John 14:1-4, Hebrews 11:13-16

John 14:1-4 is the beginning of the farewell speech that Jesus gave on the last night of the 33 years He stayed on this earth. There Jesus promised His loving disciples and today to us of the glorious homeland. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
And He also said, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” Even though there is not a single person who has not been troubled after the fall of Adam until now, Jesus has commanded it. “Do not be troubled!”
Life is short. We are sojourners. The world is only a boarding house and not my own. We must live on this earth trembling. When we go before God, what we said and everything we did on this earth will be exposed like a naked body. We will be judged according to those words and deeds. All records from birth to day we leave will remain and cannot be hidden (Hebrews 4:13). Only those who are recorded in the Book of Life will not have a record of their words and deeds. Those not recorded in the Book of Life will all be thrown into the lake of fire. It is an eternal suffering that does not see death.
Peter said to live in fear while living as a sojourner. We must believe with all our heart. It is not enough to believe in the Jesus we learned through writings. We must focus on praise and prayer through the Word of God. We must be careful with words. Those who truly believe in God are people of few words. We must long for our homeland. Heaven is our main food and the world is a side dish. The Word is our homeland (Deuteronomy 8). If we do not believe in the Word, we are people without a homeland. It is a life of a wanderer.

My City of Zion seen from afar
O place divine, my Father’s home.
On journey to my beloved home I miss
I spent another night.
Over the boundless waves of sea
This body may be hurt and torn,
Still here today and ‘morrow somewhere else,
I’ll preach the gospel of the Lord.

At the end of the long and weary path,
I’ll rest peacefully in that garden.
Then all of the wearies and toils I’ve born
Will be known to my Lord.
Journeying through the deserts and wilderness,
This body may grow weary and weak.
Still my Lord Jesus loves me for who I am
And watches o’er me always.

This song is the holy pilgrim’s song that allows people to think deeply about their holy homeland. ‘Homeland’ is the place where one is born and raised, a place where relatives are (Genesis 24:4). To any single person, it is the most precious place, a place where one desires to remain eternally, and a place that cannot be forgotten for even a second. It is the rope that strongly binds man and the foundation of life in man. The Greek term for ‘homeland’ is ‘fatherland’. The true homeland of man is heaven (Hebrews 11:16). The place where we live now is only a current address. After Adam, no one has lived to be a thousand years old. No one continues to live on this earth. David who enjoyed riches and honor confessed just before his death, “God, I thought everything was mine, but it is not” (1 Chronicles 29:12-14). Although it took 6 years and 6 months to construct Solomon’s temple, it took 13 years to construct David’s palace. Though it was a splendid palace, David confessed before his death that the palace was only a ‘house of dirt.’ A house of a sojourner.
Life is a destiny in which you do not know if you are to leave tomorrow or the day after. If God tells you to come tonight, then you must go. We are the descendants of the fallen Adam. We are under the control of original sin, ancestral sin, and the knowingly and unknowingly committed sins of our own. In the time of the Old Testament, a man and woman had to commit adultery to be condemned. But in the time of the New Testament, if one has a lustful heart, he has already committed adultery. If the Old Testament is like a candle, then the New Testament is like a bright electric light. Who can possibly say they are not a sinner?
However, Jesus, through His blood on the cross, has forgiven us of our sins once and for all. He does not even remember any longer. He declares that we are without sin. The righteousness of Jesus has been given to us, and He has recovered us to become sons and daughters of God. He has allowed us to go to heaven. That is why believing in the Bible is the best and greatest blessing. Although we have lived forgetting our homeland, we have found it through the precious blood of the cross. And so we must read the Bible, pray, and stop at nothing to go and listen to the Word.
My hometown is Sariwon, Hwanghae-do. That place is no longer like the old days. The clear brook where I used to paddle my feet and the field that fed the cows with cut grass have changed. Things of this earth all disappear and change. It rots and disappears. There is no everlasting city on this earth (Hebrews 13:14). However, there is an eternal house not made with hands in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1).
That kingdom is a world where everything is always as is. There is no need to eat or drink. There is no need to use the restroom. There is no barbershop, beauty salon, or bathhouse. There is even no need for clothes. On this earth, we cannot take even one step out the door without any clothes on, but there, clothes of glory will cover us (Genesis 2:24).
There is always praise and it is always a joyful place. On this earth, it takes more than ten hours by plane to go from our nation to the United States, but there, the moment you decide you want to go somewhere, you are already there. There are no restrictions on time and place. Angels attend to us (Ezekiel 1,10). We do not age. The flowers of heaven change minute by minute, moment by moment. It does not wither. The most common thing on this earth is dust, but the most common thing in heaven is gold (Revelations 21). The sun, moon, and stars give us great things, but it can also give us harm. That is why food spoils and rots. The sun, moon, and stars are not needed in heaven. Jesus, Himself is the light. There are no changes. We will live with God together forever and ever.
Even if you obsess and lust over the things of this earth, you cannot take even a penny into heaven. I hope that you will do many good deeds with a good heart. It is Jesus’ desire for us to be zealous for good deeds to become a people for his own possession (Titus 2:13-14, Ephesians 2:10).
When Jesus went up to Jerusalem at twelve years old, He spoke with religious leaders. His parents found Him in three days and asked what He was doing, He answered, “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” Heaven is the Father’s house. Our Father is God. That is why the Israelites did not have a family name. They only had a first name. In a world where you can’t even live past one hundred years, why would you lie, curse, swear, and be Satan’s pawn? When we go to heaven, there are many places we can stay. In the world that God created through the Word, it is unfathomable how many stars there are. However, just as a person remembers the names of all his or her children even if there are twenty, God also knows the names of the tens and millions of stars and when He calls them, they answer (Psalms 147:4). It is a world without night, suffering, and cold, a world overflowing with order and harmony, where everything is safe and managed by angels, a world without discomfort, lack of space or unpleasant smells, and a world where diamonds and pearls and 24 gems shine. We must long for that world.

God provided with no lack for the Israelites as they left Egypt and walked in the wilderness for 40 years. Even the best shoes wear out after wearing them for a year, but during those 40 years, the Israelites’ straw shoes and clothes did not wear out. He did not allow them to catch a cold even once. He gave the comprehensively nutritious manna that harmoniously provided nutrients more wholesome than eating vegetables. Just in case it was cold at night, the pillar of fire warmed over 4 kilometers all around and the 2 million people (600,000 strong young men) slept comfortably. He adjusted the humidity so that they would not be thirsty, and He struck the rock and created a river and they were able to do laundry and feed even the animals. Even though they walked every day, their feet did not swell.
My brethren,
If you simply believe, then life in heaven is truly beautiful. It is to the point where you will be taken aback. “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them” (Revelation 21:3). It is a world without tears. There is no difference between being rich and poor, having much and not. There is no sadness from being neglected. It is a world of love itself. Although there are sunspots on the sun, God’s love does not have any flaws but embraces us. There are neither tears nor death. No lamenting or wailing. It is a world of absolute satisfaction and happiness, and things are achieved as we wish. It is an absolute safety zone. That place is heaven, where Father dwells. We must go there. Those who repent of their sins can go. Why can’t we repent?
Do not be greedy on this earth. When greed has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full-grown, it gives birth to death. This world is a shadow. It is the morning fog that disappears when the sun rises. We are all one family of heaven. There is no reason to say we’re good or bad. Not properly believing in God, not concentrating on reading the Bible and praying, and not properly serving are the most shameful things. If we keep busy with only worldly affairs while we are healthy, then how will we face God after getting ill? Let us devote ourselves while we are healthy.

How many years has it been away
from home,
I count the years in my hand.
Through the fleeting years away from home,
my youth has withered.

As forlorn as a floating weed,
My life seems astounding even to me.
I open the window to look yonder,
and the heaven seems farther.

How I miss the willow in my homeland!
How green will it be again this spring!
How long ago was it
When I used to tootle on a reed pipe!

Though as foreign as it may be
Once attached it’s called my home
Doesn’t matter whether I come or go
I shall always have a home

‘Away from home’

Our life on this earth is like floating weed for frogs. It is astounding. It is pathetic. So each time we open our eyes, let us pray that we may live a life that pleases God (2 Corinthians 5:9). Doing what pleases God is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). If we live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way, all good work will bear fruit (Colossians 1:10).
Apostle Paul lived this kind of life. He thought, ‘How can I please God today?’ He lived and ran according to the Word in the race of faith. When hearing his confession, our hearts are touched with a resolution that ‘I must live like that also.’ God forgives our sins committed unknowingly. All we have to do is to pray for forgiveness, and yet why don’t we pray? Just as parents cover their children’s sins and prevent others from knowing, God also tells us, “You have no sins. I have forgiven you by My Word. Do not worry.”
As those who have been forgiven of their sins, we cannot condemn others. We will be judged according to every careless word spoken (Matthew 12:36-37). When I curse and swear others, the cancer cells within me grow. I hope we do not speak ill of others and compliment instead. Even though we say we believe in God, because our bodies live on this earth, we tend to have more thoughts of the flesh. And so I hope that we become fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters who pray that our parents, wife, and children will become people of heaven and go to the Fatherland. When the Lord says, “I am coming quickly,” do not fear. Rather, I hope we will boldly confess “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). The Lord is certainly coming. Just as a rotting straw rope breaks, our flesh will disappear and we will enter heaven. It is only a moment until then. God says not to forget that a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. As the sons and daughters, people of God, powerfully advance and advance to enter into the homeland of glory with the Word. I pray in the name of the Lord that we will not retreat, not be lazy, but will become God’s own possession with diligence in completing our duties.

October 23, 2011 Lord’s Day 2nd Service Sermon