1. There was a scholar named Wilbur Smith who read all of D.L. Moody’s sermons. He said: "Mr. Moody probably preached on the subject of heaven, with different emphases, more frequently than on any other one subject in his long ministry."
2. The great evangelist said this: "If I were to go into a foreign land and spend my days there, I would like to know all about it; its climate, its inhabitants, their customs, their privileges, their government. I would find nothing about that land that would not interest me."
3. Consider this: 100 years from now each and every person here today will be in either heaven or in hell. And if you are going to spend eternity some place you should try and find out as much as you can about that place.
4. And heaven certainly is a real place. No one can read John 14:2 and 3 without realizing that.
5. Another great preacher, a friend and contemporary of D.L. Moody, was C.H. Spurgeon. He started his own Bible college and one time he said to his students: "When you speak of heaven, let your face light up, let it be irradiated with a heavenly gleam, let your eyes shine with reflected glory. But when you speak of hell…well, then your ordinary face will do."

I. THE ANTICIPATION OF HEAVEN.

1. I heard about a man who was a backslidden Christian, and his only child died. This man had been cold for sometime, rarely attending church, and he seldom read his Bible.
2. But after his son died he started reading the Bible. His wife, who was a godly Christian, saw him pick up his Bible and start to read it. He would read it for a long time, stopping on occasion to mark some verse.
3. Night after night he would read the Bible, occasionally stopping to mark a verse. Sometimes he would stay up reading till the wee hours of the morning. His wife wondered what it all meant but she was so glad to see him reading the Bible she said nothing about it. She was scared that if she said anything he might stop and go back to his old ways.
4. At last her curiosity overcame her and one morning after he had gone off to work she took his Bible and started turning the pages. She soon discovered that he had marked only those verses bearing on heaven.
5. Then it was all plain to her. While their sweet little boy was with him he did not care about heaven. To him heaven was vague and distant and misty.
6. But now that his only child, his darling son was up yonder in heaven, this broken-hearted father was trying to learn all he could about that place to which he had gone.
7. I hope it will not take the death of a loved one to get you thinking about heaven. Heaven is real, and the Bible has much to say about heaven. In addition to anticipation, there is also preparation.
8. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2). But what about you? Are you prepared?

II. THE GLORIES OF HEAVEN (REV.21:3,4).

1. To find out about the particulars of heaven, we must turn to the book of Revelation, where heaven is referred to at least 56 times.
2. There we discover many wonderful things about heaven: no tears in heaven (21:4), no death in heaven (21:4), and no pain in heaven (21:4).
3. As we read on we see the brightness of heaven (21:10,11), and great walls made of jasper, and the foundations of the wall are garnished with all manner of precious stones (21:12-19).
4. And the twelve gates to the city are twelve pearls, and the streets are paved with pure gold (21:21).
5. As beautiful as this sounds, this is not what attracts us to heaven.
6. Let me illustrate: I could tell you about my home. I have a big back-yard, and a nice office in my basement, and a lovely family room, etc. But beloved, these things are not what makes my home sweet and enjoyable. What makes my house a "home sweet home" is my wife and children.
7. And what makes heaven sweet is the presence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (21:3,22).
8. Let’s go back again to John 14:3,4. "I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."
9. So for those of us that are saved, our focus in heaven is not on the location of heaven, or the beauty of heaven or even all our loved ones that have gone on before us. For us the focus will be on the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose from the dead.
10. One of the greatest preachers America ever produced was John Jasper. He was a slave and after God saved him he started preaching. After being emancipated, he pastored the Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia for many years.
11. White people as well as black people from all over the world used to pack into his church to hear him preach. One time he was preaching about heaven and his soul became too full, so full that he could not go on.
12. He had to stop preaching, and he just cried and cried, trembling and shaking. He waved his hand towards the door for the audience to leave, feeling that he could not go on.
13. He turned and staggered away from his pulpit, but all of a sudden he gained his composure and raced back to the edge of the platform. He yelled, "When old John Jasper gits to Hebben and the angel comes and says, ‘John Jasper, don’t you want your robe?’ I am going to say, ‘Yes sir, but not right now. Where is the Lord Jesus?’"
14. "And when the angel says, ‘John Jasper, don’t you want your crown and all the stars in it for the souls you led to Christ?’ I am going to say, ‘Yes sir. I want my crown but not now. Where is the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved me and died for me? I want to see Him first.’"
15. It will be wonderful checking out all the glories of heaven and being reunited with our friends and loved ones, and seeing the angels and Moses and the apostle Paul and John the Baptist…but nothing can compare with seeing our Lord face to face.

III. THE EXCLUSIVENESS OF HEAVEN.

1. Most people have a very shallow, sentimental, and unscriptural concept of heaven. To most people, almost everybody is going to heaven.
2. But what does the Bible teach? (cf. Rev.21:8,25-27).
3. Perhaps there are some here today who have expectations of heaven but are these realistic expectations? Have you been born again? (cf. John 3:7,8,16-18,36).
4. D.L. Moody told a story about travelling from London to Liverpool, and all the hotels were full. But a friend said, "Don’t worry, Mr. Moody, I sent a telegram ahead telling them we were coming." And Moody said that is what we must do – make plans ahead of time, making sure there is a place for us reserved in heaven.
5. This is a message on heaven but many will never get there because of their unbelief. Lost sinner: if you refuse to repent and get right with God, you will hear this sermon a million times in hell.

CONCLUSION:

1. During the Civil War a nurse was binding up a soldier’s wounds, and a short distance away she heard another soldier crying out, "Here, Here!"
2. Thinking that perhaps he was in desperate need, she left the soldier she was attending and ran over to him. "What can I do for you?" she asked the dying soldier, lying on his back on the battlefield.
3. "Nothing, kind nurse," replied the dying soldier. "Nothing, thank you."
4. She went back to binding the wounds of the other soldier, when again she heard, "Hear, Hear!" She ran back and again asked, "What can I do for you?" And once again the dying soldier said: "Nothing, kind nurse."
5. She again ran back to the soldier to complete the binding up of his wounds, when for the third time she heard, "Here, Here!" And for the third time, she dropped what she was doing and ran over to the dying soldier and asked what she could do for him.
6. "Nothing, kind nurse," replied the dying soldier.
7. "Then why do you keep on saying, ‘Here! Here!’" she asked. "Oh, nurse," said the dying soldier, with a smile on his face, "they are calling the roll of Heaven and I am answering my name."
8. Just then with a far-away look in his eyes and that smile of Heaven on his face, he looked up to heaven and said: "Here! Here!" and raised his hand to heaven and died.
9. It is my earnest and fervent prayer that you will answer "Here! Here!" when the roll is called up yonder in heaven.