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. And now, here's part two of a message called The Reality of Heaven.

Pastor Rick Warren: Did you know that the Bible says God has stored up every tear in heaven that you've ever cried? He's kept a record of it. Your tears, your pain, God knows about, He cares about, but when you get to heaven, there's going to be no more sadness. That's a good thing.

No more broken hearts, no more rejection, no more loneliness, no more sorrow, no more sadness, no more grief, no more heartache. That is heaven. That is heaven. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will never be a split second in the billions and trillions of years you'll live that you will have sadness or grief again, or depression.

Now, those of you who are right now going through grief, and you're carrying the grief of a loved one, or you've been going through a period of depression. One of the things that that does in our lives is it just makes heaven be a little bit more close. We want to go to heaven when we're in pain.

Why? Because there is none there, not only no sickness, no sadness, the Bible says no suffering. Look at this verse. The Bible says no more hunger, no more thirst, no more scorching heat.

You know what? When I get to heaven, my wife and I won't have different controls on the thermostat anymore, because we're all. Why is that? You marry somebody who's so much hotter or colder than you are. I don't know, but the truth is, there's no suffering. Every one of your needs will be satisfied.

Not only that, no suffering, no sadness, no sickness, no sin. Look at this verse on screen. The Bible says God will bring you into His glorious presence innocent of all sin and with great joy. Now, we talked about this last week. Heaven is a perfect place, and I'm not perfect, and neither are you.

So, God has to come up with the solution because there's no way I'm getting. I stopped being perfect many, many, many years ago, and you did too. All have sinned. All have fallen short. We've all blown it. We're all sinners. We've all made mistakes. Nobody lives a perfect life, zip, nobody. But heaven's perfect, so how can God let imperfect people into heaven without messing it up?

Well, that's what Jesus Christ came to do, to die on the cross and pay for all our sins, to wipe it all out, to forgive us and to make us perfect inside, so that when we go into heaven, He says we'll go innocent of all our sin. One of the things that's going to happen is when you see Jesus Christ face to face, the Bible says your character will be instantly changed to be like Him.

Still going to be the same you. People going to recognize you, you're still going to have your personality, you're going to be. God would not waste what he's put into you. God didn't go to take what He made you to be and then turn you into a robot when you get to heaven. Do you understand that? You'll still be you. And that's why He made you to be you, and He wants you to be you, not only in eternity, but here on earth.

But He says your character is going to become like Jesus. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the moment that I no longer have any hang-ups. That I no longer have any fears. Can you imagine what it will be to live no fear, no guilt, no resentment, no worry, no bitterness, no anger, no envy, no jealousy, no loneliness? Perfection.

But it's still going to be you. You'll be a whole lot more fun to live with. And I will, too. And when we get to heaven, you come over to my house for a million years, and we'll hang out and then we'll go over to your place for a million years, and you know, we'll just It's going to be fun, man. Okay, so it's going to be great. No sadness, no suffering, no sin, and number five, no death.

Immortality. The Bible says this: There shall be no more death, no sorrow, no crying, and no pain. All of that will be gone forever. For those of you who are living in chronic pain, that's good news. For those who've suffered with that pain in whatever part of your body that you've suffered with, because your your body is not perfect, it is broken here on this planet. God says, "When you get there, you get a new body, you get new emotions, you get new character, and there's no death."

I'm glad that I don't have to live for eternity with my habits and my hurts and my hang-ups. But I'll God's going to make. If it were, that would be hell. But God says, "No, I'm going to make it all perfect and then there'll be no death." Those are five things you won't find in heaven. Now, let's look at the list, five things you will find in heaven.

The first thing you're going to find in heaven is reunion with every other believer. And those all those people that I love who know the Lord, when we get to heaven, as I said, we're going to have a party, and we're going to we're going to be reunited together. The Bible says this, we looked at this verse earlier, this was God's purpose, that when the time is right, He will gather us all together.

There's going to be a reunion. He will gather us all together from wherever we are to be with Him in Christ forever. Now, who's going to be in heaven? Big question. Who's going to be in heaven? Well, God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit are going to be in heaven. Uh, angels are going to be in heaven. The church is going to be in heaven, everybody who has put their trust in Christ.

And all the believers who were believers in God before Jesus came in the Old Testament, who we look back to the Messiah, they looked forward to the Messiah. The people in the Old Testament were saved the same way the people today are saved by looking forward to a savior, and we look back to a savior, but we're saved the exact same way. Let me show you a verse. Hebrews 12.

He says, "You have come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." This is heaven. "And to the gathering." Now, notice all the people he mentions. "The gathering of countless happy angels," angels will be there, "and to the church," the church is going to be there, every believer, "composed of all those registered in heaven, and to God," obviously, God's going to be there, "who is the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous people made perfect."

Who's that? That's the people born before Jesus Christ, who in faith lived and listened and looked forward to the promise that God had made that one day I'm sending a savior, "and to Jesus Himself." They're all going to be there in heaven.

Now, one of the most common questions I hear is, "What about babies?" What about babies who die? Friend, they're all going to be in heaven. Every single one of them. Yeah, you need to know that. Why? Because we are not responsible for what we cannot understand.

The same is true of of of a child who grows up to full adulthood, but has does not have the mental capacity to understand uh, the love of Jesus Christ. Now, they can understand some. Sometimes, you know, it's interesting when uh, they first communicated to Helen Keller who was blind uh, and deaf, and they communicated to her the concept of God, she said, "I've always known Him, I just didn't know His name."

Isn't that interesting? I've always known Him in my heart. In fact, often children are more in contact with God than we are. They're much more sensitive, and that's why the Bible says, "Unless you become as children, you shall not enter the kingdom of God." Why? Because kids are humble, they're open to God. We close off with our pride, and we say, "No, no, no, no."

God says, "No, no, they're going to be in heaven." Now, when they have not reached an age old enough to understand the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, God and and evil, and they have not have the age of which they could come to come to Christ and make that decision to come to Christ. The Bible says they are safe, not saved, but safe.

In fact, the Bible says in the book of Psalms, "The Lord preserves the simple." Now, you may have grown up in a religion that taught, "Unless a child is baptized before they uh, die, they'll go to hell." It's wrong. It is not in the Bible, it is unscriptural, and it just is wrong. The Bible tells us very clearly that children who are not old enough to make a wise decision, they have not come to the age of accountability, they are not old enough to understand.

That if they die before they understand, before they have a chance to choose Christ, well, they certainly haven't rejected Him because they haven't even chose Him. And they haven't they don't have enough knowledge to understand. They go straight into the loving arms of Jesus. Every miscarriage, every stillbirth, every abortion. You know, I I actually I've had people tell me, "Rick, why don't you why don't you talk about the babies who are aborted more?"

Well, I'll tell you why. Because I'm interested in reaching the people who had the abortions. Because all those babies instantly go to heaven, but the adults don't. And they need to understand the grace of God and the forgiveness of God and the and what God has offered to us.

We know this uh, many times in scripture. Here's an example. David had a child that died at birth. And David said this in in 2 Samuel, "Now that the baby is dead, I can't bring him back to life, but someday I will go to be with him." If you've had a miscarriage, that baby is in heaven. If you've lost a young little one, that child is in heaven.

The Bible says they are safe. The Lord preserves the simple. So, the first thing we're going to have in heaven is we're going to have a reunion with with these that we love uh, in the family of God. The second thing, we're going to have rewards. Now, there's so much material on this, I'm going to have to come back and teach an entire series just on the rewards in heaven.

You say, "What are we going to be rewarded for?" Everything. Literally everything. The Bible makes it very clear that God is watching everything in your life. You will be rewarded for your actions that were good, you will be rewarded for your words that were good, you will be rewarded for your thoughts that were good, you will be rewarded for your character and your decisions that were good, you will be rewarded for your prayers, you will be rewarded for your generosity, you will be rewarded for your service, you will be rewarded for your sacrifices, you will be rewarded for your persistence in not giving up when you felt like giving up and doing the right thing.

The Bible says, "You will be rewarded for loving your enemies." And over and over, every single thing. I wish I had time to go into this and show you all of the things that God says you will be rewarded for in heaven. You will be rewarded for bringing other people to Jesus Christ. I want you to have that reward. Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you? I want you to have that reward that somebody's in heaven because of you.

The Bible says that you will be rewarded for putting up with criticism for being a Christian. That you will be rewarded for being persecuted as a believer. That's why Jesus said, "Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward is as in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

God says, "I'm watching it all, and I'm going to reward it all." Now, this has nothing to do with your salvation. The only way you get into heaven is by faith in what Jesus Christ has already done for you. You can't get into heaven by your good works. But the Bible says that when you're there, you will be rewarded according to your good works. Let me show you a couple verses. There's I could give you 500 on this.

If the Bible says, "If you even give a cup of cold water to one of the least of My followers, you will surely be rewarded." Now think about all the rewards that all the volunteers in our children's ministry are going to get. Every time they change a diaper. Why don't we just appreciate the children's ministry right now? Yeah.

Every time they give a cup of cold water, a Graham cracker, change a snotty nose or blow a snotty nose, or whatever, God says, "I'm writing that one down. I'm writing that one down." The Bible says this, look on the screen, "Love your enemies, do good to them, lend to them, and don't be concerned that they might not repay." And notice, "Then your reward in heaven will be very great."

Now, here's the thing. You got to decide where you want your rewards in life. You want it in this life, or do you want it in the next? If you get your rewards in this life, the popularity, the wealth, the fame, and all that kind of stuff, and that's what you live for, how long do you get to use it? 80 years. You build up treasure in heaven, rewards in heaven. How long do you get to enjoy those rewards? Forever.

It's just a matter of perspective here. There's more to life than here and now. And you got to decide whether you're going to live for here and now and pleasure and popularity and principles and all these things of possessions here on earth, power on earth, or are you going to live in light of rewards that you get to live in forever and ever? There will be rewards in heaven.

Third thing that's going to be in heaven is responsibilities. You're not going to sit around on a cloud doing nothing in heaven. That's one of the reasons why people don't like heaven. They think, "I'm going to be so bored in heaven. There'll be nothing to do." Are you kidding? God is the one who wired you, He shaped you, He knows what you're interested in. Where do you think you got your interest? Where do you think you got your hobbies? Where do you think you got your skills and talents?

And where do you think your spiritual gift, heart, ability, personality, experiences came from? They came from God. And you think He's only going to use your shape on earth? No. He's going to use your shape in eternity. And when you you will have work in eternity. Here's the difference. You're going to enjoy it. Here's the difference. There aren't going to be any heartaches with it.

Here's the difference. You're going to be fulfilled 100%. And your role and your responsibility, the Bible says, in heaven will be meaningful, it will be fulfilling, it will be enjoyable, and you're going to enjoy doing it in eternity. Now, what is my responsibility and what are my roles going to be in heaven?

I don't know, but I do know this: It's based on how faithful you are with the roles and responsibilities he gives you on earth. God is watching you and He's testing you. Life is a test, and life is a trust, and life is a temporary assignment. And God put you on this earth for 80 years to see how responsible, how dependable, how faithful, how trustworthy are, and what are they doing with what they've been given?

And if you do you make the most of what you've been given, God says, "Then I'm going to give you more in heaven." And if you don't make the most of what you've been given, God's going to say, "Then you're going to get less." You make it make it into heaven by the skin of your teeth, but you're not going to have the rewards as those who faithfully serve God.

Now, I didn't say that, Jesus said it. Look at this verse on the screen. Luke 16. Jesus said, "Unless you're faithful in small matters," talking about here on earth, "you won't be faithful in large ones. And if you cheat in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities," talking about in heaven, "and if you're untrustworthy with worldly wealth," in other words, the money, the possessions that God gives you here on earth, "who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?"

Did you know that the way you manage your money on this earth is an acid test of your faithfulness and responsibility, and it's going to help determine what you do in heaven? Did you know that God is watching to see how you not only manage your time, how you manage your relationships, how you manage your health, how you manage your intelligence, how you manage your network, how you manage your opportunities, but how you manage your money?

All of a sudden now, money management becomes more than just, "Oh, that'd be a nice thing to do so I could get out of debt." God's saying, "I'm watching to see what can I trust you with when you get to eternity?" And if I can't trust you with worldly wealth, you're always in debt, you can't afford to tithe, you're not generous, God says, "What do you think I'm going to trust you with in eternity?"

That's why 32 years ago, I began learning to be generous more and more every year. You see, I've told you this story before, but let's say if in December of this year, the United States made a decision that we're no longer going to accept dollar bills in America. We're switching to Japanese Yen. And after December, you can only buy things and sell things in Japanese Yen. Dollars will be useless.

Now, if you knew that that transition was going to happen, if you were a smart investor, you would really do something right away. You would transfer as much of your wealth, as much of your portfolio, as many of your possessions, whatever money you had in the bank account or anything you've got, you would switch as much of it as you could into Yen immediately, and only keep just enough to make it through to December. Because you're going, "You know, after December, everything I've got in dollars is worthless."

That's exactly what God is saying about heaven. You can either store it up here on earth or you can store it up in heaven. And how do you store it up in heaven? By investing it in people who are going there. And that's why today, after 32 years of marriage, Kay and I give away 90% and live on 10%. Why? Because I have been storing up in heaven for years.

You're going to have a little dinky cabin next to my mansion. Just kidding. But the truth is, for 32 years of marriage, I have been putting it into my eternal bank account, which by the way, gets a lot better returns than the stock market. Because God says, "Whatever you give up for Me, I will restore a hundredfold." Do you know what that it says that in the scriptures, Jesus said it.

Do you know what a hundredfold is? 10,000% interest. Name me an investment that gives you 10,000% interest. I'm saying, be smart. You need to decide, where am I going to invest my time, where am I going to invest my life, where am I going to invest my money, because I'm either going to get rewarded here on earth or I'm going to get rewarded in heaven. It's your choice.

He said there's reunion, there're rewards, there're responsibilities. Life is a test, it's preparation for eternity. God is watching every single decision you make to see if you're faithful, if you're trustworthy.

Guest (Male): That was such an encouraging message from Pastor Rick, and now to encourage us more, here's Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

Pastor Rick Warren: Friends, today I want to tell you about a guy named Chris. I found out that he shares Daily Hope with his family and his friends and his coworkers as often as he can. And then he has seen a ripple effect as they all share Daily Hope with other people. Let me read you a portion of what he wrote to me.

Pastor Rick, I first encountered Daily Hope when a coworker forwarded the daily devotional to me years ago. My friend was sending the devotionals each morning to an email list of about 15 to 20 people. By the way, that's a good idea for you to do, too. And when my friend retired from our company, he passed along the email group list, and I continued the tradition of sending the devotionals each morning. That email group grew to about 35 or 40 people.

Now, I recently retired, so I passed the email group to another coworker in order that they can continue the ministry. Each morning I wake up, Pastor Rick, and I come to my quiet place just to listen and to journal your messages for the day. Now, depending on what the message is all about, I often forward it to many individuals for them to enjoy or to apply it in their own personal life and faith journey. My entire family now listens to you and Daily Hope Ministry, and it spreads all over through them. As they forward it to people in their circles of influence.

I can't thank you enough, Rick, for all that you've done in my life and to strengthen and grow my faith in Christ. Daily Hope, without a doubt, has changed the way that I approach every new day. You know, Chris, all I can say is, "Wow." I I love how you are exponentially sharing Daily Hope with your coworkers and with your family. You know, you're actually an evangelist. You are partnering in God's eyes with me to help spread the good news of the Gospel. And the good news is too good to keep to ourselves.

We have to share it. Now, anybody can do this. Anybody can do this, and it's an easy way to give other people hope through deepening their faith. So, if you don't know what to say, just forward on some of the things you've heard me say, and God will use you to make a difference in people's lives. You know, if God is blessing you through Daily Hope, would you share your story with me? Write me, Rick@PastorRick.com.

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.