Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - One Minute After You Die, Part 3: The Glory of Heaven

Episode Date: November 11, 2018

The questions you have about life after death—Is there a heaven? Am I good enough? What if I’m not?—can leave you wondering, but they don’t mean you have to live in fear. Bring your questions and find out what happens One Minute After You Die. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

excited today that you've chosen to gather together with other people and to worship God together and to hear his word experiencing it in community. I'm curious how many of you were actually with us last week. How many were here last week? Excellent. Last week we went to hell. I've got really, really good news for you. Today, I hope you're excited. We're going to heaven. And we are in a message series that's called One Minute After You Die. What happens? when you breathe your last breath, your heart beats its last beat, and you're no longer here on earth. We talked about the judgment, we've talked about rewards, we've talked about the horror of being separated from God eternally in a place that scripture calls hell. Today I want to talk about heaven.

Some people have asked, now, why are we talking about this? I just want to live today. I don't want to think about that. I just want to be happy here. Don't make me think about death. Why are we talking about this? It's really important that we talk about eternity because our key thought for the message series is this.

What you believe about eternity determines how you live today. What you believe about forever impacts how you live in the now. In other words, if you believe that your life is an accident, that you have no purpose, no reason for being here, that when you die, you go back to the ground and nothing happens after, Why not live for now? Why not live however you want? There are no standards.

There is no truth. You might as well just do what you like. If on the other hand, you believe that you're created by God for the glory of God and that you will live somewhere after life on earth that will dramatically alter how you live today. Today I want to talk about heaven. And as I talk about heaven, I came to the reality that no matter how hard I try, I will never succeed at this message. I cannot do heaven justice.

So if you like to say, Craig, your sermon wasn't very good, and at the end of the day, you want to say you didn't hit the mark, I will say, I agree with you. I did the best I could, but it is impossible for me to ever adequately describe the glory of heaven. In fact, Paul even proved my point, and he said this in 1st Corinthians 2.9, He said, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. So, although I cannot do it justice, I want to let God's word do a lot of the work today. I want to read you a couple of portions of Scripture.

And if you wouldn't mind, would you just all of our churches stand to your feet in the honor today of the reading of God's Word? I want to start with the words of Jesus from John's Gospel, the 14th chapter. For those of you that feel a little bit heavy today, under the weight and concerns of this world, you feel the burden, you feel worried, you feel anxious, you feel concerned. I pray that the words of Jesus gives you faith and hope in the middle of what may be a difficult season. This is what Jesus said. He said, do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.

My father's house has many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you? I'm going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, Jesus says, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Jesus said, you know the way

to the place where I'm going. And Thomas, who never quite could get it all figured out, piped up and said, Lord, we don't know where you're going. So how can we know the way? And Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. Do not let your hearts be troubled. I'm going to prepare a place for you. The words of John, when he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, he had a vision given to him by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God revealed this to him of that which was to come.

John said, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. and I saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride

beautifully dressed for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying look God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them they will be his people

and God himself will be their God. What will our God be doing? Scripture says, He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain.

For the older order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. Those who are victorious will inherit all this. And I will be their God. And they will be my children. Do not let your hearts be troubled Jesus said. I am going to prepare a place for you.

So Father, we ask today that through the truth of your word them by the power of your spirit, that you would help us loosen our grip and lessen our love for this world, that we would anticipate the glory of what is to come and live in such a way today that would impact eternity. We pray this in the name of Jesus. And all God's people said, amen. Why don't you just high-five somebody and say, I plan on seeing you in heaven.

Go ahead and have a seat, if you will, at every life church. I wrestled with how do I approach this subject knowing that I could never do it justice. And my strategy, I'll kind of let you in on it today, is this. In order to try to help you understand what heaven is, what I want to do is I want to start by showing you what heaven is not. because I really believe a lot of people have misconception of what heaven's going to be like. Like we're going to go to heaven and you're going to be fat, bald, naked baby angels floating on a cloud, singing hymns for your whole life versus one, two, and four for 10,000 years. Never verse three.

I don't know what's wrong with verse three. We never sing verse three when I was growing up at least. And so a lot of people don't really understand what heaven's going to be like. So what I want to do today is show you three misconceptions about heaven and hopefully some of the truth about what it will be like will emerge, and that will change how we live today. I think that many of you would probably agree, one of the common misconceptions about heaven, number one,

is that heaven will be boring. It's going to be boring. Why do so many people believe that heaven is boring? I think one of the reasons is it because the devil is a liar. He speaks his native language. And when I think about who the devil is, He's Satan. He is the father of lies.

He is also, many may not know, but he is the same creature, Lucifer, that was an archangel, one of three archangels created by God for the glory of God. There was Michael, there was Gabriel, and there was Lucifer. Well, Lucifer was probably like a worship angel. He was a glorious creature in heaven. The problem is he became jealous of God. He wanted the glory that God had five different times in the book of Isaiah. He essentially said, I will be like God, and God can have no other.

So God cast him out of heaven, and a third of the angels followed him. Many theologians believed those would be the demonic forces today. And what does Lucifer, Satan, the Prince of Darkness, do today? He lies, he tries to deceive us. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Everything that matters to the heart of God. If I were the devil, what I would do is try to convince the world today what most of the world believes, and that is that hell is not a real place.

Or at least you shouldn't worry about it. And I would try to convince you that heaven is boring. You might as well live for today. This is all that matters. Heaven is boring. Why would you want to go there? This is kind of what I believed growing up. I thought, I imagined this.

I don't know what you thought of heaven. I thought when you die and you go to heaven, there's going to be a long line of people waiting in the clouds, waiting to get in, waiting to get to the pearly gates, where St. Peter's going to like check your name off the box, and then he's going to give you a robe. But I thought, I don't wear a robe, but I'm going to have to wear a robe.

And then he's going to give you a harp, and I'm going to have to play the stupid harp, and I'm going to play it for thousands of years, and I'm going to hate being in my robe on a cloud, playing the harp. And then some of you are going to say, but at least you get to be reunited with your relatives. And I'm thinking, I don't want some of my relatives to be there because I know my grandmother's going to tell you should have played the piano, and your hair looks bad, and I'm going to be in a robe on a cloud, playing the harp with my grandmother, criticized my hair,

I'm thinking, what am I doing in heaven? and maybe that's like way far off from what you thought it probably is, but that's what I thought growing up. Heaven is going to be boring. Why do so many people think heaven is boring? It's probably because a lot of people think God is boring. God's a kill joy. God robs us of everything fun.

What I hope you'll understand is this. Heaven will be the opposite of boredom. The opposite of boredom. It is the absence of everything evil, and it is the presence of God. When you think about it, everything that you enjoy on earth is a result of a gift from God in heaven. Go to your favorite place. Eat your favorite food.

You know that thing that you think about and fantasize about it for three days before you actually get there? What do you enjoy it with? You enjoy it with the taste buds that God gave you when he created you. When you go to some beautiful place and you see the glory of creation, why do you enjoy it? you enjoy it with the eyes that God gave you to see to enjoy the beauty of what he created. When you feel joy, when you laugh, when you feel love, these are emotions, gifts given to you by a good God in heaven who gives good gifts to his children on earth. When you go to heaven, you will enjoy everything that you enjoy on earth.

But there will be no sin, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death. It's the absence of everything evil. It is a presence of everything. and good. Heaven is the opposite of boredom. It is the presence of God. So what I want to do is I want to try to show you a few different things from Scripture that we do know something about what heaven will be like. And I've given you the verses in your notes. You can go read all the Bible verses, but for the sake of time, I'm going to give you some of the high points. What will happen in heaven? What will heaven be like? First of all, we will know one another.

love and be loved. In heaven, we will recognize one another. We will know, we will love, we will be loved. You can go up to Peter and say, bro, what was it like to walk on water? You can go up to David and like, you know, when you hit Goliath, was it like skill, was it luck, was it all God, was it a little bit of you?

Ladies, if you had a difficult childbirth, you can go straight up to Eve and just look at her and say, woman, what were you thinking? Was it worth it? Because you cost all the, you know, whatever it is. You will know and you will be known and you will love and be loved. For those of you who lost loved ones who were in Christ, those of you who lost a child, the tragedy, lost a spouse, lost a relative, lost a friend, you will be reunited with those that you love. And yet there will be no heartache, no rejection, no pain, only in heaven perfect love. What will heaven be like?

Heaven will also be a place of unimaginable beauty. Think about this. If no eye has seen and no ear is heard and no mind has conceived what God has prepared for them, that would imply perhaps that there might be new colors and new sensations and new beauty of the recreated world as God establishes a new and glorified heaven. Think about the beauty of this world. Boring? Imagine going anywhere you wanted and traveling for the next 10 years

and seeing all of the glory of God's creation. Now imagine that without sin. Imagine like this big old petting zoo where all the animals are like tame, the lion will lay down with the lamb. No sin, no death, no pain. Think about the most beautiful place that you've been on planet Earth. For us, perhaps it was a place, a moment on the north shore on an island in Hawaii. When Amy and I were traveling with Pastor Bobby and his wife Melissa for a conference, we had about three hours off in the afternoon, and we rented a red conversant.

Mustang because that glorifies God to see his creation in a red convertible Mustang. And we were driving around, and Amy, she couldn't contain herself. On one side, we were driving kind of on this cliff, and there was just the most beautiful cliff cascading, this ocean that was just majestic glory is beautiful in every way. On the other side, there were mountains. It looked like Jurassic Park. Amy started screaming. And she just screamed.

And it went on and on, and I looked over it, and there were tears screaming down her face. And she just said, I cannot contain, I can't handle it. God, you are so good. I videoed her doing that because I was intrigued and slightly thought it was funny. I would show you that video, but I value my marriage more than I value entertaining you. and I have plans for later on today and I would hate for my momentary desire to entertain you to hurt my plans later

to be entertained. Heaven will be a place of unimaginable beauty. What else will heaven be like? In heaven, you will see Jesus face to face. You'll see Jesus face to face. The reason nobody cheered

or your mouth didn't drop down to the floors because most people don't understand what that means. If you look throughout Scripture, you'll recognize that you can't be in the presence of God and live. Moses said, I want to see your glory. You can't handle my glory. I'll pass you by. I'll give you a glimpse of the very end when it goes by,

but you can't handle my glory. Every year in the Old Testament, when the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies, it was known as the dwelling place of God in the Old Testament. they would tie a rope to his leg because if he got too close to the presence of God they were afraid the presence of God would kill him.

Then they'd have to drag the old boy out with a rope because they ain't going in there close to the presence of God because all throughout Scripture you couldn't be in the presence of God and live. And yet one day, you will look Jesus in the face eye to eye. And when no one else throughout history could look him in the face and live,

when you look him in the face, you'll realize you've never truly, lived until you see the glory of the Son of God. You will see Jesus face to face. In heaven, you will have new and perfect bodies. Somebody should say amen. Right? Grandpa got sick and mind faded away. When you see Grandpa again, he's well, he's whole. He's perfect in every way. You're receding hairline. Poof. You've got a full head of hair.

My feet are 78% toes. When I get into heaven, they will be the exact proportion of toe to feet. You have migraines, whatever it is, you battle in heaven. You'll be perfect in every way. For me, I can't wait to see the colors because I'm very colorblind. and everybody's talking about the fall leaves. They're brilliant, they're red, they're orange, they're yellow. I see some version of that, but I don't see close to what you see.

In heaven, I will see all that you see, and we will all probably see even more. I may spend the first 5,000 years looking for fall in heaven, and you'll find me just looking at the trees and enjoying the colors. Your body will be perfect and new in every way. What will heaven be like? Heaven is the absence of everything bad, painful, and evil. It's the presence of everything good, holy, and glorious. Based on my study of heaven, what it appears is that we'll actually have the glory of working for Jesus in a way that we enjoy and love.

It won't be a curse, but it will be a blessing as it originally was intended. In other words, whatever you're passionate about, it appears you'll get to do that. Maybe in some form of job serving Jesus. If you love gardening, man, you're going to grow the tomatoes that look like they're on steroids. If you like singing, it's going to be singing, whatever it is, we're going to use our gifts and a reflection of our hearts and our passions to serve Jesus and get to do it without sin in a way that is glorious, productive, and we will rule and reign with the Lord Jesus Christ.

whenever your stupid team wins and you like go crazy, ah, okay, for all eternity, you are ruling and reigning with the king of all kings and the Lord of all lords. It's the presence of everything good, holy, right, and just, the absence of everything evil and painful. What will you not find in heaven? In heaven there will be no more death,

no more pain, no more sorrow, No more sickness, no more fear, no more stress, no more depression, no more sleepless nights, no more anxiety, no more abuse, no more heartache, no more divorce, no more racism, no more injustices, no more violence. no more going to the bathroom at three in the morning in the middle of the night. No more bad breath. No more Mondays. No more that time of the month for the glory of God and all good things to come. And all God's people, men and women alike said, amen and amen. There will be no more pain.

The presence of everything good, the absence of everything. evil. Whatever you think of heaven, it will be better. No eye has ever seen. No mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. The second misconception about heaven is this. So many people wrongly believe that this world is your home. This world is what matters. This world is your home. Paul told the Philippian believers this in chapter 3, verse 19. He was talking about those that didn't know Christ, those who even were enemies of Christ, and he said this, he said,

their mind is set on what? Somebody helped me out. He said, their mind is set on earthly things. What matters now, what I have, what I look like, where I go, how I dress, what I own, where I wear, where I live. This is what matters. This is what matters. Your opinion of me.

This world is what matters. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. this world is not our home. And we eagerly await a Savior from there from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. This world is not our home. I'll illustrate it like this.

I saw a preacher do something similar. I'm going to do my own version. Imagine this rope is a timeline that goes as far back in history as you can imagine. Never stops. God always has been, God always was, he is infinite, he is God. As far as the eye can see and it never stops. Imagine the future.

Your life is over. Eternity lasts forever and ever and ever and ever. Where are you? This, we could say, represents the history of mankind. Adam, God says you're not doing good, Adam. You need help. God creates Eve. Adam C. Eve and goes, whoa, man, there's woman. Fast forward. You got Jesus somewhere. Fast forward. You got the Renaissance. Fast forward. Gutenberg and Vince the printing press makes the Bible available to everybody in history. Fast forward

You got the Reformation You've got the Industrial Revolution Fast forward to our era You got World War I, you got the Great Depression You got World War II You got a 57 Chevy You got the 69 Miracle Metz Oh, I forgot, I was born 67

Fast forward right here And that's you History of mankind Eternity past Eternity present You That's why you're Scripture says your life is a mist that fades away.

You're here for just a moment, and then you're gone. Here's a problem. This is what matters, but so many of us are living for this. I'm about you, but I get so upset about what happens in a red. I'm running late. Something broke. They made fun in me. So here's what I'm working on.

there's three little Greek words in the book of Philippians. Tisgar plan. But I said Tiscar plan. Paul was all like, he was worried because people were preaching Christ. Actually, Paul was like here. Paul was worried because people were preaching Christ down of envy and selfish ambition. And he said Tiscar plan. He said, like, what does it really matter in eternity as long as Christ is being preached?

Why am I going to get all riled up when this doesn't really matter? So what I'm trying to do again and again is I'm trying to say, hey, when this gets me upset, Tiscar plan. In other words, what does this matter 100 years from now? Because if it doesn't matter 100 years from now, it's not gonna matter in eternity.

So there's things that really, really upset me, Tiscar plan, if it doesn't matter here, why am I gonna let it upset me? me here. What I want to do is I want to live here in a way that makes a difference here. What does matter here about the way that I live in the red? What matters is how I love. What matters is what I give. What matters is who I serve. What matters is, what matters is. What matters is what I say that gives life, instead of being upset and obsessed with what happens here,

kiss our plan. What does it matter? If it doesn't matter here, I'm not going to let it upset me here. But if it does matter here, then by all means, I want to live it here. This is what Paul said. It's so powerful to me.

Paul said this, 2nd Corinthians, chapter four he said for the things that we see now watch this look up here if you don't mind for the things that we see now will soon be gone but the things we cannot see will last forever this world is not our home you're a mist that appears for a little while what you believe about eternity determines how you live today so many misconceptions about heaven heaven's boring. Not boring. It's an absence of evil in the presence of God. This world is our home. This is what matters. Nope, I missed. Gone. Therefore help me live today for what matters most. The third misconception about heaven is this. All around the world today, so many people wrongly

believe, most people are going to heaven anyway. Doesn't matter what I do. Doesn't really matter how I live. Doesn't matter what I believe. Most people are going to heaven anyway. I mean, good people are going to heaven, right? I'm a good person. You're a good person. Translated, I haven't killed anybody.

Or if I did, they probably deserved it. I'm not a drug dealer. I haven't abused anybody. Not a bad person. Heaven's the default destination, right? No. Actually, don't forget what Jesus said. Take it very seriously.

He said this. He said, Broad is the road and wide is the path that leads to destruction and many people are on it. But narrow is the road and small is the gate that leads to life and few people find it. The truth is, good people don't go to heaven when they die. Who goes to heaven? Forgiven people go to heaven when they die. Forgiven people.

forgiven by the grace of Jesus. I want you to feel the power of God's Word. I want you to internalize it. I want it to impact you. I'm going to give you an opportunity to worship in a moment, but if you wouldn't mind standing to your feet, I want to read God's word over you and let it move you, stir you,

shake you, create a sense of urgency in you. Here's what scripture says. Romans chapter 3 verse 23 I need a little help from all of our churches how many people have sinned Scripture says this for how many say it aloud for everyone

has sinned does that include me does that include you for everyone has sinned we all fall short of God's glorious standard we're not good people how many of you ever told a lie raise your hands up high

leave them up leave them up Just look at whoever's hands not in the air and call them liar, liar pants on fire. Just do it, right? We all told a lie. Let's get personal. Who's ever stolen something? I have. Stolen something, right in.

Some of you don't have your hands up. You've got a life church pin in your purse right now, you see? If you ever truly understand the holiness of God, you become acutely aware of the sinfulness of mankind. We're not good. We all fall short. of God's standards. Verse 24 says, yet God.

Somebody say, yet God. Yet God in his grace. Notice, not in our righteousness, but in his grace. Not in our goodness, but in his grace. Not in our religious efforts, but in his grace. Yet God in his grace freely makes us right in his sight. How did he do this? He did this through Christ Jesus

when he freely, when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. How are we made right with God? People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life shedding his blood. Yet God in his grace. Yet God in his grace. Here's a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what I tried to accomplish. I ask God to help me do two things in this series. Purpose number one is to relieve fear. If you're in Christ, you don't have to fear death. You are right with God because of the grace of Jesus. It's the righteousness of Christ that you don't have to fear. My second goal was to increase urgency to help you recognize that this is what you have and what you do here

matters here. Relief fear increase urgency. All of our churches today, those of you who say, I am a follower of Christ, and yet I want more spiritual urgency. I want my life to count. I want to be consumed with serving and loving and showing the grace of Jesus. I want what happens over here to truly impact how I live here. Increase my spiritual urgency. If that's you, lift up your hand. Just lift them up.

All of our churches, lift them up. God, I thank you that even right now, you're working. Holy Spirit stir within us. help us to understand this world is not our home God help us to recognize that what we see now will not last so help us to live what will for what will last forever move us God shake us God give us a heart

that breaks for what breaks your heart give us a heart God that leaps for joy for the things that bring you joy God give us an eye to see the needs of people that you've called us to meet those needs. Give us your love and urgency to do what you created us to do. Created by God for God's glory to dwell with Him forever. Give us that urgency. If you guys will look up here for a moment,

you can put your hands down for a second. There are some of you that you have the weight, the fear of what would happen if this life were over. I grew up under that fear. scared to death. What would happen to me? Have I been good enough? I know all my secret sins. Have I been too bad? So I go to church, I try to do good, I try to dedicate my life, and I'd mess up again. Have I been good enough? And I didn't realize scripture said, I'd never be good enough. And that's why the gospel is good news. It's because Jesus was good enough for us. He was perfect. He is righteous. He died in our place. When he shed his blood, his blood,

covers our sins. He was obedient even to death on the cross. He died. Three days later, God raised him from the dead. That tomb is empty. His body is not there. He is lifted, he is raised wide. So that anyone, and this includes you,

doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you've done, doesn't matter how dark your life has been, anyone who calls on the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus, that person will be saved. There are those of you at all of our churches, our churches, you're under that weight, that condemnation. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Today you break the lies of Satan, you find freedom in Christ. What I'm gonna ask you to do is just declare it publicly. This is what Jesus said. He said, hey, if you'll like talk about me before people, I'll talk to my father about you. If you're ashamed of me before people, I don't know how to represent you before my father.

So in front of God and everybody, those who say boldly, I recognize I've sinned. I need forgiveness. Today I turn from my sins. I turn toward Jesus when you call on him. He hears your prayers. He forgives your sins. You're about to be made new.

All of our churches today, those who say, I don't care who's looking. I need the grace of Jesus. I turn from my sins. I give my life to him. Lift your hands high right now. All over the place. Lift them.

Oh, my gosh. Lift them high. Lift somebody ought to praise God. Somebody worship. Somebody shout. Hands up all over the place. My gosh, welcome into God. Call on the name of Jesus.

He hears your friends. He forgives your sins. Praise God for all of you. Church online, you click right below me. Somebody worship him. Somebody praise them. Church, we're not praying for revival. It's here now.

God is moving. His spirit is with us. I need all of our campuses. All campuses, if you can come back to me right now. We're going to join our voices together. We're going to pray aloud. and we're going to move heaven because heaven is celebrating right now, angels rejoicing, and we're going to join the party in heaven.

Would you pray with those around you? Pray Heavenly Father, forgive my sins. Make me new. Jesus saved me. Holy Spirit, fill me that I could serve you, follow you, live for you. Help what I do now. Last forever.

My life is not my life. own, I give it to you. Thank you for a new life. Now you have mine. In Jesus name, I need somebody to say amen, to worship, to praise God, to give them life, to welcome those born into God's family to shout out even louder. God, we love you, we praise you, we worship you for who you are. Can you feel it, church? Can you feel it? If I were you, I would reach out to everyone I know, bring them into the presence of God. Bring them here next week. God is doing something special. Two goals. Relief fear, increase urgency. There's a portion of scripture to me that helps move me to that place.

Both those places better than any other. Paul said this, relieve fear. He asked the question, where, oh death, is your victory. Where oh death is your sting? But thanks be to God who gives us what somebody help me out. He gives us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he gives it. Reliefes our fear and increase our urgency.

Therefore, because of what Jesus did, my dear brothers and sisters, what do you do? You stand firm. You let nothing move you. You always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord. Why? Because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Lift your voices and praise them.