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 begin a 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. Okay, let's get started. Here's part one of a message called The Reality of Hell.

Pastor Rick Warren: This week, I was sitting, laying back in a dentist's chair. My mouth is wide open, all kinds of utensils in my mouth, and the technician leans over and says, "So, what happens after I die?"

I said, "It all depends on how much you hurt me."

I said, "I do know this: we don't need dentists in heaven." Now, you may need him in hell, but we won't need him in heaven.

Everybody wants to know the answer to that question: "What happens after I die?" And so, for the next two weeks, we're going to do a little mini-series on Heaven and Hell. I'm calling it Eternal Realities.

Now, the Bible tells us that everything you see is temporary, and what you don't see is what's going to last. The eternal realities are things you don't see. The things you see right now are all temporary. If they're material or they're physical, they're not going to last. Your body is not going to last. That's obvious. Your, this building's not going to last. The trees and even mountains erode, everything that's material fades away.

But the things that are going to last are things we can't see. We can't see God, we can't see the angels, we can't see the God's Holy Spirit. We can't see heaven. The Bible says those things are going to last forever.

Now, our text today is out of 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and 5. If you have a Bible, you can open to 2 Corinthians 4:16. Let me read it to you out of the Contemporary English Version. It says this: "Our bodies are gradually decaying and becoming weaker." Anybody want to give a testimony on that? Yeah, okay. "Our bodies are gradually decaying and becoming weaker. But our spirits inside of us are growing stronger each day."

"Now these little troubles that we face here on earth are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all of our troubles seem like nothing." Now, listen to this: "The things that are seen don't last forever, but the things that are not seen are eternal."

"And that's why we keep our minds on the things that we cannot see." That's why I'm calling this series Eternal Realities.

Now, our bodies are like tents that we live in here on earth. Some of us have big tents. But when these tents are destroyed, God will give us each a new place to live, and our new bodies and our homes are in heaven, and they will last forever.

Now, these physical tents that we now live in right now are heavy burdens and we groan, not just because we want to leave these bodies that are going to die, but because we want to exchange them for bodies that will never die.

"God is the one who makes all of this possible, and he has given us his spirit to make certain that he will do it. So, always be cheerful."

"Now, as long as we are in these earthly bodies, we're going, we are away from the Lord. So, we live by faith, not by what we see." I can't see God, I can't see heaven, I can't see angels, I can't see all of the spiritual realities. So, he says, "We live by faith, not by what we see."

"Now we'd rather leave these bodies and be at home with the Lord," in other words in heaven, "But whether we're with the Lord or whether we're away from him, we still try our best to please him. After all, Christ will judge each of us for the good or the bad that we do while living in these bodies."

Now, the point that Paul is making here in 2 Corinthians is that spiritual realities are more real than physical realities. That these are the things that are going to last forever and we need to focus on those things.

First Corinthians 13:12 in the Amplified says this. In fact, let's read it aloud together. "Right now, we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim reflection of reality. But one day, we shall see reality face to face."

Now, for the next two weeks, we're going to look at the reality of heaven and the reality of hell. Two of the eternal realities that God wants us to understand. What are the realities of life? What are the realities of the universe? Well, they're all found in this book, God's Word, that I've been teaching now for about 35 years.

And this morning, I want us to just start before we actually look at the text and the subject, I want us to look at five spiritual realities. Now, we've covered these many, many times, but let's just go back and review. The first reality of life is this: God made you to love you, and He wants you to learn to love Him back. That is the first and foremost reality of life that God exists and He made you to love you, and He wants you to love Him back.

You see, you were made, how many times have I said this? You were made by God and you were made for God, and until you understand that, life isn't going to make sense because it's all about God and it's all for His glory. And God made you and He made you to love you. You were created as an object of God's love.

And if God hadn't wanted to love you, He wouldn't have made you. There has never been a person made that God doesn't love. And not only does He love you, He's given you the capacity to learn to love Him back, to get to know Him back. And that's the first purpose of life, to learn to love God back. The Bible says, "All of the great commandments," Jesus said, to summarize the first one, "Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." Those are the two first great commandments. So, it's all about love.

And so, God says, "I made you to love you and I want you to learn to love me back." First reality of life. In fact, God says this in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31:3, it's up here on the screen. He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, and with unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself." God says, "I'm trying to draw you to me. I want you to get to know me and I want you to understand how much I love you." And He wants you to know and love Him back.

Now, the second great reality of life is this: you were made to last forever. You were made to last forever. One day your heart's going to stop and that's going to be the end of your body, but it's certainly not going to be the end of you. The Bible says that you and I, as human beings, were created in the image of God, which means God put in us eternity.

In fact, the Bible says this in Ecclesiastes 3:11, it's on the screen: "He has planted eternity in the human heart." And that's why no matter how good things are on this planet, there's still a longing in you and at some point in your life you go, "There's got to be more than this." And the truth is, there is more, much, much more: heaven. You're going to spend far more time on the other side of death than on this side. On this side, you get 60, 80, 100 years, on the other side of death, you get trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions of years.

This is the warm-up act, the preschool, the first lap around the race, but the real life is going to go on in eternity. And the Bible says that this side is getting ready for that side. Life is preparation for eternity. You were made to last forever and He put eternity in your heart.

Now, because of that, we have the third great reality of life. And the third great reality is that God has prepared two eternal places: Heaven and Hell. Heaven is real and hell is real. And they're, by the way, not just states of being. They're not just some kind of amorphous, nobody float in the clouds, wonder where it is. They are literal places. There is a real place called heaven and there is a real place called hell. We're going to look at these for the next two weeks.

The Bible tells us first that there's a real heaven. Jesus said this in John 14:2 and 3, up here on the screen. He said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you." Now, notice, heaven's not an accident. It is a prepared place. And he says, "I'm going to prepare a place for you." Now, first, notice it's a place. It's not a state of being, it is an actual place. "I'm going to prepare a place." And who is heaven prepared for? It says, what? For you. God is preparing it for us to be a part of His family.

And he says, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where you may be also." He says, "I, where I'm going, I want you to go too." And heaven is the presence of God, but it is a place. In fact, the Bible tells us a lot about heaven. We're going to look at it next week, but look at this verse. Matthew 25:34, Jesus says this, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you." See, there's that word again. God prepared heaven for us. "Since," read it with me, "the creation of the world."

Notice that when God created the world, He was also creating heaven. God has been preparing heaven since the beginning of the world, it says from the creation of the world, from the foundation of the world. Why? Because this is not your permanent resting spot. This is not your permanent abode. I'm grateful that we don't live forever on this planet. Why? This planet's broken. Because of sin and suffering and sorrow and sickness and evil. Nothing works on this planet. There's nothing perfect on this planet except the Word of God.

No relationship is perfect, no job is perfect, no body works perfectly. Everything's broken on the planet because of sin. So, I'm glad we don't have to stay on a broken planet. We're going to go to a place of perfection and he said, "We're going to spend eternity there." That heaven is a real place.

But hell is also a real place. And notice here on the scripture, here's what the Bible says. Jesus said, "Then he," that's God, "will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for,'" read it with me, "the devil and his angels."

Now, Satan's angels are called demons. They are, Satan rebelled against God, and so God created a place. Now, notice that hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. It wasn't originally intended for human beings. Did you get that? He said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you. It's called heaven." But he said, "Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels."

Now, if I choose to rebel against God, just like Satan did, and I choose to reject God, and I choose to say, "I'm going to be my own God, I'm going to do what I want to do, be what I want to be, say what I want to say," then if I rebel like Satan and I go where Satan goes, but it's not originally planned for human beings. It was planned as a punishment for Satan and his angels. So, there is a real heaven and there is a real hell.

Now, here's the fourth reality. You get to choose where you'll spend eternity. You get to choose where you will spend eternity. It's your choice. Now, this is the same kind of choice that God gave to Israel in the Old Testament. Back in the book of Deuteronomy, God says this to the people of Israel. He says, "Today, I'm giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse. Now you'll be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God or you'll receive a curse if you reject me." You rebel against me. You say, "I'm going to be my own God," and you reject me and my commands.

Let me show you another verse in Deuteronomy chapter 30:15 and 19, it says this, "See, I have set before you today life and good or death and evil." He says, "Here's the choice. You can choose between doing good and life or you can choose between doing evil and death."

He says, "If you obey my commandments by loving the Lord your God." See, that's the most important commandment. The most important commandment is that you learn to love God with your heart and soul and mind and strength, "And by walking in His ways." He said, "If you do that, then," he says, "you'll live and you'll multiply, and I will bless you."

"But," he says, "if your heart turns away from me to worship other things." Now, why would anybody worship other things besides God? Because we want to. You can worship love, you can worship your car, you can worship your career, you can worship status or sex, you can worship your salary, you can worship possessions or position or power or prestige or popularity, you can worship yourself. Everybody has a god. Even atheists have a god. It may be themselves. But in you there is an inbuilt, wired desire to worship. And if you don't worship the true God, you're going to choose something else. And a false god is called an idol.

And God says, "You don't have any other thing before me. Anything you put before God in your life, you worship. If you put your career before God, if you put making money before God, if you put having fun before God, anything you put before God becomes your God in your life and you worship it."

And he says, "If your heart turns away from me to worship other things and to serve them," he said, "then you will perish. Therefore," he says, "choose life." You get a choice. "Choose life that you may live."

Now, let me give you an example of this. Let's just suppose you were a drug addict and you're living in the gutter. It's Skid Row in in LA. And your life has fallen apart because you are hopelessly addicted to drugs. And you're laying there on the side of the street by the gutter in your own vomit, and you haven't bathed in in days or weeks, and your life is a mess.

And let's just say I come walking by, and I feel pity, I feel grace, I feel love toward you. And I say, "You know what? Let me help you out. I tell you what, you don't deserve this, but I'm going to help you out. I'm going to show you grace." And here's what I'm going to do. "I'm going to pick you up and I'm going to take you home to my house, and I'm going to give you a bath and I'm going to get you cleaned up, and I'm going to give you a new set of clothes."

"But that's not all I'm going to do. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to let you live with me at my house, and you can become a part of my family. In fact, I'm going to adopt you. And I'm going to you can take the Warren name. And I'm going to pay off all your debts that you owe because you spent all that money on drugs. And I'm actually going to give you my credit card and you have access to the entire resources of the Warren family. You got my name, you got my credit, you can live in my house, you're a part of my family."

"And I'm doing this simply because I love you. You don't deserve it, you don't earn it, you don't work for it, I just love you and I want to show you grace. However, if you live in my house as a part of my family, there are some house rules, and you got to abide by these rules if you're going to live in my house and be a part of my family. And rule number one is this: We don't do drugs in this house. We don't do drugs at all. So, if you're going to live here and have access to all these free privileges and resources, we don't do drugs in the Warren house."

Now, let me ask you three questions about that. Is it reasonable for me to expect that person to abide by the family house rules? Yes. I'm just showing them grace. If they're going to live in my house, then they ought to live by the rules that I set up. It's my house. The same is true with you. Let's say if you were to say, "Hey Rick, I'm going to be gone for a month and I have a house that's down by the ocean. And Rick, you can come live in my house and use it for a month." And you say, "But there are a couple house rules. First, you may not jump up and down on the bed."

Okay, is that unreasonable? No, it's your house. Your house, you get to make the rules. And if I'm going to use your house, then I should abide by the rules. You lock up here, and this is what you do, and you don't jump on the bed. Fine. That's reasonable.

Now, if I offered you to come and say, "Come live at my house," and you're on drugs, and you reject it, and you say, "Thank you for your offer, but I'm going to choose to live on Skid Row because the truth is, I love my drugs. And I'm not willing to give them up. I'm not willing to give them up to be a part of your family. I'm not willing to give them up for all the other benefits because I love my drugs. And so, I'm going to choose to live here on on Skid Row in spite of your gracious offer."

If you turn me down, would that be my fault? No. No, it would be your fault. And could you blame me for being unloving? No. I had done the loving thing to offer to help you get out of the situation. You couldn't blame me for being unloving. Now, let's apply that same logic to going to heaven because I hear people all the time say, "Well, how could a loving God send people to hell?"

God doesn't send people to hell, you choose to go there. It's like there are two doors in eternity, and one goes to heaven, one goes to hell. The one that goes to heaven says, "You come to Jesus." This is how that, this is the house rule. He's already paid for your ticket into heaven. He's already forgiven you. All you got to do is accept it. You just accept what He's done for you, it's a free gift of grace. You go to heaven. You want to go to hell? You just do your own thing. You say, "I'm going to be my own God. I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be my own God. I don't want God make, I don't want anybody telling me what's right or wrong. I don't want to tell me, anybody tell me what to do. I want to run my own life."

Now, if I choose to walk out this door, I certainly can't blame God. He's done everything possible for you to go to heaven. He's already paid for it all. He's made it so easy, you just have to accept it by faith. And if I say, "Thank you, no, I'd rather stick with what I love more," then that's not God's fault. That's my fault. It is a choice.

Does God have a right, question. Does God have a right to make house rules for His house? Well, yeah, it's His house. And in heaven, He has a right to say, "You want to come to heaven, here's how you get here." How do you get here? Not by earning it, not by working for it, not by being good, but simply by accepting the grace that His Son did for you by dying on the cross for you.

And if I reject his condition for entering heaven, He's not being unloving, I'm just being dumb. He's not being callous, I'm just being illogical. And can anybody blame me, can anybody blame God if I choose to say, "I'm going to go my way out this door in eternity"? No. My choice.

Guest (Male): What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to tell you how you can help support this ministry.

Pastor Rick Warren: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives according to five specific purposes. He said, "You've got to love God with all your heart." That's worship. "And love your neighbor as yourself." That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment. And then Jesus said, "Go make disciples," that's evangelism, "baptize them into the family of God," that's fellowship, a sign of fellowship, "and then he said, 'Teach them to obey everything I've taught you.'" That's discipleship. And we call that the Great Commission.

We believe at Daily Hope that a great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company, a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just across America, but all around the world. And we want people to know that God's word is filled with hope and truth and the power that we need to follow him every day is available to every single one. You know as well as I do that the word of God changes lives. It's alive, it's active, it breathes new life and new love into all of our lives.

So, wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or whether you listen through a podcast, you're a part of the Daily Hope family and I need your help. We could not do this without your support. We're 100% listener funded. Would you continue to pray for this broadcast and would you continue to support us?

And let, right to me, let me hear from you. I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me. So, write me, pray for me, and support this ministry. And God will bless it and God will bless you, and we'll get to heaven and we'll thank God for all the people going to be in heaven because you cared.

Guest (Male): Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, just go to PastorRick.com. That's PastorRick.com, or you can text the word hope to 70309. That's the word hope to 70309. And really, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. Hey, be sure to join us next time when 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.