Number one in the Bible reads Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, raked
to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season,
if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though betrayed with
fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory of the appearing of Jesus Christ,
whom having not seen ye love, and whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched
diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. Searching what
or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it
testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, unto whom
it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things,
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the
grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient
children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but
as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because
it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without
respect of persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your
sojourning here in fear. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition
from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was
manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him
up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God, seeing
ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth, through the spirit unto unfeigned
love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory
of man is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof
falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which
by the gospel is preached unto you. Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you for such a great chapter in the Bible. What a fantastic piece in
the word of God, and I can't even begin to do it justice or scratch the surface
of the truth this morning, but God, I pray that somehow you would please just use this
sermon and the lives of those that are here to stir me up and those that are here, and
God, I pray that you would please just fill me with your Holy Spirit as I preach
this morning, and in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Now this is one of the classic chapters in the Bible, 1 Peter chapter 1, and there's
so much that I want to talk about, but I'm going to stay focused on what the topic
of the sermon is this morning. Look if you would, first of all, before I get into the
The Bible says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of
the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto
you and peace be multiplied. You know, first of all, we don't believe
in this Calvinism, predestination, election, all this garbage. The Bible says that we're
elect according to the foreknowledge of God. God knows everything. I mean, he knows
the end from the beginning, the Bible says, and he in eternity past could look forward
and he knew every single person who would be saved, but he didn't choose who would
be saved. He chose to save anyone who would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why he said, whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
He's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe, but he's the savior
of all men. I mean, he's out there for anyone who will call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved, but he's the savior, especially of those that believe, they're
the ones who are going to go to heaven. But I just thought I'd touch on that,
that great phrase there, elect according to the foreknowledge of God.
But look at verse number three and let's get into the sermon.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy had begotten us again, that's born again is what it's talking about,
unto a lively hope, notice those two words, a lively hope by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that
fated not a way reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season if need be, ye are in
heaviness through manifold temptations. What does heaviness mean?
It means sorrow. You remember Jesus Christ when he was in the garden of
Gethsemane, he began to be very heavy, the Bible says.
He began to weep, he began to be sad and sorrowful and bitterness of spirit.
The Bible is saying that through our many, manifold he's saying, all different types,
manifold temptations, there's going to be sorrow in our lives.
It's necessary. God's not just causing you to go through
sorrow and trials and temptations and tribulation in your life for no reason.
He says if need be. The only time you're going to go through
temptation is if it's needed. Do you see that?
He says, I want you to have joy, Peter's writing.
He said there's so much to have joy about. There's so much to look forward to.
Hey, we have a lively hope, it's said in verse number 3.
Our hope is not dead. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and
our hope is very alive because we have reserved in heaven for us
un-inheritance, incorruptible, it says in verse 4.
Hey, nobody can ever take away our joy from us.
But he says now there's the necessity that you're going to go through some temptation.
And that temptation and tribulation and trials is going to lead you to heaviness.
You're not just going to be happy all the time.
The world tells you that you should always be happy all the time, always smiling all the time.
The Bible says by the sorrow of the countenance the heart is made better.
And there are many times in your life that you're going to go through heaviness.
You're going to go through sadness and sorrow even like Jesus did.
He was a man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief.
But what I want to preach about this morning is keeping your eyes on that
un-corruptible inheritance in heaven.
I want to preach to you about the joys of heaven and the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.
Don't ever lose hope.
Now first of all, he says in verse number 4,
to an inheritance incorruptible and un-defiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.
Now when we think of an inheritance, at first thing we think of as money.
I mean, some relative passes away and they leave us an inheritance.
They wrote us into the will, okay?
And that's what we think of as an inheritance, but he says an inheritance incorruptible.
He said it's not going to decay.
It's un-defiled.
It fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.
I thought of this verse when I was reading this, the same concern.
I thought of James 1.
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass,
and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of a parisheship.
So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
So the Bible, I mean, he's going to fade away.
It's going to fade away and it's like it wasn't even there.
It's gone.
But the Bible says our inheritance will never fade away.
We have an inheritance in heaven.
You say, how does your portfolio look, Pastor Anderson?
How does your investment portfolio?
It looks great.
It's low risk and high yield.
It's in heaven.
Now don't talk to me about my earthly portfolio.
It doesn't even exist, okay?
But hey, it's very low risk.
It doesn't fade away.
It's undefiled and it's a maximum yield
because Jesus Christ said that he's going to recompense me a hundred fold
for anything I give up for him in this life.
That's 10,000% interest.
Can't beat that.
And so I have an inheritance in heaven.
The Bible says in James chapter five,
go to now ye rich men, weep and howl
for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten.
He says your gold and silver is cankered
and the rest of them shall be a witness against you
and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.
Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Behold, the hire of the laborers
which have reaped down your fields crying
and the cries of them which,
which is of you kept back by fraud, crying
and the cries of them which have reaped
are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
He's saying people who make their money off unjust gain,
they make money off the backs of other people.
They abuse other people.
They just money, money, money, money,
the love of money, love of money, they stack it up.
He says your gold and your silver
is gonna rot and canker and sour some day.
But I'm gonna tell you something.
If you're a Christian and you serve Jesus Christ
and you lay it not up treasured upon the earth,
but if you lay up treasure in heaven,
it's not going anywhere.
It's undefiled, it's reserved for you in heaven.
It's got your name on it.
Verse number five, who are kept by the power of God
as eternal security, once saved, always saved,
kept by the power of God through works.
Is that what it says?
No, kept by the power of God through staying in church.
No, kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season,
if need be, it's necessary that you're in heaviness
through manifold temptation, that your trial of your faith
being much more precious than of gold to perish in,
though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honor and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
whom having not seen ye love,
in whom though now ye see him not,
yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls.
And on and on, I keep reading the chapter,
it's a great chapter.
But listen to this verse quickly.
You don't need to turn there,
but 1 Corinthians 15, 19.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we are of all men most miserable.
Did you hear that?
I mean, look, people tell you, oh man,
you've gotta get saved and get in church,
start serving God, start living for God,
because then, man, your life is just gonna be great.
I mean, you can be living your best life now, okay?
Haven't you really seen Joel Osteen?
I mean, you're not gonna be sick.
I mean, Jesus is gonna deliver you.
He wants to deliver you.
He wants to deliver your finances.
He wants to deliver your health.
He wants to deliver your marriage.
And so, if you just live for God,
everything's gonna be great.
Your marriage's gonna be great,
your kids are gonna be great,
your finances are gonna be great,
your health's gonna be great,
you're gonna live to be 100 years old,
you're gonna have 401K.
Hey, that's not the truth, that's a lie.
The Bible says here, if in this life only
we have hope in Christ,
we're of all men most miserable.
I mean, think about it.
Now, sure, if you wanna be some liberal,
half in, half out, middle of the road,
kind of watered down Christian,
you could probably live a pretty cush life.
I mean, you could probably live a pretty comfortable life
if you just live your life for yourself all the time.
But I'm gonna tell you something.
You start living like the Apostle Paul lived,
you might end up in a jail cell.
You say, Paul, I can't believe you'd say that.
The Christian life is so wonderful.
Hey, he's writing it from jail.
Think about it.
I mean, he's writing it burying in his body
the marks of the Lord Jesus.
I mean, he's writing it after taking a beating.
You ever wonder why he wrote all these letters from jail?
That's when he had time to sit down and write.
I mean, think about it.
This is really deep theology.
You know why they're the prison epistles?
That's the only time.
I mean, he was out, he was too busy
winning souls and all that stuff.
He sat down and said, you know, I've got some time.
I think I'm gonna do some writing.
I'm kinda kidding with that, of course.
But he's writing from a jail cell saying,
good night, if there's no heaven,
if there's no resurrection.
He said, if it's only in this life,
we're of all men most miserable.
We're sitting in jail.
He said, we're the off scouring of all things.
We're at made as the filth of the world.
People hate us.
They're disgusted by us.
He said, we're in jail,
in hungerings and thirstings often.
He said, in fastings, in perils of our own countrymen,
in perils abroad.
He said, we're hungry, we're thirsty,
we're without proper clothing, we're cold,
we're in thirst, we're in want.
But he says,
we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of great glory.
For one reason,
because we're looking ahead at the rewards in heaven.
We're looking toward the day
when we can see Jesus Christ face in.
Now let me tell you something.
If you lose sight of that in your life,
if you get this myopia where you can only see
what's right in front of you all the time,
that's when you're gonna fall out of church.
When you get this really short term view,
that's when you're not gonna be excited about serving God.
That's when you're not gonna be excited about sowing.
That's when things are gonna get old and tired
and you're gonna go back to the world.
Because you're gonna be miserable
if you're only looking at this life.
But if you can get a reality,
and it's gotta be by faith,
he said, we can't see it,
he said in 1 Peter 1,
but believing we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of great.
Hey, it's real to us,
because we know,
we know that if our earthly house at this tabernacle
were dissolved,
we have a house in comfortable
and the heaven not made with hands.
He said, we're always confident,
I say and willing rather to be absent from the body
and present with the Lord.
Hey, that's where you're gonna have joy in your life,
is when you're looking at the big picture,
not just what's right in front of you.
You gotta look at eternity.
Psalm 30 verse five,
and I'm trying to,
for his anger endureth but a moment
in his favor is life.
Listen to this,
weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning.
But turn to Hebrews chapter 12, if you would,
toward the end of your New Testament there,
Hebrews chapter 12,
Titus, Philemon, Hebrews,
right before the book of James,
look at Hebrews chapter 12.
Bible says in Hebrews 12 one,
wherefore seeing we also are compassed about,
with so great a cloud of witnesses.
It says, let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us
and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him,
did you catch that?
For the joy that was set before him
endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself,
lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
You don't have to turn there.
If you want, you can.
I'm gonna flip back to Psalm 16 quickly.
But Jesus is saying this,
I have set the Lord always before me,
in verse eight,
because he is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad,
and my glory rejoiceth.
My flesh also shall rest in hope.
Why Jesus?
Why do you have hope?
Why are you glad?
Why are you rejoicing?
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one
to see corruption.
Thou wilt show me the path of life
in thy presence is fullness of joy.
At thy right hand there are pleasures
for how long?
Forevermore.
He said, right now I'm in hell,
and Jesus was literally in hell.
And he said, the only reason I have any hope,
the only reason I have any joy,
the only reason I can rejoice,
is that I know I'm not staying here.
He said, I know that I'm gonna be in the presence of God
forevermore in heaven,
with joys that last forever.
That's how Jesus endured the cross,
despising the shame.
That's how Jesus endured suffering
the penalty of our sin in hell.
You say, oh, I don't believe Jesus went to hell,
he went to Hades,
get a King James Bible, would you please?
It says hell, okay?
And hell's the bad place.
Oh, that's paradise.
Hell doesn't sound like paradise to me.
Hey, honey, I'm taking you on vacation,
we're gonna go to hell.
You've just won an all-expense-paid trip to hell!
Da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da.
That doesn't make any sense.
Oh, he was in paradise.
Is that why he was so eager to get out of there?
Is that why the only thing that made him happy
was that he wasn't gonna stay there?
In paradise?
He was in hell.
And he was the burnt offering
that was prophesied about a thousand times
in the Old Testament, okay?
And Jesus paid it all.
Look at Romans chapter eight.
Jesus endured the cross
because he was looking at the joy
that was set before him.
He kept his heart fixed on the joy
of all the people that were gonna be saved
through his sacrifice.
He kept his heart on the joy
that it would all be over
and he'd be rejoicing for all eternity
with the Father and the Holy Ghost.
But look at Romans 8, 16.
Here's one of my favorite verses, Romans 8, 16.
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God.
That's why we ask this question.
Do you know for sure if you died today
you'd go to heaven?
Because the Holy Spirit gives us assurance
of our salvation.
And so it says in verse 17,
and if children, then heirs.
Heirs of God.
Remember we talked about the inheritance?
Heirs, same word.
Heirs of God and join heirs with Christ
if so be that we suffer with them
that we may be also glorified together
for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us.
Now he's not making light of our sufferings.
I mean some people legitimately go through
major suffering in their life.
Loss of a loved one, extreme physical pain and ailments.
Whatever the case may be,
jail, persecution, being hated by people.
And he's not making light of that
but he's saying if you took all the suffering
in your life, all the hardship,
all the tribulation, all the trouble,
and if you put it on one side of the scale
and then you put the reward in heaven,
the glory that's gonna be revealed in you,
it would be a...
I mean it would be, you can't even compare it.
It's not even close.
I mean when you get to heaven,
it's gonna seem like nothing to you
compared to how good it is when you get to heaven.
That's what the Bible says here in Romans 8.18.
But you see the world, the unsaved,
they don't have any hope.
Turn if you would to Philippians chapter three.
The Bible says in Ephesians 2.12
while you're turning there that at that time,
ye were without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
strangers from the covenants of promise.
You're turning to Philippians three.
Having no hope.
He said that's the way it was before you were saved.
Having no hope and without God in the world.
Look at Philippians 3.18.
For many walk, of whom I have told you often
and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ
whose end is destruction,
whose God is their belly and his glory is in their shame,
who mind earthly things.
For our conversation is in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
according to the working whereby he is able
even to subdue all things unto himself.
The world has one end.
Destruction.
What do they have to look forward to?
Death and hell.
I'd rather be on my worst day
saved and on my way to heaven
than the world has on their best day.
I mean, look at them.
Their glory is in their shame.
Their God is their belly.
Look at verse 19.
Is that the life that you want to live?
You want to live the life of an animal or a pig?
I mean, you could truly say of the pig,
and I just saw a bunch of pigs out there,
and I go, you could really look at them
and just say their God is their belly.
Honestly.
If, let me just bring it down to you.
If it feels good, do it.
That's the mantra of the world.
That's their motto.
That's their life.
And they have no hope.
They have nothing to look forward to.
It's only gonna get worse for them in their life,
and then when they die, it's gonna get a lot worse.
How sad, how tragic.
Hey, let's bring them the good news.
Let's bring them the gospel.
Hey, I don't know where you're gonna be this afternoon,
but I'm gonna be out preaching the gospel
from door to door daily in the temple of every house.
They cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Why?
We're bringing hope to those that have no hope.
You know where their hope is?
It's in a bottle.
Oh, it's such joy.
Isn't it to drink?
Isn't it just joy unspeakable and full of great glory?
I don't know.
I mean, I've never been drunk.
I don't know what beer to eat.
I don't know.
I just can't imagine that it can be that much joy.
Drinking something that smells like beer smells.
I mean, I can't understand how it'd be joy
to throw up the next morning.
I can't understand what joy is found in a bottle.
The only thing that's found at the bottom of that bottle
is the worm at the bottom, you know,
or caterpillar or whatever
they put in the bottom of those things.
I was down in Mexico
and saw the little fuzzy worm at the bottom.
You know, that's a good illustration though
because that's pretty much what you find at the bottom.
Something worthless, something nothing.
When you drink to drink, drowning your sorrows, right?
Because don't tell me the world's
not in heaviness this morning.
It's not just Christians who are in heaviness.
The world is sad and depressed.
That's why they're all on a bunch of drugs.
That's why they're on the antidepressants.
That's why they're popping pills.
That's why they need pills to get them up
and pills to bring them back down,
pills to make them go to sleep at night.
This pill, that pill,
they got to get one of those devices
that says like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
because they got so many pills,
they can't even keep track of it.
Their pills are like a complete meal in and of themselves.
They're full.
They can't even take it with food.
They'd be full just from eating all those pills.
Don't tell me the world's not in heaviness
because they are,
but they don't have a comforter like we have.
The Holy Ghost, our comforter, sent down from heaven.
They have no hope.
All they have to look forward to
is being destroyed someday.
And you want to live like them?
You want to dress like them?
You want to idolize them?
I'm sorry,
but I'm not going to look at somebody who has no hope,
whose God is their belly,
whose glory is in their shame
and put their poster on my wall
or on the wall of my kid's room.
Wrong.
I'm not going to put up some poster
of somebody who's having no hope without God in the world.
Somebody whose glory is in their shame.
These Hollywood whores and whoremongers,
their glory is in their shame.
You want to know how them glorify shame?
Go down to the grocery store,
go down to the gas station,
look at the magazine cover.
It's just all of them reveling in their shame.
They're divorced for the fifth time.
They're cheating with so-and-so.
That's all it's about.
It's garbage.
If you read People magazine,
you need to get right with God.
If you read US Weekly,
you need to get right with God.
Hey, we don't need to follow the lives
of these ungodly people.
David said,
mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land.
I'm not going to look at them.
I don't want to talk to them.
I don't want to hear about them.
I'm not going to watch them on TV.
Hey, I don't want anything to do with it.
This world is not my home.
I'm just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
I don't care about the actors.
I don't care about the musicians.
Hey, I care about Jesus.
I care about God's people.
I care about the Bible.
I care about soul-witting.
Sex or affection on things above
and not on things on the earth?
You can't take that stuff to heaven with you.
You're not going to take rock music to heaven with you.
You're not going to take the Beastie Boys
to heaven with you.
You're not going to take The Doors
and Jimi Hendrix to heaven with you.
You're not going to take Britney Spears
and NSYNC and Justin Timberlake to heaven with you.
They're going to be burning in the depths of hell
and their music is not even going to be heard
once in heaven.
We're going to get up to heaven and say,
bless and assurance, Jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.
And by the way, your little Southern Baptist contemporary,
Christian contemporary rock and roll rockabilly
isn't going to be there either.
And all those bunch of tongue-talking,
lose your salvation singers and preachers
who came out with those CDs
are going to be burning in hell
with all their CDs with them.
Hey, I want to sing the kind of music
that I'm going to be singing for all eternity.
I don't want to mess with stuff that's temporal.
I want to sing songs that are eternal
because they're sung by God's people
and produced by God's people.
But that was the introduction.
Here's the sermon.
We're going to talk about the joys of heaven, all right?
Number one, this is the number one joy in heaven.
Look at Matthew eight.
These are in no particular order.
Matthew chapter eight.
Matthew chapter eight, verse number 10.
Number one, let's talk about some of the joys of heaven
that we have to look forward to.
Number one, the joy of sitting down
with other believers in heaven.
Look at it.
Matthew eight, 10.
When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them
that followed, verily, I say unto you,
I have not found so great faith known out in Israel.
And I say unto you that many shall come
from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and the kingdom of heaven.
But the children of the kingdom,
talking about the children of the nation of Israel,
the physical kingdom,
shall be cast out into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
He sang, unfortunately, people will be saved
all over the world and they'll come
and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
You're heroes, he sang to the Jews.
They're gonna sit down with them
and you're gonna be cast out into outer darkness.
What a tragedy.
But I thank God that someday I'm gonna have the joy
of sitting down with other believers in heaven
and sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah.
We could sit down with Peter, James, and John,
and Stephen, and Philip, and Andrew.
We could sit down with all these people
and just enjoy great fellowship.
Don't you enjoy the fellowship of coming to church?
Think about that, church service.
Who are we gonna be fellowship with?
And not only that, but I always think about this.
I wish that everybody who comes to this church,
that I could go to your house more,
because anybody who knows me very well
knows that I'm spread a little bit thin right now
and all the time.
And so I'm working my tail off for my job,
installing fire alarms and just work, work, work.
Literally, if I told you what I've been doing
for the last three days,
my schedule, you wouldn't believe me, okay?
And so I'm busy, busy, busy.
I wish I could just every single week
be over at your house and just sit down with you,
having dinner, talking to you.
I could talk to you for hours
and just fellowship and hang around with you.
And unfortunately, there's just so many constraints
on all of our time.
We're working, we gotta make money to pay the bills.
We gotta go out and win souls, knock the doors.
We gotta make this church, keep it rolling
and all this different stuff.
But one day, hey, we're all gonna be able
to sit down and relax and just talk for a while.
Isn't that gonna be good?
I mean, just to sit down and we can,
I go over to your place for a couple hundred years,
we can hang out over here for a couple hundred years.
We can just sit down and just talk and hang around
and spend some good time together, right?
Isn't that gonna be great?
And then other Christians that we've known
through the years, there's other churches I've gone to
that I don't go there anymore, now I'm pastoring.
Boy, I would love to just sit down
with some of those people and just talk for a while
and just enjoy some good fellowship.
And all the great Christians who've gone on before us,
all the great men that we read about in the Bible,
hey, it's gonna be great.
We can sit down and talk and have, we're gonna have,
I mean, think about it, think about how many friends.
Maybe we don't have that many friends now.
Maybe we do, I don't know.
I don't have that many friends, okay?
But think about how many friends
you're gonna have when you get to heaven.
I mean, everybody's your friend.
I mean, there's millions of them.
They all love Jesus, they all love the Bible,
they all love God, they all agree with us
on our doctrine and everything like that.
And man, it's gonna be great to just sit down
and just hang around with those kind of people
for all eternity.
You say, oh, I wish I went to a really big church
so I'd have more friends.
Hey, one day you're gonna go
to the biggest church that there is,
the General Assembly in heaven,
the Church of the Firstborn, huh?
In the heavenly city of Jerusalem,
you're gonna go to the biggest church in the world
and it's gonna be the greatest preaching,
it's gonna be the greatest doctrine,
it's gonna be everything you've always wanted at church,
it's gonna be every day in heaven.
Man, that's great, I like that.
I can't wait to get up in heaven
and fellowship with God's people for all eternity.
But not only that, number two, look at John chapter four.
So the first joy of heaven, hey,
just the joy of just sitting down
with other believers in heaven.
Man, that's gonna be a great thing.
But look at number two, John four, verse 34.
The Bible says, Jesus saith unto them,
my meat, he said, my food,
is to do the will of him that sent me
and to finish his work.
Say not ye there yet four months
and then cometh harvest.
Behold, I say unto you,
lift up your eyes and look on the fields,
for they are white already to harvest.
And he that reapeth receiveth wages,
there's that inheritance up in heaven,
and gathereth fruit unto life eternal,
that both he that soweth and he that reapeth
may rejoice together.
And herein is that saying true,
one soweth and another reapeth.
So number two, how about the joy of rejoicing
with our fellow soul winners
and those that we won to Christ in heaven?
Can you imagine what it's gonna be like
to get to heaven and to be greeted
by someone that you won to the Lord?
I mean, can you imagine?
I mean, that person wouldn't even be there
if it weren't for you being faithful
and preaching the gospel to them.
You say, well, they're there because of Jesus, amen.
But they're also there because of you.
You were in the yoke with Jesus, remember?
And you plowed together with Jesus.
You worked together.
We're laborers together with Christ.
And you are the one who begat them
as Paul begat Onesimus and his bonds.
Hey, you begat them.
You're gonna be greeted by them in heaven,
and they're gonna know that they're there
because you won't rather than say thank you.
Can you imagine the joy and the excitement
of meeting every person in heaven
that you've ever won in the Lord in your entire life?
Now some of you, you're gonna get there and be like,
where are they?
Cause you didn't want anybody in the Lord.
That's gonna be sad.
I want to get there and be trampled down with people.
You know, trying to talk to me, trying to thank me.
I'm not running away, wait, hold on.
That's my goal.
I don't want to get there
and have nobody there because of me.
Man, I want my life to count for something.
And I'm gonna tell you something.
The people who get there
and have the most people that they want in the Lord, man,
they're gonna be rejoicing the Lord.
And not only that, not only are you gonna be rejoicing
with those that you want in the Lord,
you're gonna be rejoicing with your co-laborer.
The Bible says here that in verse number 36,
that both he that soweth and he that reapeth
may rejoice together.
Think about all the different times
where you gave the gospel to somebody
and they did not get saved, right?
I mean, you went through the plan of salvation
and they said, I'm not ready.
You know, and you're like, not ready?
All you have to do is believe.
I didn't tell you to give up all your sins
and turn your life around.
I'm not one of those phony Baptists.
I said, all you gotta do is believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, I don't know, I'm not really sure.
I don't think so, and they don't get saved, right?
I mean, how many times did I have a lot?
Or you just show them and they say,
well, I just don't really know if I believe that.
Well, I still think you have to be a good person.
Well, you know, all the people
where you sowed the seed and they didn't get saved,
many of them will go to hell, unfortunately,
but think about the fact that
over the course of years and decades and years,
what are the chances somebody might go back by there,
that door, knock that door,
or maybe they have an uncle or an aunt
or a grandma or a cousin.
That's gonna give them the gospel a second time
and this time it's gonna be watered a little bit.
And then maybe a third time they're gonna hear it at work
and maybe that person at work
is gonna be able to win them to Christ
and reap the harvest.
Think about how you're gonna get to rejoice.
And somebody, think about this,
what if I had the privilege?
And let's pretend for a second that Brother Dave,
come on up here, Brother Dave.
Let's pretend that Brother Dave is a soul winner, okay?
Now, he and I, let's say we lived
in different generations though, okay?
I'm living in 2008 and I was born not that long ago, okay?
But anyway, this guy's an older guy.
He was a soul winner in Phoenix back in the 1960s.
Okay, you following this?
Back in the 1960s, he was a Jesus freak.
You know, he had long, no, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, he was a soul winner.
I mean, he was a fundamental Baptist back in the 60s.
And he went out and knocked doors and knocked doors
and he gave the gospel to this one person, okay?
And that person, when he gave the gospel,
they did not get saved.
Okay, 40-some years later, right?
40 years later, I went and knocked on the door.
He's already passed away, okay?
He's already in heaven.
He passed away like 10 years ago, okay?
And here I am, like 40 years later,
he gave the gospel to a 12-year-old boy
that didn't get saved, let's say.
I knocked on that door.
That man's now in his 50s.
I gave that man the gospel and he gets saved.
Think about how great it's gonna be.
When I get to heaven, I'm gonna say,
hey, you remember when you were out soul winning Dave
and you remember that kid, you gave him the gospel
and he didn't get saved and you were so sad.
Remember, you had almost brought you to tears
to think this kid's gonna go to hell
after you pleaded with him to get saved.
You remember all of those people
that you gave the gospel to back then
and you didn't really feel like you were getting
as many people saved as you thought you would
and you were struggling.
Hey, did you know that we went back and won
a lot of those people to the Lord
and they wouldn't have got saved
if you had to planted that seed?
Go ahead and sit down, Dave.
They wouldn't have got saved
if you hadn't planted that seed.
And I had the joy of seeing them saved.
I had the joy of reaping what you sowed.
I mean, it's gonna be a high five.
So you're like, yes!
The team effort, even across generations.
Don't get discouraged.
Maybe the seed that you're sowing,
maybe somebody else is gonna reap it.
Say, oh, I went out sowing, nobody got saved again.
Somebody else might reap that seed down the road.
Somebody might reap that harvest
and when you get to heaven, the Bible says
that you will rejoice together with that person.
You'll get to see that person and say, we did it.
It was a team effort.
You sowed, so-and-so watered, I reaped, hallelujah!
And not only that, but don't you wanna reap?
Do you want?
Every, and you know, I don't,
there haven't been that many great soul-winning churches
in the history of Phoenix.
And this city kinda sprung up overnight,
and there have been some, though.
But do you want their labor to be in vain?
Those who've gone before us in Phoenix
and knocked the doors and won souls are planting seeds.
Don't you wanna reap that harvest?
I mean, if somebody planted a seed, man,
I wanna go back and finish that job.
We don't know what we're doing.
We don't know whether we're gonna be planting,
watering, but I've heard some people say this.
Well, I just plant the seed.
I've never wanted anybody to, Lord,
I'm just only a planter, no.
The Bible says, he that planteth and he that reapeth are one.
It's the same person.
Sometimes you're reaping, sometimes you're planting,
sometimes you are, same person.
The joy of getting together
with your fellow soul winners in heaven,
maybe even across the generations,
and rejoicing together about people
that you collectively had won to the Lord,
one sowed, another reaped, God gave the increase.
Isn't that gonna be exciting?
So number one, sitting down with other believers in heaven,
but how much more, number two,
sitting down with those who were our fellow laborers,
winning people to Christ, and our own personal converts.
But number three, look at 1 Thessalonians,
chapter number four.
1 Thessalonians, chapter number four.
Verse number 15, 1 Thessalonians 4, 15.
Bible reads, for this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord,
shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God,
and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and watch this phrase,
and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
How about an eternity of always being with Jesus
all the time?
That's what it says, we'll ever be with the Lord.
Look at John 14, flip back to John 14,
you'll see the same thing.
John chapter 14, so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
But look at John 14, verse one.
Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions.
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.
Watch this phrase, that where I am,
there ye may be also.
You see that?
So shall we ever be with the Lord.
He said, I'm preparing a place for you
so that you can be with me.
See, that's part of what going to heaven is about.
You're gonna be with Jesus.
So shall we ever be with the Lord.
He said, I'm gonna receive you unto myself.
Why, Jesus, that where I am, there ye may be also.
Man, isn't that gonna be great?
None of us have looked on Jesus face to face.
You say, well, I had a vision of Jesus.
No, you didn't.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
he was seen last of all by me.
Paul was the last person to see him.
He said, he was the final apostle.
Read 1 Corinthians 15.
Last of all by me, for I'm the least apostle.
As one of those born out of due time,
he said, I was a late comer as an apostle.
I was the last person to see Jesus Christ,
and that was written decades and decades after.
He was the last one.
The next time anybody sees him
is when every eye shall see him,
when he comes in the clouds at the rapture,
when everybody sees him.
But until then, you haven't seen Jesus,
but what a glorious event it's gonna be
to look at Jesus face to face.
Can you imagine?
And not just temporarily, and then he says,
okay, you know, he ushers you out somewhere.
No, you could be with Jesus for all of eternity.
You'll ever be with the Lord.
God will lead us and be with us.
You know, read the book of Revelation.
He's gonna feed us.
He's gonna be with us.
He's gonna, we're gonna be working with him.
We're gonna be serving him for all eternity.
Hey, that's pretty exciting.
John 14 four, it said right there, it says,
and whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know.
Thomas saith unto him,
Lord, we know not whither 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.
It's funny, in the NIV, in John 14 two, it says,
in my Father's house are many rooms.
Like, you get to heaven, right,
and he gives you one of those little electronic card keys,
like you get at the motel, and it never works.
You have to go down and get another one,
then you gotta get like a third one,
and they act like you're doing something wrong.
It's like, look man, I sleep in hotels every week.
You know, I travel all the time.
I know how to use the card key, okay.
You need to, you know, you gotta pull it out fast.
I'm like, look man, you know, I know how to do it.
You're gonna get to heaven.
Jesus, hey, good to see you.
Okay, you're in room 5,346,252.
It's on the 70th floor.
There's your room.
It's like, can I get a double room?
You know, can I get king size?
You know, and if I were God,
I'd put these bunch of NIV preachers
in like a spiritual motel six when they get to heaven,
you know, but leave the light on for them.
But you know what, when I get to heaven,
it's gonna be a mansion.
It's gonna be a mansion in glory.
I've got a room.
Just over the hill.
Hey, I've got a mansion waiting for me.
You know what the word mansion means?
A mansion means a very rich, lavish,
luxurious dwelling place.
That's what a mansion is.
I mean, it's very luxurious, expensive, fancy.
It's not just a room.
It's a mansion.
And so, I can't wait to get to heaven
so that I can spend time with Jesus.
Number one, I may be spending time with other believers.
Number two, with my fellow laborers
out in the harvest of winning souls
and with those that we've won to the Lord.
Number three, spending an eternity in heaven with Jesus.
But number four, look at 2 Corinthians chapter five.
Number four, how about the joy
of hearing Jesus say to you,
well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Man, isn't that something to look forward to?
Do you ever do something good at work
and the boss gives you that pat on the back?
Doesn't that feel good when the boss recognizes you
for something that you did and says, great job.
It's good.
You know, children love to be praised by their parents
when they do something good.
When people on the job, they like to be praised.
Isn't it gonna be great to hear Jesus say,
well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Can you imagine what that's gonna be like?
2 Corinthians 5, six.
Therefore, we are always confident.
You say, do you know if you're sure you're going
to heaven?
We're always confident.
Because it's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy,
He saved us.
Knowing that whilst 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.
We want our work to be acceptable to God.
I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercy of God that you present your bodies,
the living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service.
So listen to Matthew 25, you don't have to turn there.
Matthew 25, 21.
His Lord said unto him, well done,
thou good and faithful servant.
Thou hast been faithful over a few things.
I will make thee ruler over many things.
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
He says, you were faithful with what you had.
Now I'm gonna make you a ruler over many things.
Now turn to Revelation 22.
This is the last chapter in the entire Bible.
Revelation 22.
And you know, a lot of people have a misconception,
and you might already know this,
but I have this misconception
that a lot of people think
that we're gonna be ruling and reigning with Christ
for a thousand years.
In the millennium, that's true, amen to that.
Physically on the earth,
we're gonna be ruling and reigning for a thousand years.
But did you know that we will not only be ruling
and reigning for a thousand years, but for all eternity?
Look, if you went down in Revelation 22,
this is after the millennium.
The millennium ends in Revelation chapter 20.
And then in Revelation 21 and 22,
we have the new heaven and the new earth.
This is after the millennium.
You see, we're gonna rule and reign with Christ.
Those who've been, if we suffer,
we shall also reign with him, okay?
Now those of us who are saved
will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years,
and we'll be given different authority
and different rewards based on how much we did for God.
That's gonna be on this present earth.
But at the end of the millennium,
God's gonna destroy the heaven and the earth.
And in Revelation 21,
just flip back to Revelation 21 quickly to verse one.
It says, 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.
So you see now we have the new heaven and the new earth.
And Revelation 21 seamlessly leads into Revelation 22.
But look, if you would, at verse number,
let's start reading in verse number three.
And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it,
and his servants shall serve him.
So what are we gonna be doing for all eternity?
Serving God, you see that?
And they shall see his face,
and his name shall be in their foreheads,
and there shall be no night there.
See, that's what the anti-Christ is gonna counterfeit.
His name shall be in their foreheads, right?
The anti-Christ can come before Jesus Christ
and try to put his name in people's foreheads.
Remember that, the mark of the beast?
It says, there shall be no night there,
and they need no candle, neither light of the sun,
for the Lord God giveth them light,
and they shall reign forever and ever.
Do you see that?
We're gonna be rolling and reigning with Christ forever.
And so God says that if we get to heaven
and we've worked hard,
they'll say, well done, thou good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful over little things?
I'm gonna make you a ruler over many things.
See, how much, you say, well, I believe
that when we get to heaven,
we're all gonna get the same reward.
No, he that reapeth receiveth wages
unto life eternal, okay?
And so you're gonna be rewarded.
Now you say, oh, these people who lived a simple life,
God's gonna really punish them.
No, he's not.
Jesus is already punished.
Jesus paid it all.
Our sins will not even be mentioned to us.
Gone, gone, gone, yes, my,
as far as the east is from the west,
so far as God, separate us from our sins.
All of our sins, he's put behind his back.
Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more,
Hebrews 10, 17.
On and on, the Bible said,
we won't have to be mentioned, our sins to it,
but we're gonna give an account
for the things done in our body
and God's gonna give us a reward
based on every man's work of what sort it is,
how good is your work.
And those who work the hardest
are gonna get the greatest reward.
They're gonna earn crowns
and they're gonna be able to rule over many things
and if you've done great things for God,
if you've done little for God,
he'll make you a ruler over just little things.
Maybe you sweep the floor or I don't know,
something like that.
Or it could be like be thou over the state of Arizona.
Yeah, that'd be pretty big.
You know, who knows?
But the point is God's gonna reward you.
How good is it gonna be
to stand face to face with Jesus Christ
knowing that you've won souls,
you've lived a separate life, you weren't perfect,
but you raised your kids for the glory of God.
You could say, Lord, I've done as thou has commanded me
to do.
You say, God, I've finished the work
that thou gavest me to do.
I've finished my course, I've kept the faith.
And for him to look you in the eye and say,
well done, good job.
You did a great job.
You've been faithful.
And so now I'm gonna put you over many things.
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
How could Jesus endure the cross?
The joy that was set before.
How are you gonna endure the cross
that you have to bear in your life?
Cause Jesus did say to take up your cross daily
and follow it.
Is it fun to pick up a cross and carry it?
Never is it gonna be fun to carry a cross.
Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world
go free?
No, there's a cross for everyone
and there's a cross for me.
How are you gonna endure it?
You've gotta keep your eyes on the joy
that's set before you.
You've gotta look forward to heaven
and the joys of heaven.
That's the only way you're gonna be able
to make it, my friend.
If in this life only, we have hope in Christ,
we're home and most miserable, but thanks be to God,
we have a reward waiting for us.
Our retirement is coming someday.
Now, I'm not retiring at 65.
I'm retiring at 70 when I'm dead,
or whenever that comes.
It's only five more years.
Go ahead and fill up your 401k.
I'm just gonna retire a couple years later than you.
And my inheritance doesn't fade away
because it's in heaven, incorruptible.
Work on the things that are above.
Set your affection on thinking,
where your treasure is, there will be a heartbeat also.
I'm not talking about money,
I'm talking about your life,
your time, your talent, your work.
If your life is consisting of,
just take examination of your life right now.
If 90% of your life is stuff
that you're not gonna be doing in heaven,
maybe you need to adjust your life a little bit.
I mean, I go to work, I'm gonna work in heaven.
I win souls.
I'm not gonna be winning souls,
but I'm gonna be rejoicing with those
that I've won in heaven.
I read the Bible, I'm gonna be reading the Bible in heaven.
Pray, I'm gonna be talking to God in heaven.
Sing praise to God, I'm gonna be singing praise
to God in heaven.
Church, there's gonna be a great church in heaven.
Set your mind on the things that are eternal
and not on the temporal things.
Maybe you're going through a hard time right now.
Maybe you're suffering.
Think about how great it's gonna be when you get to heaven.
God will keep you going, hope.
One word, the whole sermon could be enveloped
in one word this morning, hope.
We have a living hope.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the hope that we have.
We don't sorrow like those who have no hope.
And God, please just help us to be faithful
to bring hope to those who have no hope,
to bring them the good news
that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ,
that all their sins can be forgiven,
that you love them and die on the cross.
Help us to be faithful.
Out knocking the doors, on the job, family and friends,
whatever the case may be, help us to be faithful
to when souls reap the great harvest
that's there for us, dear God.
We love you and thank you so much for heaven.
And help us all not to forget about heaven
and just go through our life day to day.
Help us to look a little bit further
and think about these great joys
that we're gonna have in heaven.
And in Jesus' name, I pray.