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Colin Smith: What in all the world are you holding on to in your life right now that is so good that holding on to this would be a worthwhile trade for what Jesus Christ holds in his hands and even now offers to you?

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, that’s a real challenging question because we've been looking at heaven and seeing how, if we do know Christ, we get to look at heaven through simple mathematical equations to add, subtract, divide, and multiply.

Colin Smith: We’re really thinking about how do you set your mind on things that are above. That’s what the Bible calls us to do. These four ways come right out of the world of mathematics. You have to add because there’s a new heaven and a new earth coming, which means that it’s more than the present heaven and earth. You have to subtract because there are painful things that God will take away. No more grieving, no more tears, no more sorrow. Every tear wiped out from our eyes.

Today we're going to look at two other things: the great division that will take place. There’ll be a separation between the righteous and the wicked, those who are in Christ and those who are rebelling against Christ. Then there's going to be a multiplication, a multiplication of the highest joys we can know in this world, so that the best thing you know in your life is just a small foretaste of that which is yet to come.

Steve Hiller: As Pastor Colin just said, today we really focus on that multiplication and division. So if you can, open your Bible and join us in Revelation 21 as we continue our message, How Much Will I Enjoy Heaven? Here’s Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: God will wipe away every tear from your eyes. That means that you will not spend eternity carrying painful baggage from difficult relationships with other believers. You see, even at our best, we as Christians fall short of what we one day will be. So it is sometimes hard for us when we think about heaven to imagine broken relationships completely restored, deep wounds completely healed.

We spoke the other week about knowing one another in heaven. I had a whole lot of questions, and they all came from one source, one fundamental question: how's God going to deal with all the baggage of the difficulties we've had in relationships here? The answer to that is that God is able to do more than we ask and he is able to do more than we imagine.

Remember this, that in heaven every Christian will be made perfect in repentance, made perfect in forgiveness, made perfect in humility, and made perfect in love. Perfect in repentance means that all of us will have complete ownership of all the desires, including the things that we did not see or own in this life. No longer will we be limited in our knowledge of ourselves. We shall know even as God knows us, even as we are known. There'll be no evasions when repentance is complete in the heart of a believer made fully like Christ.

At the same time in heaven, every Christian believer will be made perfect in forgiveness. So there'll be no grudges, no reluctance, and no withholding. Here's the question to ponder, and it's very helpful. How long do you think it would take for a person who has been made perfect in forgiveness to reconcile with another person who has been made perfect in repentance, when both of them know that their joy in the presence of the Lord is entirely due to the grace of the Savior who is standing immediately before them? How long do you think it would take? I'm going to go for this answer: in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

So a grid for thinking about that which is yet to come: add, it's not other, it's more. Subtract, look at what will be no more: no more death, pain, or crying. Number three, divide. Verses seven and eight: "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

What we’re being told here very clearly, and the reason I use the word divide, is that God will separate all that is evil both from his people and from his creation. The cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars. This does not mean that all who have been guilty of these sins will be excluded from heaven.

I say that for this reason, that in 1 Corinthians chapter six, there is a similar list of sins. Consistent with Revelation chapter 21, Paul says that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. He gives a list of acts of unrighteousness. He says, "Do not be deceived." I'm quoting from 1 Corinthians chapter six and verses nine and 10. "Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

But then we read these words. Paul is writing to Christian believers in this church in Corinth. He says this after that list: "And such were some of you." In other words, he says there are people in the congregation who have been guilty of each of these categories of sin. That’s what you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God.

What that is saying to us is the very heart of the gospel, that there is grace and there is forgiveness for every imaginable sin. Jesus Christ has purchased this forgiveness on the cross through the shedding of his blood. He holds it in his hand and he offers it freely to every repentant sinner who will bow before him and put their trust in him.

But there are men and there are women who do not come in repentance towards God, who do not look to Christ for forgiveness and cleansing, who do not see the need of repentance and do not see the need of a Savior. In the words of Jesus, such die in their sins. That’s John chapter eight and verse 24, which means that the root of sin remains in them, that they have tied themselves to it and it has tied itself to them.

If they were allowed to enter into the new earth, what would happen? The new earth would very quickly become like the old earth all over again. We know this from the history of the Bible. You remember that in the early history of the world, sin had escalated to such a degree that men’s thoughts were only evil all the time. Violence and murder had escalated, and God stepped in to cut it back through a dramatic judgment in the flood.

The population was cut back to just one family. We start again, as it were. A new start to world history, a new world coming out of the ark, the family of Noah, one family. Well, we'll get it right this time. Except that even the family of Noah carry the root of sin within them. If you read the story, they're hardly out the ark before this dysfunction begins to manifest itself all over again in the one family that begins that new world. Starting again is not enough.

We have these songs about how we've got to get back to the garden. Getting back to the garden won’t do it. God is not in the business of simply putting us back in the garden and saying, "Now don’t mess up this time." Because the reality is that by nature, that's exactly what we would do again and again and again.

No, what God is in the business of doing is redeeming a people for himself. Creating a people who will love him freely, a people who have a new heart, people in whom he will put his Holy Spirit, people who are in Christ and for whom Jesus Christ in the end will remove the last trace and vestige of the root of sin. He’ll get it out of us by the root. What a glorious thing that is going to be.

That is why John says, "I saw a holy city coming down from heaven." This is why at last the dwelling of God, who is holy, holy, holy, is with people because these people in the new heaven and the new earth really and truly have been made holy through and through. It has happened in Jesus Christ, who not only has forgiven them but now in these glorified bodies has taken the last remnant of the root of sin out from them, so that the new earth becomes a holy place. It is for people who have been made holy.

Bishop Ryle says, "Most men hope to go to heaven when they die, but few it may be feared take trouble to consider whether they would enjoy heaven if they got there." Heaven is essentially a holy place. Its inhabitants are all holy. Its occupations are all holy. What would an unholy man do in heaven if by chance he got there?

You see, here’s the thing. Jonathan Edwards puts it this way: "Unholy persons cannot enjoy God, and God would not be a reward to them." The whole point about the redeemed people of God is that they have come to love God. What has been begun in this life imperfectly is made complete and beautifully new, renovated for all of the life to come.

The new heaven and the new earth are the home of righteousness, says the Apostle Peter. Last verse of Revelation 21, "Nothing unclean shall ever enter it." So if it’s the home of righteousness and nothing unclean will ever enter it, how in the world can I enter into it? Only by the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ. If you want to be in heaven, you have to put your trust in Jesus Christ, who alone is able to cleanse you, and you have to set your heart on holiness because this is a prepared place for a prepared people.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called How Much Will I Enjoy Heaven? We're going to pause here, but we'll get back to the message in just a moment. It's part of a larger series called Heaven. If you missed any of the programs in the series, you can listen online at openthebible.org or through the Open the Bible app. The app is free. It's basically listening on demand whenever it fits your schedule. You'll find it at your app store. Just look for Open the Bible or again come and listen online at openthebible.org. Back to the message. Here’s Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Add, subtract, divide, and here’s the last: multiply. I’m looking at verse two: "And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Now, Jesus quite clearly stated that there will be no marriage in heaven. That’s Matthew chapter 22 and verse 30. That is, no marriage as we know it. We will still be male and female because that is how God has created us, but the gift of marriage was given to point to something greater that God has prepared for those who love him.

What we’re told here is that there will be one great marriage in heaven. That is Christ is the bridegroom and his people are his bride. The great union will be between Christ and all of his people, and that will be the very center of his joy and it will be the center of ours. Why is it described as a marriage? Because marriage at its best in this world is like the taster. It is a taster of the joy that all of God’s people will find in Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ will find in all of his people forever and forever.

Christ is the bridegroom and he brings his people into a glorious union with himself. We are made by him and we are made for him. The highest joys that are possible therefore for a redeemed man or woman are in this shared life with Jesus Christ that is of the very essence of what lies ahead of us. Nothing less could satisfy and nothing more could be desired. That’s why at the very center of this vision, it's the presence of God with his people. It's the union of Christ with his people, like the bridegroom with the bride.

So if you have a good marriage, if your marriage is so good that you tend to say, "It’s such a shame that there's not marriage in heaven because this is a really, really good thing," if you have a good marriage, then at its very best, the joys of that are just a pointer that God has given to you to give you a little glimpse of what multiplied the joy of the union of Christ and his people will actually be. Just a little sample. If this is this good, how much better multiplied will the union of Christ and his people be?

If you have a bad marriage, or if you long that you had marriage and you have not been given that particular gift in this life, you have some notion within your mind of what it could be, some notion within your mind of what it should be. Even that notion is a little pointer that God has put in your mind to give you an anticipation of what multiplied up the joys of God’s people in union with their Savior who loved us and gave himself for us will actually be.

This joy, because it is a relational joy, will go on increasing as our knowledge of our infinite Savior grows to all eternity. Think about it. Even in this life, as you have multiple good experiences, you are able to draw from your memory of the good things that have happened over increasing years. Therefore you have a growing fund of what is a joy to you now and what has been a joy to you and even at its recollection, it continues to be a joy to you.

Jonathan Edwards argues that it will be the same in eternity. The joys of heaven, he says, will accumulate. So think what that will be like when you have been in heaven for a million, million ages. One blessing on top of another. The more we see of his beauty, the more we will love him. The more that we love him, the more we will delight in him. And the more we delight in him, the more happiness we will have in him. He's describing a life of exponentially increasing joy, ever-increasing joy.

I think that's why it says that Jesus Christ the Lamb will be our shepherd and he will lead us into springs of living water. What springs of living water are saying is unexhaustedly, inexhaustibly fresh, glorious, ever-new discoveries of the richness of life in the presence of God. Two applications and then we’re through.

First is to the person who may be holding back from making a full commitment to Jesus Christ. I know that I will be talking right now to someone who's really thinking about committing to Jesus, but it's hard for you to come to him in repentance. It's hard for you to come to him in faith. If you confess him as Lord, for some folks who are thinking this through, it may be very costly indeed for you to confess Jesus as your Lord.

I want to say to you, however costly it may be for you, you cannot ultimately lose. Nobody in heaven regrets following him, not even those for whom it cost them their lives. What in all the world are you holding onto in your life right now that is so good that holding onto this would be a worthwhile trade for what Jesus Christ holds in his hand and even now offers to you?

The joy of his forgiveness, the joy of him becoming your Lord and Savior, the joy of all that he holds in prospect for his people forever and forever in the new heaven and the new earth. You can make no better decision, however costly it may be, however difficult, than to bow before Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your Savior and as your master and to follow and trust in him.

The last thing is this to the person who feels weighed down. A Christian and you're feeling the sheer pressure of this difficult path in which God is calling you to walk. It's been getting to you and you say, "I don’t know how long I can keep going on with it." Listen, in the light of all that God has done for you, in the light of all that lies ahead of you, in the light of the fact that the Holy Spirit of God is given to you right now, you can endure.

You can endure. In his presence is fullness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. You are not far away from that. You live a very short time in this world and then after that joys forevermore. John Newton told a story that I found in a piece by John Piper. He said, "Imagine a man who was on his way to New York. He's in a carriage and it's drawn by a horse. The man is on his way to receive an inheritance of a million dollars."

Suppose this man’s horse-drawn carriage, the wheel comes off the carriage one mile outside of New York. So this man has to walk the last mile to New York to receive this massive inheritance. Newton said, "What would you think of that man if every step of that last mile he grumbled as he walked? Imagine it. Oh, why does the wheel come off my carriage? Always happens to me." What would you think of a man who's one mile away from a massive inheritance? How is he going to walk even if the wheel’s off his carriage? He’s going to walk with joy. He's going to walk with anticipation. He’s going to say, "I'm one mile from New York and I'm going to inherit a million dollars."

Friend, in Christ you are on the last mile of your journey to inherit the new heaven and the new earth. You will find strength for your journey as you anticipate the joy that lies ahead.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called How Much Will I Enjoy Heaven? Maybe as you've been listening to today's program, you're ready to begin a relationship with Jesus. If that’s the case, we’d love to know about that, to talk with you, to pray with you. You can reach us by calling 1-877-OPEN-365. That’s 1-877-673-6365.

Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. It's your generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin’s teaching. As you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you three copies of our very first graphic novel inspired by Pastor Colin’s book Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross, plus one copy of the original book. Colin, who is this graphic novel for?

Colin Smith: I’m super excited about this graphic novel. It is a brilliantly illustrated 48-page story. It's got clear and compelling dialogue, and it's designed to reach younger people and for anyone who thinks of themselves as being a visual learner. It tells the story of the thief on the cross, which is a story that I think everyone needs to know.

It teaches us that entrance into heaven doesn't depend on a person’s performance in the Christian life. I think that’s something that everybody needs to grasp, but especially younger people who have grown up in church and yet may not have grasped the heart of the gospel and may be tempted to turn away. I hope that we can get it into the hands of as many younger people and visual learners as possible so that people will understand the marvelous news of God’s grace.

Jesus opened heaven for the thief on the cross. If he could do that for the thief on the cross, he could do that for any person. There is hope for every person in Jesus Christ. So who is a young person in your life who needs to understand the grace of God? We’d love for you to be the means of getting the story of God’s grace into their hands, and who knows what God will do as a result.

Steve Hiller: We want to send you three copies of Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross, the graphic novel version, plus a copy of the original book as our way of saying thank you for your financial support. You can give online at openthebible.org or call 1-877-OPEN-365. That’s 1-877-673-6365 or openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time.

Guest (Male): Everyone has questions about heaven, but the question that matters most is how do you get there? Many people have the idea that if a person was to get into heaven, they’d get there by living a good enough life. Well, the thief on the cross hadn't lived a good enough life, and he wasn't in a position to start living a good life. But Jesus said to him, "Today you will be with me in paradise." Well, if the thief could get into heaven, so can you.

Heaven, How I Got Here is a compelling 60-minute film in which Stephen Baldwin portrays the thief on the cross in a one-person play. Many have found that this story opens their eyes to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the hope of heaven. You can watch the Heaven, How I Got Here film for free on the Open the Bible website. For more information, visit openthebible.org/heaven. That’s openthebible.org/heaven.