SECURING YOUR PLACE IN HEAVEN—John 14:6
Securing your future
Bobby & Freddy best friends/
Bobby asks Freddy, ‘Do you know that you’re going to Heaven?’
Freddy immediately answers, ‘Sure! Don’t you?’
Bobby says, ‘No, not really, How come you know?’
Freddy says, "Well, I figure, I’ll just run in & out & in & out & keep slamming the door until God says, ’For Heaven’s sake, Freddy, come in or stay out!’"
Freddy believed he had a secure place in heaven.
All people want, need & can have a secure place in heaven.
Jesus explained to His disciples the means of experiencing heaven.
Jesus’ disciples/followers know the secret of experiencing heaven.
How can Jesus’ disciples experience heaven?
3 secrets to securing your place in heaven.
A 1st Secret to securing your place in heaven is
ESTABLISH THE WAY(:6)
Explanation:(:6)
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way,...”
There is a way to heaven!
“The way”—One way
Jesus is Our Way Embodied/Personified/Represented/ Manifested
Jesus doesn’t merely point the way—A Prophet...
*He is the way!
Jn. 10:7,9—“Jesus therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”....I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, & shall go in & out, & find pasture.”
Shepherd would construct sheep pen with opening, then would lie down in opening physically becoming the door.
*Admit, Believe & Confess——The Way is Jesus!
Argumentation:
Prov. 14:12—“There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”
Acts 4:12—““And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name[Jesus] under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.””
Illustration:
Man on Moon—Precise point/Space travel/One vehicle/The Way
Application:
?Is your Way Established in Jesus?
?You found the secret of eternal life?
?Is your Place in Heaven Secured?
A 2nd Secret to securing your place in heaven is
ESTABLISH THE TRUTH(:6)
Explanation:(:6)
“Jesus said to him, “I am ...the truth,...”
“The truth”—Source/Origination
Jesus=Truth Embodied/Personified/Represented/Manifested
Jesus—The Word of God—
Jn. 1:1—“In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, & the Word was God.”—Jesus is the word of God!
Jesus is truth. Relationship is needed to know it.
*Admit, Believe & Confess——The Truth is Jesus!
Argumentation:
Jn. 18:37-38—“Pilate therefore said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, & for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, & said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.”
Ps. 25:5—“Lead me in Thy truth & teach me, For Thou art the God of my salvation; For Thee I wait all the day.”
Ps. 33:4—“For the word of the LORD is upright; And all His work is done in faithfulness.”
3Jn. 1:3-4—“For I was very glad when brethren came & bore witness to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”
Eph. 1:13—“In Him[Jesus] you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,...”
Illustration:
Mirage/Heat waves/Appearance of what is real/Truth is —No water in a mirage
2 springs/1 yields pure drinking water/1 yields clear water + poisonous chemicals/Must Establish Truth in order to live
Application:
?Is your Truth Established in Jesus?
?Is your Place in Heaven Secured?
A 3rd Secret to securing your place in heaven is
ESTABLISH THE LIFE(:6)
Explanation:(:6)
“Jesus said to him, “I am... & the life;...”
“The life”—
Gen. 2:7—“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, & breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; & man became a living being.”—Existence
“Life” is more than the sum of our parts...More than mere Existence
Jesus=Life Embodied/Personified/Represented/Manifested
Jesus is truth. Relationship is needed to know it.
*Admit, Believe & Confess——The Life is Jesus!
Argumentation:
Jn. 1:1-4—“In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, & the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, & apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, & the life was the light of men.”
Jn. 5:26, 21—“For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;”....“For just as the Father raises the dead & gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”
2Cor. 4:10—Believers are “always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”
eph. 4:17-18—“This I say therefore, & affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;...”
1Jn. 5:12—“He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”
Illustration:
Blood transfusion/Wrong type=Death & Right type=Life/Hospital matches type/Establish the Life
Man commits spiritual suicide apart from Jesus.
Application:
?Is your Life Established in Jesus?
?Is your Place in Heaven Secured?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Freddy’s idea of how to enter heaven.
Action:
3 secrets to securing your place in heaven are to Establish the...
Way
Truth
Life
CHILDREN’S— ‘Carried’
Plastic(or real for that matter!) turtle.
Tall, smooth freestanding object.
Ask the children how the turtle could get to the top of the object.
Place the turtle on the object.
If you see a turtle on a fencepost you know he had some help getting there.
Jesus carries us to heaven. We cannot go by ourselves.
Presented 06/10/01am to:
Providence Baptist Church
975 Providence Road
Whigham, GA 31797
