Speaker 1: Are Heaven and Hell real places?
Speaker 2: And what are they like? Today?
Speaker 1: On Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible Teaching Ministry of
Speaker 1: Rick Warren, we continue his series called Eternal Realities, Heaven
Speaker 1: and Hell. In these lessons, Rick shares what the Bible
Speaker 1: says about heaven and Hell and how you can be
Speaker 1: absolutely certain you'll go to heaven. Well, let's jump right
Speaker 1: in with part two of a message called how to
Speaker 1: be certain You're going to Heaven.
Speaker 2: No one will ever love you the way God does. Now,
Speaker 2: this has to become the foundation of your life. You
Speaker 2: want to know why you got so much stress in
Speaker 2: your life and no stability. It's because you've got a
Speaker 2: shaky foundation. Why you have so much stress in your
Speaker 2: life instead of a sense of satisfaction and a sense
Speaker 2: of significance and a sense of success and stability. It's
Speaker 2: because you're building your life on something that can change.
Speaker 2: I hate to tell you this, but everything in life changes. Everything.
Speaker 2: Relationships change, job change, fame change. One minute you're a hero,
Speaker 2: the next minute you're a zero. The way you look changes,
Speaker 2: and not all and everything that changes, not all those
Speaker 2: changes are good. Would you agree with that? Anybody want
Speaker 2: to give a testimony right now. Yeah, yeah, okay, there's
Speaker 2: only one thing in life that won't ever change. You
Speaker 2: know what it is, God's love for you. It's never
Speaker 2: ever going to change. And so if you want stability
Speaker 2: in your life, you build it on the rock foundation
Speaker 2: of God's love for you, so that then you know,
Speaker 2: no matter what happens. I know, God has not stopped
Speaker 2: loving me. He's going to love me no matter what
Speaker 2: happens in my life. And that gives you the stability
Speaker 2: because it is the only thing in life that doesn't change.
Speaker 2: It has to become the cornerstone, the chief foundational corners
Speaker 2: don't of your life. That's what produces a stable, significant,
Speaker 2: satisfying life. Build it on the rock of God's love. Now,
Speaker 2: some of you, maybe things are going a little shaky
Speaker 2: in your life right now. What do you do when
Speaker 2: you're all shook up? I just thought i'd throw that in,
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. What do you do when you're
Speaker 2: all shook up? Well, look at what the Bible says
Speaker 2: to do. It says, here, come to Christ, who is
Speaker 2: the living foundation of rock, the cornerstone on which God
Speaker 2: builds you know. Two thousand and six years ago, on
Speaker 2: the Easter weekend when Jesus Christ died and rose again
Speaker 2: on Easter Sunday. The Romans were so worried that somebody
Speaker 2: might steal the body of Jesus Christ and claim that
Speaker 2: he had resurrected, so they did a series of precautions.
Speaker 2: Because first what they did is they put him in
Speaker 2: this tomb. It was like a cave, and they rolled
Speaker 2: this huge stone in front of it. It took tons
Speaker 2: of men to move in front of it. And then
Speaker 2: they permanently sealed it with the Roman seal so it
Speaker 2: could never be broken. And then they posted guards outside
Speaker 2: of his tomb, the only time in history they posted
Speaker 2: living guards to keep a dead man in the tomb.
Speaker 2: But they did well. As you know the story, Easter
Speaker 2: Sunday morning, the angels show up at the earthquake, Light come,
Speaker 2: Lightning comes down. The guys are fall back in a faint.
Speaker 2: The stone is broken, the seal is broken. The tomb,
Speaker 2: the stone is rolled back. Now why was that was
Speaker 2: it so Jesus could come out? No, he'd already left.
Speaker 2: The stone was rolled away not so Jesus could come out,
Speaker 2: but so that the skeptics could go in and see
Speaker 2: that he wasn't there. And that stone, the stone of
Speaker 2: the cornerstone of light, is the stone of God's love.
Speaker 2: You build your life on you, You're gonna have stability.
Speaker 2: Here's the first step, Devin, I got to recognize God's love.
Speaker 2: Nobody's ever gonna love me as much as God does.
Speaker 2: Recognize his love. Here's the second step. I've got to
Speaker 2: receive God's gift. That's the second part of the verse.
Speaker 2: God so loved the world. I recognize his love that
Speaker 2: he gave. There's the gift, his only begotten son. Did
Speaker 2: you know God has a gift for you. You know that's
Speaker 2: why we give gifts a Christmas time, because God gave
Speaker 2: the first Christmas gift. He came to earth. If God
Speaker 2: had wanted to communicate to ants, you would have become
Speaker 2: an ant. If he wanted to communicate the cows, you
Speaker 2: would have become a cow. But God wanted to communicate
Speaker 2: the human beings. So he became one of us, and
Speaker 2: he came into this world just like we all do,
Speaker 2: as a baby. Why because he wanted to scare us. No,
Speaker 2: he wanted to save us. Nobody's afraid of a baby,
Speaker 2: And so he comes as a baby just like everybody
Speaker 2: else did. Now, notice God so loved the world that
Speaker 2: he gave his only begotten son. No, it doesn't say
Speaker 2: he sent a good good man. It doesn't say he
Speaker 2: sent an angel, doesn't say he sent a prophet, doesn't
Speaker 2: say he sent a moral leader, an ethical leader. It
Speaker 2: says he sent his son. He cared enough to send
Speaker 2: the very best. God came to earth in human form,
Speaker 2: and his name was Jesus Christ. And that's why all
Speaker 2: of history is to split into AD and BC. Every
Speaker 2: time you write a date, what's the reference point? Jesus Christ?
Speaker 2: Because God came to earth and it split history into
Speaker 2: AD and to BC. Now why did he come to earth? Well,
Speaker 2: look at what the Bible says. Look at this next
Speaker 2: verse Romans. Look of Romans Chapter three. Out of sheer generosity,
Speaker 2: God put us in rights standing with himself, a pure gift.
Speaker 2: In other words, I can't earn this. It's just a gift.
Speaker 2: It's called grace. Did you know what grace is? Grace
Speaker 2: is when God gives you what you need, not what
Speaker 2: you deserve. If we all got what we deserved, none
Speaker 2: of us would be here. I sure wouldn't be here.
Speaker 2: But God doesn't give us what we need. It deserve.
Speaker 2: He gives us what we need, he says, out of
Speaker 2: sheer generosity. God put us in rights standing with himself,
Speaker 2: a pure gift. He got us out of the mess
Speaker 2: we're in and restored us to where He always wanted
Speaker 2: us to be. And he did it by means of
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. He sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the
Speaker 2: world to clear that world a sin. So why did
Speaker 2: Jesus have to die? Look at the next verse. The
Speaker 2: Bible tells us when we were unable to help ourselves
Speaker 2: at that moment of our need, Christ died for us,
Speaker 2: although we were living against God. Now, let's just go
Speaker 2: back to the basics again. Okay, this is a football.
Speaker 2: Let's go through the basics of life this morning. I
Speaker 2: don't want anybody misunderstandings. Basic number one. Nobody's perfect. Everybody
Speaker 2: want to agree with that. I've spoken to hundreds of
Speaker 2: thousands of people all around the world. I've never met
Speaker 2: a single person in my life who claim to be perfect,
Speaker 2: not one. I don't measure up to my own expectations,
Speaker 2: much less God's perfect standard. Neither do you. So we've
Speaker 2: all made mistakes, we've all blown it. We all things have,
Speaker 2: things we regret, we wish we could do over. The
Speaker 2: Bible says it like this, all of sined, We've all
Speaker 2: done it. We've all sinned. Now. God is not just
Speaker 2: a loving god, he's a just God. That means he
Speaker 2: wants to be fair. And when somebody breaks the law,
Speaker 2: there's got to be a penalty for it. Hey, we
Speaker 2: do this in America. You break man's laws, you pay
Speaker 2: man's penalty. You break God's laws, you pay God's penalty.
Speaker 2: You go out here and your speed down the freeway,
Speaker 2: you're gonna get a ticket. You go shoot somebody, You're
Speaker 2: gonna go to jail. When you break God's laws, you
Speaker 2: pay God's penalty. The Bible says all of sin, and
Speaker 2: it says the wages of sin is death. That means
Speaker 2: I deserve to be punished for the things I've done
Speaker 2: wrong in my life. That's the bad news. Here's the
Speaker 2: good news. Everything you've ever done wrong in life, it's
Speaker 2: already been paid for. WHOA, everything you've ever done wrong
Speaker 2: in life has already been paid for. That's what Jesus
Speaker 2: Christ did on the cross. He took my sin and
Speaker 2: your In fact, all the sins you haven't even committed
Speaker 2: yet the things you're gonna do wrong next week, next month,
Speaker 2: next year, stuff you haven't even thought up yet, all
Speaker 2: those creative ways of sinning you don't even know about yet,
Speaker 2: they've already been paid for. That is called the good news.
Speaker 2: That's what the gospel is. It means it's already been
Speaker 2: taken care of, already paid for. On the back of
Speaker 2: your outline is one of the most amazing verses in
Speaker 2: the entire Bible. I call it the Great Exchange verse,
Speaker 2: and it says this God took the sinless Christ. Jesus
Speaker 2: had never sinned, he was perfect, he was God. God
Speaker 2: took the sinless Christ and poured him all our sins,
Speaker 2: all the stuff we've done wrong. Then in exchange, here's
Speaker 2: the Great Exchange. He pours God's goodness into us. What
Speaker 2: a deal. I like this deal? Anybody else like this deal?
Speaker 2: God says, I'm gonna take everything the Rick Warren's done wrong,
Speaker 2: all his meanness, all his rudeness, all his selfishness, all
Speaker 2: the times he's lied, all the other things. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: take everything Rick Warren's done wrong, and I'm gonna put
Speaker 2: that on Jesus Christ. And he's gonna pay the penalty
Speaker 2: so Rick doesn't have to pay for it. And then
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take Jesus' goodness and put it on him
Speaker 2: so he can get into heaven. You see, here's the thing.
Speaker 2: Heaven is a perfect place, and you're not, and neither
Speaker 2: am I. I stopped batting a thousand a long time ago.
Speaker 2: No sin can get in heaven. If God let him
Speaker 2: perfect people into heaven, he wouldn't be perfect anymore. So
Speaker 2: somebody's got to take the penalty for it so I
Speaker 2: can get in. On Plan B. God came up with
Speaker 2: a Plan B. He said, I'll come to Earth and
Speaker 2: I'll pay the penalty. That way, it's fair and it's just,
Speaker 2: but it also shows my love. At the same time,
Speaker 2: let me tell you, if there were any other way
Speaker 2: for you to get into heaven besides Jesus Christ coming
Speaker 2: and dieing for you, believe me, God wouldn't have wasted
Speaker 2: the effort. He wouldn't have gone through all the effort
Speaker 2: if there was any other way. This is the only
Speaker 2: way you're gonna make it. You can't earn it because
Speaker 2: you can't be good enough. You're not perfect. Yeah, you're
Speaker 2: better in other people, you're probably better than me. I
Speaker 2: have no doubt about that. God doesn't great on a curve. No,
Speaker 2: it's perfection, and none of us measure up. So this
Speaker 2: means that you can't earn your way to heaven. You
Speaker 2: can't work your way to heaven, you can't buy your
Speaker 2: way into heaven. It's just a gift. It's a free gift.
Speaker 2: God so loved the world that he gave his only
Speaker 2: begotten son, He gave the gift to die for us
Speaker 2: so that I can go to heaven. That's pretty good news.
Speaker 2: And that's called grace. I just received the gift of
Speaker 2: God's grace. It's just free. I don't deserve it, never will.
Speaker 2: Now look at this next verse. Since salvation is by grace,
Speaker 2: in other words, you don't earn it, then it is
Speaker 2: no longer by works. If it were by works, grace
Speaker 2: would no longer be grace. Do you know the difference
Speaker 2: between religion and salvation. I'm not talking about religion this morning.
Speaker 2: I don't care what religion you are. Religion is man's
Speaker 2: attempt to get to God. We're talking about salvation God,
Speaker 2: what God did for man. You may be I don't
Speaker 2: care what your background is. You may be Catholic. You
Speaker 2: may be Protestant, you may be Jewish, you may be
Speaker 2: a Muslim background. You may be Hindu or Buddhist or
Speaker 2: Baptist or Mormon or method. This doesn't really matter to
Speaker 2: me what religion you are, because it's not how you
Speaker 2: get to Heaven. See, you can summarize all religions in
Speaker 2: one word. It's the word do to Everybody has their
Speaker 2: own different to do list. And one religion say you
Speaker 2: do these five things, and another one says, no, you
Speaker 2: do these ten things. Another one says no, you do
Speaker 2: these fifteen things, and another one says no, you do
Speaker 2: these twenty things. It's all about do do these things,
Speaker 2: and then maybe God will like you. But the difference
Speaker 2: between religion and salvation. Salvation is all based on the
Speaker 2: word done. It's already done for you. It is a gift.
Speaker 2: It's done for you. When Jesus Christ died on the cross,
Speaker 2: he stretched out his hands and one of the last
Speaker 2: things he said was it is finished. Now. I didn't
Speaker 2: say I'm finished, because he wasn't. He was still alive.
Speaker 2: He had a lot more to do. He's still alive.
Speaker 2: I just talked to him a few minutes ago. He
Speaker 2: said it is finished. What does that mean. It means
Speaker 2: I've paid for all the bad things you've ever done.
Speaker 2: I paid for all of the evil in the world.
Speaker 2: This is what Jesus was agonizing over before he went
Speaker 2: to the cross. If you saw the movie The Passion,
Speaker 2: at the very start, Jesus is in this gold He's
Speaker 2: praying the night before he goes to be crucified, and
Speaker 2: he's just in agony. Why not because of all of
Speaker 2: the physical torture he was going to go through, Although
Speaker 2: that was great, It's because he's going to take all
Speaker 2: of the guilt of the world on himself. Now I
Speaker 2: feel bad enough just when I'm carrying my own guilt
Speaker 2: much less yours and Jesus that I'm going to take
Speaker 2: the guilt for the whole world. Every rape ever committed,
Speaker 2: I'm going to take the guilt for it, every murder,
Speaker 2: every committed, I'm going to take the guilt for it,
Speaker 2: every molestation, every wife abuse, every evil thought, every evil action,
Speaker 2: every betrayal, every adultery, every lie, every theft. I'm going
Speaker 2: to take the guilt of the killing fields, and the
Speaker 2: guilt of the Holocaust, and the guilt of the genocide.
Speaker 2: And I'm going to take the entire guilt of the
Speaker 2: world on me. That's pretty amazing. And this is the
Speaker 2: way he says. It's just a gift. It is finished.
Speaker 2: You can't add anything to it. It's only by grace.
Speaker 2: The third step to knowing for sure you're going to
Speaker 2: heaven is to respond to God's offer. Respond to God's offer. First,
Speaker 2: you recognize God's love. God so loved the world. Then
Speaker 2: you receive God's gift that he gave his only begotten son,
Speaker 2: that's Jesus. Then you respond to God's offer to know
Speaker 2: that God's made an offer to you. It's an incredible proposal.
Speaker 2: He says this that whosoever believes in him should not perish.
Speaker 2: That's a pretty incredible offer. Now, did you know that
Speaker 2: there are over seven thousand promises in the Bible from
Speaker 2: God to you. They're like blank checks waiting for you
Speaker 2: to cash and over and over in scripture, God says,
Speaker 2: if you'll do this, I'll do this. With every promise,
Speaker 2: there's a premise, and God says there promises about your finances.
Speaker 2: God says, I'll bless your finances if you'll do this,
Speaker 2: I'll do this. There are promises about your relationships, you're
Speaker 2: marriage your kids. God says, if you do this, I'll
Speaker 2: do this. There are promises about your God says, if
Speaker 2: you'll do this, I'll do this. And with every promise,
Speaker 2: there's a premise. Now, the promise of heaven is whosoever
Speaker 2: believes on him should not perish. Now, I want you
Speaker 2: to notice who this offer is to. There on your outline,
Speaker 2: the Bible says, the free gift of eternal salvation is
Speaker 2: offered to who everyone. Everyone. That means you and me
Speaker 2: and everybody. Look at the next verse. One's nationality or race,
Speaker 2: or education or social position is unimportant. Such things mean nothing.
Speaker 2: Whether a person has Christ is what matters. And he
Speaker 2: is equally available to all. Jesus Christ is an equal
Speaker 2: opportunity savior. It's amazing grace for every race. And God says,
Speaker 2: I don't really care what your ethnic background is. Doesn't
Speaker 2: really matter what your economic background is. Shoot, it doesn't
Speaker 2: even matter what your religious background is. I say that
Speaker 2: you could be Muslim or Mormon, or Jewish or Buddhist
Speaker 2: or Baptist or doesn't really matter. Jesus Christ still died
Speaker 2: for you. Let me give you a real important pointer
Speaker 2: about life. In life. It doesn't matter so much what
Speaker 2: you've been. What you've been does not matter as much
Speaker 2: as what you're becoming. That's what matters in life, not
Speaker 2: what you've been, but what you're becoming. I've been a
Speaker 2: lot of things in life, some things I'm proud of,
Speaker 2: some things I'm not proud of at all. Doesn't matter
Speaker 2: what I've been. My past is past. What matters is
Speaker 2: what I'm becoming right now. Now, Notice, how do I
Speaker 2: accept God's offer of eternal life in heaven. Well, look
Speaker 2: what it says next verse. God says he will accept
Speaker 2: us and acquit us, in other words, declare us not guilty,
Speaker 2: in other words, for all the things I've done wrong.
Speaker 2: If here's the key, we trust Jesus Christ. You might
Speaker 2: circle that if we trust Jesus Christ to take away
Speaker 2: our sins, and we can all be saved in this
Speaker 2: same way. I love this part, by coming to Christ,
Speaker 2: no matter who we are or what we've been like.
Speaker 2: Aren't you glad for that last part? In other words,
Speaker 2: no matter who we are or what we've been like
Speaker 2: for insan, there's only one way you're going to get
Speaker 2: into heaven, it says right there, by trusting Jesus Christ. Trusting. Now,
Speaker 2: what does it mean to trust Jesus Christ, Well, it
Speaker 2: means more, and just know about it. It means to
Speaker 2: trust him. The word there in Greek, the Bible is
Speaker 2: written in Greek, is the word pistevo. It means to
Speaker 2: trust in, to cling to, to rely on, to adhere to.
Speaker 2: It means to commit yourself to. And I begin to
Speaker 2: trust God in every area of in my life, begin
Speaker 2: to trust him with my finances, and I begin to
Speaker 2: trust Him with my relationships. And I begin to trust
Speaker 2: God with my future and my dreams and my ambitions.
Speaker 2: And I trust God with my talent, and begin to
Speaker 2: trust God with my problems. And I learned to trust
Speaker 2: Him in every area. That's what it means to really believe,
Speaker 2: not just a head knowledge. The Bible says whosoever believes
Speaker 2: in Him shall not perish. A lot of people know
Speaker 2: about God, they just don't know God in others. I
Speaker 2: believe in Hitler, I believe he existed, but I'm not
Speaker 2: a Nazi. I believe in Stalin and Kruse eevan Marx,
Speaker 2: but I'm not a Communist. I believe in beIN Lauden,
Speaker 2: but I'm not a member of Al Qaeda. But I
Speaker 2: believe in Jesus. And that's different because I trust him.
Speaker 2: Why because I know him. You don't trust somebody you
Speaker 2: don't know, So you got to get to know him,
Speaker 2: you know. It's the difference between your head and your heart.
Speaker 2: You know. I know a lot of people. I know
Speaker 2: a lot of famous people. For instance, I know Bill Gates. Okay,
Speaker 2: the World's wealth this man. I know Bill Gates. We've
Speaker 2: spoken on the same program together. I've sat on a
Speaker 2: couch and explained the peace plan to him. I know
Speaker 2: Bill Gates, but I don't really know him. It's not
Speaker 2: like he's a close personal friend where you know, I
Speaker 2: know what makes him tick. I'm not on his inner circle.
Speaker 2: I don't know him enough to trust him. That's why
Speaker 2: I have an apple. Just kidding, just actually I'm a
Speaker 2: PC guy. But you know, you don't trust somebody you
Speaker 2: don't know, if you know what I'm talking about. It's
Speaker 2: not like, not like the way I know my wife
Speaker 2: now there, I know that woman. I know her inside
Speaker 2: and out. I've been married to her for thirty years.
Speaker 2: I know what she's thinking before she thinks it. In fact,
Speaker 2: I put words in her mouth she didn't like it,
Speaker 2: but I you know, I put it in her round.
Speaker 2: And so because I love my wife and I really
Speaker 2: do know her, not just know about her. I know
Speaker 2: what makes her tick. In fact, I know what makes
Speaker 2: her ticked. And that's you know, I really know her.
Speaker 2: That's what it means to know God. I know God
Speaker 2: just like I'm talking to you. I talk to Him
Speaker 2: all the time, just like this, and you can't too.
Speaker 2: It's not just for pastors. Anybody can talk to God
Speaker 2: that way, knowing him personally, having a relationship. That's what
Speaker 2: it means to trust God. See, a lot of people
Speaker 2: are going to miss heaven by eighteen inches. They got
Speaker 2: it here in their head, but not here in their heart.
Speaker 2: You can go to church your entire life and still
Speaker 2: miss heaven because you know about God. You may have
Speaker 2: a religion, but you don't have a relationship. God says, no,
Speaker 2: I want you to learn to trust me.
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and
Speaker 1: listening to Pastor Rick's daily Hope. I hope that you
Speaker 1: were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast.
Speaker 1: Right now, here's Pastor Rick with a special message.
Speaker 3: You know, when I started Saddleback Church over forty years ago,
Speaker 3: just a handful of people in our living room, I
Speaker 3: also began writing a simple devotional just for the people
Speaker 3: in our church to help them start each day with
Speaker 3: hope and with truth and with peace that comes from
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ. Well, you know, that little devotional grip and
Speaker 3: grew and grew, and today Daily Hope is one of
Speaker 3: the largest email devotions in the whole world. And each
Speaker 3: day people all around the globe are reconnecting with God's
Speaker 3: promises and finding fresh strength in his word to face
Speaker 3: whatever comes their way. Now here's the best part. It's
Speaker 3: absolutely free. Okay, we don't have any charge for this.
Speaker 3: Every day you'll get a quick devotional read and a
Speaker 3: podcast that you can listen to on the go. Now,
Speaker 3: you know, in a world that's more distracted and uncertain
Speaker 3: than ever, I want to help you start your day
Speaker 3: centered on what never changes, and what never changes is
Speaker 3: a God's love, his unconditional love for you, and his
Speaker 3: promises to you. You know, if you'll just spend just
Speaker 3: a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord,
Speaker 3: it can bring so much more clarity, more purpose, more
Speaker 3: peace to everything that happens in your day, particularly a
Speaker 3: psychologists has said that what you do with the first
Speaker 3: five minutes of your day pretty much sets the tone. So, friend,
Speaker 3: you were never meant to go through life alone. I
Speaker 3: want to personally invite you to just sign up for
Speaker 3: the Daily Hope devotional.
Speaker 2: Do it today.
Speaker 3: I think it's going to bring fresh encouragement to your
Speaker 3: walk in God.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to sign up for the daily devotional,
Speaker 1: it's easy. Just go to pastorick dot com. That's pastorrek
Speaker 1: dot com. Be sure to join us next time as
Speaker 1: we look into God's Word for our daily hope. This
Speaker 1: program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your
Speaker 1: generous financial support.