Leading The Way

Dr. Michael Youssef: An invitation to move from chasing the world to craving heaven and Jesus. When people who belong to Jesus spend more time planning their vacation or planning their retirement or planning where they're going to live and spend no time whatsoever thinking about where they're going to be forever, there's something wrong with your salvation.

Guest (Male): Have you ever thought about your first moments in heaven? What will you see and experience first? Welcome to Leading The Way audio with Dr. Michael Youssef. Today, Dr. Youssef looks at seven truths about heaven, truths that will make it feel more real and more inviting than ever before. So let's listen together to pastor and international Bible teacher Dr. Michael Youssef on this powerful and perspective-changing Leading The Way.

Dr. Michael Youssef: The word decision implies that you are choosing one thing over a whole lot of other things. In fact, in the very essence of the word means cutting. By virtue of your decision making, you have eliminated all the other options. If you decide for something, it means that you are cutting out those options in favor of that one for which you have decided. And that is what making a decision means.

And that is precisely why there are many indecisive people today, because they do not want to cut out other options. Yet the Bible urges us to be decisive when it comes to our eternal future. The decision we make here and now will determine where we'll spend our eternity, where we'll spend our forever. We're not talking about a hundred years or a thousand years. We're talking on forever and ever and ever.

Our postmodern culture today frowns on decisive people. It really does. Not long ago, people used to frown on those who are indecisive people. Now it's the opposite. We praise those who are indecisive because you keep your options open. Today, you might feel one way, tomorrow you might feel another way. And feelings is the enemy of decisiveness. And yet, complete reliance on feeling has become the gospel of our postmodern culture.

And so today we have churches filled with people who have just added Jesus to all the other stuff in their life. They included Jesus among all the other options in life. To them, Jesus is just an extra insurance policy just to be sure. But beloved, listen to me. If there is a time in which we must challenge people to make decisions for Christ, it is now. Syncretism is rampant in the churches today.

Syncretism, which is the mixing up of all sorts of religions and all sorts of philosophies and all put together Allah, Muhammad, Jesus, Jehovah, everybody. Just lump them all together. They all get you in the same place. And yet Jesus made it very clear. If you decide for Him, you must cut out all the other options. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 7. He said, "Enter by the narrow gate."

That is Jesus only and Jesus alone. Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many will go through it. And narrow is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only few will find it. And that is why He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Jesus never, never, never used misleading words, never used ambiguous words about the cost of discipleship.

He never used fine prints that you really have to look hard to find it. Never, never, never. He said, "You come to Me, you have to cut out all the other options. I am either Lord of all or not Lord at all. If you want eternal life, you must make a decision and follow through with it with action steps." You want to go to heaven? Then you must believe that Jesus only will get you there. In fact, you cannot enter into heaven if you believe that Jesus is one way among many other good ways.

Today, I want to bring the series of messages that we've been looking at, "The Greatest Lie," to an end. I want to talk about heaven. I rejoice in speaking about heaven. I love thinking about heaven. I make all of my plans, all of my waking moments, all of my activities, all of my decision makings has heaven in mind. And I want to tell you first of all that heaven is reserved only for those who have made a decision for Christ alone.

Heaven is reserved only for those who have accepted Jesus as the only way to heaven. Heaven is reserved only for those who love Jesus and serve Jesus and obey Jesus in this life. Heaven is reserved for all who acknowledge their sin and their failure, and they sought forgiveness only from the Lamb of God who shed His blood for our sin. Heaven is reserved only for everyone who recognize that they can only be accepted to God the Father through God the Son.

Heaven is reserved only for those who refuse to excuse sin, who refuse to rationalize sin, who refuse to explain away sin. Heaven is reserved only for those who confess their sin and seek God's power to overcome sin. Seven things the Bible tells us about heaven. First, the Bible teaches us that heaven is a real place. It's a real place. It is not a state of mind. It is not an abstract idea. It is not a wishful thinking.

It is not a figure of speech. False teachers and false preachers through all generations have taught this stuff, but that is not the truth. Because when Jesus spoke about heaven—and remember He's the one who came from heaven—when He spoke about heaven to His disciples in John chapter 14, He said, "I go and prepare a state of mind for you." No? He said, "I go and prepare a figure of speech for you."

"I go and prepare an abstract idea." No. He said, "I go and prepare a place for you." And in the Greek word "topos" means a location. He did not say, "I go and prepare a state of mind." He said, "I go and prepare a place." And in Acts chapter 7, as Stephen being stoned to death and is about to go into heaven, we see he sees with his own spiritual eyes heaven open and the Son of Man standing on the right side of God.

And then in Revelation chapter 4, the apostle John gives us a glimpse of heaven. And he said in chapter 4, he said, "I looked and before me was a door standing open in heaven." Not an abstract idea and not a figure of speech. Heaven is a real place with real people who have real bodies, and they have real life and real joy and real peace. There are real angels in heaven, and heaven is my real home. This is not my real home. Heaven is my real home.

Secondly, heaven is a place of uninterrupted fellowship with God. When D.L. Moody was about to die, they asked him, "What are you looking forward to the most in heaven?" Well, they thought he was going to talk about the streets of gold and the pearly gates and... He said, "I'm going to spend the very first thousand years gazing at the face of Jesus." He said, "I don't care about those pearly gates and streets of gold, whatever they may be."

And that's exactly what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13. He says, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face." Heaven is all about Jesus. Heaven is all about Jesus. And that is why for those of us who love Him, our greatest joy will be seeing Him face to face. Heaven is a real place. Secondly, heaven is a place of uninterrupted fellowship with Jesus.

Thirdly, heaven is a place of rest from our battles. Listen to what John said in Revelation 14:13. John said, "I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. They may rest from their labors and their works follow them.'" Now again, some people through the years interpreted this to mean that we're going to be idols in heaven.

And we're just going to be lie down and soak the sun. Or they're just going to lie around and do nothing, or they're just kind of sit on these fluffy clouds and string a harps. No, no, no. That's not what meant here. This may be the vision for the great society. It might be a vision for the new deal. That is not the vision for heaven. We will be working in heaven. We will be working more than ever.

In fact, the rest that He's talking about here is rest from the battles that we have, the spiritual battles. The battles with Satan and the battles with the flesh and the battles with the world. Here on earth, we are forever fighting temptations. We're forever fighting and trying to stop the world from trying to squeeze us into its mold. Here, we are battling fleshly desires.

Here we are struggling with spiritual forces in the heavenly places. But in heaven, there will be no sin. There will be no Satan, because he's going to be bound and sent into the lake of fire. There will be no temptation that will take us away and pull us away from the love of Jesus, because we're going to be with Him. And there is no sin where Jesus is.

Which brings me to the fourth thing about heaven. It's going to be a place of serving the Lord. It's going to be a place of serving Him. Revelation 22:3 said, "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him." The Greek word for serve here indicates a joyful service, indicates an enthusiastic service, indicates delightful service.

It's not going to feel like a chore. It's not going to be accompanied with fatigue and tiredness and disappointments and exhaustion. No, no. Our service is going to be filled and fueled with gratitude to God, gratitude to Jesus for saving us, gratitude to Jesus for redeeming us, gratitude to Jesus for bringing us to heaven from the first place. Our serving of our Lord will include reining and ruling with Him. Did you get that?

And that's what Jesus said in Matthew 25:23. He said He will be saying to the faithful laborers, "Well done, good and faithful servants. You have been faithful over few things. I will make you rule over many things." You see, we got to be ready to reign and rule with Christ. By reigning and ruling over our passions and our desires and our homes, we begin to learn to rule over our tongue.

We have to learn to rule with... this is the dress rehearsal for heaven. And my friend, I want to ask you, are you faithful with the little that God placed in your hand? Because your faithfulness with the time He's given you, with the money He's given you, with the energy He's given you, and with all the things that He placed in your hands, your faithfulness with what you've got here and now is going to decide on how much you're going to reign and rule with Him in heaven.

That's what Jesus said. I don't make up the stuff. Heaven is a real place. Secondly, is a place of uninterrupted fellowship. Thirdly, heaven is a place of rest. Fourthly, heaven is a place of service. Number five, heaven is a place where knowledge abounds. 1 Corinthians 13, Paul said, "For now I know in part, but then I shall know Him as I am known."

Here and now, we have questions. And we often cry to the Lord, "Lord, why? Why is that illness? Why is this suffering? Why is this disease? Why is this sin? Why is this earthquake and hurricane? Why?" Oh, but there when we're not going to be asking these questions. You won't have to ask these questions, because there you're going to see as God sees. You're going to understand as God understands. You're going to know as God knows.

The sixth thing about heaven is this: It's a place of continuing glory. Please listen. When people who belong to Jesus spend more time planning their vacation or planning their retirement or planning where they're going to live and spend no time whatsoever thinking about where they're going to be forever, there's something wrong with your salvation. Paul said, "Constantly examine yourselves. Are you in the faith?"

He said, "Examine yourself. What you're doing in this life, in this world, is motivated by your heaven. How often have you thought about your eternal home? You cannot spend your life planning for this life alone and never think about heaven and tell me that you belong to Jesus. There's something wrong with that picture. Imagine not thinking or making plans for where you're going to be, not for a hundred years or 50 or a thousand years. You're going to be forever."

And furthermore, nothing is going to give you victory here and now more than thinking about your eternal home. Did you get that? You see, all of the suffering, all of the pain, all of the grief, and all of the afflictions that we experience right here can be overcome when you begin to think about your eternal home. Trust me, try it. I know it works. Listen to what the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:17. "For our light afflictions..."

Paul is a challenge to me personally. He really is. I mean, you think about this. He's saying our light afflictions. What in the world is he talking... this man got beaten and got lashed 39 twice because the 40th would have killed you, so they stopped at 39. He was stoned. He was left between life and death at least three times. He's been imprisoned and flogged. And he comes in here and says, "For this light afflictions."

I get a headache and I think I'm suffering for Jesus. This man who got beaten so many times that they couldn't walk and and it says, "For our light afflictions." Oh, but listen, listen, listen. This is the rest of the verse, okay? "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." He says, "Every time I put my pain and my suffering and persecution and hatred and rejection by false teachers..."

Every time I put those on one side of the scale and then I put in the glory that is awaiting me in heaven on the other side, hands down the glory pulls it down and my pain like a feather. My affliction cannot be compared with the glory that is going to be revealed. That's why I told you, nothing lifts you up above all the difficulties and the troubles in life that we all face than thinking about your home in heaven.

Where you're going to be spending eternity with Jesus and with your loved ones who knew the Lord and are with Him in heaven. So let me ask you, are you suffering injustice? Think of your heaven's glory. Are you being lied about and by others, and are you feeling hurt and in pain? Think about your heaven's glory. Are you experiencing unfair criticism and an unfair attack? Think of heaven's glory.

Are you being misunderstood and mistreated for righteousness' sake? Think about heaven's glory. In fact, the word glory means—and a lot of people again don't get that right, but listen—glory means the revelation of the character of God in Jesus Christ. Listen carefully. In heaven, the character of God in Jesus Christ is going to be revealed in us.

We will be transformed to be like Him, that we will have the very character of Jesus. Colossians 3:4 says, "When Christ, who is our life, appears, then we also will appear with Him." Where? In glory. That we will share in His glory. We will experience His character. Finally, heaven is a place of perpetual worship.

And this is another one of those things that is misunderstood by a lot of people through generations. People misunderstood what that means. And there are some who thought that heaven is going to be like a deadly 11 o'clock service from which there is no escape. Listen beloved, far from being deadly liturgical boring service, listen to what John said in 19:1 of Revelation. "I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, 'Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God.'"

Can you imagine? Can you imagine the millions of believers from every age, from every generation, and every nation? The Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints, the angels and the musicians worshipping God who is at the very center of heaven. Imagine the shouts of hallelujah and amen as the crescendo of the heavenly singers and the fanfare of the celestial trumpet sound. Imagine what an exciting time that's going to be.

I am sorry for you, frozen chosen. You're going to have a hard time. You're going to have a hard time. Get ready for heaven. Loosen up. C.S. Lewis was a man who's able to put things in few words. I envy his abilities. And he was talking about how heaven is far from being boring 11 o'clock services. And he was talking about believers when they get to heaven and how they're going to feel. And it's a long quote, but let me give you just the last sentence. It is magnificent.

He said, "There beyond any possibility of doubt, you will say, 'Here at last is the thing I was made for.'" Are you made for heaven? If you're not, you can be today. Let's pray together. Father, do not please, Lord, allow this sermon, this message to serve as a witness against that individual who has heard it but continue not to submit to You as only Lord and Savior.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask for Your mercy today. We ask for Your grace today. Open blind spiritual eyes, turn hearts toward You. And Father above all, let all of us who know You, who are looking forward to heaven, be sure not to go there alone, that we will tell our friends and our neighbors and our those our loved ones so that they can go to heaven with us. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Leading The Way audio with Dr. Michael Youssef. Now if you're not sure about your eternal destination, we want to invite you to speak with a Leading The Way pastor or counselor. They'd be happy to answer questions to help you better understand the gospel and eternity. Connect at ltw.org/jesus.

In fact, allow me to share portions of a note that we recently received from a person who was introduced to Jesus through Leading The Way. They write, "I just want to thank you so much. I was living in fear until just recently. Now I wake up every morning greeting Jesus, thanking Him for restful sleep and expressing joy for the day ahead. I listen to and watch Leading The Way messages to grow my faith along with reading my Bible and enjoying worship music.

I am thankful for experiencing the gospel through Leading The Way. My kids have noticed the change in my life. My prayer is now that they will soon feel the spirit in them too. I've always believed in my head, but now it's in my heart. Thank you for sharing the gospel." Friends, we love to hear from you. And if you're a supporter of Leading The Way, you know you're an essential part of touching lives just like this through Leading The Way.

If you're connected with Leading The Way but you haven't yet taken that step to become a financial supporter, now is a great time. You can stand with Dr. Youssef globally, impacting lives for eternity right here in this neighborhood and in neighborhoods like this one across six continents. Let me encourage you to call us, learn more. We're at 866-626-4356.

A ministry representative can give you all of the details about ways to express your generosity. Oh, you can also go online ltw.org. Learn about ways to partner in ministry at ltw.org.

Dr. Michael Youssef: As an encouragement to our fellow listeners, I would like to invite you to share how God is using this program to encourage you in your walk of faith. And if Leading The Way is part of that, we would want to know. You can call our testimony line at 877-941-7934. That is 877-941-7934. Do it today. Thank you in advance and God bless you.

Guest (Male): This program is brought to you by Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.