." And I think about people
who are really striving. And I meet people once in
a while who are really, really working at being
good enough to get to heaven. It's an endless, futile attempt,
because that is not what God said, "For by grace
you have been saved." That's the forgiving love of
God based on the death of Jesus Christ, His Son, by grace. So, look in First
Peter for a moment. First Peter and
this first chapter. I want you to notice something
that Peter says here that I think is--applies
to all of this. First Peter, first chapter and
the third and fourth verses. He says, "Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," watch this, "who
according to His great mercy," not just mercy, "His great mercy
has caused us to be born again." Listen to what he said.
You know how you got born again? By the mercy of God. "According to His great mercy,
has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ." That is, what's the
basis of our hope? Not how good we are,
the basis of our hope is in His resurrection. His resurrection
justified, declared, assured everything He taught. "According to the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance
which is imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away,
reserved in heaven for whom you--" look at
the--look at those verses. Verse three, "Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to
His," what kind of mercy? "Great mercy, has caused us to
be born again to a living hope." How do we know it's living? "Through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead. And thus we have obtained,
an inheritance which is imperishable,"
cannot be destroyed, "undefiled,"
cannot be contaminated, "will not fade away,
reserved in heaven for you." Listen, if you're
saved, look what you've got. You don't have anything physical
to match those two verses. And then the last thing I would
say is our saved loved ones and friends are there. And if you remember what
Paul said in Second Corinthians chapter five, and that
he said, "Absent from the body and," what? "Present with the Lord." And then in First
Thessalonians chapter four, and if you'll look
there for just a moment, very, very familiar passage
that we all like to quote. And you'll notice
what the Scripture says. He says in the thirteenth
verse, "Don't be uninformed, brethren, about those
who are asleep," those who have passed on. "So that you will not grieve as
do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with
Him," when Jesus returns, "those who have
fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you
by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain
until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those
who have fallen asleep," who have passed on before. "For the Lord Himself will
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in
Christ will rise first." That is, the bodies of
these who've passed on. "Then we who are alive and
remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air so we shall always
be with the Lord." So what? There's going to
be a big reunion. And our loved ones who've passed
on before us who've gone to heaven, Jesus
says when He comes, there's going to be a
big celebration in heaven. Now, the question is this: and
the question is not so much what does the Bible
teach about heaven, but the question is
this: Are you going there? Because many people think they
are and they can tell you why. And they'll list all these
things that they've done, how good they are,
how accepted they are, how much money they've given,
how many times they've been to church, maybe been
baptized two or three times, and they think that's
going to get them to heaven. No way. It's by grace you're
saved through faith, that not of
yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of anything we do,
but by His awesome love. So that's just a little
idea to get you started thinking about heaven. And the most important question
is this: Are you going there? You say, "Well, what do I
have to do to get there?" Listen to what
the Scripture says. "I go to prepare
a place for you. And come again to
receive you to Myself, that where I am,
there you may be also. I am the way, the
truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father but through Me." There's only one
way to get to heaven, by accepting Jesus Christ,
believing that He's the Son of God, that His death was
payment for your sin, and when you place your faith
in Him as the Savior and Lord, your name is written in
the Lamb's Book of Life, and all the things
we've talked about happen instantly,
automatically. That's my prayer for you. Father, we love You and praise
You, that You didn't give us a list of things that we
had to do to get saved. We thank You that You planned
it in eternity past and made it possible for us to be saved
through the death of Your Son. Make this message
so simple and plain, to go all over this world, for
all religions and all beliefs, or whatever it might be. And then may the Holy Spirit
take Your Word and interpret it clearly to people everywhere,
whatever their language, whatever their background, so
that they too may know what Jesus meant when He
said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one
comes to the Father but by Me." And Lord, give them
understanding when Jesus said, "For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him will not perish, but have the gift
of eternal life." And we pray this
in Jesus's name, amen.