Heaven - Will You Enter at a Straight Gate?

First, heaven is a real place

John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

John 14:2 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.

John 14:3 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 be also.

Second, heaven is a place of unimaginable joy.

Revelation 21:4 God shall wipe away all tears… there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Third, heaven is a place where everyone can go.

1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Because "God is love" (1 John 4:8), He is longsuffering to toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 But that "any" includes only righteous people--those who believe and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Fourth, heaven is an eternal place of bliss.

"For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

James 4:14 But, heaven’s joys will not end. They will last forever .

Fifth, only the innocent and the obedient, will be in heaven.

Matthew 18:1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Matthew 18:2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,

Matthew 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

The obedient will be there:

1 Peter 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

1 Peter 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Will you and I be there?

Sixth, heaven is a place from which there will be no desire to escape.

Paul wrote, Romans 8:18 "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

There could be no better place to go than heaven--the only other place is hell, wherein is the Matthew 25:41 "everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

Seventh, heaven is a place we can forfeit or gain.

If you forfeit heaven, you gain hell. There is no middle ground; it’s one or the other. Jesus said, Matthew 7:21-27 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven... and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."