Matt's Messages - Forever: Heaven

“Forever: Heaven”
November 6, 2005
2 Corinthians 4:8-5:10

Today is “Part Two” in a four part series on the subject of FOREVER.

The Bible says that there are only two final forever destinations for all people. Every person who has ever lived, is living, or ever will live, will end up in one of two places: Heaven or Hell.

And both of those final destinations are FOREVER. They are eternal. They last for eternity. The are forever.

Endless, interminable, eternal, everlasting, unending, unceasing, perpetual, abiding, incessant, unstopping, forever and ever and ever and ever. Forever.

Last week, we surveyed the biblical doctrine of our default destination which is Hell. Unless we repent, unless we turn and put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are children of wrath destined for destruction in a “forever place” called Hell.

We saw last week that Hell is eternal.
Hell is eternal justice from God. Where sinners get what we deserve.
Hell is eternal destruction by God. God endlessly punishes us for our disobedience and unbelief.
And the worst: Hell is eternal exclusion from God. The worst part of Hell is being separated from the blessed presence of God for all eternity.

Hell is eternal justice from God, eternal destruction by God, and eternal exclusion from God. Forever.

Hard to swallow but true.

Now this week, we get to begin a study of something much more pleasant: The doctrine of Heaven. The biblical teaching on Heaven.

Heaven is the “other destination,” not our default destination, but if we know Jesus and obey His gospel, our glorious final forever destination. Heaven.

We are going to take the next three weeks to cover the biblical teaching on Heaven.

We are just going to get started today in 2 Corinthians chapters 4 and 5. And we’re going to be talking about (in many ways) the first part of heaven, that is, what theologians call the “intermediate heaven” or the “intermediate state.” What happens to us now when we die. (Which of course leads into the rest of heaven.)

Next week, we’re going to be looking at Revelation chapters 21 and 22 and what theologians call the “Final State” or the “Eternal Heaven.” The New Heavens and the New Earth. So, if you want to read ahead, read the last two chapters of your Bible for next week. And pray for me! There is so much material here, and it can be so confusing; I need help in sorting it out and putting it into a helpful package for us all.

And starting next week, we’re going to have a Forever Resource Table out in the foyer with resources for further study. I will not be able to answer all of our questions about Heaven in these next few messages. But there are several good resources that we’ll recommend for you out there.

Today, turn in your Bibles with me to the book of 2nd Corinthians (Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians) chapter 4, starting in verse 8. 2 Corinthians 4:8-5:10. You can find that on Pew Bible Page #1144. Pew Bible Page #1144. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 8.

2 Corinthians is all about ministry. The apostle Paul’s apostolic ministry was under attack from many different sides. And he wrote 2 Corinthians to explain and defend his approach to Christian ministry. For our purposes today, we’re going to start in the middle of his larger argument about why he goes about gospel ministry in the way he does. Our verse 8 for today follows that famous verse about the treasure of the glorious gospel being found in jars of clay to show off the all-surpassing power of God.

Verse 8 begins a recital of how hard gospel ministry is for Paul right now. It sounds almost devastating! Let’s begin in verse 8.

[scripture reading, prayer]

Is life tough for you right now?

Is life difficult?
Are you hurting?
Are you in pain?
Are you going through something?
Are you suffering?

Paul was. Listen to the words he uses to describe his life: “(v.8) hard pressed on every side...perplexed..(v.9) persecuted...struck down...(v.10) carrying around in our body the death of Jesus...(v.11) given over to death for Jesus’ sake...(v.12) death is at work in us...(v.16) outwardly wasting away...”

Doesn’t sound like a party, does it?

Paul’s life and ministry were almost devastatingly difficult.

He was getting kicked in the teeth by people both inside and outside of the church. And it really hurt.

But he didn’t stop, did he?

He didn’t close up shop and get out of the gospel business, did he?

Why? Because of Heaven.

He says that he was hard pressed on every side, but not crushed.
He was perplexed but not in total despair.
He was persecuted, but he wasn’t alone.
He was struck down, but not destroyed.
He was hurting, but he didn’t stop.
He kept going in ministry for those people who needed to hear about Jesus.

He continued (v.13) to have faith and to speak the gospel boldly even though it hurt.

How could he keep doing that? Heaven. V.14

“[B]ecause we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.” That’s Heaven!

Heaven kept Paul going in the Christian life and in Christian ministry.

Does Heaven keep you going?
What keeps you going in the Christian life and in Christian ministry?

I have three points this morning from this text (and amazingly, to me who didn’t plan it this way, they are all somewhat parallel to last week’s three points!). All three are things about Heaven that kept Paul going in the Christian life and Christian ministry.

#1. HEAVEN IS THE ETERNAL ENJOYMENT OF GOD’S GLORY. V.16

“Therefore we do not lose heart. [We don’t give up.] Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. [There’s something going on behind the scenes.] For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Paul says that he doesn’t give up. He doesn’t lose heart. He keeps on going. Why?

Because though outwardly we are wasting way, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

Do you feel like you are outwardly wasting away?

Some of you are really young and you don’t know what this means.
Some of you are a lot older and you feel it every second.
Most of us feel it on some level.

We’re falling apart. We’re getting older. We’re suffering. We’re not what we used to be. For Paul, he was hurting because of all the persecution and travel and unfriendly business that he was going through. And it wasn’t getting better as he got older.

But on the inside, God was at work. God was sanctifying him. God was preparing him. And in Heaven, God was preparing a place for him. And a glory for him.

Paul says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

Do you see the logic of that verse?

Do his troubles seem light and momentary? No, they are seem almost devastating and with no end in sight!

But in comparison with Heaven[!], they are light and momentary. And as Paul responds in faith, his troubles achieve for him a greater enjoyment of God’s eternal glory in Heaven that far outweighs his sufferings!

He says in Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

It’s not even worth comparing!

In other words, Heaven is worth it!

Are you hurting right now? It really hurts. I know it really hurts.

But compared to eternity, compared to Heaven, compared to Forever, your pain is light and momentary and if you respond in faith it is achieving for you an enjoyment of an eternal glory that far outweighs it all.

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of God’s Glory. And it’s worth it.

Heather and I were engaged for 14 months, and for the last 7 of those months, we were separated by 2,000 miles.

That was a very difficult time of waiting. It seemed to last forever. It seemed like we’d never be together again. But it was necessary for my schooling, her health, and getting all the details of our wedding together. It was hard time.

But I knew that on June 18, 1994, I would be united with my wife. And we would be (Lord-willing) together again for a lifetime. And those 7 months are just a passing memory now. “Light and momentary affliction” compared to the glory that we enjoy in marriage today.

Now, my separation from Heather doesn’t compare, I’m sure with what you are going through.

But whatever you are going through doesn’t compare with Heaven.

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of God’s Glory. Forever!

Hell is the Eternal Justice of God Forever. But Heaven is the Eternal Enjoyment of God’s Glory forever!

Application: Fix Your Eyes on Heaven. V.18

“So we fix our eyes [the eyes of our hearts] not on what is seen, but on what is unseen [not on what is felt, but on what is un-felt]. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Fix Your Eyes on Heaven.

Colossians 3:1 says, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Fix Your Eyes on Heaven.

I don’t think that it is really possible to be too heavenly-minded to be any earthly good. If we aren’t heavenly-minded, we aren’t any earthly good!

Don’t focus on what you see, hear, taste, smell, touch, sense. You can’t trust it.

Focus on what the Word says is coming: the eternal enjoyment of God that outweighs it all!

Fix Your Eyes on Heaven.

That’s how to keep going in the Christian life and in Christian ministry.

Two billion years from now. I mean that. Two billion years from now nothing that seems to matter now will matter then except how much we have trusted and obeyed the Lord Jesus. Heaven is eternal!

When my priorities line up with the unseen eternity, I can make it through just about anything.

I’ve been reading a book by Joni Eareckson Tada on Heaven. You know who she is. She had a diving accident almost 40 years ago left her a quadriplegic in a wheelchair. How does she keep going in the Christian life? It must be crushing to be live like that 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Joni fixes her eyes on Heaven. And she says it’s worth it all.

Fix Your Eyes on Heaven.

#2. HEAVEN IS THE ETERNAL ENJOYMENT OF LIFE IN A NEW BODY, GUARANTEED.

Paul says that he fixes his eyes on what is unseen. What is it that he fixes his eyes on? It’s a new body on the way.

Paul thinks he may die. Chapter 5, verse 1.

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” Stop there for a second.

Paul is using tents and buildings to talk about our bodies present and future. He calls this body an “earthly tent,” and it might be destroyed, it might die (and his did). But if his earthly tent is destroyed, he says, “we have a building from God” what is that? I think that’s a resurrection body that’s on the way. Not built by human hands. But by God. V.2

“Meanwhile [right now] we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, [right now, we suffer, we go through hard times, life is a “groaning” and we long for that day when we get our new bodies (v.3)] because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked [I think that means body-less (v.4)]. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”

He’s saying, I think, that he doesn’t want to die. He wants Christ to return and give him a new resurrection-style body.

That’s Heaven. Remember what he said in his last letter to the Corinthians, chapter 15.

“We will not all sleep [die], but we will all be changed–in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’”

That’s what Paul is looking for! He is longing for the Return of Christ and new body.

He says it this way in Philippians 3.

“[O]ur citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Vv.20-21)

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of Life in a New Body, Guaranteed.

Are you groaning right now?

The Bible says that the whole creation groans right now. Katrina, Wilma, and Beta Hurricanes, Pakistan Earthquakes, and South Asia Tsunamis are groans.

And we believers groan, too. We are waiting for the a New Body to enjoy forever.

We are waiting for something better. We are not home, yet.

We are waiting (Hebrews 11, verse 10), “for a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

We are waiting for our New Bodies.

But they are coming. Guaranteed.

Did you catch all of the words that express certainty in these five verses? V.1 again.

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God [it’s as good as ours], an eternal house [a Forever Home] in heaven, not built by human hands.” V.5 “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of Life in a New Body, Guaranteed.

Who guarantees it? The Spirit of God who lives in us.

V.6 “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight.”

Do you see how faith is coupled with confidence and knowledge here?

We don’t see these new bodies. But we know by faith that they are coming.

Do you long for your new body?

Do you long for your Heavenly body?

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of Life in a New Body, Guaranteed.

Heaven is a very physical place. At least, it will be. Right now, Heaven may be more immaterial and “naked” to use Paul’s language here. But Heaven will be a very physical place. A New Heavens and a New Earth will be the topic of next week’s message.

Heaven is not just floating around on clouds and playing spiritual harps.

Heaven means new bodies. And new life in new bodies.

Did you see what he said at the end of verse 4?

“We do not wish to be unclothed (to die) but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling (our bodies on the way), so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by LIFE.”

Last week, we saw that Hell is Eternal Death. Eternal destruction by God. Eternally not enjoying anything that can be called Life.

Heaven is the exact opposite and so glorious!

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of Life in a New Body, Guaranteed.

Application: Live by Faith, Not by Sight. V.7 says just that.

“We live by faith, not by sight.”

That doesn’t mean to thrash around life blindly. It means to follow God’s voice even when you can’t see where you are going to end up.

You have a new body on order that you will enjoy forever (to see what it is going to be like, read 1 Corinthians 15 some time).

But you don’t get it, yet. Right now, you have to groan. But don’t groan in unbelief.

Groan in faith. Walk in faith. Fix your eyes on what is unseen. And live for that.

Do you see how this keeps Paul going in the Christian life and Christian ministry?

What’s the worst thing that could happen to Paul? They’d kill him, right? That would be bad.

But Paul knew he’d be getting a new body, anyway. So, why worry?

Paul could let “goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still, His Kingdom is FOREVER.”

Live by faith, not by sight.

Because the best is yet to come. And the best thing is...

#3. HEAVEN IS THE ETERNAL ENJOYMENT OF THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD.

Hell is eternal exclusion from God Himself.

But Heaven is eternal enjoyment of God Himself. And it starts, even right now when we die. V.8

“We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

We’d much rather have the return of Christ and our resurrection-style bodies. We’d rather not be body-less.

But if Christ has not yet returned, then we would prefer please, to die, and be “away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

This is what happens right now when a believer dies.

He or she leaves their bodies and goes to be with the Lord in the “intermediate heaven” for lack of a better term or “Paradise.”

Jesus told the believing thief on the Cross that that day, they would be together in Paradise. At home with the Lord.

There is no purgatory.
There is no limbo.
There is no “soul-sleep.”

There is just “home with the Lord.”

“Away from the body and at home with the Lord.” Never to be parted for all eternity. Someday to have a new body. But never to be parted. Always to be with Him forever.

This is Paul’s greatest desire. And it should be ours. In Philippians chapter 1 he says, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”

“I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.”

Jesus Christ is what makes Heaven Heaven.

Being with Jesus Christ is what makes Heaven Heaven.

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of the Presence of the Lord.

Do you long to be with Jesus, forever?

If that doesn’t sound good, then you either aren’t saved or haven’t grown much.

Heaven is not primarily about seeing our loved ones who have already died.
Though we will.

Heaven is not primarily about escaping the punishment of Hell.
Though we will.

Heaven is not even primarily about enjoying our New Bodies, though we will and the Bible makes a big deal out of it.

Heaven is primarily about being with the Lord Jesus forever.

We’ll see that more next week when we study what the Forever Heaven looks like.

But the temporary, intermediate Heaven that believers go to now is all about being with Jesus, too. V.8 again.

“We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of the Presence of the Lord.

Application: Make It Your Goal to Please Him. V.9

“So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
Make It Your Goal to Please Him.

You are going to be with Him for all of eternity. Make your life goal right now to be to please Him then.

There is a judgment coming even for believers. It says “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” And our works are going to be evaluated. They will be evaluated to make sure that we were, in fact, believers. Our works will be inspected to see if we truly believed. Because true faith always produces good works.

And they will also be inspected to measure out our rewards.

“That each one may receive what is due him...”

You are going to be with the Lord Jesus for all eternity.

Make it your goal right now to please Him and receive eternal rewards from His hand.

I see so many people who have different goals for their lives!

Make it your goal right now to please Jesus and receive ETERNAL, FOREVER rewards for His hand.

Heaven is much more than what we’ve seen today. But it is not less.

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of God’s Glory. Hold on. It’s worth it.
- Fix Your Eyes on Heaven.

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of Life in a New Body, Guaranteed. Your New Body is On the Way. Guaranteed.
- Live by Faith, Not by Sight.

Heaven Is the Eternal Enjoyment of the Presence of the Lord. You are going to be with Him forever.
- Make It Your Goal to Please Him.

Keep on going in the Christian life and Christian ministry.

Because Heaven is Forever.