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. And now here's part
Speaker 1: two of a message called the Reality of Heaven.
Speaker 3: Did you know that the Bible says God has stored
Speaker 3: up every tear in Heaven that you've ever cried. He's
Speaker 3: kept a record of it, that your tears, your pain,
Speaker 3: God knows about, he cares about. But when you get
Speaker 3: to Heaven, there's going to be no more sadness.
Speaker 2: That's a good thing.
Speaker 3: No more broken hearts, no more rejection, no more loneliness,
Speaker 3: no more sorrow, no more sadness, no more grief, more heartache.
Speaker 2: That is Heaven. That is Heaven.
Speaker 3: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There
Speaker 3: will never be a split second in the billions and
Speaker 3: trillions of years you'll live that you will have sadness
Speaker 3: or grief again, or depression. Now, those of you who
Speaker 3: are right now going through grief and you're carrying the
Speaker 3: grief of a loved one, or you've been going through
Speaker 3: a period of depression. One of the things that that
Speaker 3: does in our lives is it just makes Heaven be
Speaker 3: a little bit more close. We want to go to
Speaker 3: Heaven when we're in pain. Why because there is none there.
Speaker 3: Not only no sickness, no sadness. The Bible says, no suffering.
Speaker 3: Look at this verse. The Bible says, no more hunger,
Speaker 3: no more thirst, no more scorching heat. You know what,
Speaker 3: when I get to Heaven, my wife and I won't
Speaker 3: have different controls on the thermostat anymore, because we're all
Speaker 3: Why is that that you marry somebody who's so much
Speaker 3: hotter or colder than you are.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: But the truth is there's no suffering. Every one of
Speaker 3: your needs will be satisfied. Not only that, no suffering,
Speaker 3: no sadness, no sickness, no sin.
Speaker 2: Look at this verse on screen.
Speaker 3: The Bible says God will bring you into His glorious presence,
Speaker 3: innocent of all sin and with great joy. Now we
Speaker 3: talked about this last week. Heaven is the perfect place,
Speaker 3: and I'm not perfect, and neither are you. So God
Speaker 3: has to come up with the solution, because there's no
Speaker 3: way I'm getting I stopped being perfect many many, many
Speaker 3: years ago, and you did too. All have sinned, all
Speaker 3: have fallen short, we've all blown it. We're all sinners,
Speaker 3: we've all made mistakes. Nobody lives a perfect life, zip nobody,
Speaker 3: but heaven's perfect. So how can God let imperfect people
Speaker 3: into heaven without messing it up? Well, that's what Jesus
Speaker 3: Christ came to do, to die on the cross and
Speaker 3: pay for all our sins, to wipe it all out,
Speaker 3: to forgive us and to make us perfect inside, so
Speaker 3: that when we go into heaven, he says, we'll go
Speaker 3: innocent of all our sin. One of the things that's
Speaker 3: going to happen is when you see Jesus Christ face
Speaker 3: to face. The Bible says your character.
Speaker 2: Will be instantly changed to be like him. Still going
Speaker 2: to be the same you.
Speaker 3: People gonna recognize you. You're still going to have your personality,
Speaker 3: you're going to be. God would not waste what He's
Speaker 3: put into you. God didn't going to take what he
Speaker 3: made you to be and then turn you into robot.
Speaker 3: When you get heaven, do you understand that you'll still
Speaker 3: be you? And that's why He made you to be you,
Speaker 3: and he wants you to be you not only an
Speaker 3: eternity but here on earth. But he says, your character
Speaker 3: is going to become like Jesus. I don't know about you,
Speaker 3: but I'm looking forward to the moment that I no
Speaker 3: longer have any hang ups, that I no longer have
Speaker 3: any fears. Can you imagine what it will be to
Speaker 3: live no fear, no guilt, no resentment, no worry, no bitterness,
Speaker 3: no anger, no envy, no jealousy, no loneliness, perfection. But
Speaker 3: it's still gonna be you. You'll be a whole lot
Speaker 3: more fun to live with and I will too. And
Speaker 3: when we get to heaven, you come over to my
Speaker 3: house for a million years and we'll hang out, and
Speaker 3: then we'll go over to your place for a millionayears,
Speaker 3: and you know, we'll just it's gonna be fun, man, Okay,
Speaker 3: So it's gonna be great. No sadness, no suffering, no sin,
Speaker 3: and number five, no death, immortality. The Bible says this,
Speaker 3: there shall be no more death, no sorrow, no crying,
Speaker 3: and no pain. All of that will be gone forever.
Speaker 3: For those of you who are living in chronic pain,
Speaker 3: that's good news for those who've suffered with that pain
Speaker 3: in whatever part of your body that you've suffered with
Speaker 3: because your body is not perfect. It is broken here
Speaker 3: on this planet. God says, when you get there, you
Speaker 3: get a new body, you get new emotions, you get
Speaker 3: new character, and there's no death. I'm glad that I
Speaker 3: don't have to live for eternity with my habits and
Speaker 3: my hurts and my hang ups, but all God's gonna
Speaker 3: make me.
Speaker 2: If it were, that'd be hell.
Speaker 3: But God says, no, I'm going to make it all
Speaker 3: perfect and then there'll be no death. Those are five
Speaker 3: things you won't find in heaven. Now I'll look at
Speaker 3: the list five things you will find in heaven. First
Speaker 3: thing you're gonna find in heaven is reunion with every
Speaker 3: other believer and those all those people that I love who.
Speaker 2: Know the Lord.
Speaker 3: When we get to heaven, as I said, we're gonna
Speaker 3: have a party, and we're gonna we're gonna be reunited together.
Speaker 3: The Bible says this, we looked at this verse ear
Speaker 3: This was God's purpose that when the time is right,
Speaker 3: he will gather us all together. There's going to be
Speaker 3: a reunion. He will gather us all together from wherever
Speaker 3: we are to be with Him in Christ forever. Now,
Speaker 3: who's going to be in heaven? Big question, Who's going
Speaker 3: to be in heaven? Well, God, the Father, the Son,
Speaker 3: the Holy Spirit, theyre going to be in heaven. Angels
Speaker 3: are going to be in heaven. Of the Church is
Speaker 3: going to be in heaven. Everybody who has put their
Speaker 3: trust in Christ. And all the believers who were believers
Speaker 3: in God before Jesus came in the Old Testament, who
Speaker 3: we look back to the Messiah. They looked forward to
Speaker 3: the Messiah. The people in the Old Testament were saved
Speaker 3: the same way. The people today are saved by looking
Speaker 3: forward to a savior, and we look back to a savior.
Speaker 3: But we're saved the exact same way. Let me show
Speaker 3: you verse Hebrews twelve. He says, you have come to
Speaker 3: the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. This
Speaker 3: is heaven, and to the gathering. Now notice all the people.
Speaker 3: He mentions, the gathering of countless happy angels. Angels will
Speaker 3: be there, and to the church. Church are going to
Speaker 3: be there, every believer composed of all those registered in
Speaker 3: heaven and to God. Obviously, God's going to be there
Speaker 3: who is the judge of all and to the spirits
Speaker 3: of righteous people made perfect?
Speaker 2: Who's that?
Speaker 3: That's the people born before Jesus Christ, who in faith
Speaker 3: lived and listened and looked forward to the promise that
Speaker 3: God had made. One day, I'm sending a savior and
Speaker 3: to Jesus himself.
Speaker 2: They're all going to be there in heaven. Now.
Speaker 3: One of the most common questions I hear is what
Speaker 3: about babies.
Speaker 2: What about babies who died?
Speaker 3: Friend, They're all going to be in heaven, every single
Speaker 3: one of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you need to know that.
Speaker 3: Why Because we are not responsible for what we cannot understand.
Speaker 2: The same is true of a child.
Speaker 3: Who grows up to full adulthood but does not have
Speaker 3: the mental capacity to understand the love of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3: Now they can understand some sometimes.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's interesting when they first communicated to Helen Keller, who
Speaker 3: was blind and death, and they communicated to her the
Speaker 3: concept of God. She said, I've always known him, I
Speaker 3: just didn't know his name. Isn't that interesting? I've always
Speaker 3: known him in my heart. In fact, often children are
Speaker 3: more in contact with God than we are. They're much
Speaker 3: more sensitive, and that's why the Bible says, unless you
Speaker 3: become as children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of God. Why,
Speaker 3: because kids are humble, they're open to God. We close
Speaker 3: off with our pride and we say no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 3: God says no no. They're gonna be in heaven. Now
Speaker 3: when they have not reached an age old enough to
Speaker 3: understand the difference between right and wrong, good and bad,
Speaker 3: God and evil, and they have known how the age
Speaker 3: of which they could come to Christ and make that
Speaker 3: decision to come to Christ, the Bible says they are safe,
Speaker 3: not saved, but safe. In fact, the Bible says in
Speaker 3: the book the Psalms, the Lord preserves the simple. Now,
Speaker 3: you may have grown up in a religion that taught
Speaker 3: unless the child is baptized before they die, they'll go
Speaker 3: to hell. It's wrong. It is not in the Bible.
Speaker 3: It is unscriptural, and it just is wrong. And the
Speaker 3: Bible tells us very clearly that children who are not
Speaker 3: old enough to make a wise decision, they have not
Speaker 3: come to the age of accountability. They are not old
Speaker 3: enough to understand. End that if they die before they understand,
Speaker 3: before they have a chance to choose Christ, well they
Speaker 3: certainly haven't rejected him because they haven't even chos him.
Speaker 3: And they haven't they don't have enough knowledge to understand.
Speaker 3: They go straight into the loving arms of Jesus. Every miscarriage,
Speaker 3: every still birth, every abortion.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I actually I've had people tell me. You say, Rick,
Speaker 3: why don't you why don't you talk about the babies
Speaker 3: who are boreded more? Well, I tell you why, because
Speaker 3: I'm interested in reaching the people who had the abortions,
Speaker 3: because all those babies instantly go to heaven, but the
Speaker 3: adults don't. And they need to understand the grace of
Speaker 3: God and the forgiveness of God, and the and what
Speaker 3: God has offered to us. We know this many times
Speaker 3: in scripture. Here's an example. David had a child that
Speaker 3: died at birth, and David said this in Second Sam.
Speaker 3: Now that the baby is dead, I can't bring him
Speaker 3: back to life, but someday I will go to be
Speaker 3: with him. If you've had a miscarriage, that baby is
Speaker 3: in heaven. If you've lost a young little one, that
Speaker 3: child is in heaven. The Bible says they are safe.
Speaker 3: The Lord preserves the simple. So the first thing we're
Speaker 3: gonna have in heaven is we're gonna have a reunion
Speaker 3: with these that we love in the family of God.
Speaker 3: The second thing, we're gonna have rewards. Now, there's so
Speaker 3: much material in this, I'm gonna have to come back
Speaker 3: and teach an entire series just on the rewards in heaven.
Speaker 3: You say, what are we going to be rewarded for.
Speaker 2: Everything? Literally? Everything?
Speaker 3: The Bible makes it very clear that God is watching
Speaker 3: everything in your life. You will be rewarded for your
Speaker 3: actions that we're good. You will be rewarded for your
Speaker 3: words that were good. You will be rewarded for your
Speaker 3: thoughts that were good. You will be rewarded for your
Speaker 3: character and your decisions that were good. You will be
Speaker 3: rewarded for your prayers. You will be rewarded for your generosity.
Speaker 3: You will be rewarded for your service. You will be
Speaker 3: rewarded for your sacrifices.
Speaker 2: You will be.
Speaker 3: Rewarded for your persistence in not giving up when you
Speaker 3: felt like giving up, and doing the right thing. The
Speaker 3: Bible says, you will be rewarded for loving your enemies
Speaker 3: and over know every single thing. I wish you had
Speaker 3: time to go into this and show you all of
Speaker 3: the things that God says. You will be rewarded for
Speaker 3: in heaven you will be rewarded for bringing other people
Speaker 3: to Jesus Christ. I want you to have that reward.
Speaker 3: Is anybody gonna be in heaven because of you? I
Speaker 3: want you to have that reward that somebody's in heaven
Speaker 3: because of you. The Bible says that you will be
Speaker 3: rewarded for putting up with criticism, for being a Christian.
Speaker 3: That you will be rewarded for being persecuted as a believer.
Speaker 3: That's why Jesus said, blessed or you. When men shall
Speaker 3: revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of
Speaker 3: evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be
Speaker 3: exceeding glad, for great as your reward is in heaven,
Speaker 3: for soaks persecuted day the prophets which were before you.
Speaker 3: God says, I'm watching it all, and I'm going to
Speaker 3: reward it all. Now, this has nothing to do with
Speaker 3: your salvation. The only way you get into heaven is
Speaker 3: by faith in what Jesus Christ has already done for you.
Speaker 3: You can't get into heaven.
Speaker 2: By your good works.
Speaker 3: But the Bible says that when you're there, you will
Speaker 3: be rewarded according to your good works.
Speaker 2: Let me show you a.
Speaker 3: Couple verses theres I could give you five hundred one
Speaker 3: this if the Bible says, if you even give a
Speaker 3: cup of cold water to one of the least of
Speaker 3: my followers, you will surely be rewarded. I think about
Speaker 3: all the rewards that all the volunteers in our children
Speaker 3: ministry are going to get every time they change a diaper.
Speaker 3: Why don't we just appreciate the children's ministry right now? Yeah,
Speaker 3: every time they give a cup of cold water, a
Speaker 3: Graham cracker, change a snotty nose, or blow a snotty
Speaker 3: nose or whatever God says. I'm writing that one down.
Speaker 3: I'm writing that one down. The Bible says this, look
Speaker 3: on the screen. Love your enemies, do good to them,
Speaker 3: lend to them, and don't be concerned that they might
Speaker 3: not repay. I know this, then your reward in heaven
Speaker 3: will be very great.
Speaker 2: And here's the thing.
Speaker 3: You got to decide where you want your rewards in life.
Speaker 3: You want it in this life or do you want
Speaker 3: it in the next. If you get your rewards in
Speaker 3: this life, the popularity, the wealth, the fame, and all
Speaker 3: that kind of stuff, and that's what you live for.
Speaker 2: How long do you get to use it eighty years.
Speaker 3: You build up treasure in heaven, rewards in heaven, how
Speaker 3: long do you get to enjoy those rewards forever?
Speaker 2: It's just a matter of perspective. Here.
Speaker 3: There's more to life than here and now. And you've
Speaker 3: got to decide whether you're going to live for here
Speaker 3: and now and pleasure and popularity and principles and all
Speaker 3: these things of possessions here on earth, power on earth,
Speaker 3: or are you going to live in light of rewards
Speaker 3: that you get to live in forever and ever. There
Speaker 3: will be rewards in heaven. Third thing that's going to
Speaker 3: be in heaven is responsibilities. You're not gonna sit around
Speaker 3: on a cloud doing nothing in heaven. That's one of
Speaker 3: the reasons why people don't like heaven. They think I'm
Speaker 3: going to be so bored in heaven there will be
Speaker 3: nothing to do. Are you kidding? God is the one
Speaker 3: who wired you, He shaped you. He knows what you're
Speaker 3: interested in. Where do you think you got your interest?
Speaker 3: Where do you think you got your hobbies? Where do
Speaker 3: you think you.
Speaker 2: Got your skills and talents? And where do you think
Speaker 2: your spiritual gift? Heart ability?
Speaker 3: Person on experiences came from They came from God. And
Speaker 3: you think He's only going to use your shape on earth. No,
Speaker 3: he's going to use your shape in eternity. And when
Speaker 3: you will have work in eternity, here's the difference. You're
Speaker 3: gonna enjoy it. Here's the difference. There aren't gonna be
Speaker 3: any heartaches with it. Here's the difference. You're gonna be
Speaker 3: fulfilled one hundred percent. And your role and your responsibility,
Speaker 3: the Bible says, in heaven will be meaningful, it will
Speaker 3: be fulfilling, it will be enjoyable, and you're going to
Speaker 3: enjoy doing it in eternity. Now, what is my responsibility
Speaker 3: and what are my roles going to be in heaven?
Speaker 2: I don't know, but I do know this.
Speaker 3: It's based on how faithful you are with the roles
Speaker 3: and responsibility he gives you on earth. The God is
Speaker 3: watching you and he's testing you. Life is a test,
Speaker 3: and life is a trust and life is a temporary assignment.
Speaker 3: And God puts you on this earth for eighty years
Speaker 3: to see how responsible, how dependable, how faithful, how trustworthy
Speaker 3: are and what are they doing with what they've been given?
Speaker 3: And if you do, you make the most of what
Speaker 3: you've been given, God says, then I'm going to give
Speaker 3: you more in heaven. And if you don't make the
Speaker 3: most of what you've been given, God's going to say,
Speaker 3: then you're going to get less. You make it, make
Speaker 3: it into heaven by the skin of your teeth, but
Speaker 3: you're not going to have the rewards as those who
Speaker 3: faithfully serve God. Now I didn't say that, Jesus said it.
Speaker 3: Look at this verse on the screen, Luke sixteen. Jesus said,
Speaker 3: unless you're faithful in small matters talking about here on earth,
Speaker 3: you won't be faithful in large ones. And if you
Speaker 3: cheat in little things, you won't be honest with greater
Speaker 3: responsibilities talking about in heaven. And if you are untrustworthy
Speaker 3: with worldly wealth, in other words, the money, the possessions
Speaker 3: that God gives you here on earth, who will trust
Speaker 3: you with the true riches of heaven. Did you know
Speaker 3: that the way you manage your money on this earth
Speaker 3: is an acid test of your faithfulness and responsibility, and
Speaker 3: it's going to help determine what you do in heaven.
Speaker 3: Did you know that God is watching to see how
Speaker 3: you not only manage your time, how you manage your relationship,
Speaker 3: how you manage your health, how you manage your intelligence,
Speaker 3: how you manage your network, how you manage your opportunities,
Speaker 3: but how.
Speaker 2: You manage your money.
Speaker 3: All of a sudden, now money management becomes more than
Speaker 3: just Oh, that'd be a nice thing to do so
Speaker 3: I could get out of debt. God said, I'm watching
Speaker 3: to see what can I trust you with when you
Speaker 3: get to eternity. And if I can't trust you with
Speaker 3: worldly wealth, you're always in debt. You can't afford to tithe,
Speaker 3: you're not generous, God says, what do you think I'm
Speaker 3: going to trust you with an eternity. That's why thirty
Speaker 3: two years ago, I begin learning to be generous more
Speaker 3: and more every year. You see, I've told you this
Speaker 3: story before. But let's say if in December of this year,
Speaker 3: the United States made a decision that we're no longer
Speaker 3: going to accept dollar bills in America, We're switching to
Speaker 3: Japanese yen, and after December, you can only buy things
Speaker 3: and sell things in Japanese yen's dollars will be useless. Now,
Speaker 3: if you knew that that transition was going to happen,
Speaker 3: if you were a smart investor, you would really do
Speaker 3: something right away. You would transfer as much of your wealth,
Speaker 3: as much of your portfolio, as many of your possessions,
Speaker 3: whatever money you had in the bank account or anything
Speaker 3: you've got, you would switch as much of it as
Speaker 3: you could into Yen immediately and only keep just enough
Speaker 3: to make it through to December, because you're going. You know,
Speaker 3: after December, everything I've gotten dollars is worthless. That's exactly
Speaker 3: what God is saying about heaven. You can either store
Speaker 3: it up here on earth, or you can store it
Speaker 3: up in heaven.
Speaker 2: And how do you store it up in heaven.
Speaker 3: By investing it in people who are going there. And
Speaker 3: that's why today, after thirty two years of marriage, can
Speaker 3: I give away ninety percent and live on ten percent?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 3: Because I have been storing up in heaven for years.
Speaker 3: You're gonna have a little dinky cabin next to my mansion.
Speaker 3: Just kidding, But the truth is, for thirty two years
Speaker 3: of marriage, I have been putting it into my eternal
Speaker 3: bank account, which by the way, gets a lot better
Speaker 3: returns than the stock market. Because God says, whatever you
Speaker 3: give up for me, I will restore one hundredfold. Do
Speaker 3: you know what that says? That in the scriptures Jesus
Speaker 3: said it. Do you know what one hundredfold is ten
Speaker 3: thousand percent interest? Name me an investment that gives you
Speaker 3: ten thousand percent interest.
Speaker 2: I'm saying, be smart.
Speaker 3: You need to decide where am I gonna invest my time?
Speaker 3: Where am I gonna invest my life? Where am I
Speaker 3: gonna invest my money? Because I'm either gonna get rewarded
Speaker 3: here on earth I'm gonna get rewarded in heaven.
Speaker 2: It's your choice, he said.
Speaker 3: There's reunion, their rewards, their responsibilities. Life is a test,
Speaker 3: it's preparation for eternity, and God is watching every single
Speaker 3: decision you made to see if you're faithful, if you're trustworthy.
Speaker 1: That was such an encouraging message from Pastor Rick. And
Speaker 1: now to encourage us more, here's Rick with a letter
Speaker 1: from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Friends.
Speaker 3: Today, I want to tell you about a guy named Chris.
Speaker 3: I found out that he shares daily hope with his
Speaker 3: family and his friends and his coworkers as often as
Speaker 3: he can, and then he has seen a ripple effect
Speaker 3: as they all shared daily hope with other people. Let
Speaker 3: me read you a portion of what he wrote to me.
Speaker 3: Pastor Rick, I first encountered daily Hope when a coworker
Speaker 3: forwarded the daily devotional to me years ago. My friend
Speaker 3: was sending the devotional each morning to an email list
Speaker 3: of about fifty or twenty people. By the way, that's
Speaker 3: a good idea for you to do too. And when
Speaker 3: my friend retired from our company, he passed along the
Speaker 3: email group list and I continue the tradition of sending
Speaker 3: the devotionals each morning. That email group grew to about
Speaker 3: thirty five or forty people.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: I recently retired, so I passed the email group to
Speaker 3: another coworker in order that they can continue the ministry.
Speaker 3: Each morning, I wake up, Pastor Rick, and I come
Speaker 3: to my quiet place just to listen and to journal
Speaker 3: your messages for the day. Now, depending on what the
Speaker 3: message is all about, I often forward it to many
Speaker 3: individuals for them to enjoy or to ply it in
Speaker 3: their own personal life and faith journey. My entire family
Speaker 3: now listens to you and Daily Hope ministry, and it
Speaker 3: spreads all over through them as they forward it to
Speaker 3: people in their circles of influence. I can't thank you enough, Rick,
Speaker 3: for all that you've done in my life and to
Speaker 3: strengthen and grow my faith in Christ. Daily Hope without
Speaker 3: a doubt has changed the way that I approach every
Speaker 3: new day. You know, Chris, all I say is wow.
Speaker 3: I love how you are exponentially sharing daily Hope with
Speaker 3: your coworkers and with your family. You know, you're actually
Speaker 3: an evangelist. You are partnering in God's eyes with me
Speaker 3: to help spread the good news of the Gospel. And
Speaker 3: the good news is too good to keep to ourselves.
Speaker 3: We have to share it now. Anybody can do this.
Speaker 3: Anybody can do this, and it's an easy way to
Speaker 3: give other people hope through deepening their faith. So if
Speaker 3: you don't know what to say, just forward on some
Speaker 3: of the things you've heard me say, and God will
Speaker 3: use you to make a difference in people's lives. You know,
Speaker 3: if God is blessing you through Daily Hope, would you
Speaker 3: share your story with me?
Speaker 2: Write me rifat pastor rifk dot com.
Speaker 1: Please join us next time as we look into God's
Speaker 1: word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.