Rick Warren - How to Be Certain You’re Going to Heaven—Part Three

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 bring our series called Eternal Realities Heaven

and Hell to a close. 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. As

we wrap up, here's the final part of a message

called how to be certain You're going to Heaven.

Look at the next verse. This is a very important verse,

got some heavy duty theology terms in it, but I'll

explain him. Says we are justified freely by His grace

through the redemption that came by Christ. Jesus. Now circle

the word justified and the word redemption, because those are

the two things you gotta have in order to get

into heaven. So let me explain him. What does it

mean to be justified? The Bible says Jesus Christ, we

died for you, justified you. What does that mean? Well,

justified means just as if I'd never sinned. That's what

it means. Justification. Justified means just as if I'd never sinned.

It's more than forgiveness. It means it's forgotten, it's wiped out,

it's like it didn't even happen. Let me give you

the example. Let's say while we're in here in church,

some kids go out and they take tire irons and

they beat up my car. They just tear it to

smithereens and security catches them and brings them in here.

And I say, now, you know, you, guys, God's forgiven

me a whole lot, and so I need to forgive

other people. So I'm going to forgive you for what

you've done for me. I'm gonna forgive you for what

you've done. And then I say to you guys, you guys,

I want you all to forgive them too, And you say, okay,

we forgive them. Now. They would be forgiven, but they'd

still feel bad because I think everybody knows. Everybody knows

what I've done, and a lot of people feel like that.

They go, yeah, I know God's forgiven me, but I

still feel bad about it because everybody knows about it.

What they need is to be justified. If I were

to have so pixie dust or ferry dust and I

sprinkled it over you, or I waved a magic wand,

and all of a sudden that incident was totally erased

from your memory. Then it would be justified. Just as

if I'd never sin remember the movie Man in Black,

they'd hold up that little thing, you know, the guys

would forget everything that they knew. Those guys were justified

by Will Smith right there. Okay, justified by Will Smith

or Tommy Lee Jones. Okay, that's what it means. Just

as if I'd never seen you don't even remember it,

then it says through the redemption of Christ, Jesus came

by Christ. What does it mean to be redeemed? What

does the word redemption mean? That's an old slave trading term,

and the word redemption means to buy somebody's freedom. You

purchase somebody's freedom. Let's say you're a slave. This is

years ago, and you're standing on a block and you're

gonna be auctioned off as a slave. And I raised

my hand and I say I will pay one hundred

thousand dollars for you, and so I buy you to

say okay, sold to mister Warren. And you come off

that auction block expecting to have to be my slave,

and I say, okay, you're free to go. So what, Yeah,

you're free to go, but you just bought me. Yeah,

but I paid to set you free. You're kidding. No,

I paid to set you free. That's called being redeemed.

I am your redeemer. I have paid to set you free,

and the Bible says that's what Jesus Christ did for you.

He said, well, I'm not a slave to anything. Oh yeah,

you are. You're a slave to far more things than

you realize. Pastor Tommy talked about this a couple weeks ago.

A lot of you are slaved to the fear of death.

You're scared to death, to die, you don't even want

to talk about it. A lot of you are slaved

to your past. You're stuck in the past. You can't

let go of that regret, that shame, that guilt. You're

a slave to guilt. A lot of you are slaved

to people who've hurt you, and you can't let go

of that hurt. And you're bitter and you're angry, and

you hold onto it and you're resentful, and you're a

slave to somebody else who hurt you. You may be

a slave to the expectations of other people and you

have to act a certain way because that's what's cool

is and you have to do it the way they

do it at work, and they do it at school,

the way to do it in your neighborhood. You may

be a slave to the approval of your parents, and

maybe they've even died years ago and you're still trying

to prove that they were wrong. You can be a

slave to worry. You can be a slave to fear.

You can be a slave to loneliness. You can be

a slave the depression, the boredom, the bitterness, the guilt,

or you're a slave to a lot of things that

you don't realize you are. You're a slave to habits.

You can't change. I don't like this about me. I

wish it could change, but I can't because you're a

slave to it. And you've tried to change, but you can't.

And you say I wanted to. I don't like this

about me. I don't change. You're a slave. Jesus said

I came to set you free. In fact, he said this,

when you know the truth, the truth will set you free.

And then he said, I am the truth. He came

to set you free. You know, God gave us a

picture to symbolize both redemption and justification. Redeem and justify.

It's called baptism. I don't know if you've ever seen

a baptism like they did it in the Bible times,

where they put people under the water. It's the way

we do it here, dunk people under water because that's

the way Jesus did it. And when we baptize a

person under the water, it's a picture of two things. First,

it's a celebration of Easter. Jesus Christ died, was buried

in the ground three days, and then later he arose

on Easter sunnies. Every baptism is a celebration of Eastern

so it's a symbol Now the waters. Nothing about the

water's not holy, just water. So we take a person,

we put them in the ground symbolize Jesus was buried

in the ground. We leave them there three days, just

seeing if you're listening, and then we bring them back up.

It's a symbol of that's what Jesus did to make

me just as if i'd never sin, and to redeem

mecond thing it's a picture of is what happens in

you when you put your trust in Christ. The Bible says,

the old has passed away. I'm dying to my old

way of life completely. It's dead, it's over, it's been

washed away, forgiven. I'm being raised, and it's just as

if I'd never sinned. Now why is that important? Because

it's the only way you're gonna get into Heaven. Heaven's

perfect and you're not. So you have to have somebody

who makes you just as if you'd never sinned. That's

the only way you get in. It's a gift to grace.

He is your redeemer. Now here's the steps you want

to go to heaven. You recognize God's love. No one

will ever love me more than God does. Recognize God's lover.

Receive God's gift that he gave his only begotten son.

I respond to his offer that whos whoever believes in him.

And then here's the fourth thing. I rely on God's promise.

What's the promise? Shall not parry but have everlasting life.

That's quite a promise. Did you know that you were

made to last forever? One day your heart's gonna stop.

That'll be the end of your body. But it's not

gonna be the end of you. God made you in

His image, and you were made to last forever. And

God says, I want you spending forever with me, not

apart from me. I want you forever with me in eternity.

But here's the bottom line. If you want to spend

eternity with God in heaven, you got to build a

relationship with him now on earth. You can't just thumb

your nose to God and say I'm gonna ignore God

my entire life and then at the end go, oh,

by the way, I'd like to come spend eternity with you. No,

you develop a relationship with him now. You say, but Rick,

even if I put my trust in Jesus Christ, how

do I know that I'm gonna make it in I mean,

what if something happens me now and when I die

that I really blow it and I don't get in. Well,

you don't understand, Grace. It's not up to you to

be sure. It's God who makes sure you may make it.

Look at the next verse. The Bible says this, we

are now members of God's own family. In other words,

when we put our trust in Him and God has

reserved for his children, it's like me going out and

making a reservation for us for dinner. God has reserved

in advance for his children the priceless gift of eternal life.

It is kept in heaven for you, and God will

make sure circle that you don't have to make sure.

God will make sure that you get there safely to

receive it because you are trusting him. Now, what does

that mean? God will make sure? It's like this? When

my kids were little, we once took a trip and

we went to the Grand Canyon. Now, what if I

had said, okay, kids, we come up to the edge

and I don't want them falling off, and we're going

to take this trip and we're going to hike down

this trail down several thousand feet into the Grand Canyon. Well,

they're scared, so they want to put their hand in

my hand. But more than that, I'm going to put

my hand on their hand because I don't I want

them falling. I don't want them falling away, falling off,

falling down. And so I grabbed their hands and we're

walking down in the king. About halfway down, my kids go,

I don't think I need Dad's help anymore. I can

make this on my own. I don't really need my father.

And they want to pull their hand out of my hand.

They want to wiggle and squirm and let go. But

because I love them and I want to protect them,

I'm not letting go. They may want to let go

of my hand, but I'm not letting go of theirs. Now, listen, today,

you say I'm gonna put my trust in Jesus Christ.

I know there's not a snowballs chance in hell I'm

gonna make it to heaven by doing good because I'm

not good enough. I've already blown it. I'm not perfect.

So Jesus Christ, I'm gonna put my hand in your hand.

I'm gonna put my life in your hand. I'm gonna

trust you, and you grab onto God's hand today. I'm

gonna guarantee you this. There will be times in your

life you're gonna want to let go of God because

it right now, it's kind of inconvenient to be a

follower of Christ. Right now, it's kind of crimping my style.

I don't really want to do the right and ethical thing.

I want to do the easy thing. And there are

going to be times when you'll want to let go

of God's hand, But He's never letting go of yours.

Because He loves you, and he will make sure you

get into heaven. It's not dependent upon you, it's not

by works, it's all by his grace, and he says,

I will get you there. So what do I do now?

Between now and when I die, Well, you get to

know God a little bit better. You get to know

to learn to love him. You learn to trust him

with every area of your life, your money, your relationships,

your family, your future, your career. You learn to trust him,

and you learn God's purpose for your life and begin

to fulfill the purpose you were created for. Now we

can help you out with that last one. We know

a lot about purpose here in this church. Now, focusing

on yourself looking inside will never reveal your purpose in life.

You were made by God and you were made for God.

And until you understand that, life will never make sense.

It is only in God that we discover our origin,

our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny.

There are three benefits of giving your life to Christ, past, president,

and future. Look at this next verse out of the Bible.

What a God we have because Jesus was raised from

the dead. That's Easter. We've all been given a brand

new life. That means just as if I'd never sinned,

and we have everything to live for. That's a purpose

and including a future in heaven. And the future starts.

Now you get this, God says, when you give your

life to me, your past is forgiven. You get a

purpose for living. You get a home in heaven. What

a deal. Nobody else can give you that past, forgiven,

purpose for living, home in heaven. I don't know if

you saw that movie The Passion, but there's a scene

where Pilot, who's the Roman governor of Judea, he's standing

with Jesus Christ and Jesus has just been beaten to

a pulp and he's got crown of thorns on his head,

and he's standing before an angry mob trying to decide

whether to kill him or not. And Pilot asked the

most important question in life, what shall I do with Jesus?

That is the most important question in life because it

will determine your eternal destiny. So I'm asking you right now,

what are you gonna do with Jesus? What are you

gonna do with Jesus? You're gonna either trust him or

you gonna turn away from him. It has eternal implications.

Now here's the cool part. And I wish somebody had

told me this. I would have become a follower much

much earlier. But I didn't understand this. I didn't have

to have all my doubts resolved and all my questions

answered before I started a relationship with Jesus. I wish

somebody had told me that. I thought I had to

have all my doubts figured out and all my questions

resolved before I could start a relationship. No, Jesus had

just come with your doubts, come with your questions. That's okay.

You don't have to have it all figured out. I've been

a follower of Jesus for forty years now, and when

I read this Bible, there's a lot of things in

here I don't understand. And I read it and I go, WHOA,

that didn't make sense. I don't understand that, And I

have doubts and questions and I go, WHOA, why would

God do that? I wouldn't do that. If I were God,

you ought to be glad. I'm not God. But that

hasn't stopped me from having a forty year friendship with

Jesus Christ. I don't have to understand how everything works

for me to enjoy it. I don't know how the

TV works pulls color off out of the air, but

I still watch TV. I don't know how I can

be on a cell phone and my wife can be

in Rwanda and I can talk to her. I don't

understand internal combustion doesn't stop me from driving a car.

There's a lot of things I don't understand, but I

still enjoy. I don't understand taste buds that didn't stop

me from enjoying a hot buttered cinnamon rule. Let's just

pause there for a moment. Oh baby, Oh baby, Oh baby.

I don't have to understand the chemistry of digesting to

eat a steak. I don't have to have all my

doubts figured out to come to Jesus. I wish I

had known that. In fact, every time I get a

doubt or question, I just write it down one day

when I get to it, and I'm gonna say, now, God,

explain this to me. Why did this happen? Why do

you do this and all of that? Why did you

do it this way? You don't have to And the

other thing you don't have to have is you don't

have to have great faith. Now I just have a

little faith. It's not the size of your faith that matters,

it's the size of your God. You put a little

faith in a big God and you get saved. You

don't have to have a lot of faith, just a

little faith. Now, everybody's got faith. You have faith. He

use it all the time. You have faith when you

said I'm in that chair that would hold you up.

That's a lot of faith. You had faith when you

go out on the freeway that you're not gonna get killed.

You have faith all the time, and you just put

some in God and not just other things. You know.

My favorite story in the Bible is this guy comes

to Jesus and he's got this daughter who's about to die.

She's sick and she's dying. And he comes to Jesus

and he says, Lord, I need you to heal my daughter.

And Jesus says, do you trust me? Do you believe me?

Do you trust me? And I love this guy. He's

very honest, very authentic. He goes, you know, I want

to believe. Help me with my doubts. I like that.

I want to believe, help me with my doubts. Jesus says, man,

that's good enough, and he heals a child right there.

You can do that. I want to believe you can

do it today. I want to believe. Help me with

my doubts. A little bit of faith, not a lot,

just a little bit of faith. I was talking to

guy the other day. I said, would you like to

receive God's gift of eternal life? And would you like

to respond to his offer to be just as if

you'd never sin? He goes, Oh, yeah, I said, do

you know what to pray? Goes n'ah, I go. Would

you like for me to help pray? Yeah? So I said, well,

just pray something like this. Dear God, I don't understand

it all. Dear Jesus, I know I need you. Thank

you for loving me, Thank you for dying for me.

Help me to understand it more, help me trust you.

I want to learn to trust you in every hour

of my life. Make me just as if i'd never sin.

I so, you can do that? He goes, I can

do that. So we bowed our head and prayed. You

can do that right now. Don't leave here without knowing

for sure you're going to heaven when you die. Let's

bow our heads, and now as we close, would you

just pray this simple prayer in your heart, in your mind,

you have to say it aloud. God knows your thoughts.

You've seen every thought you've ever had to say this.

And while I say you need to say me to God,

Dear Jesus, to say that in your mind, Dear Jesus,

I don't understand it all. But I want to thank

you for loving me, and I want to thank you

for coming to earth for me. And I want to

thank you for giving your life for me so I

can go to heaven. I want to accept your free

gift to forgiveness your grace. I know I can't earn

my way to heaven, and so I want to learn

to trust you with every area of my life. Would

you make me just as if i'd never send and

help me to know your purpose for my life so

that the rest of my life is the best of

my life. Amen. Now there's one last verse, and you

can look up here on the stage, and it's talking

about what it's going to be like in heaven. There

will come a day when you're gonna die, and God

says I will take you into heaven if you put

your trust in my son, and it says this, we

wait for that day. There will come that day when

God will give us our full rights as his children,

including new bodies He has promised us. Did you know this?

Bodies that will never be sick again and will never die. Woo,

I get a new body. You don't have to look

at this one anymore. And I'm not gonna have to

look at yours either. There will come a day when

there will be no more sorrow, no more suffering, no

more tears, no more tragedy, no more death. We're gonna

be with God forever eternity and celebrate.

Hey, if you've just prayed along with Rick to accept

Jesus in your life, Rick would love to hear from you.

Just email Rick at Pastorick dot com. We'll send you

free tools to help start your relationship with Jesus. Right now,

here's Pastor Rick with a letter from one of our

listeners 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 shared 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 fifty or twenty 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 continue the tradition of sending

the devotionals each morning. That email group grew to about

thirty five or forty 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 ply 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 say

is wow. 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 rickat Pastorrerick dot com.

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