Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000176
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00:01 Are you looking for an exciting change in your life? Well, get ready for a breath of new life.
00:06 Today Dr. Byrd speaks on the topic Let's Talk About Heaven. And now, here he is, 00:12 speaker/director of Breath of Life Ministries, Dr. Carlton Byrd. 00:18 John 14, 1 through 3. "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. 00:27 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. 00:32 I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, 00:35 and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." 00:43 Father God, right now we're going to talk about heaven. Heaven's going to be a wonderful place. 00:48 Filled with glory and grace. I want to see, Lord, Your face because heaven's going to be a wonderful place. 00:53 So for the next couple of minutes as we encourage and inspire Your people about heaven. 00:58 I pray that You would come down and You would come near and be with us. Forgive us for our sins. 01:02 We lift up the Kelly and Hutchens families right now. In Jesus' name, Amen. 01:09 A story is told. A true story. Having served for decades in the continent of Africa, 01:21 a missionary couple was returning to the state and the city of New York to retire. 01:30 After years of service they had, however, no pension and their health was failing. 01:36 They were worried and discouraged. What was now going to happen to them, with no pension? 01:41 On their return to the United States they were on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt. 01:49 Because back in those days, they didn't fly, but they took boats, they took ships, 01:53 as they went from country to country. They were on the same ship, the same boat, 01:57 as President Teddy Roosevelt who was returning from one of his African hunting expeditions. 02:02 Now, nobody on this ship was paying attention to the missionary couple. But they watched 02:10 the fanfare that accompanied President Roosevelt and his entourage. During the voyage, 02:16 the missionary said to his wife, "Baby, something is wrong. We have given our lives to God 02:24 in service there in Africa all these years, and nobody even cares a thing about us. But then, 02:33 this man, President Roosevelt, comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes much over him. 02:43 But nobody could care less about us." When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet President Roosevelt. 02:53 The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers were full of news of the President's arrival, 02:59 but nobody was there for the missionary couple. Nobody was there to say thank you for what you've done, 03:05 thank you for all the work you've labored for there in Africa. But everybody was there to greet the President. 03:11 So this couple slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat, an apartment, there on the east side of New York, 03:20 hoping the next day to see what they could do to make a living in the city. That night, 03:26 the man said to his wife, "Baby, I can't take this. God is not treating us fairly." His wife replied, 03:36 "Well, if you feel that way, why don't you go into the other room and have a talk with the Lord?" 03:43 The man did that and he returned a short time later. But when he came back, he was different. 03:50 His countenance was different. His wife said, "What happened? Why are you looking different? 03:57 Why are you looking better now?" He said, "Well, the Lord settled it with me. 04:02 I told Him how I was bitter that the President should receive this big homecoming, this big fanfare, 04:10 this tremendous homecoming, when no one even met us at the dock. And after I finished complaining, 04:18 it seems as though the Lord put his hand on my shoulder. And the Lord said to me, 'But you're not home yet.' 04:27 It then dawned on me," he said, "that this earth is not my final home. That this earth is temporary. 04:39 Because eyes have not seen, neither ears heard the things that God has prepared for them that love Him." 04:49 This Bible that we have is full of wonderful promises, but friends, perhaps the most wonderful promise 04:55 of all is that one day, one day, we're going to live with Jesus forever and ever and ever. 05:05 Do I have a witness in this place? Because at His first coming, He came to this earth, 05:11 Jesus did, as a baby, to save His people. At His second coming, Jesus is coming back to this earth 05:18 to get His people so they can live with Him in heaven for 1,000 years. But at His third coming, 05:24 at the end of the millennium, at the end of the 1,000 years, after the righteous have reigned 05:30 and lived with Christ. At His third coming, Jesus is coming back to this earth with His people. 05:37 The text says, "And I saw a new heaven. I saw a new earth. For the first heaven and the first 05:44 earth were passed away. There was no more sin." He says, John does, "I, John, saw the holy city, 05:52 the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 05:59 Now quickly, human history began in Paradise. The Garden of Eden. Human history will end in Paradise, 06:11 the New Jerusalem. What began in Genesis is brought to completion in Revelation. 06:19 God says, "I am Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the end, the first and the last." 06:28 Let me see if I can help make sense out of all of this to you, 'cause you're still not getting it. Genesis, 06:32 Revelation. In Genesis 1:1, the heavens and earth were created. In Genesis 21:1, the new heavens 06:41 and the new earth were instituted. In Genesis 1:10, the sun was created. The seas were created. 06:49 But in Genesis 21:1, there are no more seas. Why are there more seas? Because the Tree of Life 06:55 will be restored with water that flows from the throne of God. You see, friends, 07:00 it didn't rain in the Garden of Eden. Plants were watered from beneath the earth. 07:06 The water in the Garden of Eden flowed out of rivers. This river that flows 07:10 from the throne of God is the same water that Jesus told the woman at the well that if she drank it, 07:15 she'd never thirst again. In Genesis 1:26, the sun and the moon were created, but in Revelation 21:23, 07:23 there is no need for the sun or the moon because there is no day nor night. But there's just one eternal day. 07:32 Because the glory of God illuminates the New Jerusalem. Its lamp will be the Lamb, Jesus Christ, 07:38 who is the Light and does always with all darkness. In Genesis 3, 14 through 17, man is cursed. 07:45 Woman is cursed. The serpent is cursed. The ground is cursed. But in Revelation 22:3, there is no more curse. 07:55 In Genesis 3:17, sorrow and pain begin. But in Revelation 21:4, there are no more tears. No more pain. 08:05 In Genesis 3:19, death enters human history, but in Revelation 21:4 there is no more death. 08:15 In Genesis 3:24, man is driven from Paradise, but in Revelation 22:14, man is returned to Paradise. 08:27 I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to going to heaven. I don't know about you, 08:32 but I'm looking forward to seeing my Jesus. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward 08:37 to no more car notes, no more house notes, no more sickness, no more pain, no more cancer, 08:45 no more arthritis, no more diabetes, no more Ebola, no more Isis, no more death. 08:52 Is there anybody outside of me that's looking forward to heaven? [Aud. reaction] 08:57 There is so much that could be said about heaven, but quickly I'm just going to say this: 09:02 Heaven is a real place. Heaven is a real place. Don't you let these atheists and evolutionists 09:14 get the best of you. Heaven is a real place. Because why would God take all the time and 09:21 the trouble to create a new heaven and a new earth if there was no going to be anyone to live on it? 09:26 Heaven will be Eden restored. The day will come when the original Paradise that God intended 09:32 for us to be a part of will be restored. Adam and Eve were not placed on a cloud, 09:38 but they were placed on the earth. The New Jerusalem is not a cloud floating in space, 09:45 but the New Jerusalem comes down to planet earth. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled. 09:52 Ye believe in God, believe also in Me. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place," 09:58 He says, "I will come again." Heaven is a real place. Now, in the text Jesus doesn't go into a lot 10:05 of details about describing heaven, like John does in Revelation 21. But Jesus did say that heaven 10:14 was a place where He was going. That heaven would be a place where He would return. That heaven was 10:21 a place to which He would one day take all the redeemed. Heaven is a real place. It is not some 10:28 fictitious façade. It is not some imaginative island. Heaven is not some pretended place, 10:36 but heaven is a real place. It was Jesus who said in John 6:38 that He came down from heaven. 10:43 It was Jesus who taught his disciples, "Our Father, which art in heaven." Hebrews tells us, 10:48 in Hebrews 8, that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, which is in heaven. 10:53 Luke writes about Jesus' ascension, saying that Jesus was carried up into heaven. Even God Himself, 11:00 in 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray, 11:07 seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven." 11:12 Heaven is not simply a state of mind. Heaven is not an imaginary pie in the sky 11:20 for those who are weak-minded, but heaven is a real place, friends. But what the devil is, is a lie. 11:27 The devil wants you to think that heaven is not real. That heaven is false, that heaven is fake, 11:33 that heaven is phony, that's it's forged, that it's a fraud. And of course, Satan would 11:37 want you to believe this because heaven used to be Satan's home. And because Satan was evicted 11:44 from his home in heaven, the devil is not only bitter towards God, but the devil is bitter toward us 11:50 and bitter toward that place that is no longer his. Don't you know today that Satan is mad because we, 11:58 God's people, are entitled to the home, the place where he was kicked out of in the first place. 12:04 So what better way for Satan and his demons to attack than to whisper lies about the very place 12:08 God tells us to set our hearts and minds towards. This is the philosophy. Some of you know it. 12:15 If I can't have it, then you can't either. You know what I'm talking about. Some young people 12:22 date and you say, if I can't have him, she can't either. If I can't have the job, he can't either. 12:29 That's the same philosophy. If I can't have the house, you can't either. If I can't have the mansion, 12:34 you can't either. If I can't have happiness, then you can't either. If I can't have joy, 12:38 then you can't either. If I can't have walls of jasper and streets of gold, then you can't either. 12:43 That's what the devil tries to throw our way, but the devil is a lie. Because heaven is a place. 12:48 It's a real place. But not only is it a real place, heaven is a prepared place. Jesus says 12:55 in the text, "I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there ye may be also." 13:01 So, heaven is a place, a real place, but it's also a prepared place. Don't you realize, friends, 13:06 that's a compliment to us. Jesus wants to be with us. Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth, 13:14 Jesus the healer of all diseases, Jesus the Savior of the whole world, Jesus the creator 13:24 of the universe has a place just for us. You see, if you're going on a trip, you make 13:31 arrangements before you go. Most people today don't just go anywhere and show up. 13:37 But you call the hotel, you call the folk you're supposed to be staying with, 13:42 you make sure that preparation is made before you go. You don't go anywhere these days unprepared. 13:49 You prepare before you go. Jesus said, "I have gone to prepare a place for you." 14:00 The meaning of this text is clear. Christ has gone before us to prepare a place for us in heaven. 14:10 Heaven is a prepared place. If God could create beauty here, just think what heaven's going to be like. 14:18 [Aud. reaction] If God has beautiful beaches here, imagine what heaven's going to be like. 14:25 If God has wonderful palm trees here, imagine what heaven is going to be like. 14:32 If God has clear water and pink sand here, imagine what heaven is going to be like. 14:40 If God has sweet mangoes here, imagine what heaven is going to be like. If God 14:47 has delicious pineapples here, imagine what heaven is going to be like. If God 14:54 has collard greens, cornbread, macaroni and cheese and fri' chik here, 14:59 imagine what heaven's going to be like. If God has rice and peas, peas and rice, 15:07 aki and salt fish here, imagine what God's going to have in heaven. John says 15:15 in Revelation 21 that there are 12 gates to the city. Three gates to the north, 15:21 three gates to the south, three gates to the east, three gates to the west. 15:28 It's a prepared place. The walls are walls of jasper, gates of pearl, streets of gold. 15:37 Notice, not silver, but gold. Think about it, study your Bibles. We just get caught up 15:43 on streets of gold, but study your Bibles. The Bible makes no mention of silver in the New Jerusalem, 15:48 because silver means redemption, and because we've already been redeemed, there's no need for silver. 15:57 But there is a need for gold. Are you hearing what I'm saying? But then, John also says, and I like this 16:03 in Revelation 21:27. He says, "And there shall in no wise enter in to it anything that defileth, 16:11 neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. 16:18 This means heaven is a prepared place. But heaven is a holy place. Heaven is a true place of true worship. 16:29 There will be no evil in heaven. The residents are the redeemed. Those washed in the blood of the Lamb, 16:34 those made righteous in Christ Jesus, whose names have been written in the Lamb's book of life, 16:39 assuring us that Jesus knows each resident personally. Which means, when we get to heaven you 16:47 won't just be a number. But Jesus knows you by name. If He can know the hairs on your heads, 16:55 surely He can know you by name. Heaven is a prepared place. No more tears, no more death, 17:04 no more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain, no more sinners, no more fear, no more sun, 17:13 no more moon, no more night, no more evil, no more disease or injuries, no more curse. 17:19 Unending fellowship with God. Unending waters of life. Unimaginable beauty, uncompromised security, 17:29 unbroken unity between believers, unlimited holiness, unparalleled size, untold wealth, unending light, 17:38 unrestricted access, unending fruit, unceasing service, unending rain. Heaven is a prepared place. 17:45 But not only is it a place, a real place; not only is it a prepared place, but heaven is a prepared 17:57 place for prepared people. The only folk that are going to be able to experience 18:04 the joys of heaven are those who have made Jesus their personal Savior. The only people 18:11 who will have citizenship in heaven are those who have accepted Jesus' sacrifice on Calvary for our sins. 18:18 The only people who will have everlasting communion with Jesus in heaven will be those, 18:23 according to Revelation 22:14, that have done His commandments. You've got to want to go to heaven. 18:29 Every day someone's asking the same question. Is God hiding His face from our problems? 18:37 Why do bad things happen to good people? Does God really hold my destiny in His hands? 18:45 The Breath of Life Ministry has the perfect answer in a beautiful new book called 18:51 "How Can I Understand the Bible?" This helpful book explores the Bible, its history, 18:57 meaning and impact in a way that will help unlock its powerful message for you today. 19:04 It's your gift free, with your donation of any amount. Contact us at www.BreathofLife.tv, 19:13 or call us at 1 (877) 265-6333. Now, back to Dr. Byrd with a message already in progress. 19:24 I said, you've got to want to go to heaven. I say it all the time, heaven is not a fire escape from hell. 19:32 You've got to want to go to heaven, because heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. 19:38 The man who expects to go to heaven must take the time to study the route that's going to get him there. 19:43 If you wish to dwell in the house of many mansions, you must make your reservations, friends, in advance. 19:52 You've got to want to go to heaven. You've got to prepare to get to heaven. 19:57 Heaven is not a default destination. No one gets to heaven automatically. 20:03 Just because you sit up in Oakwood every Sabbath does not guarantee you 20:07 a first-class ticket into heaven. Unless our sin problem is resolved, 20:12 the only place we will go is our true default destination: hell. [Aud. reaction] 20:19 Just as heaven is a real place, hell is a real place. Heaven is a prepared place 20:25 for God's prepared people; hell is a prepared place for the devil and his angels. 20:30 But when Jesus comes again, God's people will be judged and then they will enjoy eternity 20:36 with God in heaven. Unbelievers will also be judged, but they will spend eternity in hell. 20:42 Heaven is a prepared place, but hell is a prepared place, too. Not every road leads to heaven. 20:51 Matthew 7 is clear. It speaks of two roads. One is straight and narrow, one is broad and wide. 21:00 Christian philosopher Peter Kreeft says, "If all roads lead to the same place, 21:09 then it makes no ultimate difference what choice we make. Our spiritual beliefs," 21:16 he says, "end up being no more significant than ice cream flavor. 21:21 They become strictly a matter of personal preference." Heaven is a prepared place 21:30 for a prepared people. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep 21:41 the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Do not subscribe to universalism, 21:51 the belief that claims that religion is a universal human quality. For all people 21:57 to ultimately end up in heaven, listen to me, would mean God would have to force 22:03 some people to be there. Everybody does not want to go to heaven. Everybody talking 22:12 about heaven ain't going. Everybody doesn't want to be prepared. God does not force 22:19 us to do anything. God has given us the freedom of choice. God has given us the 22:26 freedom to reject His plan, the freedom to spurn His love, the freedom to reject His 22:32 offer of heaven. God didn't have to give us that freedom. In fact, God could 22:38 have overridden our freedom at any time. God's given us this freedom anyway. 22:44 Why? Why would God want to force somebody to be somewhere they don't want to be? 22:51 If you're somewhere you don't want to be, you're miserable. And you make everybody else around you miserable. 22:59 So if everyone ultimately ended up in heaven, God would have to overpower some people's 23:06 will and force them to be somewhere they wouldn't want to be. If everybody ended up in heaven--and 23:13 I don't want you to misunderstand me, because God wants everybody in heaven. He's not willing 23:16 that anybody should perish, but God wants to call everybody to repentance. But if everybody 23:20 ended up in heaven, including people that didn't want to be there, then heaven would be just as bad as earth. 23:25 Universalism denies humanity the right to say no to God, which goes against the power of choice. 23:35 Which goes against the character of our God. You've got to want to go to heaven. 23:44 Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.And so, I'll close with this story. 23:54 The story is told of a young pastor whose son was very sick and not expected to live long. 24:05 Night after night the pastor and his wife would put their boy to bed, and because he was 24:12 terminally ill they would say a prayer, hoping for a miracle. One night the little boy 24:19 looked up at his daddy. He said, "Daddy, what does it feel like to die?" The father, 24:29 sobbing in his heart because he didn't want his son to see him crying, struggled to 24:35 answer his son. So he said a quick word of courage in his mind, put his hand on the face 24:43 of his child, and he looked down at his son. He said, "Son, it's something like this. 24:50 Night after night you go to sleep on the couch, watching your television shows. 25:01 You don't know it, but I find you asleep and so I come, take you and put you in my arms, 25:11 and then I place you in the room I built for you with my own hands. Son, one of these days," 25:20 he said, "you're going to fall asleep here. But don't be afraid, 'cause one day Jesus 25:34 is going to come, wake you up and pick you up, and take you to a special room that He 25:47 has built for you." Jesus told me to tell somebody today, don't give up. Don't give in. 25:58 But I go and I prepare a place for you. And I will come again and receive you until myself 26:06 that where I am, there ye may be also. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. 26:12 With the voice of the archangels and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ are going to rise first. 26:16 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds, 26:18 to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 26:22 Heaven is a real place. A prepared place. A prepared place for a prepared people. 26:35 I put my girls, Danielle puts our girls, we put our girls in Oakwood Adventist Academy 26:45 not because it's perfect. Because if you're looking for the perfect school, don't enroll your child 26:53 'cause you're going to mess it up. But we put our kids there, because I can buy suits, I can buy clothes, 27:06 I can buy cars, I can buy bow ties, I can buy a nice house. But I can't take any of that stuff 27:13 with me to heaven. But what I can take are my children. Because when the world is on fire, 27:24 that car ain't going to mean nothing. That house ain't going to mean nothing. But to have Christyn, 27:33 Caileigh, Carissa, Danielle, myself, and then our firstborn Caylin in heaven 27:42 --that means all the world to me. And Oakwood Academy can't guarantee my children in the kingdom. 27:50 But oh, let me tell you this. When they can stand up here and sing the songs they do, 27:57 when they can stand up here and recite the memory verses that they can, you just don't know. 28:03 I don't send my kids there just for algebra, even though it's good. 28:07 Thank you for joining us for another exciting broadcast. We'd like you to partner 28:11 with us as we offer the Breath of Life to a dying world. All of our sermon titles 28:17 and DVDs can be purchased at www.BreathofLife.tv. Until next time, God loves you. |
Revised 2015-01-30