You know this world is in a melt down. You hear words like Iraq and Iran and Hamas and the Palestinians. And you hear about Baghdad and the Shiites and the Sunnis and al Qaida. And these are words that some of us wish, maybe, we had never heard because they are words that represent trouble. The world is in trouble. And these last days, it seems like, are upon us. And it’s time to leave. It’s time to get out of here and go home.
Some day this old world is going to self destruct. It seems like it’s in the process of doing it now. And I think Jesus will come just before the world self-destructs. Fire is going to come down someday from God out of heaven and destroy all sin and all works of evil. And then God will recreate the world. It’ll be earth two. It’ll be a brand new place where we will live. And it’s going to be wonderful. And so the devil will be gone.
Tomorrow is father’s day. This will be the very first father’s day in my life that I have existed without a father. My father is sleeping right now. Waiting for an angel to wake him up. But I have a mother. She’s here today. And she is an artist. She has painted several dozen pictures. Big pictures. We have many of them in our home. And I want to be an artist today. And I want to paint a picture for you of the new earth. Could I do that? Now you’ve never seen the new earth, and neither have I. So I want to paint, not on canvass, but verbally, a picture of the new earth.
Picture that time when the devil and all the wicked people will be destroyed. We call that hell. They’ll be burned up at the last day. Sin will be forever gone. All traces of human activity will be gone. All foundations, freeways, buildings; everything will be gone. Burned up, reduced to ashes. And then made brand new. It’s going to be good. Our scripture reading depicted that in Revelation 21.
And who will live there? You know who it will be? Jesus says in Matthew, chapter 5 verse 5, “The meek shall purchase the new earth.” Right? “The meek shall”, what? “Inherit the new earth.” How do you get it? You don’t buy it. You can’t… It’s not for sale. You inherit the new earth. That means you get it free. Somebody’s going to give it to you. Jesus Christ is going to give you the right, the passport, to the kingdom. To the new earth. You won’t have to buy it. You won’t have to have a deed. You won’t have to pay taxes to Hamilton county or Bradley county. You will be forever there courtesy of Jesus Christ.
Now none of us were around when this world was created. But I truly believe we’re going to get to see the world created again. We’re going to get to see it created new. Sister White describes that. And I believe we will have a chance to watch God re-create this world. That’s going to be something. And where will we be? We will be watching behind a thick glass window. A jasper window. In fact, the window will be the wall of the new Jerusalem. We’ll be sitting on our front lawn of our mansion that Jesus has prepared for us. And we can watch with brand-new telescopic eyes every detail of the creation of this new world. I believe that. And our front yard of our mansion there in the new Jerusalem. We’ll sit out on the beautiful, lush, green lawn. It won’t look like my lawn looks. My lawn looks kind of brown right now. Dried up and burned up. But imagine yourself lying out there on the front lawn watching the creation, the re-creation. You don’t have to worry about taking suntan lotion with you. Or chigger spray, or tick spray. For us red-heads, the sun makes a big difference, you know. We’re not going to have to worry about that. Just imagine watching the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit do a replay of the first creation.
From our vantage point we can see all the small children with their noses pushed against that transparent wall and watching with intense interest. Sparks fly. Lightening flashes back and forth. Mountains are created. It’s going to be great. We’re going to see majestic hills forming. And I’ve always wondered how grindstone mountain got there. How did these hills get here? We’re going to see that. And I think majestic mountains will be created with snow already on top. Trees will be created five hundred feet tall already with acorns on them, maybe. It’s going to be wonderful.
My wife might be there. I think we’ll be, sort of together in the new earth. Maybe there won’t be marriage and giving in marriage in heaven. I’m sort of guessing and hoping that it’ll be Eden re-created and it’ll still be bad for man to be alone, so I kind of think my wife will be there. I believe that. That might be heresy.
And she might say, “Look over there. Look at what the Father is doing.” I look over there and He’s just created a tame dinosaur, grass-eating dinosaur. And we get to watch that. This Heavenly Jurrasic Park is a peaceful place. Nobody destroys. Nobody hurts anything in that beautiful, beautiful place.
And soon, as creation is completed, we feel a movement and the New Jerusalem is beginning to move. And it’s going to go down to a pre-designated spot on the world which will be its permanent home. And then the gates open and God will say “Now you can go out and you can inhabit and take possession of this beautiful land that I have made for you.” And so we go out. And you can imagine like children we race through the rooms of the new house, we race through the valleys and the mountains and go out there. And God says, “You know, I have a special place picked out for you. ‘Cause I know, Don, that you have always wanted to live near water. You have always wanted a water fall.” See I’ve always wanted to live in a place where there would be a little water fall. About a half a mile from WalMart. About, out in the remote area where you can’t see another building for miles. And just a pleasant quiet place with a good garden spot with rich top-soil. And where it rains every four days at night, you know. I’ve always wanted a place like that. God’s going to say, “You know, I’ve got that ideal place that you’ve been looking for. It’s right over that hill there. And it’s for you.” He’s gone to prepare a place for you. Now I’m not saying WalMart will be there, but we’re going to have an ideal place because He say “I have gone to prepare a place for you.” And that’ll be fantastic.
The sun’ll be seven times brighter and you won’t ever get a sunburn. And there will be new species. There will be fish and mammals and birds and we have just witnessed this during this week of re-creation. And we can see dogs and cats and lions and lambs. And they’re all eating grass. And they’re not fighting each other. It’s going to be great.
And then finally God will say, “It is finished.” It is completed. The plan of redemption is fulfilled. All the people that wanted to be saved are saved. And now, live happily ever after. That’s what I’m looking forward to. That’s great. He gives us an occupancy permit. We go in and the very first Sabbath together there on the brand new place we just celebrate, enjoy. We get to meet Jesus. The only thing we probably would miss is the creation of Adam. We didn’t get to see that, and Adam will be there so he won’t have to be re-created. But I kind of think that God might accommodate us and just say, “Let me show you how I did that.” And create a new Adam. Maybe Adam two. And we can watch Him breath the breathe of life into Adam. I just imagine all those things.
And if so then we could see those powerful nail pierced hands forming a perfect man. And breathing into him the breathe of life. Never again to die. Always to be perfect in health. Every apple tree will be safe to eat from. Nahum one, verse nine guarantees that sin will not rise up again the second time. There’ll be no more temptations. Our natural inclination will be to be holy. You won’t have to fight temptation all through out eternity. Sin will not rise up again. We might live 70 years here, three score and ten, but there we’re going to live 70 thousand years. 70 zeb-zillion years, you know. Whatever. A long time. And then we’ll just be getting started.
The other day we were up… We were going to deposit my father’s cremains into the cemetery, and my cousin that I had not seen in some time said, “You’re a pastor. Will we know each other in heaven? We’ll all be strangers won’t we. We’ll be as angels. We won’t know each other, will we?” And I quoted her a text which you can read over here in first Corinthians, the love chapter. First Corinthians 13. Look at a verse here in verse 12. First Corinthians 13:12. It says, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” Yes, we will know each other.
You’re going to be… Do you know how it is when you’re an Adventist? You can go to church in the Smoky Mountains. You can go to church down in Florida. And you’re going to meet somebody you know. That’s just the way it is. I’ve never been to a place where, “Oh, well, you’re from… Well, I knew somebody… Oh yes.” And you make the connection just like that. When you get to heaven it’s going to be just like that. How do you know me? John Leland called me the other day and said two words. I said, “John?” I knew him by his voice. You know me by my looks. You know me by my voice. That’s how we’re going to know each other when we get to heaven. Only we’re going to look better. Or I will.
And that old song in our hymnal says friends that we have known long ago will be there. “Joy like a river around me will flow.” It’s going to be great, isn’t it?
And that’s the kind of heaven that the Bible talks about. And if you’ve always thought that heaven was a place where you had to sit on a high humidity cloud 24 hours a day playing a harp, it’s not going to be like that. It’s going to be a place of intense activity. I don’t believe that the angels will be the Christmas card variety, fat, naked, dimpled babies playing little harps. It’s going to be beautiful and real and wonderful. Exciting.
And God's word heightens our hope in the unseen heaven that’s soon to come. Revelation 21, verse 3. “I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, the tabernacle of God is with” who? “with men, and He will be with them.” You see, He comes here. This becomes the capital of the universe. This becomes the center of the universe. “He will be with them and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” God is moving here. We won’t be with God, God will be with us. And that’s where the true new age movement begins. Because that’ll be the new age.
In eternity we will not sense the passing of time. We won’t need watches. Murphy’s law will be gone. There will be no more pain, no more death. Anything that you attempt will come out well. You could cook up a dish and it’ll always be perfect. You can do anything you want and it will succeed. You could say, “Well, I’ve always wanted to play lessons. I’ve always wanted to play a music instrument, but I haven’t taken lessons.” Well, King David could teach you how to play the harp. You could take church history lessons from the apostle Paul. You could ask Adam about creation. There’s a lot of things that we can study. Learning will be a breeze. John 14, verse 26 says, “The Holy Spirit will bring all things to our remembrance” here on this earth, so I think that when we get to heaven we’ll never forget anything. Because we’ll have the Holy Spirit doing that forever with us.
We will be in God's house. John 14, verse 2 says, “In my Father's house are many” what? I like the King James. The N.I.V. says “In my Father’s house are many rooms”. I like the King James. “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” I don’t honestly believe it’ll be like a big dormitory with hermits living in each room. I think we will be social creatures. I think we will each have a house. Your perfect dream house. A huge living room for friends, a sunken swimming pool, lush gardens with top-soil a hundred feet deep. It’s going to be great. Isaiah 65:21 says, “They shall build houses and inhabit them.” You will build your house. Our hands are designed by God to build, to create, to construct, and to do.
And the kids will have fun running out and playing hide and seek with the angels. And that would be hard because at first the angel’s over here by the pond and then you blink your eyes and he’s over here behind a tree.
When I grew up in north eastern Indiana we had a strict man that lived in our neighborhood. He would be uncomfortable in heaven. He believed in the 13th commandment "Thou shalt not have fun on the earth." The earth will be a place of happy excitement and joy every day.
And I want to be there. Now how do you get to heaven? Visa card won’t help you. Jesus is your passport. Jesus is your Visa. Jesus invites you to come. He is the way. Heaven and eternal life are the reward freely given to those who love Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 6, verse 23 says, “The gift of God is” what? “Eternal life through Jesus Christ.” And too many churches have complicated that picture. They have tried to bring Hollywood into the church. They have religious theaters in some churches. Some are about as practical to eternal life as a big hat in a hurricane. We just don’t get it. What we need to be doing as churches is to introduce people to Jesus Christ, and to His truth. And to help them to grow to be more like Jesus every day.
In heaven, the curse that was placed on Adam will be gone. Bob Rempher showed me a picture this morning of a beautiful flower that he found in his back yard, growing on a terrible thorn nettle. Beautiful flower. Terrible plant. There will be no more thorns. No garden will grow weeds. Sweat will be unknown. If a woman is pregnant on the day that Jesus comes, when she delivers, it will be the first pain free delivery in the history of the world. There won’t be any rain. Rain is part of the curse. You know, it never rained before sin. I would like to have a little rain here. I think we need to almost pray for rain. ‘Cause we’re short on rain. There’s rationing going on. But in heaven we’ll get our water another way. Through the dew and the underground systems, the springs. It’ll always be perfect weather. You’ll never hear a weather forecast in heaven. Because it’ll all be the same. It’ll be perfect.
So people that like to complain about the weather won’t have anything to talk about. I call some people and I say, “How are you doing today?” That’s a mistake. With some people. Because they will tell you. There’s an epitaph on a tombstone in Milwaukee that says: "I told you I was sick!" Revelation 21, verse 4 says there will be no pain, no death. Nothing to worry about. Worry is today's mice eating tomorrow's cheese. Just deal today with the problems of today, because the day is coming when there won’t be any more problems.
When my wife and I had an opportunity to go over to Russia here about 15 years ago we had a pleasure trip, and we were on a boat, a big ship going up the Volga River. And day after day we just enjoyed the Volga. And I’m a landlubber from Indiana, so I sat on the front of that boat, the stern or whatever it’s called and enjoyed seeing the various things along the river. At one point, I will never forget this, we saw an old wooden ship. All the top part of the ship was gone so it was just the hull. And apparently it was very water-logged. It had been there for years and it was just barely above the water. It looked like it would sink. And it was floating. It was floating there just barely above the water line. It just did not have much of a load of anything, but it was almost ready to sink.
It was waterlogged. It either had sprung a leak or soaked up so much water that it was half sunk. And I think many Christians have become waterlogged. We have laden ourselves down with too many treasures, too many material things, to much stuff, that we have no time for the spiritual things. You know what I mean? We have too much stuff. And if your spiritual life is riding low in the water, then you may have too much of the world in your hull. And you may need to clean it out so that you can rise above and be proud like God wants you to be. You need a new life that comes from Jesus. So set your sights on heaven. Set your sights on earth two.
You know when that heavily loaded ship called Central America went down several years ago, several hundred returning miners that had worked the whole season in the gold mines, were coming home. And they had all their accumulated gold with them. And all that was lost. They were lost, the gold was lost, everything was lost. And gold is good in hard economic times, but I want to tell you that gold makes a very poor life preserver. It won’t save you. The only thing that will save you in the last days is Jesus Christ. And your relationship with Christ.
The older I get the more interested I get in heaven and the new earth. When I was young I had grand plans, but I had no experience. Now I have a lot of experience, but the energy level to carry out the grand plans is not the same. But I will tell you that when we get to heaven our loftiest aspirations will be reached because we will have the imagination, the mental horsepower and the vigor to carry them forth. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31. “They will run and not grow weary.” You’ll all run. There won’t be anymore wheel chairs in the new earth. No more walkers. No more crutches. We’ll all be able to run.
This earth, this world, is the prodigal world of all those worlds that are inhabited in the entire universe. Sin has infested this one. And it’s about to run its course. It’s been going on now, the plague of sin, for six thousand years. And Jesus is our Saviour. He’s going to take us out of here. So are you an "Almost Christian", or are you a prepared bride, prepared for her husband? Let’s be preparing ourselves. Let’s be cleaning ourselves up. Let’s be getting ourselves ready.
I’ve heard it said that when we get to heaven… a Methodist told me this. He said, “You know, when we all get to heaven, we’ll probably see over in the corner all the Seventh-day Adventists, and they will think… they’ll be on the other side of an area and we’ll have to be quiet, because they think they’re the only ones that are here.” Well that’s not what we think at all. We think every true Christian will be in heaven. Isn’t that right? But I think sometimes we think, “Well, I graduated from Southern Adventist University. I’m going to be there before you will. I’m a little better than you.” Or “I have an IQ that’s this amount.” Or “I’m a home-schooler”, or “I’m, you know, I’m this race and you’re that race, and I’m better than you.” We can’t think thoughts like that, you know?
We tend to be exclusive, chumming around with the same clique. We tend to have an attitude that we’re holier than somebody else. Well if we are holier than somebody, then let’s mingle with them and help them. Right? Let’s not be aloof. We must help others that are less spiritual than we are and not withhold ourselves from them. There won’t be any cliques in heaven. When we get to heaven we’ll all be a part of the same family.
Will you be there? Do you know how that you can make certain that you’re going to be in heaven? If you are a child of Jesus you’re going to be in heaven. Years ago God promised Abraham that his seed would inherit heaven. And you can become Abraham’s seed by receiving Jesus Christ. It’s not IQ, it’s not perfection, it’s heart. A daily heart relationship with Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 29 says, “If you are Christ's then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." If you belong to Christ. Now, of course, you’ll be growing more like Him every day. That’s what I want. I want to be holy. If you belong to Jesus you’re heading for heaven.
I read a story in Guideposts magazine about Billy. Billy Bothwell. She was a high school student and her teacher assigned her to write a paper, and the title of the paper, "The last week of my life". And so she wrote this paper. What she would do if she knew that she only had one week to live. So she wrote a paper about that. And she said, she told how she would prepare for death if she knew that she had just one week to live. She would spend time with her family, with her friends. She’d visit the sick and visit the shut-ins. Spend time in the woods enjoying God's beautiful creation. She would go to church. She had a whole list of things there. The paper was turned in on March 15. She died March 22 in a terrible wreck. You never know when your life will end, do you? You never know what will be the last sermon that you will ever hear. It could be this one. This could be the last sermon I will ever preach. Let me just turn that around, you know. We never know our life, do we? We don’t know.
And so it behooves us to give our life to Jesus Christ. To fall in love with Jesus and to fall in love with His people. And with those that should be in heaven. And maybe there will be somebody that won’t be there because we didn’t do our part. Let’s do our part. Let’s make sure that Jesus is in our hearts. That His life shines out from our life. And let’s look forward to that heavenly land. Earth two. When we can all be there together. Revelation 22, verse 12 says, “Behold I come” how? “Quickly, and my reward is with me.” Heaven is ready. I think those mansions are all there. The floors are polished. The grass is ready. Everything is ready. We’re not ready. Let’s get ready. Heaven is waiting.
How many of you would just.. I’m going to make a little appeal here for you to raise your hand. How many of you, right now, and I hope every hand is going to go up, would say, “I want to be in heaven. I want Jesus as my Saviour.” Would you raise your hand. I’m raising mine. Thank you.
Let’s sing our closing hymn. Let’s sing about heaven.
Hymn number four hundred 31, Over Yonder.
Hymn of Praise: #3, God Himself is With Us Scripture: Revelation 21:1-4 Hymn of Response: #431, Over Yonder
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McDonald Road Sermon transcribed by Steve Foster 6/19/07