Three signs you are going to heaven. Hebrews 9:27 through-28. 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. When the Apostle Paul is talking about death, he is speaking about something that is inevitable in the life of every man and woman. And when I speak of the inevitability of death, your conscience sides with the apostle that indeed it is appointed for men to die once.
Your conscience acknowledges the fact that one day I will take my last breath in this world. Yet you are no more prepared for death than you were 10 years ago. Christian believers don't think enough about heaven.
We do not dwell and yearn for heaven as we should. To a lot of believers, heaven is an afterthought. But I want to show you something in scripture.
The men who penned scripture thought and dreamt about heaven. David thought of heaven. Psalm 23:6.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. John thought of heaven. First John 5:13.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. Abraham thought of heaven. Hebrews 11:10.
Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. Jesus thought about heaven. John 14:2 and 3.
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 also be. You and I need to live a life with heaven on our mind and hearts. There are those who believe you can only know that you are going to heaven when you die, but that's too late.
You can know today that if I was to breathe my last breath today, I will dwell in the house of the Lord. So today we are going to look at three signs that show you that you are going to heaven. Although the Bible tells us that many are not going to heaven, the Bible assures us that through the corridors of history from the beginning and even until the end of days, there is a great company of people going to heaven.
Sign number one, you love the Lord Jesus Christ. The atmosphere of all of heaven is Jesus Christ. The center of heaven is the lamb of God.
The one that everyone in heaven adores and loves is Jesus Christ. The great redeemer who was crucified shamefully on a cross and died and was buried in a tomb and who was raised again. Jesus Christ is the very glory and shikina of all heaven.
All of heaven worships him. All of heaven adores him. All of heaven worships him.
All of heaven adores him. All of heaven bows the knee most gladly to him and acknowledges him as Lord of all. You cannot be indifferent about the Lord Jesus Christ and go to heaven.
You cannot despise the Lord Jesus Christ and go to heaven. Everyone in heaven loves him. Everyone in heaven adores him.
Sign number one that you are going to heaven is that you love the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, heaven is for Christians who love him. If you find yourself thinking of him, adoring him, worshiping him, exalting him, revering him, that reveals the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.
I want to focus on the last phrase of John 15:26. When the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of the Holy Spirit, John 15:26, but when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedth from the Father, he shall testify of me. He shall testify of me.
The Spirit of truth supernaturally testifies of Jesus. The Holy Spirit brings truth directly to the hearts of people. Evangelism and the preaching of the gospel is more than a witness of a human being to another human being.
The Holy Spirit is involved. The spirit of truth will testify about Jesus. The world was hostile to Jesus and it even remains hostile to him and his cause till this very day.
The spirit of truth will counter this hostility by testifying about Jesus who is the truth. The spirit is a powerful prosecutor and persuader. He exalts Christ in a world that does not accept him as the Lord and Savior of mankind.
He speaks to the heart of Christians regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why to a true Christian, Jesus Christ is the love of their life. Yes, I have never seen him with my eyes, but he is more real to me than the air that I breathe.
Yes, I have never seen him with my eyes, but he is closer to me than the very air that I breathe. Yes, I have never seen him with my eyes, yet I love him more than life itself. How can you not love the Lord Jesus Christ after all he has done for you?
You were a sinner on his earth. A sinner who had a one-way first class ticket to hell. A sinner who fully deserved to go to hell.
And yet he came and died for you through being in the form of God. He thought it not robbery to be equal to God. But Jesus made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant.
And he was made in the likeness of men. and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Jesus came and died on a hill called Golgatha for you.
When a true Christian hears the message of the cross, their heart hurts. The Holy Spirit is witnessing to them and about the reality of what Jesus Christ did for them. They know what Christ has done for them.
If you love the Lord Jesus Christ, that is a sign you are going to heaven. Everyone in heaven loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are in hell neglect and despise him.
Sign number two that you are going to heaven is that you have hope in him and the future. Unfortunately, I do believe that a lot of believers struggle with this element of hope, the hope of heaven, because this life has been cruel and mean to them. They have been through the deaths of loved ones, trials and tribulations, heartache and sorrow, heartbreak and sadness, tragedies and calamity, and life has beaten them down.
I want to encourage you to hope for heaven. look forward to it in a way that you have never done before. As I encourage you, we have to go to the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation.
Once the world and universe has been destroyed, and God has created a new heaven and new earth. Revelation 21 1-4. And I saw a new heaven and a 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 is with men, and 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. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. The hope of heaven for every believer will be fulfilled there.
What have you ever hoped for? Have you ever hoped to see Christ? You will there.
Have you ever hoped to see the Lord God Almighty? You will there. Have you ever hoped that death and destruction will cease its work?
It will there. Have you ever hoped for all your guilt and shame to cease? It will there.
Have you ever hoped for your pain to cease? It will there. Have you ever hoped for your sorrow to cease?
It will there. Have you ever hoped to never see a hospital or doctor again? You won't there.
Have you ever hoped to never lose another loved one again? You won't there. Have you ever hoped to never see another graveyard again?
You won't there. God will wipe away your tears. God will give you a new body.
If you are young, fit, and healthy, the fact that God will give you a new body doesn't touch you in the same way as someone whose body is failing them. There are Christians who are dealing with illness and their bodies are failing them. They live each day with unimaginable pain, excruciating pain every day of their life.
They are in hospitals or even at home and their bodies are fading away. and failing them. But they know that God has a new body, a healthy body, a body that does not age or develop wrinkles, a body that does not know weakness.
Can you imagine heaven? The wonder and the glory of heaven. You will never get used to the fact that you are there hearing the angels sing.
Can you imagine the voices of heaven? The voices of angels singing. an innumerable number of angels singing.
We see the angels throughout the word of God singing unto the Lord. The angels singing. There are so many testimonials I have heard of throughout the years of Christians who on their deathbed hear the songs of heaven seconds before they die.
They begin to say to those around them in the room, "Can you hear them sing? Can you hear them sing? Can you hear the angel sing?
" and then they die and they are gone to be with their Lord in glory. If you see yourself hoping for heaven, looking forward to heaven, that is a sign you are going there. No one will accidentally receive eternal life.
Everyone in heaven will have accepted the free gift of salvation. Sign number three that you are going to heaven is all of your hopes and asurances of salvation is based in Jesus Christ. Salvation is through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
And that faith alone in Jesus Christ is preceded and followed by repentance, a turning away from sin. Oh, what it will be to be a believer on the last day. To be a believer on the day of judgment, where each and every one of your sins are heard, where all the secret thoughts that you ever had will be revealed to all who are there, where all the secrets that you have kept will be made known to all.
But because you are a believer in Christ, the Apostle Paul tells us, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. " And we are told in Colossians 1:22, "Jesus will present believers as holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. " In other words, the Lord Jesus will present us to God in a way that is acceptable to him.
Jesus will present us blameless so that as the consuming fire that is our God looks upon them, God will see nothing. Believers will know that God is seeing them as blameless, not because of any of their works, because believers know how truly wretched they are, but God is seeing them as blameless because of Christ Jesus. Hebrews 10:31, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
" Matthew 10:28, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. " God is not the old grandfather that you see in pictures and videos. The Bible describes him as a consuming fire.
The glory of God is so powerful that no mortal man has seen him and lived. If you were to see him in your mortal body, you would die right there and then. Our mortal bodies and all its sin cannot stand in the righteousness and holiness of a holy God.
The Bible tells us that this holy God will see you and Christ Jesus will present you as blameless and acceptable simply because all the anger of God that should fall upon these sinners saved by grace did fall when Jesus Christ died for them on the cross. And if you comprehend this, you will know that it is not because of you or your own doing, but it is because of Jesus Christ. And for all eternity, you will look at Jesus and forever thank him for what he did for you.
If you're assurance salvation is Jesus Christ and nothing else, that is sign number three. You are going to heaven.
