We are continuing our statement of faith this Sunday,
and there in Matthew chapter 19 verse 14,
it reads, but Jesus said, suffer or allow little children
and forbid them not to come unto me,
for such is the kingdom of heaven.
The title for the sermon this morning is heaven.
We're just looking at the topic of heaven.
Last week we looked at the topic of hell.
So it makes sense that this week
we would look at the topic of heaven.
And as sad as it is to preach,
and unsettlingly it can be to preach about hell,
it's the complete opposite when you preach about heaven.
You know, that is my joy, that is my hope,
and I believe it is the joy and the hope of all of you
looking forward to that time that you can be
with the Lord God for all eternity in heaven.
In our statement of faith we're gonna have these words,
we believe that upon death, the souls of the saints
that are ever present in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ,
following the conclusion of Christ's kingdom on earth,
a new heaven and a new earth will be created,
where God's throne will be established,
and his saints living eternally in his light and glory.
Okay, I hope that makes sense to you.
So, you know, we looked at last week
how there is a hell within the earth today
is a place of reservation.
And that after the judgment,
those that have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ
are going to be judged by the Lord God
and then cast into the lake of fire where hell is relocated.
There is something similar in that sense with heaven,
that where heaven is today, where someone dies
and goes to be with heaven, will not be the eternal heaven
because God will create, the Bible tells us,
of a new heaven and a new earth.
We read about that in the book of Revelation.
We also read about that in the book of Isaiah.
And so we wanna understand this concept
of a place of heaven today.
Yes, I do believe that if people die,
if you're a saved person, you die,
you go to be with the Lord God forever in heaven,
but not forgetting the truth that there is a new heaven
to be created in the future.
When we talk about the kingdom of heaven there,
and by the way, it says there's suffered,
allowed little children and forbid them not
to come unto me for of such, for of such what?
For of little children, such little children
is the kingdom of heaven.
I've heard it said by many people
that little children can't be saved.
Little children have not sinned enough
for them to recognize that they need a savior.
And when I tell people that I got saved at four years old,
people don't believe it.
Like little children, that can't get saved.
Well, of such is the kingdom of heaven.
In fact, you need to be converted
and become like little children
in order for you to enter into heaven.
It is never too late to give,
it's never too early, I should say,
to give children the gospel.
It is a simple message, it is a free gift.
Your children understand free gifts.
They understand a Christmas gift.
They understand a birthday gift.
They understand that gifts are free, paid for by the giver.
And all I have to do is receive it and enjoy it.
That's what salvation is, isn't it?
You receive it and you enjoy it.
It's been paid for by Jesus Christ.
That's how simple salvation is.
Well, let's drop down a little bit further here
in Matthew 19, verse 23.
Something else that I want to debunk very quickly is,
it says, then said Jesus unto his disciples,
verily I say unto you that a rich man
shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
You see, rich people, they trust in their riches.
But to enter into heaven, we must trust in the Lord
and the Lord only.
But I want you to notice that it mentions again
the kingdom of heaven.
And I want to just quickly debunk this idea
that the kingdom of heaven is just for the Jews
and the kingdom of God, that's for the Gentiles.
Okay, that is beyond ridiculous.
I don't know.
You know, I got taught that in church.
And again, I got taught this by a loving pastor
who I still appreciate today.
And you know what?
I got excited when I heard that truth.
I thought, wow.
Well, you know what I thought was the truth.
Go, wow.
Okay, so every time I read the kingdom of heaven,
the Bible, it's going to be about the Jews.
And every time that I read about the kingdom of God
in the Bible, it's going to be about the Gentiles.
And then, you know what?
As I was in my early 20s, I would go to my Bible,
open the Bible, and let me check this out for myself.
Took me 15 minutes to notice that this is just rubbish.
Like, honestly, it won't take you more than 15 minutes.
So open God's word.
Look at every time that God mentions the kingdom of heaven
or the kingdom of God.
And Jesus Christ uses those terms interchangeably
all the time, all the time.
In fact, verse number 23 ended with the kingdom of heaven,
right?
And then look at verse number 24.
Jesus continues.
He says, and again I say unto you.
He goes, I'm saying the same thing to you again,
meaning that he just said this.
What is it that he's going to say again?
And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of God.
Jesus Christ is saying this again.
You see, Jesus Christ himself is using the kingdom of heaven
and the kingdom of God interchangeably.
I'm saying this again.
Like if there are different things for different people,
he can't say I'm saying that again.
He's saying that again because he said it before.
Jesus Christ uses these terms interchangeably
between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God.
And that should make sense.
The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God just refers to the one that rules there,
rules in heaven.
Of course it's our Lord God.
And so I just wanted to quickly debunk that.
Listen, you've got 15 minutes of your own time.
Go study your Bible yourself.
Look up every time the kingdom of heaven,
the kingdom of God is brought up.
And you'll notice it's interchangeable
over and over again.
Different gospels.
Jesus Christ is teaching the same lesson
using different phrases.
Kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God, it's one and the same.
Now can you please turn with me
to 2 Corinthians chapter five?
2 Corinthians chapter five.
Now let's talk about death, okay?
We're all gonna, this body's gonna break down.
This body's going to pass away.
This body's, you know, we're not guaranteed
to see tomorrow, are we?
We know that the reality of life is that everybody
is going to experience death in the flesh, all right?
Now what is death?
You know, if you were to ask a medical expert,
a doctor, what is death?
They define what they define as clinically,
someone that is clinically dead.
They define it as someone whose heart has stopped beating
or the circulation of blood is just not there
and they've stopped breathing.
They'll say this person is clinically dead.
In fact, I was talking to someone recently
that told me that they've died like eight times, okay?
And I believe them that they've died eight times
in the sense that they've,
because they'll tell them about their life
and their struggles and stuff like that.
And so their body broke down to the point
where they needed to be resuscitated, okay?
And the doctor said, you've died
and they think they've come back to life.
But you know, according to the Bible,
that is not the definition of death, okay?
What is the definition of death?
It's not the passage I asked to turn to,
but I'll quickly read to you from James 2 26,
which says, for as the body without the spirit is dead.
For as the body without the spirit is dead.
The Bible defines what death is.
Death is not when your heart stops or you stop breathing,
okay, because you can be resuscitated, right?
CPR, that's what generally people try to do
when someone's heart stops, okay?
But according to the Bible,
when your spirit leaves the body, you are now dead.
That's the definition of the Bible.
Not only the spirit, but you may recall a story
in the Old Testament when Rachel,
remember Rachel was one of the mothers
of the 12 tribes of Israel,
she gave birth to Joseph
and then she gave birth to Benjamin, all right?
But you may recall when she gave birth to Benjamin
that she died in childbearing, okay?
The Bible says in Genesis 35 18,
and it came to pass as her soul
was in departing for she died, okay?
So not only is death when the spirit leaves the body,
but when the soul leaves the body, this is death, okay?
And when we see this passage,
when the soul departs and before she died,
this debunks another idea that's out there,
not really taught by Baptists,
but there's this idea of soul sleep,
that when Christians die, or not even Christians,
when men die, that the soul is asleep
in the body in the grave.
Jehovah's Witnesses, for example,
they do not believe that when a,
what they consider a believer or a Christian dies,
that they go to heaven, they don't believe that.
They believe that a soul is still in that grave
with that body, but we learn by its definition of death
that the soul leaves the body,
we do not believe in soul sleep, okay?
When someone dies, if you're a believer,
your soul goes to be with the Lord,
your soul and spirit depart the body
and when a non-believer dies, the soul goes to hell, okay?
We saw that last week, all right?
So I'm just building some definition to you, all right?
Definitions.
Now, another thought that comes to mind, of course,
and we're going to look at St. Corinthians soon,
but I'm just fast-forwarding this early part,
because this is all common,
we know that we're all gonna die,
but I just wanna reinforce some thoughts here.
In Psalm 116, verse 15, the Bible says,
precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints.
So, brethren, we're all gonna die one day, physically.
We have eternal life, we never truly die, okay?
In fact, the moment this body dies,
we're gonna be alive with the Lord God in heaven, okay?
But I want you to notice that it's precious
when his saints pass away, okay?
Because the Lord God knows
that we're no longer strong with his flesh,
we're no longer strong with sin, okay?
We no longer have to fight this battle,
but we can be with the Lord God
for all eternity, the moment we pass away.
You know, the death of saints, as sad as it can be,
it's precious, it's a beautiful thing.
This is why we don't have to mourn like,
or have sorrow like others which have no hope.
You know, when someone passes away in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we know where their soul is.
We know that they're living a better life
than they've ever lived.
We know that in the presence of the Lord,
and it's precious in the sight of the Lord.
And so as sad as it is to see someone pass away,
we're also excited as Christians, you know?
It's a time of rejoicing,
knowing that they're forever with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at 2 Corinthians 5, 8,
that's where I asked you to turn.
2 Corinthians 5, 8.
Again, this idea of soul sleep is just ridiculous.
It says here in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 8,
we are confident.
We have confidence about this.
This is a sure thing.
We are confident, I say,
and willing rather to be absent from the body,
and to be present with the Lord.
And so when the soul and spirit leave this body,
where are we?
We're with the Lord.
We're present with the Lord.
This is why it's precious, the death of his saints.
Verse number nine,
wherefore we labor that whether present or absent,
we may be accepted of him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that everyone may receive the things done in his body,
according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad.
Now I'm gonna talk about this judgment as well, all right?
And this judgment seat of Christ.
And I just want you to understand,
this judgment seat of Christ is not the determining factor
of whether you go to be with the Lord God in heaven or not.
Okay?
Unlike when the unsaved pass away,
we looked at the great way from judgment of Jesus Christ,
we're not talking about the same throne judgment here.
We already saw that we're confident
that when we're absent from the body,
we're gonna be with the Lord.
But even though that's a reality,
even though we have the confidence of heaven
because of Jesus Christ,
we still need to understand that we still must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ.
Not to judge whether we go to heaven or not,
because we're already there,
we're already in the presence of the Lord,
that's already happened.
This is something that takes place afterwards.
And I just want you to keep that in your mind, okay?
That we're gonna be judged for the works
that we've done for Jesus Christ,
because we're gonna touch upon this later
as we keep going through the Bible.
All right, come with me to 2 Kings chapter two now.
2 Kings chapter two.
And again, as I go through this saving of faith,
I've just got to quickly debunk things that I've heard,
things that you've heard, I'm sure,
because there are some that teach
that no one went to heaven,
no saint went to heaven
until Jesus Christ died on the cross, okay?
But here's the thing,
the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is a lamb
and is slain from the foundation of the earth.
Even though in our timeframe,
we know that Jesus Christ died on the cross 2000 years ago,
but from God's perspective, from a spiritual perspective,
Christ was slain from the foundation of the earth.
So Christ has always been the savior of all mankind, okay?
So there's an idea that, you know,
before Christ, no one went to heaven.
No Old Testament saints ever went to heaven, okay?
Let's just debunk that very quickly, okay?
First of all, the Bible doesn't say that.
The Bible doesn't say the Old Testament saints
never went to heaven, okay?
But 2 Kings chapter two, verse number one, please.
2 Kings chapter two, verse number one.
We just look at Elijah, the prophet Elijah.
It says, and it came to pass
when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven
by a whirlwind that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
Okay?
Drop down to verse number 11.
And it came to pass as they still went on and talked
that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire
and horses of fire and part of them both asunder
and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, okay?
God sent us twice where Elijah went, okay?
He was taken up by the Lord.
Supernaturally, he went into heaven, okay?
And look, this is the teaching of the Bible, okay?
Old Testament saints, of course they went to heaven, okay?
I'm talking about where God's throne is.
That's where they went, okay?
Those that were saved, the same.
They've gone to be with the Lord God in heaven.
People say, no, no, no, no.
You don't understand, Pastor Kevin.
He went to a place called Paradise,
which is in the center of the earth next to hell.
But then we have Elijah going up to heaven.
Did God just take him up to the sky
and then take him down to hell?
Is that what happened to Elijah?
What's the point of going up to heaven
if you're gonna go straight down to hell,
to the paradise part of hell?
No, he went to be with the Lord.
The Lord took him, okay?
He took him up to heaven.
It's what the Bible tells us.
You know, the Bible also says in Ecclesiastes,
you can turn there if you have time,
but I'll read it to you quickly.
Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse number 20.
The Bible says, all go one to one place.
All are of dust and turn to dust again, okay?
So all of our bodies are dust.
It's all gonna go to the grave.
It's all gonna return back to the dust.
But then it says in verse number 21,
who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward.
That's verse number 21.
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward.
So when you, brethren, when you pass,
this is Old Testament.
When you die and the spirit leaves your body,
where's it gonna go?
Into paradise and hell?
Upward.
Old Testament saints, they went upward into heaven.
It's what it represents, of course.
And then it says, and the spirit of the beast,
or the spirit of an animal, goeth downward to the earth, okay?
It returns back to the earth,
but the spirit of man goes upward,
goes upward to the Lord, okay?
There are many ways to prove from the Old Testament
that saints went to heaven,
that the souls and the spirits of the saints go upward.
And there's a very easy way to even prove this,
but I'll read it to you,
but if I explain all of this now,
it's just gonna go down a rabbit hole, okay?
But Job chapter one, verse six,
so I'll just read it to you.
Job chapter one, verse number six,
and many of you are familiar with the book of Job.
It's a very famous book, okay?
Job chapter one, verse number six, it says,
now there was a day when the sons of God,
let me stop there for a moment.
What does John 1 12 say?
For as many as received him,
to them gave you power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name.
Reverend, you are sons of God.
You are children of God, okay?
And in the time of Job, Job is before the Old Testament.
Job is before Moses.
How do we know that?
Because Job refers to God as God Almighty,
and God revealed his name to Moses.
He goes, they knew me as God Almighty,
but now they know me as Jehovah.
He refers his name to Jehovah or the Lord.
So we know when we read the book of Job,
he constantly refers to God as Almighty God or God Almighty.
We know that that was before the Old Testament, okay?
Now let me read it again.
Job chapter one, verse number six,
now there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the Lord,
and Satan came also among them.
Satan, the accuser of the brethren,
came to accuse the sons of God.
You see, the sons of God in the Old Testament,
they're presenting themselves
before the Lord God in heaven, okay?
Now look, again, if we just had a biblical mindset
and we read Job 1.6, to me, it's like,
well, of course the sons of God in heaven,
even in the Old Testament.
Of course the saints go to heaven when they pass away, okay?
And some would say, no, no, you don't get it passed on.
You don't get it.
The sons of God here in the book of Job,
that's the angels, okay?
It's not, you know, the Old Testament saints,
they did not go to heaven.
You don't understand the past of heaven.
The sons of God there are the angels.
All right, take your Bible
and come with me to Hebrews 1, verse five.
Hebrews 1, verse five.
Hebrews 1, verse number five.
Where do they get this idea from that it's angels?
Remember, when you hear something from the Bible, okay,
please don't forget,
you need to compare spiritual with spiritual.
Please go and get two, go get three,
go get four witnesses from God's word if you can.
Okay, I'm showing you multiple witnesses
that Old Testament saints went to heaven, okay?
Now, in Hebrews 1, verse five, it says,
pay attention to these words.
So those that say that Job 1, six,
the sons of God are angels, okay,
well, what does God say about that?
In Hebrews 1, verse five.
For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, thou art my son?
This day have I begotten thee.
And again, I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son.
What's the Bible saying there?
Has God ever said?
Did God ever say that to an angel?
That thou art my son, and I am your father?
Has God ever called his angels his sons?
No.
Let's read it again.
For unto which of the angels said he at any time?
When did God ever say this?
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
And again, I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son.
Jesus Christ, the Lord God never calls his angels his sons.
Okay, the reason we can call,
we call ourselves the sons of God,
the sons of the fortune of God,
is because we are in the Son of God.
We are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus Christ came and died for man, okay?
Jesus Christ did not come and die
for the sins of the devil or angels.
He came and died for the sins of man.
The reason we are children or sons of God
is because we are in the Son of God.
We are in Jesus Christ, and we've been made children of God.
We've been born again.
We've been born into God's family.
So, the book of Hebrews says,
God has never said to the angels, they are my son.
Okay, then we read Job chapter one,
and the sons of God present themselves before the Lord God.
Are they angels?
Can't be angels, if the Bible's gonna be consistent, okay?
Of course, it's believers.
Believers are the ones that are in Christ Jesus.
Believers are the children of God.
Say, pastor, where does this idea come from?
Okay, it comes from your modern Bibles.
It comes from the NIV, okay?
If you read the NIV, Job chapter one, verse six says,
one day, the angels came to present themselves
before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.
That's the modern translations.
They take the sons of God, and they call it angels.
All right?
And then these people that read these modern Bibles,
they write their books,
they create Bible college lectures, okay,
based on the knowledge of modern versions,
and then we have independent Baptists
who believe in the King James Bible,
they go to these Bible colleges, they read these books,
and, ah, angels, that's what it means.
No, that's the modern translation, okay?
The modern translation's that mess up
God's word multiple times.
In fact, in the NIV, it says, one day, the angels,
and then it's got a reference,
and if you read that reference, it says,
in the Hebrew, it says, sons of God.
So if in the Hebrew, it says, sons of God,
why don't you just write sons of God?
Because they're trying to input their doctrine
into the Bible,
rather than letting the Bible interpret itself.
So brethren, God's never called his angels the sons of God.
Okay, and this takes you down a rabbit hole,
which I don't have time for.
When you start believing that the sons of God in Job
are angels, you're gonna go down a rabbit hole
believing that angels can breed with women
and create giants, or reptilian people,
or something like this.
You're gonna start believing in science fiction.
When Genesis chapter one says that everything brings forth
after its own kind, humans bring forth humans, okay?
That's a law of God.
Dogs are gonna bring forth dogs, okay?
The apple seed's gonna bring forth the apple tree
and the apple fruit.
Okay, everything brings forth after its own kind.
When you start to mess things up,
when you start to really confuse the Bible
and have a science fiction perspective of God's word,
you're gonna start believing angels can breed with women.
Okay, when the Bible says that angels are spirits,
they don't have a physical body.
Okay, and then all of a sudden you're just destroying
the foundations, even from Genesis one.
The basic understanding that God gives you.
I mean, there are strange teachings out there, brethren.
Please be careful.
Be careful, I love the internet.
I love the internet.
I love the information.
I love the knowledge that we can get from online sources.
But there's a lot of rubbish out there.
There's a lot of rubbish, okay?
The Bible is a logical book, okay?
It's a realistic book.
It's not a work of science fiction, okay?
Anyway, you can see how I can go down a rabbit hole there.
I don't wanna, we're talking about the heaven.
We're talking about heaven here, right?
We're talking about the place where saints go
when they pass away to be with the Lord.
Now some will say, Pastor Kevin, you don't understand.
The saints, they did not go to heaven
because they went down to the earth, paradise in earth, okay?
And we saw last week we had the story
of the rich man that went to hell.
And there was a great gulf fixed
between that rich man and Lazarus and Abraham.
And so the thought is, well,
they must definitely be in the earth then.
They must be down there in the earth, okay?
They say, well, this is Abraham's bosom.
They'll call that, or they'll call this paradise, et cetera.
Come with me to Luke 23.
Come with me to Luke 23, verse 43.
Luke 23 and verse number 43.
The Bible does teach on paradise, okay?
Definitely.
But here's what you need to figure out.
Is paradise the nice part of hell in the earth?
Or is paradise heaven?
That's what you need to figure out, okay?
And that's where you go to God's word
and find out for yourself, okay?
So Matthew 23, 43, one of my favorite stories
when the thief on the cross speaks to the Lord God,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And in Luke 23, 43, it says,
and Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee,
today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Okay, paradise is a doctrine.
It's a true doctrine of the Bible.
Jesus Christ is promising this thief on the cross.
This very day, we're gonna be together in paradise.
You see that?
So is Jesus Christ saying we're going down to the earth
in paradise or is he saying we're going upward?
Well, come with me to second Corinthians chapter 12.
Second Corinthians chapter 12, please.
Second Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number three.
Second Corinthians, and again, do your own study, please.
Look up the word paradise in your concordance
and your Bible software online, okay?
And then read every reference to paradise.
And you know what you'll find?
The Bible is consistent across the board all the time,
as it always is.
It's just men, we like our science fiction,
we like our fables,
and then we start teaching it behind the pulpit.
It's a sad reality, it happens, okay?
It happens.
I don't wanna do it.
I'm trying my best to just be as transparent
and read it for yourself, read the scriptures yourself.
Second Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number three.
The words of Paul, he says, and I knew such a man,
because whether in the body or out of the body,
I cannot tell God enough,
because I can't remember if I was in my flesh or not
when this happened.
But then he says in verse number four,
how that he was caught up into paradise.
Let's stop there for a moment.
That he was caught, where?
Up into paradise and heard unspeakable words,
which is not lawful for a man to utter.
I mean, just verse number four alone
should make you think, where is paradise?
Is it down or is it up?
Is it hell or is it heaven?
Automatically, when you just read God's word there,
he was caught up into paradise,
that should confirm for you, oh, paradise is heaven.
Paradise is just another way of saying heaven, right?
If you want further truth of this, look at verse number two.
He says the same words, he says,
I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago,
whether in the body I cannot tell
or whether out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth,
such and one caught up to the third heaven.
What is paradise?
Is it in the earth?
No, it's a third heaven.
Okay, it's not our atmosphere, it's the first heaven.
It's not space, second heaven.
It's the third heaven where God's throne is.
Paradise, that's where it is, according to the Bible, okay?
So all Testament saints went to paradise,
they did go to paradise.
Paradise, the third heaven is where they went.
Okay, they did not go into the earth, all right?
The great gulf that's fixed between the rich man and Lazarus
is the great gulf that's fixed between heaven and hell.
Once you go to hell, you can't go to heaven.
And when you're in heaven, you can't go to hell.
You cannot cross these boundaries.
These are spiritual realities, okay?
Like the man in hell, right?
We know his body's in the grave, but his soul is in hell.
But he speaks of his tongue,
even though he's got no physical body.
These are spiritual realities that are hard to absorb, okay?
And people try to limit and say,
well, paradise must be in the earth
because he could see Abraham.
Yeah, but he doesn't have his body,
he doesn't have his eyes.
He doesn't have his tongue.
And yet, even then, spiritually, he can see and feel, okay?
So it's the great gulf, the great gulf,
the separation is heaven and hell.
Once you're in hell, you can't go to heaven.
Once you're in heaven, you cannot go to hell, okay?
So I just wanna, again, when I go through
the statement of faith, I feel like I need to debunk
things that are out there.
And again, I've heard it taught, you've heard it taught,
so I always want you to go back and check for yourself.
Hey, don't go back and check a video.
Don't go back and check online.
Open God's Word and check it for yourself.
It's not hard.
Remember, you've got the Spirit of God,
individual soul, liberty.
God has given you his Holy Spirit,
so you can open God's Word and read it
and understand it for yourself.
All right, please come with me to Luke 13.
Luke 13, verse 18.
There's something else that we need to understand
about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God.
Luke 13, verse 18.
We're going to look at some parables of Jesus Christ.
Luke 13, 18.
It's really important if you can turn there,
if you've got your Bibles turned there.
Luke 13, 18.
These are teachings of Jesus Christ.
He teaches us about the kingdom of God
or the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 13, 18, it says,
Then said he, unto what is the kingdom of God like?
Jesus Christ saying, how can I describe
the kingdom of God to you?
Then he says these words.
And where unto shall I resemble it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed,
which a man took and cast into his garden.
And by the way, I don't have mustard seed, all right?
Pretend I had a mustard seed, all right?
And before church service, I just cast it somewhere here.
Do you think you'll see it?
You think, oh, pastor, there's a mustard seed you dropped.
You're not going to notice it.
It's just going to be something on the floor, right?
So just keep that in mind, all right?
Let's cut this mustard seed.
And then he says, and it grew.
So the mustard seed grows and waxed the great tree.
If there was a tree in the middle of this auditorium now,
would you see it?
Oh yeah, you'd see that tree, won't you?
You won't see the mustard seed,
but you'll definitely see the tree, okay?
And then it says, and the fowls of the birds of the air
lodged in the branches of it, all right.
So with something we learned about heaven here,
Christ is describing that heaven,
basically you can view the kingdom of heaven,
the kingdom of God in three stages.
Stage number one is the mustard seed.
Stage number two is the tree.
And stage number three is when the birds come
and nest in the branches.
Okay, I want you to keep this in mind.
All right, now, let's keep going, verse number 20.
And again, he said, again.
Okay, so he's teaching this again.
Where unto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
It is like leaven, or you might say yeast, all right,
when you're trying to bake bread.
It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid
in three, oh, three, in three measures of meal
till the whole was leavened.
Again, Christ is speaking of threes.
Three measures might be three, I don't know.
It's a unit of measurement.
I say three kilograms, that's too much.
But anyway, you know, the king of God is like leaven
in these three measures, okay?
Again, three stages, as it were,
when Christ is trying to describe the king of God.
All right, how does this make sense?
If you do your study on the kingdom of God
and the kingdom of heaven in the Bible,
you're gonna feel a little bit confused, a bit conflicted.
Okay, and you're gonna go, I don't know,
is this really talking to the same thing?
Maybe pastor was wrong about this.
Maybe kingdom of heaven is different to the kingdom of God,
et cetera, et cetera.
You can start having those thoughts, okay?
And when you try to line things up,
you're not gonna be lining things up perfectly.
But let me tell you, the Bible is consistent,
100% consistent, it always is, okay?
How different is a mustard seed with a tree?
There's a big difference, okay?
But there's three stages.
The tree must first be a seed before it becomes a tree.
It must be a tree before the birds can come
and lodge themselves into the branches, okay?
Well, this is what the kingdom of God is like.
The kingdom of God is divided into three stages, okay?
And what's also interesting about this
is that we serve a God in three persons.
And you'll notice that each person of God
is influential in these three stages of the kingdom, okay?
So what is stage number one?
You're there in Luke, come with me to Luke 17.
Come with me to Luke 17, verse number 20.
Luke 17 and verse number 20.
Luke 17, verse number 20.
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said,
the kingdom of God cometh not with observation.
Not with observation.
God is saying, you can't see it.
Remember I gave you that illustration of the mustard seed
if I just sold it into a garden?
You won't see it.
Jesus Christ says it doesn't come with observation.
You can't see it.
Go, hold on.
Anyway, let's keep going.
Verse number 21.
Neither shall they say, lo here and lo there,
for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
You see, the moment you're saved,
you've entered into the kingdom of God.
It's within you.
It's unseen.
If you see a saved man or an unsaved man
walking down the street,
you can't see that one has entered into the kingdom, okay?
You can't see that on the outward
because it's inward, right?
It's something that takes place within you.
The moment you're saved, you're born again of the spirits.
Born again of what?
The spirit.
The first stage is a working of the Holy Spirit.
You know, we are looking forward to the kingdom.
I am looking forward to the coming of Christ.
I am looking for the new heavens and the new earth,
but don't forget the kingdom of God is right here within you.
This is why we're commanded,
even though we're not physically in heaven,
we're commanded to live as though we are in heaven.
We're commanded to live righteous and holy lives,
even though we struggle with this flesh.
But we're already there.
We already made it.
We don't have to wonder,
oh, if I mess up my life tomorrow,
that's it, I'm damned and I'm going to hell.
No, it's already in you.
The kingdom of God, it's happened, it's done.
It's a done deal, okay?
Keep your finger in Luke.
Keep your finger there in Luke
and come with me to Romans 14.
Romans 14, verse number 17.
Romans 14 and verse number 17.
Paul then teaches the same thing here in Romans 14, 17.
Keep your finger in Luke.
Romans 14, 17 says, these are the words of Paul,
for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink.
Because the kingdom of God is not a place
where you go and eat and drink.
Hold on, pass, I've heard passages
where the kingdom of God is eaten and drinking.
I've heard passages that we do fellowship
and eat together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Again, you can start getting confused on this,
but you need to understand it's three stages, three measures.
The kingdom of God is 11 in three stages,
until the holy is leavened, okay?
It's all working together.
It says, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink,
but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy ghost.
King of God is within you, righteousness, peace, joy.
Those are the fruits of the spirit, aren't they?
In the holy ghost.
It's the holy ghost that lives within us,
that gives us the ability to live a life
as though we are in heaven,
as though we already are in the kingdom
and we are, spiritually we already are.
But I want you to notice again,
the holy ghost is the one that's doing that work
within you right now, okay?
He saved you, he's given you a born-again spirit,
and he helps you live a life that pleases the Lord,
a life of righteousness, peace, and joy.
This is a kingdom that cannot be seen.
You cannot observe someone and say, oh yeah, he's saved.
You can't tell.
The only way you know someone is saved is
where their faith is placed.
If they say my faith is on Jesus Christ alone
and him alone, trusting his death and resurrection,
now you know they're saved, okay?
But on the outward, you can't tell.
It's something you cannot see, the kingdom of God.
This is stage number one, okay?
Now like leaven, you know, if you're baking bread,
it's going to rise, isn't it?
It's gonna become more visible as time goes on.
The mustard seed eventually is gonna grow.
It's gonna sprout, become a tree, very visible to all, okay?
There's a process.
There are different stages to this kingdom.
You're there in Luke.
Come back with me to Luke 22.
Come with me to Luke 22.
So we saw in Luke 17, Christ said the kingdom of God
is not a place of meat and drink.
But then we get to Luke 22, and now we're saying
it is a place of meat and drink, okay?
So Luke 22, verse 29.
Luke 22, verse number 29.
Christ says these words.
And I appoint unto you a kingdom,
as my Father have appointed unto me.
So I want you to notice this kingdom
that we're looking at now is a kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Okay, it's a kingdom that Christ can share with us.
It's a kingdom that's been given
from the Father to Jesus Christ.
Okay, this is the next stage.
Then it says in verse number 30,
that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom
and sit on thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
I thought it wasn't meat and drink.
Well, now it is.
Okay, because there's a new stage.
There's a new stage of this kingdom.
And of course, this kingdom is referring
to the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Not only should we be excited for the rapture
to be with our Lord Jesus Christ and new resurrected bodies,
but we should be excited about the kingdom to come.
Christ is gonna be on this earth.
All kingdoms of this earth are gonna be under Christ
and He's gonna rule here for 1,000 years with us.
We're invited to that kingdom, okay?
Hey, the 12 disciples, the 12 apostles here,
they get the privilege of judging
the 12 tribes of Israel.
There are different levels of authority
that start to develop.
You start to pick this up, okay?
In a kingdom, there are kings.
In a kingdom, there's authority.
This is how it works in the kingdom of God, all right?
Come with me to Revelation 11.
Revelation 11, verse number 15.
Revelation chapter 11 and verse number 15.
Revelation 11, verse number 15.
The Bible says, and the seventh angel sounded.
So this is after God pours out His wrath on this earth.
Bible says, and there were great voices in heaven saying,
the kingdoms of this world
have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
And the Father will give His kingdom to His Son, okay?
So the kingdom of our Lord refers to the Father
and of His Christ.
So the kingdom of Christ.
And He shall reign forever and ever.
Isn't that amazing?
Verse number 16.
And the four and 20 elders which sat before God
on their seats fell upon their faces and worshiped God,
saying, we give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
which art and wast and art to come,
because thou hast taken to thee thy great power
and hast reigned.
Brethren, in the future,
Christ is gonna reign over this earth.
It's not just a hope, it's going to happen.
The Sunshine Coast is gonna be
under the authority of Jesus Christ.
So will Brisbane and Sydney and every city
and every kingdom of this earth
will be under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ.
All the kingdoms of the earth under Christ.
That's pretty different,
as different as a mustard seed too is a tree.
Yet the kingdom of God is within us.
It's not eat, meat and drink now,
but there is coming a time when it's gonna be meat and drink
it is gonna be visible.
It is a place on this earth.
No one will avoid it.
Like you just can't avoid a tree.
Everyone's going to see it.
Okay, this is the next stage of the kingdom.
It's the kingdom of Christ.
All right.
So the first stage is the Holy Spirit.
Okay, work within us.
The second stage is the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
A thousand years, you're very familiar with it.
If you know the Bible, you're very familiar
about the kingdom of Jesus Christ for a thousand years.
Stage number three.
What is stage number three of this kingdom?
Come with me to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15.
And the reason we're going through this,
even though I'm teaching on heaven,
is that yes, when you pass away today,
the kingdom of God is already in you.
You're going to be with the Lord God in heaven.
But when Christ establishes his kingdom and this earth,
we will return with Jesus Christ.
Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is this.
Heaven or paradise is wherever God is.
That's what makes heaven heaven.
To be in the presence of our Lord God forever.
That's really what heaven is, okay?
And so I just want to show you
that there are different stages of this kingdom, all right?
What is stage number three?
Well, we know that Christ will rule for how long?
A thousand years.
But we saw earlier that he's going to reign forever and ever.
So of course, yes, there is a kingdom that is a thousand years
but of course, Christ will continue to reign forever.
I'm not trying to deny that, okay?
Christ has not just reign for a thousand years.
His reign is forever, for all eternity, okay?
But we learned something in 1 Corinthians 15, 24.
1 Corinthians 15, 24.
It says, then cometh the end when he, speaking of Jesus,
when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God.
Who's this God?
Even the Father.
When he, that's when Jesus, shall have put down all rule
and all authority and power.
See, when Christ is here for a thousand years,
he's going to have all power under him,
all authority under him.
At the end of that period,
he now gives the kingdom to God, even the Father.
Now we have the third stage of the kingdom, okay?
Who's the one in charge there?
The Father.
I want to show that all three stages
invokes the different persons of God.
The three persons.
One God in three persons, okay?
This kingdom is the Father's kingdom.
Christ has given the kingdom over to the Father
now that everything's been made subject unto him.
Now, he keeps going there in verse number 25.
For he, speaking of Jesus, must reign
till he have put all enemies under his feet.
What enemies are we referring to here?
Verse number 26.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
So Jesus Christ has taken authority over death.
That's the last enemy that'll be put under his feet.
Let's keep going there, verse number 27.
For he have put all things under his feet.
The Father has put all things under the feet of Jesus.
But when he saith all things are put under him,
so when God says that all things are under Jesus,
it is manifest or obvious that it is accepted,
so there is an obvious exception to that rule,
which did put all things under him.
The obvious exception to the rule is the Father
that put all things under Christ.
Like, Christ is not the head of the Father.
That's the exception to the rule.
Then it says in verse number 28,
and when all things are subdued unto him,
then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him
that put all things under him,
that God may be all in all.
So Christ is under the authority of the Father.
Even in eternity, notice that?
Some people say, well, Jesus Christ only became
subject unto the Father when he came to the earth
and became man.
No, even into eternity,
Christ is still subject to the Father.
All things under Christ,
but then Christ under God the Father.
So this final kingdom is the Father's.
And of course, Christ is gonna continue to rule
for all eternity.
I'm not trying to deny that either.
Now, we saw that the last enemy, the last power
that would be put under Christ was death.
So let's learn about this.
Come with me to Revelation 20.
Revelation chapter 20 in verse number 14.
Now, Revelation 20 is near the end of your Bible, obviously.
It's the third last chapter of the Bible.
So this is after Christ was ruled for a thousand years.
Earlier in Revelation 20, we saw the dead being judged
by God and cast into the lake of fire.
When Revelation 20, 14,
we saw that death is the last enemy, okay?
And then he gives his kingdom to the Father.
Remember, keep all that in mind.
Well, Revelation 20, 14 says,
and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire,
this is the second death.
So this is the final victory over death.
Death is cast into the lake of fire.
Hell is cast into the lake of fire.
Verse number 15,
and whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire.
All right, the last enemy was death.
Death has been dealt with now.
Then what did we learn in 1 Corinthians 15?
So once the last enemy has been put under Christ,
then he delivers the kingdom to the Father, right?
So let's continue in Revelation 21 verse one.
What is this kingdom, this final stage?
What is these three measures
that's finally gonna be leavened, okay, till it's whole?
What is this?
Revelation 21 verse one.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
This is the kingdom of the Father.
The Father creates a new heaven, a new earth.
This is our eternal destiny.
This is eternal life, here, right here,
in the new heaven and the new earth.
For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away
and there was no more sea.
Now remember in the parable, once the tree is there,
the birds come and nest in the branches?
Well, verse number two.
And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God.
This is heaven.
This is eternity.
We're gonna be with God for all eternity, brethren.
Look at verse number four.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death,
because death's been dealt with, right?
Cast into the lake of fire.
Neither sorrow nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away.
How beautiful.
How beautiful heaven will be, brethren.
No more tears.
Whatever tears we had,
God's gonna come and wipe them from your face.
I mean, how special.
How special.
You know, when God sees tears on our face.
You know, maybe the regrets we've had.
Maybe seeing our loved ones cast into hellfire.
I don't know what those tears exactly represent.
But God comes in himself and wipes them off your face.
No more tears, no more crying, no more sorrow,
no more pain, no more death.
This is heaven.
And then it says in verse number five.
Sorry, verse number, yeah, verse number five.
And he that sat upon the throne said,
behold, I make all things new.
And he said unto me,
write, for these words are true and faithful.
And this is gonna happen.
One day we're gonna be living in new heaven and new earth.
These words are true and faithful.
It's gonna happen.
God says, I'm faithful to this.
This is, you know, if it was based on our faithfulness,
it's not gonna happen.
Like some people believe that, you know,
Christ is gonna come back.
They call, our millennials,
I don't know if you heard these terms, our millennials.
They say, Christ will come back
when we convert the whole world to Christianity.
Yeah, we're not that faithful.
We're not that, we're not gonna do it.
Okay, we're not gonna do it.
Okay, but God is faithful.
God's gonna create a new heaven, new earth.
These words are faithful and true, true and faithful.
It's gonna happen.
One day we're not gonna be meeting here.
One day we're gonna be meeting in heaven before God.
Amazing.
All right.
So this is the third stage.
This is the final stage.
And it's the Lord God, the Father who rules in this regard.
Now, don't move away from there, but these also play.
You'll understand, okay, so I've really taught on this
before when I taught on the church.
And I taught on the heavenly Jerusalem coming down
and it's gonna be populated by all saints, okay?
What's gonna beautify this new Jerusalem
is the righteousness of the saints.
Old Testament, New Testament, before the Old Testament,
all saints, all believers are gonna populate
this new Jerusalem, which again, plays into that parable
where the birds come in and nests in the branches.
That's the final stage.
We're gonna be living with God for all eternity.
And of course, remember the words of Jesus Christ
in John 14, verse two.
He says, 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 I go,
and if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am, there ye may be also.
What did Jesus Christ say?
In my Father's house are many mansions.
In that new Jerusalem, there are mansions awaiting for us,
for those that have trusted Christ.
You may never afford a mansion here on this earth.
You got one in heaven, okay?
Built by Jesus.
Built by, he goes and prepares a place for us.
The new Jerusalem, okay, where the birds come
and nest in the branches.
That's gonna be us.
The birds represent us, okay?
Nesting there in the branches of the kingdom of heaven.
Keep going, if you can go there in Revelation 21,
you're still there, look at verse number 23.
You say, is this really a kingdom though, Pastor?
Can we call this a kingdom?
Well, Revelation 21, verse 23.
And the city, that's new Jerusalem,
had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it,
for the glory of God did lighten it,
and the Lamb is the light thereof.
The glory of God lights the whole place up.
Verse number 24, and the nations,
ooh, yes, there are still nations
in the new heaven and the new earth.
How are they divided?
I don't know, okay?
It's up to the Lord how he's gonna create this, you know?
Verse number 24, and the nations of them which are saved,
that's for you brethren, if you're saved,
shall walk in the light of it,
and the kings of the earth
do bring their glory and honor into it.
There are kings on the earth, there are nations on this earth
it's still a kingdom, okay?
But I want you to notice, once again,
just like on the earth today,
not everyone operates in that sense as a king.
Hey, we're all made kings and priests, don't misunderstand,
because we're part of the royal family of God,
it is a kingdom that we enter into,
but there are some that are gonna have
more authority over others, okay?
And we saw when Jesus Christ was talking
to the 12 disciples, he said,
you're gonna be ruling over the 12 tribes of Israel, okay?
They get a special throne, they get a special place, okay?
We see that, look, there are different people
with different levels of authority in heaven, okay?
And what is the basis of this?
Well, this is why I told you to remember
that we're all gonna stand
before the judgment seat of Christ.
That Christ is going to assess all our works
that we've done for him, and judge us based on that.
If you can please come with me
to First Corinthians chapter three.
First Corinthians chapter three and verse number 11.
Now, this is where a lot of people
get mixed up with heaven.
When Christ judges us for the works that we do,
the word the Bible uses is the word reward, okay?
Reward.
When we're saved, it is not a reward.
When we're saved, it is a gift.
There are differences between gifts.
Gifts are free, rewards are labored for.
You know, you might do well in school
and then you earn a reward for what you've done, okay?
Because you've labored toward it.
But going to heaven, salvation is a gift.
It is not your labor, it is the labor of Jesus Christ
who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead.
You need to understand the difference between labor,
sorry, gifts and rewards.
There are different concepts in the Bible, okay?
Salvation is free.
Jesus Christ paid for all of our sins.
It's a free gift.
But you wanna maximize your rewards in heaven
by serving our Lord God today, by doing the works today.
The works don't save you.
The gift saves you.
The works gives you rewards in heaven, okay?
And we're not all gonna be the same.
Some of us have done more for Christ.
Some have done very few, okay?
And so based on this, God's gonna judge us
at the judgment seat of Christ.
Look at 1 Corinthians 3.11, 1 Corinthians 3.11.
For other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid which is Jesus Christ.
Okay, I'm gonna use this Bible as a illustration here.
Let's say this Bible is the foundation of Christ.
I mean, Christ is the word of God, is he not?
So let's lay the foundation that is Christ.
This foundation is free.
This foundation is a gift paid for by Jesus Christ.
The moment you're saved, you have the foundation of Christ.
That's a gift, all right?
All right, now that we all have the foundation,
what are we supposed to do?
Verse number 12.
Now if any man build upon this foundation,
gold, silver, precious stones.
I'm gonna use my wedding ring as an example, gold.
Okay, so I've got the foundation of Christ.
Now I wanna build on that foundation.
I wanna go and serve the Lord.
I'm gonna go win souls.
I'm gonna try to live a holy life.
I'm gonna try to learn God's word.
I'm gonna be in church.
I'm gonna serve the body of Christ.
The Bible says that even if you give a cup of water
in the name of Christ, you've not lost your reward.
So I'm gonna earn some gold right there
on the foundation, all right?
Hopefully we all have some of that.
All right, what else?
Wood, hay, stubble.
I'm already preaching this part, so.
This paper represents wood, hay, stubble.
And look, it's very likely that your life,
you've got the foundation of Christ, you're saved.
It's very likely that your life has some of this
and has some of this.
Okay, this is not sin,
because we're not being judged for our sin.
It's just the things that we do
that do not matter for all eternity,
that have no significance for eternity.
That's wood, hay, and stubble right there, okay?
But this matters for eternity, all right?
So you've got the foundation.
Then you go and work, you labor.
You set this on your foundation, all right?
Let's keep going there.
It says, every man's work shall be made manifest.
So we're gonna be judged before God.
It's all gonna be manifest, revealed, right?
For the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
So pretend a fire passes through.
You think this paper's gonna last?
No, it's gone.
Is the gold gonna last?
Yeah, in fact, it's gonna be more purified
than it ever has been, actually, with a fire, okay?
It's gonna be more gold than it's ever been before, okay?
There it is.
So what's gonna remain on the foundation?
The gold, the silver, the precious stones, okay?
So the fire tester, this is all gone,
all your waste of time playing video games
or watching soccer games like I did last night, okay?
That's gone.
What a waste of time, all right?
It's true, it's a waste of time.
Doesn't matter for eternity, brethren.
Verse number 14.
It says, if any man's work abide,
so we know that gold did abide,
which have built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
There it is, the gold, there's the reward.
I'm not gonna get rewards for this,
but we'll get reward for the gold, silver,
and precious stones that we do for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't confuse the foundation, which is a gift,
with the rewards, okay?
Don't confuse those two things, okay?
If you start teaching the rewards
is how do you get to heaven, now you're teaching works.
No, it's a gift, it's free, salvation's free.
Heaven is free.
How much you get rewarded in heaven is your reward.
How much you've served the Lord Jesus Christ, okay?
So I'm not just teaching about heaven.
I want you to maximize, I want you to be a king.
I want you to rule with authority.
I want you to be someone special in heaven.
The more you do for the Lord,
the richer you'll be in heaven, okay?
Let's keep going there.
Let's use another example, it's in verse number 15.
If any man's work shall be burned,
so let's put that paper, let's use this example.
This is what verse number 15 is teaching us.
Someone gets saved, right?
And their whole life is this, wood, hay, and stubble.
That's their whole life.
They get saved, they believe in Christ,
they never go to church, they never read the Bible,
they don't, they just live an earthly life
just like the rest of the world.
You say, well, it's not saved.
No, no, salvation is free.
Okay, this is not the judge of someone's salvation.
You can't judge if someone is saved based on this.
You don't know.
Works, judging someone's salvation by their works, no.
You judge salvation by their foundation.
Is their foundation Christ or not?
Okay?
People get saved like a lot, okay?
And they're just gonna have this.
All right?
If any man's work, verse number 15,
if any man's work shall be burned,
nothing left, okay?
Not even gold, silver, and precious, it's all burnt, right?
So it's not saved, because it doesn't have the works.
Look, no works.
It's not saved.
What does the Bible say?
If any man's work shall be burned,
he shall suffer loss, no rewards.
But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
The man is saved.
Even if he goes live an earthly, worldly life,
he's believed on Christ, but he's got none of this,
past is not saved, no.
That's all he's got.
He's saved.
All right?
He himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
Because why?
When the fire burns and burns all that wood, hay, and stubble
what does the fire reveal?
That his foundation is still Jesus Christ.
That's why he's saved.
So you can't judge someone by their works.
You judge them by their faith.
You judge them by their foundation.
There's a lot of people that do great works on this earth
that are going to die and go to hell.
Because they're not believers.
Okay?
Remember the kingdom of God is within you?
Cannot be seen.
Saved man, unsaved man walking.
You could be best friends with an unsaved man.
That unsaved man is so nice that a saved man is such a,
I hate him.
I don't like that saved man.
Yeah, but he's gonna die and go to heaven.
Because his foundation is Jesus Christ.
Okay?
So we need to understand the difference
between gifts and rewards.
And let me just quickly read these passages to you, Noah.
Matthew 6-20 says,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moth nor rust off corrupts,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
So you've got your foundation of Christ.
Lay up your treasures in heaven.
Serve the Lord of your life.
More gold, silver, and precious stones, please.
Get rid of this stuff.
Don't waste your time on paper.
It's all gonna burn.
I don't know, if you're still in Revelation,
oh no, go to turn away.
Can we meet to Revelation chapter four, please?
Revelation chapter four, verse number 10.
Again, heaven is not communism.
We're not all equal.
Some are kings.
Some rule, some reign, some have authority.
Some have more treasures than others.
But we're all saved, and we're all gonna experience heaven.
We're all gonna be in the presence of the Lord.
Okay?
Now, you say, well, I don't like that idea.
Someone has said that to me.
I don't like the idea that some
get more in heaven than others.
Because they have this thought that,
well then, that means man will boast of themselves again.
Oh, look how much I did for the Lord.
Listen, we're gonna be in our new resurrected bodies.
That's not gonna be your attitude, number one, okay?
Your attitude's not gonna be, oh, look how great I am.
Oh, why didn't you do anything for God?
You know, you're in heaven, right?
And who's the man that got martyred in the New Testament?
What's his name?
Stephen, Stephen.
Stephen goes, oh man, you know,
I got martyred for the name of Christ.
I was stoned to death.
How did you die?
Oh, I died peaceably in my sleep.
Ugh.
Like, we're not gonna be like,
you know, oh, you're just so much better than me then.
Okay, because we're not boasting of man, okay?
In fact, if you look at Revelation 21,
no, sorry, Revelation chapter four, verse 10,
we see these four and 20 elders, 24 elders, okay?
Revelation 4, 10, it says,
the four and 20 elders fall down before him
that sat on the throne and worshiped him
that liveth forever and ever
and cast their crowns before the throne.
The crowns are rewards, it's a picture of rewards.
Some rewards can be crowns.
They take their crowns and they cast them before the Lord,
saying, thou art worthy, oh Lord,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for thou has created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Listen, the more you have in heaven,
the more you don't glory of man.
Look what I did, you say, Lord, it's because of you.
It's because of you that I have these rewards.
It's because of you, Lord, okay?
There's no boasting of man in heaven.
It's just that the more you've done for God,
the more treasures you have,
the more you can glorify him with what you've received, okay?
So don't have this attitude that, oh, yeah,
no, it's all about Jesus.
It's always been about Jesus.
It's always been about the Lord God, okay?
Here's the one that we boast of, all right?
You're still in Revelation.
Revelation chapter two, please.
Revelation chapter two.
I'm almost done.
I know I've gone over an hour now.
Revelation chapter two, verse number seven.
Remember I told you about the paradise of God.
Paradise, where is paradise?
Upward, the third heaven, okay?
Bible's consistent.
Revelation chapter two, verse number seven.
Bible says, he that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
So this is something the Holy Spirit wants you to hear.
To him that overcometh will I give
to eat of the tree of life.
Where's the tree of life?
Which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
The tree of life is in the middle
or the midst of the paradise of God.
There's paradise mentioned again.
Say, what is this talking about?
Well, come with me to Revelation 22,
the last chapter of the Bible.
Revelation 22, verse number one.
This is after God's created the new heaven
and the new earth, okay?
There are nations, there are kings.
Revelation 22, verse number one.
This is eternal life.
This is the eternity with God, okay?
Revelation 22, verse one.
And he showed me a pure river of water of life,
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God
and of the Lamb, and in the midst of the street of it,
and on either side of the river,
was there the tree of life.
Where is the tree of life according to Revelation two?
In paradise.
What is this new heaven and this new earth?
Paradise, okay?
Verse number, let's continue there.
Well, the tree of life, which bear 12 manna of fruits
and unit her fruit every month,
and the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations.
We're gonna be able to eat of this tree,
these 12 fruits.
I guess if that's 12 seasons,
every season's gonna produce a different fruit, potentially.
Is what it's teaching there, okay?
And the leaves of the tree is for the healing
of the nations.
Say, Pastor, that doesn't make sense to me.
I know it's a little bit hard to understand.
What the word healing means to be made whole?
That's really what it means.
If you're healed, you've been made whole, okay?
What God is doing here is that he's made everything whole.
Everything's complete, okay?
The three measures have been leavened.
The whole process is complete, okay?
In what sense?
If we keep going there, verse number three, it says,
and there shall be no more curse.
You see, when Adam and Eve, they cursed,
or God cursed the earth, he cursed man, okay?
And he cursed the earth.
Well, there'll be no more curse, okay?
There's a healing, there's a completion,
there's a wholeness that takes place here.
There shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.
You say, Pastor, what are we gonna do
in heaven for all eternity?
We're just gonna relax at the beach.
Well, the Bible says there's no more sea, so I don't know.
But we're gonna relax and just take it easy
and just rest and, it's basically retirement.
No, it says, and his servants shall serve him.
Brethren, get ready for work in heaven.
Get ready for the new heavens and new earth.
We're gonna serve our Lord God for all eternity.
Okay, roll up your sleeves.
We're gonna have new resurrected bodies.
Don't worry, you're not gonna get tired.
We'll be serving our Lord God for all eternity.
Verse number four, and they shall see his face,
and his name shall be in their full heads,
and there shall be no night there,
and they need no candle near the light of the sun,
for the Lord God giveth them light,
and they shall reign forever and ever.
We're all gonna reign forever and ever,
because we've all been made kings and priests.
Don't forget, there are different levels of authority
that we saw before.
Okay, drop down to verse number 22.
This is the conclusion.
This is the eternal state.
What does Jesus Christ remind us in verse number 22?
Sorry, chapter 22, verse 12.
Jesus Christ says these words.
And behold, I come quickly,
and my reward is with me,
to give every man according as his work shall be.
These are some of the last words of Jesus in the Bible.
What's he saying?
Guys, I'm coming.
Get busy.
Get to work.
Jesus Christ says, I wanna reward you.
I want you to have maximum rewards in heaven.
As great as going to heaven is,
as great it is to be in the presence of the Lord,
Jesus Christ says, but get busy, get to work.
Reverend, we've got this life now.
Let's serve him now.
Let's lay up treasures in heaven now.
Christ is just looking forward to giving us that reward.
The gold, the silver, the precious stones in heaven.
So we can take all that that we've earned
and say, God, it's for your glory.
Lord, we did it for you.
Lord, you gave us the ability to do this for you.
It's all to praise and to worship you, Lord God.
So get busy.
Christ wants to reward us in eternity.
All right, in conclusion, in our statement of faith,
we're gonna have these words.
We believe that upon death,
the souls of the saints are ever present in heaven
with the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's now.
But then it says,
following the conclusion of Christ's kingdom on earth,
a new heaven and a new earth will be created
where God's throne will be established
and his saints living eternally in his light and glory.
Okay, let's pray.