Hope When You Are Defeated – Part 1

Swing we get to heaven will be no more memories. Everything is going to be made. You are some of us that longing for that new day when living in the life and Graham launches a weekly message from God's word this week and continues her messages in the book of Revelation you missed any of her messages in the series to this you can hear them at an Graham lot stock or it's been an incredible series with and introducing us to this amazing chronicle of God in this vision of his glory. God's revelation of Jesus Christ today and is in Revelation chapter 21 with her message. Heaven is a safe place. Love Revelation 21 and 22 Rolling Way to end this book. So before we have the messages prayed with a place father we come before you and we want to praise you and thank you for the end of the story all our beloved Genesis. We love the songs and we love the Gospels and we love the precious book of Ephesians, but where would we be without Revelation, we would have no real hope we wouldn't know where were going, we wouldn't know what the next of everything's going to be silly.

Thank you for Revelation. It just spells it out for us and gives us a glimpse of the final days of human history when it's all going to be summed up in Jesus, so always, thank you for the living hope we have in the resurrection. We thank you for the living hope we have in Jesus and the fact that he's coming he's going to take charge and he's coming in one day we're going to see him face-to-face and were going to live with them forever. The Lord we ask that you might breathe your life into these verses and into these this passage in that we might be encouraged to claim the hope that you offer us as we look homeward, so blesses now we pray Lord we ask that you poured out upon this we know we don't deserve it but were going to boldly claim asking for it. In Jesus name and for his glory. Amen. I love to think about going home and I don't know what home brings up dear mind you know if it's for you were raised as a child or pet's place. We went earlier so I don't know what you think of when you think of as home and of course on living in Raleigh right now, but sometimes I think of home is where I was raised right across the valley and what I now call my father's house and wonderful place but really for the believer is heaven's needs were just pilgrims passing through. This is not our home, and I love the story, and it's what I've told so many times before but it's a true story about Samuel Morrison and he was the missionary to Africa had been there for 25 years and he was retiring from the mission field. He was traveling home from Africa on the same ocean liner that Pres. Teddy Roosevelt was traveling on Pres. Roosevelt up in Africa for two weeks on a safari so there on the same ocean liner may come into the New York harbor and New York harbor the pier is just covered with people that all poured out to welcome Pres. Roosevelt home so their balloons are bobbing and flashbulbs popping. Remember those days where flashbulbs popping in bands that were playing in present. Roosevelt stepped off the gangway and there's just this thunderous applause as everybody welcomes Pres. Roosevelt home Samuel Morrison steps off the boat on that same gangway and nobody noticed he walks down it and nobody calls his name walks to the crowd he has to work his way through. He stands on the curb, he can catch a cab because there's so many people they earned. He said he was just complaining in his spirits.

God, Pres. Roosevelt has been Africa for two weeks killing animals in the whole world welcomes him home and I've been in Africa 25 years serving you and there's nobody here to welcome me at all and God just whispered in his heart. He said my son, you're not home yet we're not home yet but when they were going to be in the apostle John.

You member's testimony when he saw the miracles and saw Jesus healed people and walk on the water and raise the dead, so I'm crucified himself raised from the dead, and some ascended into heaven.

John says, saw heaven opened, and then he gives us a glimpse of what he saw so exciting turned to your Bibles to Revelation chapter 21. If you haven't already and we're going to look homeward, focusing on heaven. In chapter 21 in heaven is a prepared place you know Jesus Abaddon John 14 remember, let not your heart be troubled when you see the world falling apart in your life is unraveling and you're in that vortex of darkness and confusion and evil and you don't know which end is up. Let not your heart be troubled you believe in God you believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms that were not so I would've told you but I'm going to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you will come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also. That's what Jesus said so in chapter 21 John says, then I saw were the same as it saw all the things we share this testimony, a new heaven and a new earth, and this is after all that stuff. Earthquakes mount splitting into cities disintegrating people crying for rocks to fall on them Jesus coming back and taking the Antichrist and the false prophet dropping them into hell and then speaking the word everybody else drops dead, you know, followed by the armies of heaven. So after all of that smoke of battle clearing all the dead people you know being removed and now a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and that was no longer any sea.

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Our heavenly home is a prepared place. Jesus said he's preparing it, and the Scripture says it is being prepared and it's been prepared with love and I thought about this several years ago I been to India multiple times. One of the times I came in which drip but anyway, I made the point to go to New Delhi and drive down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and a lot of touristy kind of person.

But that was something I wanted to see am so glad I went down there. It's maybe the most beautiful, exquisitely beautiful building I've ever seen and I know now it's disintegrating in their losing it because of all sorts of things, but it's still beautiful carved out of white marble and it's inlaid with semiprecious stones.

It sits on on red sandstone platform. The minarets of the corners that platform that point up to the heavens and got reflecting pools all around the it's just spectacular is like a jewel and it was built by an Indian maharajah for his wife. He was so in love with his wife that he built this as a tomb in which to bury her, and he had only been married for 14 years and it took him 21 years to build over 20,000 skilled craftsmen to create this tomb for his wife to whom it only been married for 14 years now sitting in a coffee shop house looking out the window at the Taj Mahal and I was just thinking about and I'll let you know if the pagan Indian prints could build something like that as a testimony of his love for his wife to whom it only been married for 14 years, put his chief preparing for his Brad to whom he's going to be married forever and ever and it hasn't taken in 14 are 21 years it's taken him over 2000 years. At this point, and the Bible says is not seen and ear is not heard in your mind can't even comprehend. We can't possibly even imagine what Jesus is preparing for you and me and it comes out of his heart of law for you seeing everything you're going through here and just enjoying you know every moment of preparing something for you to make up for all the things you not had down here making up to you all the things you've given up in his name the things that have been denied you and just enjoying think with anticipation of the day when you walk through and you see what's been prepared for you is prepared. This passage says is a bride for a broad Roman you I was abroad somehow didn't grasp this until I had two daughters who are brides and what I found out that is that bras are prepared and detail, and the first detail is they choose the groom and I have to say Mark did pretty good job on that trainer. So I was a good choice.

Then they choose the wedding day and then the place is going to be married and then the people that are going to be there attendance and then comes a huge day when the bride selects her wedding gown and it can be short or medium length along the white or candlelight or pink on the coming different things down. The veil can be your fingertip or longer chapel lengthen flowers you go interview the floors the flowers can be all these big cats with free stands in the wrap stems or maybe no stems or maybe a big trailing bouquet and then you have flowers in the sanctuary. What kind of flowers you have reception reception. You know the food that you're going to serve it will be a dinner or tea or dessert or what what kind of reception and then comes the invitation list who's going to get invited who's not going in is just detail detail detail. I never go to wedding singly after I had the two girls who got married because you know that everything you're looking at somebody is thought of and adjust details and heaven is prepared in detail like that for you for you as though nobody else was coming home but you it was so sweet. Since mother left and that it had some staff that look after him and one of the things my daddy had started doing what he knows I'm coming home. Even if I came home and I was before my husband had his issues. I was going home several days at least every month several days to spend with daddy. But the matter if I was coming up every other week in my room at home would be evasive for fresh flowers and then there be a Notes on the desk that said, in daddy's handwriting had Parkinson's and he could hardly write but I can understand the skullcap every one of these papers. Welcome home and I love you. And then I go down the kitchen and on the counter. There's a little silver tray has my favorite Starbucks coffee on it and mother's little china mug that I like to drink out of and I go in the refrigerator and there is a kind of yogurt that I like to have for breakfast and in my daddy hasn't gone shopping for that buddies told the people what to get any and have it for me and so daddy wanted me to know when came home and I walk through that door. I know that have been expected them welcomed because on the father's job. Now when we get to heaven.

Jesus has prepared it in love any detail for you and he knows the colors that you like the best. He knows the landscape you enjoy looking at if you're beach person amount personally like the flat country. He knows who you want to be with the music you enjoy listening to and he is preparing heaven in detail out of his heart of love for you so that when you walk through those gates and you come in they have and you will know he's been expecting you. He's prepared for you.

You're welcome to because you're the father's child and you've come home. Isn't that precious. You can look homeward, knowing that heaven is a prepared place for you if no one else was going to live there.

He's going into that much detail they have it prepared just for you heavens normally prepared place.

Heaven is a perfect place verse one. He says in heaven will be no more sees and first time I read that I thought her, you know I love the beach and I like to lie out on the beach in the sun, I like to walk the beach early in the morning.

I like to stick my feet a little afraid of the great big waves.

For some reason another sharks on the Regatta costar to go to deep in the water but I love to watch and I love to watch the waves come in. I love to feel the sea breeze and is just something about the awesomeness of the ocean that just I just love so I had a little hard time with that verse because I don't know about heaven. If there no more sees, so maybe in my mansion there could be at least the beach you know and then I thought maybe that's not what it means may be in mean something else because I thought you know sees separate continents from each other and nations from each other and families from each other and people from each other so maybe it means when we get to heaven will be no more separation from each other like that no more separation from those that you love you separated from that you love.

Maybe because of distance or death. Or maybe there's something else now began to think what separates us from each other down here and saw made a little list.

In heaven there are no hard feelings there no hurt feelings. No slander or lies. No misunderstandings or critical spirits, no death or divorce. No business trips or military deployments. No contagious diseases no diseases no fires or floods. No racial prejudice. No political parties.

No denomination, no religions, no typhoons, no prisons or Gullah. Nothing that separates us ever again, so maybe that's what it means within no more sees no separation from those that we love knowing of course that those that we love have God in Christ. You understand, no separation, no scars verse one and verse five says that I'm making everything new the home that we live in Raleigh is about 75 years old and there are so many things that go wrong with the house at age you know and even if I get it all fixed up.

There are dents in the woodworking cracks and places in the towel and I just can't fix even if I paint and try to patch it still has wear and tear, just the signs of age and landed earth is like that is just showing signs of age. I think human life is like that and after a while we just show signs of age and we can bear scars you have scars on your heart scars in the memory have talked to multiple people like this, but one that I'll just reference because it gets across the point that I'm making a woman years ago who came up to me after a spoken's shed tears coming down her cheeks and she said and she said when I was raised I was abused by my brothers and my father grew up to be a very angry immoral person and then I got married and had children, not abuse my children and she said somebody shared the gospel with me and I found out that Jesus loved me and he would forgive me of all of my sin something to the cross and on though I'm forgiven, but then she said, and the tears were just coming faster what to do with the memories and I didn't exactly know what to tell except that I know you can fill your mind with Christian music you can memorize Scripture. You can rebuke the demons who try to bring those memories back. But I do know this when we get to heaven will be no more memories like that everything is going to be made. You are some of us that long for that new day.

Don't worry, no more scars on her harder scars on her mind or scars on her emotions and beckoned that Chris will know and tell your story that my mother told me that I just love because we have scars and we have things that have happened to us in wounds that we bear and she told me a true story up in the Highlands of Scotland that these fishermen are gone out fishing and they came in the evening and they were in a little pub and they were talking about the fish the bed caught that day and one fisherman was describing the fish that got away sorry they ordered their drinks and he threw out his arms like this to describe the fish that he caught away and when he did the little barmaid was coming with a tray of drinks and his arm flew out and it hit the tray of drinks and the drinks went flying against the whitewashed wall and and they heard this crash of glass and all this stuff dripping down the wall and and everybody looking at the ugly brown stain that was on this whitewashed wall and so people just froze for a moment just looking all of a sudden at what happened and before most people could move this man in the corner jumped up and he reached in his pocket he pulled out a piece of charcoal and he began the sketch around this ugly brown stain any transform the ugly brown stain into this magnificent stag was running across the Holland meta and then he signed it underneath and his name was Sir Lanphier.

He was Great Britain's foremost wildlife artists I have one of his drawings is unoriginal, but hanging in my house of a stagnant. My mother gave me an illustration is that you can have an ugly brown stain in your life. But when the master artist gets hold of its then he can turn it into a masterpiece of his grace. So what is ugly brown stain would you surrender it to him to submit it to him and ask him the Trent unit. He can use it so that your minister to others who perhaps have those same types of brown stains.

He can deepen your compassion. Soften your heart so I don't know what it is but I know when we get to heaven.

The going to be no more ugly brown stains. Everything is made you is no separation and no scars and is no suffering have to read verses three and four and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now the dwelling of God is with man, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Praise God. There is coming a day when nobody no more pain, no more suffering no more tears. What do shed tears over what makes you cry on your pillow at night and what where you suffering physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, having a be no more suffering or things that cause our sufferings are again made a list you might make your own list but of course no more death or pain, no more betrayals no more hospitals, no more funerals, no more walkers or wheelchairs.

No more grief no more broken homes are broken hearts are broken lives are broken hopes.

No more famines and starvation.

No more physical handicaps or muscular dystrophy or blindness or lameness. No more deafness no more diabetes. No more heart disease, no more renal failure, no more paralysis no more cataracts, no more strokes no more cancer. No more aids. Just fill in the blank. Nothing ever again.

That would cause you to suffer. It's all going to be wiped away, and I love the tenderness of God the father getting up off of his throne and coming over and wiping the tears from your cheeks and say my child your home, your say will be no more suffering here so heaven is a perfect place you can look homeward, knowing that it's prepared for you. It's perfect in its permanence is built to last verse 15 the angel it was speaking to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls and I will give you the measurements but I think two things here. I think one.

It's implying that if you could go to heaven right today it somewhere in the universe, and you can walk it off so it's a literal actual physical place.

Okay this is a division of fantasy a dream of William, this is a real place in this angel was walking it off. If we take the measurements of the angel gave then it's a city that's 1500 mi.², so it would stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rockies from Mexico to Canada and it's as wide and long as it is high, so it's a Q and if there were 20 billion residents of heaven was a knock at her because Rob not this point are not that many people live in the history of the human race. And we know him. Not all were going to heaven anyway so what if there were 20 billion residents of heaven. Every resident would have 75 acres there herself or himself, and that still leaves rooms for public parks and buildings and streets and so that's what Jesus said in my father's house are many rooms. Many mansions it's a great big plays. It'll never be overpopulated so you can feel free to invite every member of your family and every member in your neighborhood and I remember in your city and you to share the gospel freely because everyone is invited to come live in heaven forever great big plays and as John begins to look at it.

The angel takes him.

In verse nine. One of the seven angels and this is one that had the seven bowls. Can you imagine what a joy this was of angel.

After pouring out those bowls of wrath. Now look what he gets to do. He came and said to me I'll show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain grade and have any showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, is shown with the glory of God and his brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. In other words, it look like an diamond whole city had a great high wall with 12 gates, and it goes down in verse 17.

The wall is a great high wall that goes around the city. That's 1500 mi.² and the wall is 200 feet thick. So the first thing that catches John's attention is this incredible wall made out of something that looks like jasper looks like a diamond, but it's huge. It's magnificent so one of the things is telling us is that heaven is spectacular, but I think that is telling us something I think is telling us that heaven is playing now. Here's a man with this final word, every person born into the human race. No matter how wealthy, powerful, or knowledgeable, he or she becomes, no matter how small or insignificant, he or she feels will ultimately be defeated by death. Death is the great equalizer with the vision of the glory of Jesus gives hope to you when you're defeated by death. It gives hope to you because you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ. Your name is been written in the Lamb's book of life, the vision of his glory gives you hope because it reveals that this world is not your home that death does not have the final word that one day your faith will become site and you will see the gates of pearl flung open for you and then best of all, you will hear your king say welcome you are safely you can hear living in the light with and Graham wants weekly and for ways to experience the God filled life as you pursue your personal Bible study go to Engram lots.org to help you get started with free resources you can use and share with others join us here each week for living in the life