Fortunately, Ashley's little ones are sick today. So, you might pray for them if you would that they would get better. We have actually several people out this morning with the flu bug that's going around. So, now, hopefully, none of you are hypochondriacs that will now come down with a flu bug in the middle of service. Now, that would probably be me more than you, anyway.

At least my wife accuses me of that. Alright. Know know what you believe. If you would, take your Bibles, turn to Genesis chapter one. We'll start at the beginning and we're gonna go from the beginning of the Bible all the way through this morning and finish in Revelation 22.

So next week, you will get home. Alright. I had to decide I had a message on heaven and I had a message on hell. I decided on heaven today. We do also have to preach the message on hell because it is just as real as heaven and is the only other alternative.

A growing number of young people in The United States espouse either atheism or agnosticism today. Agnosticism, which either denies life after death or relegates it to being unknowable and therefore impossible to prepare for. So either you don't believe in it at all or, well, there's no way you can know, so therefore you can't what? You can't prepare. That's atheism, agnosticism.

They've become more and more prevalent, in our our society today. We're also seeing a growing number of young people who seem enamored with Eastern religions, which tell people that you can get many chances to get it right. Reincarnation. You know, you don't get it right this time. Don't worry.

You'll come back as a grasshopper, and then maybe you'll come back as a tree or eventually, you might come back as a human again. You'll get another chance. Bible says Hebrews nine twenty seven is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the what? The judgment. There is no reincarnation.

There is no second chance after death. Now there are many second, third, fourth, fifth, twenty second chances, praise God, in this life. His mercies are new every morning. It is not too late for you today, but one day you will die. At least this body's gonna die.

And then then your fate is sealed. So you need to heed the message of God. You need to trust in the savior now because there is no second chance after death. In mainline Christian denominations, once taught some Christian denominations, which once taught the reality of an eternal hell are now saying it's an outdated doctrine and begun to pick up on the teaching of others that the torment of hell is only momentary or that there is really no hell at all. And we'll we'll get to that particularly in a later message.

But today, we want to talk about heaven. There are many theories and thoughts on heaven also. And the fact is there's much we don't know about heaven. But there is quite a bit you can know about heaven because it's been revealed to us by the only one who has been there, God, Jesus Christ himself. In John chapter three, John they come to John in John chapter three, John the Baptist, and they try to get to drive a wedge between him and Jesus.

And John says, you know, you need to listen to the person who came from heaven. I didn't come from heaven. I haven't been there. You oughtn't to listen to Jesus because Jesus has what? He has been there.

He knows. He knows. Listen to him. He must increase and I must what? Decrease.

The words of John the Baptist, as he did, as he should have done, and pointed people to the one who came from heaven to die for our sins, Jesus Christ. So what is heaven? The word heaven is used in primarily two different ways in scripture. So every time you see the word heaven, it doesn't necessarily describe it's not necessarily describing the same place. There are two primary different uses of the word heaven or heavens in Scripture.

The first way that this word is used in our Bible, we find in Genesis. And it is a reference to looking up from the earth, looking heavenward, looking up. It's what you see when you look up during the day. It is the blue sky and it is the clouds and the birds flying in the air in the heaven or the atmosphere that is above us. Look in Genesis one verse six.

And God said, let there be a firmament and expanse in the midst of the waters. Let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And he called the firmament, the expanse, what? Heaven.

And the evening and the morning were the second day. This is primarily what you see when you look up during the day. You see the firmament. You see this expanse that has clouds and the light rays that come during the day are diffracted so that what we see is not outer space, but beautiful blue sky and puffy white clouds and and birds flying across. Over in verse 20, verse 20 of Genesis one, it says, and God said that the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life foul that they may fly above the earth in the open firmament of what?

Heaven. Now, is that talking about the place where God dwells? No. It's talking about the the atmosphere, the sky, where you see birds. We see birds flying around.

So that word heaven there is a reference to our atmosphere, what we see during the day. It's also a reference to what we see when we look up when at night. Okay? It's used in reference to what we see when we look up at night. So when you look up at night, you don't see blue sky.

You might see clouds. They might not be white if it's dark outside. You see something else. You see the blackness of space and all kinds of twinkling stars and planets and comets and all this really cool stuff you don't see during the day. That is also referred to as heaven.

Genesis one one. In the beginning, God created the what? The heaven and the earth. What did he create? He created this what was initially a big blob of matter that what he then formed in the coming days that is called the earth and then all of space.

Now he is going in the coming days to to form and to fill the earth and to fill what? To fill space. And that outer space that which is above or outside of our atmosphere is also called heaven. If you look in verse 14, God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night. Let them be for signs and for seasons, for day and years.

Let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth as it was so. God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night, and he made the stars also and he set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the the earth. And so, we have the the firmament that you see during the day. You see that heaven, and then also outer space is referred to as heaven. And then, of course, what you're probably most interested in today is the place where God dwells, That that heaven.

Okay? And that is the other use for the word heaven in scripture, Deuteronomy twenty six fifteen. Look down from thy holy habitation. Now, who is who is Moses writing about? God.

Look down from thy holy habitation from where? From heaven and bless thy people and the land which thou hast given us as thou swearest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. Look down from heaven. Their heaven is not just the clouds and the blue sky where the birds fly. It's not just outer space where the planets and the stars are.

It is the place where God lives, where God dwells, where his throne is, from whence he looks down upon all of his creation, particularly upon who? Upon us. When referring to the atmosphere outer space, you might read the heavens, plural, rather than singular when it is most likely referring to God's abode. This being the meaning of heaven, which we are mainly concerned with. Paul was caught up, he says, into the third heaven, a place he called paradise.

There he received revelation which he could not or was not allowed to utter. First Corinthians twelve two. I knew a man, Paul said. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago. Whether in body, I cannot tell or whether out of body, I cannot tell.

God knoweth such a one was caught up into the what? The third heaven. So why the third what is the third heaven? Well, it's pretty clear from scripture that the third heaven was where God was. So this man, and I think this man was probably Paul, was caught up into the presence of who?

The presence of God, and he calls it the third heaven. Why? Well, because the first heaven is what you see when you look up during the day. The second heaven is pretty much what you see when you look up at night, outer space, where the stars and all those things are. And the third heaven is where who?

Where God where God's throne is. The place that Paul was caught up, where he saw and spoke where he saw things that he was not even allowed to utter. Was Paul the only one that saw this place in the Bible? No? I don't think so.

Let me read to you from Isaiah chapter chapter six. Isaiah chapter six. In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings. With twain or two, he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

And one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. No. Paul was not the only one to see heaven, God's abode. Isaiah did as well and wrote about it.

In Acts chapter seven, the verse the verses that I read out of the bulletin this morning, speaking of Stephen. And he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God standing on the right hand of God and said, behold, I see the heavens opened and the son of man standing on the right hand of God. The heavens that we see normally look up parted and Stephen could see right into what? Heaven itself where God lives. And he could see Jesus standing at the right hand of the father.

Well, that made the unbelieving Jews very, very upset at at Stephen for saying he could see Jesus where? In heaven whom they had killed and thought they had buried, but he has risen and ascended to heaven. And Steve so what did they do? Well, they stoned him because of it. They didn't like that.

Turn if you would to Revelation chapter four. Revelation chapter four. So I'm gonna read a few verses from Revelation four. We're gonna read a few other verses from Revelation, so if you wanna stick there. Revelation four.

And who wrote the book of Revelation? John the apostle. And in chapter four, John writes this, after this, I looked and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, come up hither and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. Immediately, I was in the spirit and behold, a throne was set in heaven and one sat on the throne.

And he that sat was to look upon like jasper and a starting stone, and there was a rainbow roundabout the throne in Saint like unto an emerald. Roundabout the throne were four and twenty elders, And he continues on in the chapter in Revelation chapter four. So Paul was caught up into heaven, the third heaven as he calls it. Isaiah saw something similar. Stephen in Acts seven in Revelation chapter four, we have the eyewitness testimony of who?

The apostle John as to what heaven looked like. Particularly, their eyes were focused particularly on the what? On the throne where God reigns as the supreme sovereign Lord of his creation. A beautiful place, indescribable place, beautiful with the pears, things made out of solid jewels and a rainbow over his head. And we'll we'll get back to heaven later in Revelation in a little bit.

This incredible, indescribable, beautiful, and majestic place is the place of God's throne. The heavenly temple mentioned several times in Revelation is there as well. And it's the place where Christ went after he departed from the earth and the place from which he will return. Acts chapter one verses nine through 11. I have them up here on the screen.

And when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. The word heaven's used there a lot. Some of it may be a reference to them looking up into the sky, but Jesus went yes, he went up into the sky, but his destination was the throne of who?

Was the throne of God. He's not just floating around in the clouds up there. He is not on some distant star. He is in the heaven of heavens. He is at the right hand of the father where he ascended.

In Revelation 19, if you'll turn to Revelation 19, it describes his return from that place back to the earth. Those, men that were standing there in Acts chapter one, those messengers from heaven, those angels, those two men in white apparel said this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall come in like manner as you have seen him go up. He left from the Mount Of Olives. According to Zechariah, he will return to the Mount Of Olives from heaven. And in Revelation 19, we have a description of his return to Earth.

And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was faithful and true. And in righteousness, he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written which no man knew but he himself. He was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

The armies of what? Of heaven. He's not talking about the clouds or the stars, but the place where God dwells, where the angels worship him, where the souls of the saints and the resurrected saints go in body to be with him. And we'll come back to that again in a minute. It is the place where Christ will return from one day to establish his kingdom.

It is the place where Jesus now resides with the father where he intercedes for us. Hebrews chapter nine. It was therefore necessary that the pattern of things in heaven should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. He's talking about the sacrifices, the old covenant, the old testament of bulls and goats and doves and that sort of thing. Better things than that.

What's the better thing? Well, the better thing is the blood of who? The blood of Jesus Christ. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, But into, what? Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

Nor yet that he should offer himself often as an high priest entereth into the holy priest every year with the blood of others. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the world, he hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And where did he go? Well, he died on the cross, he rose again from the dead, and he went back to where?

To heaven. To that heavenly temple where his blood cleanses us from all what? From all sin. In Hebrews seven twenty five, it says, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto him by God, seeing he ever liveth to what? To make intercession for us.

In first John, we are told that if we sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Yes. Jesus is alive. Where is he? Well, he is in heaven with the father, where he is our advocate, where he intercedes in our behalf, where he represents all those who have put their faith and trust in him.

He is there today. It is a real place. It is a wonderful place. It's a place where our loved ones who knew Christ have gone before. Most importantly, it is the place where the righteous go after death.

John fourteen six, Jesus said, I am the what? The way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. Jesus is the way to where? He is the way to the father.

Where is the father? The father is in heaven. Jesus is the way to heaven and eternal life. In John three three, Jesus said to Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That ultimate kingdom is heaven.

Revelation twenty one seven or 27 twenty one twenty seven says, of that place, heaven, there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie. But they which are written in the, what, in the lamb's book of life. No sin, no corruption, nothing that defiles will enter through the gates of heaven. All those things that we suffer from here will not follow us there. Will not follow us there.

But it is only for those whose names are written in the, what, in the lamb's book of life. So it's vitally important this morning that you know that your name is written in the lamb's book of life. Well, how do you know that? Well, John three sixteen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever, what, believeth in him should not perish but have, what, everlasting life with the father in heaven.

Jesus is the way. Jesus, the one who came from heaven. Jesus, the one who died for the sins of man. Jesus, the one who rose again, is now ascended back to heaven. Only through faith in him can you get your name written in the what?

In the book of life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is what? Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I believe with all my heart that my name is written in that book. I believe with all my heart that there is a place reserved in heaven for me as Peter tells me in first Peter in first Peter chapter one.

And it's not there because I'm better than anybody else. It's there because I have a better savior, a real savior, a true savior, and one who died for me and rose again, who's seated there, and who's holding my place for me in this wonderful place called heaven. It is the presence of the Lord. Second Peter five second Corinthians five eight. Paul writes, we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be, what?

Present with the Lord. One day I will be absent this body assuming that the rapture doesn't Christ doesn't come to take me home at the rapture, which we'll get to in a second. Assuming this body dies, I will be absent from the body and immediately what? Present with the Lord. And where is the Lord?

The Lord is in heaven. So one day, this messed up, fouled up body is gonna quit ticking, and I am going to be in the presence of who? In the presence of the Lord. Where? In heaven.

It's the place that Abraham was looking for. Hebrews eleven ten and sixteen. See, the skeptics, some of them say that, well, there is no heaven. You don't read about heaven in the Old Testament. It's all about here on earth.

There is no real heaven, but Abraham begs to differ. It says here in Hebrews 11, it says, for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is, what? Is God. But now they desire a better country. That is a, what?

A heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. Where is it? Where's that city? That city's in heaven.

Abraham wasn't just looking for a place on earth. No. He was a pilgrim. The place he was looking for most of all was heaven. And it's a real place.

And we'll get to go there someday who know Christ as savior. In John 14, we learn it's the place that Jesus went to prepare for who? To prayer prepare for those who trust in him. John fourteen one through three, let not your heart be troubled. Is anything that's troubling you?

Anything in life that troubles us? Many things in life that trouble us. One of the biggest ones is death. Death is troublesome. You know, we, you know, we God didn't create us in Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to die.

He created them to what? To live. And we have this desire to live and not die. But praise the Lord. We need not be troubled in our heart when this heart starts stops beating and this brain starts shooting electrical impulses because there's more to me than this body.

And there is a place that Jesus went to prepare for me. So let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God? Jesus said, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. Where did Jesus go? He went back to where?

He went back to heaven. What is he doing? He's preparing a place for us. And why in the world would he prepare a place for us if he wasn't coming back someday to take us to the place that he has prepared? That event is described in first Corinthians 15.

It's described in first Thessalonians four. There we read, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Now, death isn't all that scary because, well, I close my eyes here and I wake up there. But you know, I'd rather go this way. I'd rather be one of those that are alive when Christ comes to what?

Collect us and change us in the air and take us to be to the place he has prepared. But either way, I'm going there. Either way, one day, I'm going to get a new body that's not like this one. And I am going to get to enjoy the pleasures of a place called heaven. That if I got a glimpse of it today, I probably wouldn't want to come back here.

As wonderful as you are, I would probably rather stay there. Does the Bible describe this place in some detail? Yes. Turn if you would to Revelation 21, and we'll close this morning reading John's description of what he sees as the new Jerusalem descends from heaven. The place that Jesus went to what?

To prepare for us. The place that we will live with God forever, those who know him as savior. Verse one of chapter 21, John writes, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The new heaven there, again, is not not heaven where God dwells. The new heaven is new outer space and a new earth.

This we're told this earth and heaven is gonna burn up and God's gonna create a new heaven and new earth. I saw a new heaven and new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. 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. The tabernacle is a dwelling place.

The dwelling place of God is what? Is with men. He will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes because there will be no tears in this this eternal city. There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, Neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.

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. He said unto me, it is done. I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things. And I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbeliefing, the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me saying, come hither, and I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife. Then he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.

And her light was like unto a stone most precious, even a jasper stone, clear as crystal. We would call that a diamond. And I had a wall great and high and had had 12 gates. The gates, 12 angels, the names were written thereon. And names were written thereon, which are the names of the 12 tribes, the children of Israel.

On the east, three gates. On the north, three gates. On the south, three gates. On the west, three gates. While the city was 12 had 12 foundations in them, the names of the 12 apostles of the lamb.

He that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. The city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed 12,000 furlongs, the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. The city's a cube. Twelve twelve thousand furlongs is about 1,500 miles.

Either that is the sum of the three dimensions altogether or the city itself is 15,000 miles in-depth, in width, and in height. Either way, it's big and it's beautiful, and it will be our home. And the and the building of the wall of it was jasper. Verse 18, city was pure gold like unto glass. The the gold so pure that you can just see right through it.

And the foundation of the wall of the city was garnished with a manner of precious stones, the first foundation with jasper, the second sapphire, the third of Chalcedony, the fourth of emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardis, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth of topaz, the tenth of chrysoprasus. I can't say that word. The eleventh of Jacinth and the twelfth of Amethyst. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Every, every several gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure as it were transparent glass.

Each gate is one beautiful pearl. This is how John describes it as he looks at the city. Verse 22, I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. In other words, it's it's it's one big temple itself because it's God's dwelling place. The city had no need of the sun, neither the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamb is the light thereof.

There will be no night in that city because Jesus is the light. The nations, them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. They shall bring the glory and honor of the nations enter into it anything that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh alive at that which but they which are written in the lamb's book of life. And he showed me I'm almost done.

He showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the lamb. In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river, there were the tree of life and bare 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, that's curse caused by sin, but the throne of God and of the lamb shall be in it and the servant shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall be no night there.

They need no candle, neither light of the sun for the Lord giveth them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. We do know a little bit about heaven, don't we? It's a beautiful place where there is no sin and there is no death, where we will enjoy the blessings of our savior forever. The question is, are you going there?

Because there is an alternate place mentioned in verse eight. Those names of those not written in the book of life, those not redeemed by the blood of the lamb because they did not choose Jesus as their savior are described as the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the whoremongers, the sorcerers, idolaters, and liars. They shall have their part in a different place, the lake of fire. In chapter 20, we read about it. And death and hell were cast in the lake of fire.

This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the, what, the lake of fire. There's a beautiful place that Jesus went to prepare. Are you going there? As wonderful as this place is, it's temporary and it's full of trouble.

But there is a place that's eternal that Jesus prepared for us, and he came down here to make a way for us to get to live there with him, and it's called heaven. And it's real, and it's there, and one day we're gonna see it. And if you know Christ, you're gonna have your own place in that city, and it's gonna make the most grand mansion on earth seem like nothing. It is the place David was looking for. In Psalm twenty three six, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the, what, the house of the Lord forever.

I'm looking forward to that place. I hope you are too. But must ask the question, is your name written in the what? In the lamb's book of life? Because it's the only way to that place.

It is the only way to the father is through faith in the son who died and rose again and went back to that place and invites you to come through faith in him. If you haven't done that, you can do that when? Right now. You can trust him as savior. You can call upon him.

For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be, what, saved. He made that place. He desires for you to join him there. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for heaven.

Thank you, Lord, that it only gets better from here for us who know you. And we pray, Lord, for our neighbors and our friends and our coworkers and our relatives who do not know you. And we pray, Lord, that you would send forth laborers into your harvest. And we pray, Lord, that you might give us the words to say and the wisdom, Lord, to share with them the glories of heaven and of Jesus Christ our savior so that they might join us there in that place one day through faith in Christ. And I pray, Lord, if there be one here today that is yet to receive the Lord as savior, that they would come as we give this hymn of invitation.

And I pray, Lord, for your children today that we might be reminded that it will be worth it all when we see Jesus in the place that he has prepared for us. In Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen.