Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Are heaven and hell real places? And what are they like? Today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren, we continue his series called Eternal Realities: Heaven and Hell. In these lessons, Rick shares what the Bible says about heaven and hell and how you can be absolutely certain you'll go to heaven. Coming up right now, here is part one of a message called, "How to Be Certain You’re Going to Heaven."

Guest (Male): This week, I was doing a lot of spring cleaning and I was going through a stack of old magazines that I found. I found this Time Magazine from 1993, and the cover says, "Los Angeles: Is the City of Angels going to hell?" Well, I don't know if the City of Angels is going to hell or not, but I'm more interested in knowing, am I going to heaven? If I were to go over to a mall this afternoon and ask people, "If you were to die tonight and you were to stand before God and God says, 'Why should I let you into heaven?' what would you say? Are you sure you're going to heaven when you die? Are you absolutely sure that you're going to heaven when you die?"

Most people would say, "Well, I think so. I hope so. I guess I am. Obviously, I want to go. I hope and wish that I am." Well, friends, hoping and wishing and guessing isn't good enough. I need to know this for sure. Only a fool would go all through life totally unprepared for something you know is inevitable. The mortality rate in the world is now 100%. I don't know if you've heard that or not. We're all going to die at some point, and the question is, what's going to happen after I die?

Today, I want to help you settle this basic issue. Here's the good news: God doesn't want you being in doubt. He doesn't want you worried. He doesn't want you fearful. He doesn't want you wondering all of your life, "Am I going to make it or not? Am I going to be in or not?" No, he says you can settle it without a doubt in your mind. You can have it absolutely confidently for sure know that you're going to heaven when you die. So today, we're going to get back to the basics and settle this issue so that nobody here when you leave has any doubt in your mind that you're going to heaven when you die.

All great coaches begin with the basics. They never assume that people know the basics. Coach John Wooden, the most famous basketball coach in history, the winningest coach in basketball history, was such a success because he always began with the basics. In fact, every year as he'd begin basketball season on the first day of training, he would spend an entire day training his players how to put their socks on correctly. Now, I didn't know there was an incorrect way to do it. Of course, I don't wear socks, but I didn't know that you could put them on incorrectly.

He said, "If you take care of your feet, your feet will take care of you." He said, "If you put a sock on incorrectly and you're out there screeching and scratching across the basketball court, you're going to get blisters and bunions and all kinds of bruises on your feet." So, he never assumes that people know how to put on a sock correctly. Vince Lombardi, the famous NFL coach who won the first Super Bowls, was the same way. Every year, he would start training by holding up a football and saying, "Gentlemen, this is a football."

Don't ever assume nothing. So today, we're going to go back to the basics and we're going to look at the most famous verse in the Bible. It's one that everybody's probably heard of. If you only got one verse in the entire Bible, this is the one to know. This is the one to memorize because this is Christianity 101. It's the basic summarized Cliff Notes on the Bible. It's John chapter three, verse 16. If you don't know that verse, it's the verse that the weirdo guys with the colored hair hold up in the end zone.

You see these guys with the sign on Monday Night Football, "John 3:16." It's like, who's John and what number is he calling? It is the most important or famous verse in the Bible. I put it there at the top of your outline. Let's read it aloud together. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Now, let me read it to you again. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son—that's Jesus—that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

There are a couple of things I want you to notice about this verse. First, there are six words you might circle: God, only, Son, perish, eternal, life. Circle those six words. Now, when you take the first letters of each of those six words, what does that spell? Gospel. Yeah. Now, you've heard this word, "Gospel." What does it mean? We talk about gospel music or he's sharing the gospel. Gospel is just an old English word and it means "good news." That's all it means: good news. This verse is often called the Gospel in a single sentence. It's the best news you've ever heard or ever going to hear.

The second thing I want you to notice about this is the middle word. There are 25 words in this verse, and the middle word, the 13th word, is the word "Son." It's talking about Jesus. Now, the first 12 words are all about God. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten..." then "Son" is in the middle, and the last 12 words are all about you and me. "...that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." That in itself is a picture.

The Bible says that God is on one side and mankind's on the other, and Jesus Christ came to earth to bring them together. That's what he came to earth to do. He's the bridge over troubled waters. He's the mediator between God and man. Jesus came to bring God and us together. Now, what we're going to do today is take this verse apart phrase by phrase so that when we finish today, you don't have any doubt in your mind that you know you're going to heaven. There are four keys, four phrases in this verse.

The first thing is you must recognize God's love. If you want to go to heaven, the first thing you've got to do is recognize God's love, how much he loves you. The Bible says God so loved the world. Now, God says, "I don't want you to just recognize it intellectually. I want you to recognize it emotionally. I want you to feel it." The Bible tells us that God is love. It doesn't say he has love; it says he is love. It is his nature. It's his character. It's what he's made up of.

The Bible says that everything in the universe was created simply so God could love it. That's why it exists. The Bible says God created all the planets just so he could love them. God created all the animals just so he can love them. God created all of the trees and the plants and all of the vegetation so he could love them. And God created you so he could love you. That's why you're alive. The only reason you're alive is God wanted you alive, and he made you to love you.

You were created as an object of God's love. The reason your heart's beating right now and the reason you're taking your next breath is because God wants to love you. It's the whole reason you're alive. In fact, if God hadn't wanted to love you, you wouldn't be alive right now. Now, God's love for you is an amazing kind of love. We talk about love all the time. We throw the word around, "Hey, I love you, man," in that manly macho kind of way. And we say, "I love you."

Well, you don't go around saying, "Oh, I so love you." If you did, you'd get that kind of reaction. But the Bible says God so loved the world. That means his love is extravagant, it's lavish, it's beyond comprehension. God loves you on your good days and on your bad days. He loves you when it's raining, he loves you when it's shining. He loves you when you feel it, he loves you when you don't feel it. He loves you when you do the right thing, he loves you when you do the wrong thing.

Why? Because God's love isn't based on who you are; it's based on who he is. God is love. God's love isn't based on what you do, your performance. It's based on what Jesus has already done for you. You can't make God stop loving you. You can try, but you can't, because God's love is not based on your performance, on what you do. It's based on the fact that he chooses to love you unconditionally. God says, "I love you. I've loved you every moment of your life. I made you to love you."

"I saw you formed in your mother's womb and I loved you then. I saw you take your first breath and I loved you then. I saw you take your first step and I loved you then. I've seen all the good and the bad in your life, the highs and the lows, the right and the wrong, and I have loved you no matter what because I made you to love you." God so loved the world. Notice these verses out of the Bible in the book of First John. Chapter four, it says this: "God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world, that's Jesus, so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. He sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

God didn't just say he loved you; he showed it. A lot of people say it, they don't do anything about it. He showed it. He showed it in the most expensive way. He sacrificed his Son. He proved it. When Jesus Christ stretched out his arms on the cross to die for us, he was saying to you, "I love you this much. I love you so much it hurts. I love you so much I'd rather die than live without you." That's what God says about you. He loves you that much.

And even if you were the only person who'd ever lived, Jesus Christ still would have come to earth and died on the cross for you so that he could show his love for you. Look at the next verse. The Bible says this: "What an incredible quality of love the Father has shown us, that we should be permitted to be called and counted as the children of God." You see, the reason you're alive is God wanted a family. That's why he created the human race. God wanted children.

Human beings are different from animals. The Bible says we're created in God's image. That's why you have a conscience. You know the difference between right and wrong. You can pray. You can talk to God. You're never going to see a doggie giving thanks before it eats its food. We're made differently than animals. We're made in God's image so we can have a relationship with God. The Bible says that God created the human race because he wanted children.

God wanted a family and he wants you in it. Now, that is a mind-blowing thing to me. The most amazing thing in the world to me is that the creator of the universe would want me, Rick Warren, in his family. And what's even more amazing to me is that he would want you in his family. I mean, me I can understand. You, I mean, that is grace. I tell you, that really is grace. God says, "I created you to love you."

God wants you to know his love. Look at the next verse out of the Bible. It says, "May you be able to feel and understand how long and how wide and how deep and how high God's love really is and to experience this love for yourself." Did you know God says, "I want you to not just know it intellectually"? "Yeah, yeah, I know God loves me." Not an intellectual trip. He wants you to feel it, to experience it, to understand it, to feel it in your soul.

Most people have never felt the unconditional love of God because when you feel it, it transforms your life. You're never the same again. The day that you actually feel totally loved by God, after that day, you will never again have to deal with inferiority or insecurity or low self-esteem or the depression that comes from a feeling of worthlessness because you realize, "Whoa, wait a minute. The creator of the universe made me simply to love me. God made me to love me."

That will change your life. Now, God says, "I want you to feel all four dimensions." It's not three-dimensional; it's four-dimensional. First, it says, in fact, you might circle the four dimensions: long and wide and deep and high. He says, "I want you to know that." First, how long is God's love? Long enough to last forever. I don't know if you've figured this out or not, but human love doesn't last. That's why you've had a lot of girlfriends or a lot of boyfriends.

That's why there's divorce in the world, because human love wears out. But God will never stop loving you. You will never meet a man who loves you as much as Jesus Christ. You will never meet another woman who will love you as much as Jesus Christ because God's love is long enough to last forever. It is eternal. How long is it? Long enough to last forever. How wide is it? Wide enough to be everywhere. There is no place you can go where God's love is not.

Now, you may not feel his love, but it's there. You're just not tuned in. There are times in your life when you feel lonely, but you shouldn't be lonely because God is never without you, or you're never without God. His love is everywhere. When you feel lonely, you're just not tuned in spiritually. You're not plugged in. You're not realizing it, that he is never away from you. He is always with you and always loving you. It's long enough to last forever. It's wide enough to be everywhere.

How deep is God's love? Deep enough to handle any problem you got. You say, "I'm in the pits. I've hit bottom. I'm in the pit of hell." God's love is deeper still. I don't care what problem you're going through; his love is deeper than that problem. A few years ago, there was a great movie that came out called "The Hiding Place," based on a true story. You may have seen it. It's about in Holland when people in Holland hid the Jews in order to keep them from going to the Holocaust.

It told the story of this one family, the Ten Boom family, a Christian family who hid Jews in their attic to keep them from being taken into the death camps by the Nazis. It's a true story. One day, these sisters, Corrie and Betsie, and their father and mother were discovered. They had a hiding place where they were hiding the Jews. The stormtroopers discovered this and they sent not only the Jews but these Christians together off to Auschwitz.

In that death camp, Betsie Ten Boom speaks to a bunch of women there who have lost everything they've ever owned and all their family and their friends. She said, "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still." How high is God's love? Well, it's high enough to overlook your mistakes. Aren't you glad for that one? I don't care what you've done or who you've done it with or how long you've done it or where you did it. God says, "I want you to come back to me. I love you. I want to forgive you. I want to give you a fresh start."

A lot of people think because of all the stuff I've done wrong and I've just blown it and gone my own way, that if I came to God, he's going to reject me. He's going to scold me. He's going to tell me all the bad things I've ever done and make me feel bad. Listen, God isn't mad at you. He's mad about you. He's not mad at you. He's mad about you.

Pastor Rick Warren: I want to say thanks to all of you who are supporting Daily Hope ministry with your financial gifts and with your prayers. I know you appreciate these notes that I get from people around the world as much as I do. Let me just share one with you from a woman named Anna, who is an elementary school principal. She just wrote this: "Dear Pastor Rick, I became a principal in an elementary school at the age of 25. I'm now 42. Now, we've had Rick Warren Bible series and studies at our church during the summers and I always enjoyed them so much. I've invited many friends and relatives to visit our church. A couple of years ago, I began to share your devotion, Daily Hope, with all of my staff members each morning."

See, she's a principal. She's sharing this with her staff. She said, "I've seen their growth in God. I've seen the transformation in their lives and characters over these past years, and I'm amazed at the Lord's love and mercy. Now, it doesn't mean that we haven't struggled with issues such as death and depression and disappointments and illness, things like that. However, we have had our eyes on God during all of the things that have come against us. And this has made a difference. I pray with them during our staff meetings to give thanks. So Pastor Rick, I just want to thank you for following God's call, even though you go through struggles and life problems just like we all do. God is with you. May the Lord continue to bless you and your beautiful family. May he continue to bless you with wisdom and discernment so that you're able to share your gift with all of us. Blessings, Anna."

Well, Anna, God bless you. Thanks for writing. I love getting these letters, and you actually encouraged me. And I love the fact that as a principal, you're sharing the broadcast and you're sharing the devotionals with your staff. This makes you a partner in this ministry and I thank you for doing that. I want to encourage everybody else who is listening: find somebody that you could share the good news with. Tell them about Daily Hope. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Please join us next time as we look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.