Rick Warren - The Reality of Hell—Part One

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.

This week, I was sitting laying back in a dentist's chair.

My mouth is wide open. There are 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 them in Hell, but we won't

need them 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 their material or they're physical,

they're not going to last. Your body is not going

to last, that's obvious. This building's not going to last.

The trees and even mountains eode. Everything that's material fades away.

But the things that are going to last, the things

we can't see. We can't see God, we can't see

the angels, can't see the God's holy spirit, we can't

see heaven. The Bible says those things are going to last.

For now.

Our text today is out of Second Corinthians, chapter four

and five. If you have a Bible, you can open

the Second Corinthians four verse sixteen. 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 tints that

we now live in right now are heavy burdens, and

we've grown 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 the spiritual reality, 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 Second Corinthians is that spiritual realities are more real

than physical realities, that these are the things are going

to last forever, and we need to focus on those things.

First Corinthians thirteen twelve, and 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?

One of the realities of the universe. Well, they're all

found in this book God's Word that I've been teaching

now for about thirty five years, and this morning I

want us just start before we actually look at the

text and the subject, I want us to look at

five spiritual realities. And 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 say. 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 thirty one, verse three.

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 three elevens.

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 sixty eighty one hundred years.

On the other side of death you get trillions and

trillions and trillions and trillions of years. This is the

warm up back 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

is prepared to eternal places.

Heaven and hell.

Heaven is real and Hell is real, and there by

the way, not just states of being. They're not just

some kind of amorphous No body 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 fourteen two and three. 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 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 to. And heaven is the presence of God.

But it is a place. In fact, the Bible. He

tells us a lot about heaven. We're going to look

at it next week. But look at this verse Matthew

twenty five thirty four. 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, 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 p abode. I'm grateful that we don't live

forever on this planet. Why this planet's broken because the

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 a 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 the Satan's angels are called demons.

There. Satan rebelled against.

God, and so God created a place. And 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, 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 thirty, verses fifteen nineteen. It

says this, See, I have set before you today life

and good or death and evil.

He says, here's a 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, 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 life. 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 in built 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. And 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 LA and

your life has falling 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 days or weeks, and your life

is a mess.

And let's just say I.

Come walking by and I feel pity, I feel a grace,

I feel love towards you, and I say, you know what,

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 spend 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 you grace. However,

if you live in my house as a part of

my family, there are some house rules, and you got

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 warrant 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 going 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

as reasonable? 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. 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 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 if 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 go into 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 they're two doors in eternity, and one goes to heaven,

one goes to Hell, and the one that goes to

Heaven says, you come to Jesus, 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 gonna be my own God. I'm gonna

do what I want to do. I'm gonna be my

own dead. I don't want God. Maybe I don't anybody

telling me what's right or wrong. I don't want to

tell anybodnybody 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

gonna go my way out of this door in eternity

Now it's my choice.

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.

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 neighbors 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 obey everything

I've taught you. That's discipleship, and we call that the

Great Commission. We believe it 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 a live it's active, and it

breathes new life and new love into all of our lives.

So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on

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