I'll know I'm home

This is the second sermon in a series entitled Longing for Home. I preached this sermon November 9.

Text: Hebrews 11:13-16

Introduction: As I shared last week, I am the kind of person that likes to be at home. When I graduated high school I went away to college for a year at ETSU. Not far from home but far enough away that I stayed on campus. It was my first experience of being away from home for a long period of time. Now I don’t recall every getting homesick but many times I longed for home. Living in a college dorm is nothing like home. It is a different world! Away from family, living with strangers who often had different values than I had. The dorm rooms were uncomfortable, the noise unbearable, the food inedible. And the temptations were ungodly. It sure wasn’t home. No matter how much I tried to make do, decorating the room with a few things from home, phone calls home it only made me long for home that much more.
I came home most weekends and unlike author Thomas Wolfe who said you can’t go home again, as soon as I pulled in the driveway I knew I was home. Dad would be out tinkering around with one of his old cars and call to me when I got of the car. The dogs would greet me. I would always get home about supper time. Mom might be cooking one of my favorite meals, usually fried chicken, and my mouth would water coming through the door. I would call Wanda or another friend and let them know I was home and we would get together. I was with family and friends, I would sleep in my own comfortable bed, I would go to my home church on Sunday morning. It was those familiar things, the sights, the sounds, the aromas, the warmth that let me know I was home. That is how I knew I was home.
Even when Wanda and I moved back to Coeburn a few years ago, driving down the same old roads, seeing the same familiar faces, those things let me know I was home.
There comes a time in life for many when perhaps you can’t go home again. The old home place is gone, the folks have passed on. But every now and then you take a taste of something that brings back the memories of home, you might hear an old song that reminds you of home, or see an old photo of home. Those things cause our hearts to long for home. It is those things that are familiar.
Last week I talked about how we are not home yet. In the Hebrews text we discover that we are pilgrims and stranger here on the earth. These pilgrims were seeking a better country, an heavenly country, the city of God. But these pilgrims, like you and I had never been there. Heaven is my home, but I have not been there. I have never been home.
My heart yearns for home, like Paul wrote in 2 Cor 5:1-2 1: For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2: For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
but how is that possible since I’ve never been there? Think about that for a moment Christian, We long for a place we have never been. But even though I’ve never been there, when I get home I’ll know I’m home. When these old testament saints sought a better city, they had never been there but knew they were home when they arrived! How will I know I’m home?

I'll know I'm home because I've already had a taste of home
How do you get a taste of heaven? How do you get a taste of home?
1 Peter 2:2-3 2: As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
We get a taste of home when we feast from the word of God!
Psalm 119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
When you taste the word you get a taste of his mercy, you get a taste of his grace, you get a taste of his unconditional love, you get a taste of his forgivness, you get a taste of his glory, you get a taste of his righteousness, you get a taste of justice, you get a taste of holiness, you get a taste of his truth, you get a taste of life, what a meal!
When you taste the word you know the living Word
We don’t have the advantage of John who handled the living word of life
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
1 John 1:1 1: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
But do you realize that when we open the pages of this book we are not just reading a text we are handling the living eternal powerful Word of God and when you taste this word you are getting to know God. Reading your Bible is not just so you will know something but so you will know someone! Reading your Bible is not a religious duty but an aspect of a relationship!
psalm 34:8 8: O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. You will not get to know him apart from the Word of God! Have you tasted?

I'll know I'm home because I've already caught a glimpse of home
Let me tell you a little bit about my home, I’ve never been there, but I’ve seen a glimpse. The Bible gives us a few snapshots of home, more like a brochure to make us want more. Jesus went to prepare a place for us.
-The apostle John gives us a picture of the new heaven and new earth in Revelation.
Revelations 21:2-5a 2: And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3: And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5: And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
Revelations 21:11-22:5 11: Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12: And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14: And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15: And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16: And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17: And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18: And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19: And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones…. 21: And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22: And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23: And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof…. ….27: And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. 1: And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2: In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3: And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. 5: And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
I will know I’m home because I will see Jesus face to face! I’ve seen a glimpse but that is all, a snapshot, but is enough to know that when I get to heaven

I'll know I'm home because I've already felt the warmth of home
The best thing about home is the feeling you get. Maybe I am sentimental, but I like the feeling I get at home. There is no place like home!
1. I’ve felt the peace, Peace that passes all understanding – John 14:27 27: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. As Paul wrote in Philippians, a peace that passes all understanding that will keep your heart and mind
2. I’ve felt the joy, Joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Peter 1:3-8 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4: To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5: Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6: Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: I’ve felt the love, agape love Love – surrounded by those I love and those that love me.