What Amazing Rewards Will You Get In Heaven? (This Will Change How You Live Your Life)

those who have trusted in jesus by grace through faith which leads to repentance will get to be in the very presence of god in heaven while the great reward for those people is god's presence we also see that they will be rewarded in other ways one of the ways that followers of jesus will be rewarded is with heavenly crowns in the end these crowns are supposed to point us to the greatness of god and will be used to worship him the first crown we look at today is the crown of life james 1 verse 12 says blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which god has promised to those who love him james wrote this letter to church members who were under extreme persecution those who were under trial those who were under this intense persecution may lose everything this includes their houses jobs family and maybe even life while they may lose everything on earth they will receive a crown in heaven those who finish the race of the christian life when under persecution will receive this crown the next crown is the imperishable crown first corinthians 9 verse 25 says every athlete exercises self-control in all things they do it to receive a perishable wreath but we an imperishable the winners of athletic events received a wreath the problem is eventually the plants used on the wreath would die with some time the crown would be unrecognizable and end up in a trash heap the imperishable crown is for those who finish their life following faithfully after god this crown will never fade away as the perishable wreath crown will we also have the crown of righteousness second timothy 4 verse 8 says henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing we must make clear that the only reason we receive these crowns is due to the grace of god the crown of righteousness is not received merely because we lived righteous lives it is received because we have been changed by the spirit of god now we faithfully wait for the return of jesus those who are faithfully waiting for the return of jesus will receive this crown in heaven next we have the crown of rejoicing while this crown is not mentioned explicitly in the bible many infer that first thessalonians 2 and philippians 4 talk about the crown first thessalonians 2 verse 19 says for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our lord jesus at his coming is it not you in both places the crown is associated with those who love the brothers and sisters in christ around the church of thessalonians loved fellow believers well due to that they were called a crown the last crown that we see is the crown of glory first peter 5 verse 4 says and when the chief shepherd appears you will receive the unfading crown of glory in this instance peter is talking directly to church elders and pastors elders are those who shepherd god's flock this crown is reserved for those who shepherd god's flock on earth faithfully as they wait for the chief shepherd who is jesus to return as we saw there are many types of crowns some will be received by all christians who finish the race such as the imperishable crown other crowns will be received by specific groups of people such as the crown of glory wouldn't that create different classes of christians in heaven [Music] think about a race after a race medals or trophies are given the person in first usually gets the most valuable prize and the person in last usually gets no prize does that mean in heaven some christians will be seen as more valuable than others due to the prizes they receive absolutely not we must look at the purpose of the crowns given the point of these crowns is to point to the greatness of god and will be used in worship to him in revelations 4 we get a sneak peek into the throne room of god there are 24 elders surrounding the throne which represent the 12 tribes in the old testament and the 12 disciples these 24 people represent the whole people of god revelations 4 verse 10 to 11 says the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever they cast their crowns before the throne saying worthy are you our lord and god to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created the people of god are taking the crowns that god graciously gave them laying them back at his feet when they do they sing a song of praise to the king the crowns are not provided to christians to break them into classes in heaven but given as a gift to use in praise to god the purpose of the crowns is to lead to worshipping the only true god of heaven and earth many of us have received rewards here on earth maybe as an athlete we received a trophy or we received a prize for a job we did at work the truth is that in the end those rewards will all fade away yet we have an opportunity to get rewarded for something that will last forever we get a chance to get rewarded with heavenly crowns instead of these crowns sitting on a shelf and getting dusty like many of our trophies and metals do we will be able to use these crowns in worship to the one who never fades away [Music] there are times when i can't help but wonder what heaven will be like the beauty of heaven is beyond our imagination how can you and i begin to even imagine a world where the lord will wipe away every tear from our eyes a place where this thing called death will no longer exist a place where there will be no sorrow no anguish a place where there will no longer be such a thing as crying or pain it's hard to get your mind around heaven because it's very much the opposite of the reality that we face here on earth we're familiar with pain here on earth we're accustomed to tears here on earth people cry when they're in pain people cry when they receive bad news but heaven it's a place that has none of that it's a new reality a divine reality that's centered in and around the presence of god and as glorious as heaven is as wonderful a place as it is it does also lead me to think about hell to me what makes hell such an awful place is the fact that you're separated from god you're separated from the presence of jesus christ you're away from his mercy away from his love and his grace you see what makes hell such an awful place is not the fire it's not the devil but it's the fact that you're separated from god for all eternity a lot of christians they have a hard time digesting the concept of hell or we can listen to messages about heaven all day long but we don't want to hear about the reality of hell well let me tell you what the bible says in 2 peter 3 verse 9 it says the lord does not delay as though he were unable to act and is not slow about his promise as some count slowness but is extraordinarily patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but