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Heaven And Who Will Be There?

Introduction: What do you think of when some one speaks of heaven? I could ask you to describe heaven in your own words. Our concept of heaven is important for it usually determines whether we want to go there or not. Responses to a survey done U.S. Catholic Magazine provided the following responses:

1. Woman in Fresno, California, "an unlimited charge card"

2. Woman in Maryland, "all the chocolate I can eat"

3. Man in Swanton, OH, "to play golf every day"

Some people are not interested in heaven for they do not believe it is a real place; some are satisfied right now and do not want to put forth the effort to go there. Others are entangled in sin, Colossians 3.1

1. Our Creator, Our Redeemer, and the Revealer

2. The beauty and splendor described in Revelation is due to this being the residence of God.

1. We all appreciate rest when we are really tired from working.

2. Before we can rest we have to be working. First comes the work and then the rest, not the other way around.

3. What labors are we to rest from?

    a. Works of service in the kingdom of God, 1 Corinthians 15.58

    b. Rest from resisting temptations we face on a daily basis, 1 Peter 5.8- 10

    c. Rest from sacrifices we must make to follow Christ, 1 Corinthians 9.27

4. If you do not desire the rest then perhaps you are not doing the work of a Christian.

1. No more sorrow of losing loved ones, Revelation 21.4

2. No more suffering.

3. No more growing old and feeling the effects of time.

1. Sin and those in sin will not be in heaven, 1 John 1.5

    a. This is due to the very nature of God, He is pure and righteous and will not be in fellowship with sin.

    b. This tells us that only the pure will be heaven.

2. Atheist will not be in heaven. Those that deny the very existence of God will not go there.

1. We are talking about people of faith, Hebrews 11.6

    a. The faithful servants in the Old Testament

    b. The faithful servants in the New Testament

2. Those that became children of God by accepting Jesus as the Son of God, John 1.12

3. People that have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, Ephesians 1.7

4. Submissive, humble people that bowed before the God of heaven, James 4.6-8

5. Those that have taken up the cross and suffered in this life, Luke 9.23-24

6. Those people who are walking in the light, 1 John 1.

    a. in short we are describing the faithful servants of God,

    b. those that lived during the Patriarchal Dispensation and lived like Abel

    c. those that lived during the Mosaic Dispensation and served God,

    d. those that live during the Christian Dispensation and are a part of the Kingdom of God.

B) Some groups that we may be surprised to see in heaven. 1 Corinthians 6.9-10

1. Those that at one time had been unrighteous, guilty of fornication, worshipped idols, lived in adultery, committed homosexual acts and sodomy, criminals, the covetous, etc.

2. How will they be in heaven? 1 Timothy 1.8-11

3. Heaven will not be filled with people that never sinned. There will be people there that at one time lived in sin.

4. Jesus did not die for the perfect, Mark 2.16-17; but for sinners, Ephesians 2.1ff

5. The key is 1 Corinthians 6.11. We can not continue to live in sin and expect to go to heaven. But we can have forgiveness and the hope of heaven.

Conclusion: The description of heaven can not really compare to what heaven is really like. One blessing will be fellowship with people of faith: Abraham, Noah, Moses. To see loved ones in heaven and never again having to say good bye. To be with God, the Lamb of God, and the Spirit of God, forever and ever will some of the blessings of heaven. You do not want to miss out on heaven.

D.T. @ Westside Church of Christ 10.21.07