Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Pastor Rick Warren: 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.

Well, let's jump in and get started with the final part of a message called The Reality of Heaven.

The fourth thing in heaven, notice, is rest. Sometimes that one sounds really good. Rest in heaven. Look at this verse up here on the screen.

Blessed are those who die in the service of the Lord. They will enjoy rest from their hard work, because the results of their service go with them. God says the result of what you, only what's done for Christ will last.

Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. There will be reunion, reward, responsibility, you're going to rest in heaven and the fifth thing, rejoicing.

What does it mean rejoicing? We're going to worship in heaven. We're going to fellowship in heaven. We're going to celebrate in heaven. We're going to enjoy each other in heaven. We're going to love each other in heaven. We're going to party in heaven.

The Bible says this. Jesus said, "When you get to heaven," he says, "I want to be able to say this about you. Well done my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in handling a small amount, so now I'll give you more responsibilities. Let's party."

Let me tell you, God knows how to party. Let's celebrate together. The Bible says that in eternity we are going to share the glory of Christ. We are going to be co-reigning with Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible says. What does that mean?

It's like a big movie marquee that says, "Now starring for eternity, Jesus Christ, co-starring, your name." That's what it means to go to heaven. The bottom line is here on earth, we're put here to practice all the things we're going to do in heaven.

We're going to love God in heaven. We're going to love each other in heaven. We're going to serve God in heaven. We're going to believe God in heaven. We're going to honor God in heaven. We're going to love each other. What does God want you to do while you're here on earth? Practice. So when you get to heaven, you know what you're doing.

How do I get to heaven? Back your outline. How do I get to heaven? This is really important because Jesus said the door to heaven is narrow. Jesus said it. It's not a wide door. It's a narrow door. Romans 1:17.

The good news tells us that God makes us ready for heaven. He makes us right in God's sight when we put our faith and trust in Christ to save us. That's how you get to heaven. When we put our faith and trust in Christ to save us. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.

As the Scripture says, "The man who finds life will find it through trusting God." It is only by humbly trusting God that I have any chance of getting to heaven. Heaven's perfect, I'm not. So I come to God, as we said last week, A, B, C, D. I admit, I believe, I commit and confess, and I depend.

I admit I need a savior. God, there's no way I can get to heaven on my own. I'm a sinner. I've blown it. I make, heaven's perfect, I'm not. I admit it. I need a savior. B, I believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. People say, "Well, I believe in Jesus." Well, do you?

Do you really? And then C, I confess. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart, God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. I said, God, I admit I'm trusting in you. And D, I depend.

I depend on your promise. And what's the promise? It's our memory verse that we started working on last week. Let's read John 3:16 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." John 3:16. Okay, here are the hand motions. God so loved the world. Let's do this.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16. Let's say it again. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And where is it? John 3:16. Very good class.

But that's the promise. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever, who's involved in whosoever? A little boy said, "Everybody else and me." That's whosoever. That whosoever, that means no matter what you've done, who you've done it with, how long you've done it, where you did it.

Whosoever believes in him should not perish, should not go to hell, but have everlasting life. That's how you get to heaven. You put your trust in Christ.

Now finally, how should I live when I'm, if I'm going to heaven? How should I live? Well, I'm going to talk to you about three things, then we'll wrap it up. If you know you're going to heaven, you need to understand it completely changes your value system.

As I said, all of a sudden, I'm no longer living for here and now. If I know the currency is changing in December, I'm going to start changing the way I spend my money, and I'm going to start storing it up there because I want it, I want it there in the trillions of years, not here. So I want to store up those rewards by my actions and my thoughts and my decisions and my words and my kindness and my putting up with criticism and my responding to evil with good and all of those different things.

Because I'm not living for now. I'm living in light of eternity. And the other thing that happens when you understand that your future is secure, "shall not perish," that means it didn't going to happen. It's a promise of God. I'm not going to hell. I know without a shadow of a doubt, I'm going to heaven.

You know what that does? It just makes me a whole lot less stressed than everybody else. I'm a whole lot more at peace. I'm not so uptight about getting my due here on earth. Why? Because I'm only here 80 years.

So what? So if I don't get my due. So if life isn't fair. So what if it just doesn't all work out the way I want it to? I'm only here for a little while and I can put up with anything if I see a purpose behind it. And I know if I'm responding to the right in the right way, I'm storing up rewards in heaven.

So what do I do? Three things. If I'm going to heaven, this is how I should be living my life. Number one, don't be distracted by temptation. Don't be distracted by temptation. Remember, you're just passing through, so you don't, you don't let the baubles and bangles and the, the, the, the sins of this world catch you off guard.

First Peter says this: "You're only visitors here on earth and since your real home is in heaven, keep away from the evil pleasures of this world. They're not for you. They fight against your very souls." Friends, the mark of maturity is the ability to delay gratification.

Have you noticed little kids don't know the difference between no and not yet? I want it now. I want, they don't know patience. They don't know that not yet does not mean no. And anybody who's going to make anything on themselves on this planet has to learn delayed gratification.

An Olympic athlete, athlete delays gratification. They don't eat certain things. They spend hours in the pool. They do all these disciplined things. Successful people are just normal people who are willing to discipline themselves in, in ways that unsuccessful people are not willing to delay gratification. Instead of sitting down and watching television, they go and they study that book or they go and make that sale or whatever they do. There's the ability to delay gratification.

And yet everything in society tries to get you to not do that. Now, it's not just sins that can distract you and keep you away from storing up treasure and rewards in heaven. A lot of good things can distract you. They don't have to be bad.

You can be, you can be tempted by good things. Look at this next verse. Talking about some of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. It said, "If they had wanted to," talking about Moses and Abraham and all these guys, "they could have gone back to the good things of this world."

Not the bad things, the good things. There's a lot of good things in this world, too. If they'd wanted to, they could have gone back and lived for all these good things of this world, but they didn't want to. They were living for heaven. And so now God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has made a heavenly city for them.

He's saying, you know, good things can distract your life. You can give your life away for a hobby. That's not why God puts you on earth. You can give your life away to climb the ladder of success. That's not why God puts you on earth. You can give your life away for fame or pleasure or travel or all kinds of really good things that there's nothing wrong with them.

But they're never meant to be first in your life, and that's not what you're here on earth for. Don't be distracted by temptation. Number two, don't be discouraged by trouble. When you live in light of eternity, when you live in light of heaven, trouble just doesn't bother you as much anymore.

And you just don't give up. Notice what Paul says in Second Corinthians 4. "This is why we never give up. These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won't last very long." Now, let me tell you, the guy who wrote this, he'd been beaten, he'd been shipwrecked, he'd been put in prison, he'd gone without food, without clothing, he'd been persecuted, he'd been left for dead. And he goes, "Oh, now these small troubles." It's all a matter of perspective.

"These troubles and suffering of ours, after all, are quite small and won't last very long. Yet, this short time of distress will result in God's richest blessing upon us, when? forever and ever," in heaven. "So," he says, "We don't look at what we can see right now. The troubles all around us. But we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever."

Now, listen, I don't know what trouble you're going through right now, but I will tell you this. Number one, it's not going to last. Even if it lasted your entire lifetime, it's not going to last. I have a piece of granite in my office and it is stamped with the Hebrew letters that say, "This too shall pass."

And when I'm having a tough day, I just look at that and go, it didn't come to stay, it came to pass. Some guy said his favorite verse in the Bible, "It came to pass." He said, "Why?" "Because they wouldn't have problems." I know, "They didn't come to stay, they came to pass."

They're not going to last. It's not going to last. The second thing I could tell you about the problem you're going through right now, whether you caused it or somebody else did, is really irrelevant. God will still use it for good in your life, and he'll help you grow through it if you'll respond in the right way.

And it'll build your character. It's not going to last. It'll build your character if you let it, and three, you're going to be rewarded for it in eternity forever. So many people, so many believers, are going to enter heaven by the skin of their teeth with no rewards.

Did you see the movie Schindler's List? There's a poignant scene at the end of that movie where Schindler has a conversation, and he's thinking about what could have happened if I had done more. If I had spent less money on me and more money and more time on saving Jews who were being sent to the, to the gas chambers.

What could I have done and why didn't I do more when I could have done it? It made such a difference. Friends, that's the question you're going to ask when you get to heaven. You're not going to be in heaven two seconds.

A second and you're going, "What was I thinking? Why did I spend so much time on trying to impress people, on trying to be popular, on trying to pile up a bunch of money on earth, on trying to get all I can out of life here today? I had no time to serve God, no time to give, no time to share, no time for relationships, no time for what matters most. I was doing all the right things. Why didn't I make more time for what mattered most?"

To me, hell would be if God were to show me what I could have accomplished with my life if I just believed in him a little bit more. That would be hell to me. Friends, so much of what we do is not going to last.

And you need to realize that every second of your life has eternal implications. Every single second. Every decision, every thought, every action, every word, every attitude, every feeling, every kindness, every sin, every single thing has eternal implications. God is watching and testing.

And he's, and you need to be asking, will this last? Does it deserve my money? Does it deserve my time? Does it deserve my reputation? Does it last? What am I talking about? Living a purpose driven life. Look at this next verse. Colossians 3:2.

"Let heaven fill your thoughts. Don't spend your time worrying about things down here." Here's the third thing to do. Focus my energy on what will last. Focus my energy on what will last. Now, when you read the Bible, it's a little confusing until you understand that there are going to be two judgments in heaven.

There are two judgments in eternity. There's one judgment for sin and there's one judgment for rewards. One's a bad judgment and one's a good one. Now, here's, if you have trusted Christ with your life, you get to skip the sin judgment automatically. That's good news.

And that attitude of where you're going to sit there in a long line and everybody's going to look at every bad thing you've ever done wrong, if you've trusted Christ, you get to skip that part. Good news? Oh, yeah. The Bible says, "He who has trusted in the son will pass over that judgment."

You're not going to be judged for your sin when you get to heaven. Why? They were already judged by Jesus on the cross. He paid for them. So you get to skip that one. That's good news. But there is another judgment that as a believer you will go through. And that's the judgment for rewards.

Where you sit down and God says, "Here's what I'm going to give you for what you did. You, that time you did that, that time you thought that, that time you said that, that time you were kind and nobody looked, that time when you were generous, that time you sacrificed, that time you went on a piece strip, that time you brought a friend to church, that time you prayed, that time you sat with your neighbor and didn't give up."

That, "I was watching all of that. Watching it all. And I'd like to reward you now for eternity." And you're going, "Why didn't I do more?" Last verse. Paul says, "I run toward the goal so that I can win the prize of being called to heaven. And this is the prize that God offers because of what Jesus Christ has done."

As we close, I'm going to pray two prayers. And the first prayer is for those of you who've never settled this issue of heaven. If you were to drop dead when you walked out of here, are you absolutely certain you're going to heaven? If you're not, you can make sure right now.

Why would anybody put it off? You need to settle this issue right now, and you need to put your trust in God's plan for your salvation. And you need to accept his free gift. And then I'm going to pray a prayer that you will start living in light of eternity and start thinking more on banking in heaven instead of banking here on earth because this is not all there is. Let's bow our heads.

If you've never invited Jesus Christ into your life, say this, "Lord, I admit, I admit that I'm not perfect. I've sinned, I've blown it, I've made mistakes. I'm, I've got flaws and faults. And a lot of times I've done what I wanted to do instead of what you wanted me to do, and there's no way I can get into a perfect heaven on my own. I need your grace.

I want to turn from my sins. I want to trust you. I want to put my faith in what Jesus Christ did for me. Thank you that you so loved the world, that you so loved me, that you sent your only son, Jesus, so that if I would believe in him, I would not perish, but I would have everlasting life.

So today, I'm accepting what Jesus did for me. And I'm saying, 'Jesus, I want you to be number one in my life, and I want to commit myself to you, and I want to trust you with my life. Help me to learn to love you.' And I'm depending that you will give me the promise of heaven because of what you've promised.

Now, the second prayer. All of us need to pray this one. 'Dear God, forgive me for being distracted by things that aren't going to last. Forgive me for giving in to temporary pleasures. Both bad things and even good things that aren't really what life's all about.

Help me to live in light of eternity. I don't want to be distracted. I want to live in light of the fact that I'm going to be with you someday. Help me not to be discouraged by the troubles I'm facing, but to realize you're using them for good. And I want to refocus my values and start living for what's going to last and what's going to matter most. I want to be a part of your church.

I want to be baptized. I want to publicly identify myself as a believer. And I want to be a part of your family. I want to focus my energy on what will last. In your name I pray. Amen.'"

Pastor Rick Warren: You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time, or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would you let me know about it? There's something real about sharing your commitment. So write me, Rick, at pastorrick.com and say, "Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life to Christ." And I'll send you some material that'll help you on your journey with Jesus, and I'll also pray for you. God bless you.

Pastor Rick Warren: Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope that you were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast. Right now, here's Pastor Rick with a special message. You know, when I started Saddleback Church over 40 years ago, just a handful of people in our living room, I also began writing a simple devotional just for the people in our church to help them start each day with hope, and with truth, and with peace that comes from Jesus Christ.

Well, you know, that little devotional grew and grew and grew, and today Daily Hope is one of the largest email devotions in the whole world. And each day people all around the globe are reconnecting with God's promises and finding fresh strength in his word to face whatever comes their way.

Now here's the best part. It's absolutely free. Okay? We don't have any charge for this. Every day you'll get a quick devotional read and a podcast that you can listen to on the go. Now, you know, in a world that's more distracted and uncertain than ever, I want to help you start your day centered on what never changes.

And what never changes is God's love, his unconditional love for you, and his promises to you. You know, if you'll just spend just a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord, it can bring so much more clarity, more purpose, more peace to everything that happens in your day. Particularly psychologists have said that what you do with the first five minutes of your day, uh, pretty much sets the tone.

So, friend, you were never meant to go through life alone. I want to personally invite you to just sign up for the Daily Hope devotional. Do it today. I think it's going to bring fresh encouragement to your walk with God.

Pastor Rick Warren: If you'd like to sign up for the daily devotional, it's easy. Just go to pastorrick.com. That's pastorrick.com. Be sure to 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.