Rick Warren - Heaven God’s Eternal Goodness to You—Part One

Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.

I'm really glad you're here today. We're continuing our series

from Psalm twenty three called Living in the Goodness of God.

It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where

you are and brings hope even in difficult seasons. Right now,

here's part one of a message called Heaven God's eternal

Goodness to you.

Today we come to the end of our twelve part

series on Psalm twenty three. It's only six verses, but

it took us twelve sessions to get through it because

there's so much depth and meet on living in the

Goodness of God. From the very beginning, I've been saying

that Psalm twenty three is not about you or me.

Are about our trust and faith in God. It's about

God's goodness to us. It's not about our commitment to him,

It's about His commitment to us. And in Psalm twenty three,

he gives us twelve pictures of how God is good

to us on a daily basis. Now, last, in our

last session, we came to the last verse, which goes

like this, So I'm twenty three Verse six surely, goodness

and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

And and he's got this little connector word, and I

will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. Now, friends,

this last sentence is the understatement of the millennium. And

I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

To go through eleven pictures of the goodness of God.

He's going to help you rest when you're stressed out.

He's going to help you when you walk through the

valley of the Shadow of Death. He will anoint your

head with oil when you need healing, and he will

he will overflow your cup. And all of the metaphors

we look at how God is good to us in life,

and then at the end he says, oh, and by

the way, it just doesn't end here on earth. God's

going to be good to you even after you die.

And I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

That's like saying on a TV game show you just

won one year's supply of potato chips and three houses

to eat it in. It's like it's a so much

bigger deal because I will dwell in the House of

the Lord forever. It's more enormous than all the other

eleven pictures put together the other eleven things. He says

that God's gonna do for you because of his goodness,

only last while you're here on earth. But the last

one says, and by the way, God's not just gonna

be good to you here on earth. He's gonna be

good to you forever and ever and ever and ever

and ever and ever and ever for eternity, for trillions

and trillions and trillions and trillions of years. I will

dwell in the House of the Lord forever. This is

the biggest ultimate expression of God's goodness. This is the

eternal goodness of God to you. So what I want

to do in this final session is look a little

bit more in depth and what heaven. And I want

to simply ask three questions, what is heaven? How is

it different? And what are we going to do in heaven?

And we're just gonna look at the front side. You'll

be glad. So I want us to begin by simply

asking the question what is heaven? Now on your outline.

Ephesians chapter two, verse five to seven says this it

is through grace that we have been saved, and God

has given us a place with Christ in heaven. And

why has God given this this place with Christ in heaven.

Why is he saying that he wants us in his

family and we're going to live with him forever and

ever and ever.

Well.

The rest of the sentence says, to show for all

the ages to come, God's goodness to us because of Christ.

This is the ultimate expression of God's goodness to you.

He didn't just say I'm going to help you when

you're down. I'm going to give you strength when you're weak.

I'm going to give you the provisions when you lack something.

I'll help you in your need. When you're scared, I'll

be with you. In addition to all those, he says,

I want you to live with me after you die,

forever and ever and ever. And you're never going to

die after that. This is phenomenal. And why does God

do this? Why does God give us a place with

Christ in heaven? He says, to show for all ages

to come, God's goodness to us. God says, I want

you to understand, my goodness is not time dated. My

goodness is not limited to hear on earth. My goodness

to you is for the rest of your life, and

your life is forever and ever and ever. I have

long range plans for you, not just the ninety or

one hundred years you live on earth, but forever and

ever and ever, and I will be good to you

throughout all of eternity. So let's just look at this

subject of heaven. And there's so much, as I've studied

all this past week about heaven. Really, we could do

a whole series on ed, another twelve week series just

on Heaven. I'm going to be hitting the high points,

hitting the rooftops, the peak tops of what the Bible

says about heaven. Everything you've seen in movies about heaven

is one hundred percent wrong. There's never been a movie

that got heaven right. Never, never, never, Even the Christian

movies don't get it right. Because it is Heaven in

many ways is unexplainable or incomprehensible to the size of

our brain. I told you in the previous message that

for you to try to understand heaven is like an

ant trying to understand the Internet. You don't have the

brain capacity to actually understand how cool, how great it is.

And all of the images that we have of Heaven

are so inferior and so imperfect that it makes Heaven

sound boring. Now, let me ask you when you go

and you look at the surf of the ocean, and

you look at the sunrises and sunsets over giant mountain

peaks with snow capped, you know, mountains and beautiful valleys,

and you look at the intricacies of you know, art

and flowers and plants and animals. Does that look like

boring to you? No? And this is an imperfect world.

And if you think about all of the really beautiful sounds, sights,

tastes and pleasures that God invented, every pleasure you've ever

experienced was because God invented it. And this is an

imperfect world. Heaven is going to be at a whole

another level because there's no imperfections in heaven. So what

is heaven? Well, let me just summarize what the Bible

says in three sentences. You might write these down if

you're taking notes. First, Heaven is a physical place, not

a state of being. Heaven is the actual, literal, real place.

It has a location. It is a physical place. It

is not a state of being. It's not like Nirvana.

It's not a dream it's not a kind of a

subsistence or existence or you know, ouey guey metaphorical attitude

that you've got out there. Now, this is a real place.

Jesus told us about it in John fourteen, and he

says to his disciples in verse two and three of

John fourteen, there are many rooms in my father's home. Now.

By the way, the word father's home is one of

the many terms that are used to describe Heaven. Heaven's

called the Father's home. Heaven is called Paradise, Heaven is

called the Kingdom of Heaven. There are many, many terms

to describe heaven in the Bible. But Jesus is talking

about heaven, and he says, there are many rooms in

my father's home, and I am going to prepare a

place for you. He's talking to disciples. This is after

he's died, the cross resurrected. He's got actually right before

he's going back to heaven. I'm going to prepare a

place for you, he says, I wouldn't tell you this

if it wasn't true. And when your place is ready,

notice God has a place specifically for you. When your

place is ready, I'll come back to get you. So

that you'll always be with me and live where I live.

If Heaven is not true, Jesus Christ is the greatest

liar who ever lived, because he said, I'm going to

prepare a place for you, and I'm going to come

back to get you. And if I come back, I'm

going to take you to place, and I'm preparing a

place specifically for you. You got a condo in heaven somewhere.

God is planning the place that he wants you to

spend eternity with him. Why because God is your heavenly father,

and he wants his children to live with him at

home forever. So it's a physical place, not a state

of being. Number two. Second thing we know about heaven

is that it's a permanent place that's going to last forever.

It's not just a physical place, it's a real location.

It is also a permanent place. It's not in ten

years they're going to bulldoze it for urban renewal and

build something else. This place will last forever. First Second Corinthians,

chapter five, Verse one says here on the screen, it

will be a home in heaven that will last forever.

And another verse look up here on the screen. Ephesians

Chapter one, verse ten says this, this is God's purpose

that when the time is right, God's timing is always perfect.

When the time is right, he will gather his children

together from wherever they are to be with him in

Christ forever. And where's that going to be. It's going

to be in this place called heaven. There are already

millions of people there, and other millions will join him.

It's a physical place. It's a permanent place. But here's

the third thing, and a lot of people get this

one wrong. It is a reserved place. It is a

reserved place for only God's family. Heaven is not for everyone.

Everybody is not going to be in heaven. If everybody

could go to heaven, you'd have backbiting and jealousy and

gossip and war and lust and rape and murder and

all these other things. Heaven would be no different than Earth.

If everybody could go, if Hitler could go to heaven,

and if Paul Pot and Stalin and Mao and other

genociders who've killed millions and millions of people could go

to heaven just the way they were, then what's the

special thing about it. Heaven is not for everybody. Heaven

is only for the children of God. It's God's home.

He gets to choose who goes to it. Now you

get to choose if you want to be a part

of his family, and that's totally up to you. God

invites everyone to Heaven, but not everybody's going because not

everybody's willing to meet the conditions. And what's the condition

that you accept God's grace, that you accept his forgiveness,

that you realize you could never get to Heaven on

your own power. Heaven is a perfect place, and I'm not,

and neither are you. I stop being perfect about ten

seconds after birth, and so I need a plan to

get to heaven. And that's God's plan of salvation, where

Jesus came and paid for all your sins so you

could go. But it is a reserve place only for

God's family. In the Book of Revelation, chapter twenty one,

and we're going to go there. Several times in this session,

verse twenty seven, it says this only those whose names

are written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be

able to enter. Talking about heaven, now, what is the

Lamb's book of life? This Lamb's Book of Life is

mentioned several times in Scripture. In the Book of Revelation,

the lamb is always a symbol for Jesus. He's the

Lamb of God who is sacrificed for our sins, like

the Lamb of sacrifice in the Old Testament. So he's

talking about there is a book of Life that if

your name's in it, you get in. If your name

is not in the Book of Life, you don't get

into heaven. How do I get my name in the

Book of Life? Do what God says? Jesus said, I

am the way. No one comes to the Father, but

by me. I put my trust in God's son, the Lamb,

who was sacrificed for me, so I don't have to

pay more for my sins. He paid for my sins,

and so I trust him. Then my name gets written

in the Book of Life. But evidently there is a

registration book in heaven. You gotta have a reservation. You

just don't die and then decide, oh, now I'd like

to go to heaven. You have to make an advanced reservation,

and your name has to be in the Book of

Life or you don't get in. Heaven is not for

a first place. I don't know why anybody who doesn't

want God in their life now would want to spend

his life with God for eternity. That doesn't make sense.

Show me the person who goes. I want to live

my life completely apart from God. I want to be God.

I want to make my own decisions. I want to

disobey what God says to do. I want to do

what I want to do because I actually think I'm

smarter than God. I know it will make me more

happy than God. I don't even believe in God, and

if I do believe him, I don't want to obey him.

I want to be my own God. Why would that

person that say when he dies, oh, now I want

to spend the rest of my life with you. That

doesn't make sense. And Jesus God says, have it your way.

You didn't want me in your life when you're on earth,

and I gave you all those years to decide for me,

and you decided against me. Why in the world would

you want to live with me now for eternity. If

you didn't want me in your life on earth, why

in the world would you want me in your life

and eternity. You see, God doesn't actually send anybody to hell.

You choose. You choose. A person chooses. If there's one

door that says life eternal through Jesus Christ and salvation,

and one over here says life separated from God, which

is hell. If I go, I don't want to do

it your way. I don't want to believe you. I

want to trust you, I want to obey you. I

don't want you to be my lord. I'm going to

walk out this door. Who do I blame? To go

to Hell? You have to do almost the impossible. You

have to reject the love of God. You have to

reject the grace of God. You have to reject the

forgiveness of God. You have to reject God himself. Why

in the world would anybody do that? Pride? Pride, that's why.

Because I want to be my own God. I don't

want anybody telling me what I should be doing with

my life. And so God says, you got to tr

I give you the choice. You want to live in

my house. Here are the house rules, okay? And what's

the house rules? Real? Simple? You trust me for your

salvation because you can't be good enough to get into

a perfect place, and you asked me for forgiveness. And

you learn to love me as much as I love you.

I created you for a purpose. I have a plan

for your life, and I want you to know me.

So it's a physical place, and it's a permanent place,

and it is a reserve place only for God's family.

You know. One time in the Bible tells us the

story how Jesus sent his original twelve followers, they were

called disciples out to do some ministry to help people

who were in need. And he said, I'm gonna I'm

going to give you the authority to do miracles. So

you can go out and you can pray for people.

They're gonna get well, and they're people who are oppressed

and depressed by h by demons or by spiritual forces

ac cult and they're gonna have freedom and you're gonna

see miracles. And he sends them out, and you know

what happened. That's exactly what happened. And these guys, twelve guys,

come back a little later from their mission trip and

I going, WHOA, you wouldn't believe what happened. I saw

this guy here, and I saw this miracle here, and

I saw this freedom here in this liberation there, and

they're all celebrating it, and Jesus goes, wait a minute, guys,

you're celebrating the wrong thing. He says, Rather than celebrating

the fact that I used you and your faith to

do miracles in people's lives, here's what you should celebrate.

Look up here on the screen, Luke, Chapter ten, verse twenty.

He said, instead, you should rejoice that your names are

recorded in heaven. The moment you step across the line,

as most of you have and has said, Okay, I'm in,

I'm gonna trust Christ for my salvation. I know I

need a savior. I can't save myself. I can't solve

my own problems. I certainly can't save myself life from

all my sins. And the moment you step across the line,

evidently your name is written down in the Registry of Heaven,

in the Book of Life. And when you die, they say,

come on in. We have a reservation for you. We've

been waiting for you. Welcome, Welcome to Heaven.

I don't know about you, but I am encouraged after

that message. And let's keep the encouragement going with a

letter from one of our listeners.

Here's rick you know I love hearing from Daily Hope

listeners like you. And here's one note that I got

from Raymond in New York, your pastor Rick. I'd like

you to know how much I appreciate the Daily Hope broadcast.

The nuggets that I get I share with my lunch

group at work, and my family benefits as well because

at dinner time, my wife and my son here the

nugget that I learned during the day, and we discuss it.

It's awesome. Well, let me just say this, Raymond, thanks

for writing me, and thanks for sharing your story. You

encouraged me just now. I'm happy to hear that your

sharingring Daily Hope with your co workers and with your family.

If God has used this broadcast in your life, would

you let me know about it and tell your story.

It'll be good for you, it'll be good for me,

and it'll be good for all the others who hear it.

I love you, and I thank God for you, and

join me next time as we continue to look into

God's word for our daily hope.

Now, if you'd like to let Rick know how much

this broadcast has blessed you, please feel free to send

him an email. He loves it. Send it to Rick

at Pastorrick dot com. That's Rick at pastorick dot com.

Be sure to join us next time as we look

into God's word for our daily hope. This program is

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