Will I Go to Heaven? | Preparing for Eternity

We're glad you're joining us for A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast supported by Harvest Partners. Get more encouraging audio content when you subscribe to Pastor Greg's Daily Devos.

Learn more and sign up at harvest.org. Sit head on without fear and know that we have hope in the afterlife. Cemeteries are full of people who didn't expect to die when death came knocking. And what comes after this life has to be prearranged before this life is over. So although death may be years away for you, it's not too early to make those afterlife arrangements. And today is the day as Pastor Greg Laurie brings a message called, Will I Go to Heaven?

Glad you're along for A New Beginning and a message from the series called, Timeless, Unchanging Truths in a Changing Culture. So I heard a story about a man who went down to Florida because it was so cold in Chicago. And his wife was going to join him a little bit later. And after he landed, he wanted to shoot his wife a quick text and let her know that he arrived safely, but she had just changed her phone number. And he committed it to memory, but as it turns out, he got one digit wrong. So he sends this message to his wife. Well, actually it didn't go to his wife at all. It went to an elderly woman whose husband had just died and he happened to be a pastor. And so the family was gathered there in the home and suddenly they hear the elderly woman shriek and they run in and they grab her phone and read this message on it. Dearest wife, just checked in.

Everything is prepared for your arrival tomorrow. PS, it sure is hot down here. Yeah. Yes, that's one of those preacher jokes. Preacher jokes are a lot like dad jokes, aren't they?

Kind of lame, mildly amusing. But sooner or later, we're all going to enter in to the afterlife. Death is no respecter of persons.

The rich and the poor, the famous, the unknown. Death is the great equalizer. You know, I remember before I was a Christian, I thought when you died, you simply ceased to exist. And that freaked me out. Now, there's a scene in the movie, Jesus Revolution, where my character Greg is running down the street. That actually happened. But there are some scenes that didn't ever happen in real life. And it's disappointing because people come up to me and say, we love the movie and we love this scene.

And it seems like they always pick the scenes that actually never happened in real life. Like they'll say, I love it when you met Kathy and you look through the fence. That's my favorite scene. What was that like? I have to say, sorry, that didn't happen. That's not how we actually met. That's a little bit of movie mythology added to the story. Or they'll say, oh, I love that part when the hippies gave you the car.

That's a great scene. How was that? Well, that didn't happen either.

I actually bought the car for $225. OK. But it was an old Corvair. And another one is, oh, I love it when Chuck gives you the keys to the church at the end of the movie.

That didn't happen either. OK. Now, there's many scenes that are actual scenes from my life. But I'll tell you this one.

The scene where Greg is running down the street, flipping out, thinking he's going to die is a real story. And that's really what happened to me. And I did hear a voice say, you're going to die. And that sent me on a search as a young person, asking the big questions that every thinking person eventually gets around to asking, such as, what happens after I die? Where will I go when I die?

And of course, the biggest is, will I go to heaven? In his biography on Steve Jobs, who created Apple and created a lot of the technology that we're using today, especially the iPhone, the author Walter Isaacson asked Steve Jobs whether or not he believed in God. Jobs said throughout his life there were seasons when he did believe in God. And then there were times when he did not. But now, as he was facing the prospect of his own death, he found himself believing in God more and more. So the author of the book, Isaacson, asked Steve Jobs, why?

Why do you believe this more and more? Steve replied, quote, because I can't accept that the body just turns off one day, and then it's all over, and you're gone forever. Then Jobs added these words, incidentally. That's why we never put on-off switches on Apple products, because Jobs didn't like the idea of just flipping a switch and turning something off.

Isn't that interesting? That's how a lot of people view death. You just flip a switch, it lights out, party's over, the end.

Well, that's actually not true at all. We are eternal people. If we're a believer or a non-believer, we have a soul that lives on in the afterlife. Yes, the body goes into the ground.

Yes, the body ceases to function, but the soul lives on. We had the privilege of being in Washington DC last week, and we were in the Capitol building. I'm reminded of the words that are written there in the Capitol building, quote, one God, one law, one element, and one far-off divine event to which the whole creation moves. That event is the end of life. No, you can't escape it.

You can't say, no thanks, I'd rather not. We're all headed toward that event. It reminded me when I was in the Capitol rotunda back in 1996 when we watched Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth, receive the Congressional Gold Medal, a distinguished honor. In this building with the dome on it, there are all these statues around you of different leaders in our country, mostly presidents. There's Dwight Eisenhower. There's Ulysses S. Grant.

There's Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman. Billy Graham stood in that spot, and he said to all those people that were gathered, the elite of Washington, he said, I've walked through Statuary Hall. I've looked at all these statues of great Americans, and they all have one thing in common. They're all dead, and we're going to join them. I thought, wow, that was a moment. I never forgot that.

Actually, they honored Billy by putting his body and state there in that same room after he died. This is something that we have to think about. I know it's not the most pleasant of subjects, but I believe as a Christian, we can face it head on without fear and know that we have hope in the afterlife. We need to think biblically, not emotionally.

That's what this series is about, is we're getting you grounded theologically so you know what is true. Most Americans believe in an afterlife, 84%. 82% of Americans believe in heaven. 70% believe in hell. That always makes me laugh that less people believe in hell than believe in heaven, but both are found in the Bible.

One thing is clear. We'll all die and enter the afterlife because Ecclesiastes 3 says there's a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die. Hebrews 9 27 says it's appointed unto a man once to die, and then comes the judgment. Statisticians tell us that three people die every second, 180 every minute, 11,000 every hour. That means that every day 250,000 people enter in to the afterlife.

This is why the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 139, Lord, teach us to number our days and realize how few they are and help us to spend them as we should. This story is told from history that Philip of Macedon, who was the father of Alexander the Great, had someone follow him everywhere he went, and this was his job. He was to tell Philip every day, Philip, you will die. Wow, what a job, but it was just something that kept Philip grounded, reminding him that eternity was waiting. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Whenever you send us an email, letter, or post a comment on social media, we read every word. Pastor Greg, I loved the movie Jesus Revolution. I'm also thankful that you helped lead my mom to Jesus just two weeks before she suddenly died.

Through it all, God is good. Has Pastor Greg heard from you? If not, why not drop him an email and tell your story? Send it to Greg at Harvest.org.

Again, that's Greg at Harvest.org. Well, we're tackling an important subject today here on A New Beginning. Pastor Greg has titled today's study, Will I Go to Heaven? So let's read now the words of Jesus about the afterlife here in John chapter five.

I'm going to read verses 25 to 29. Jesus says, I assure you the time is coming. Indeed, it is here now when the dead will hear my voice, the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will live. The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life, giving power to his Son, and has given him authority to judge everyone, because he is the Son of Man.

Don't be surprised. Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God's Son, and they'll rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.

We'll stop there. Three big truths pop out of these verses. Number one, there is a final judgment. Number two, there are two destinations beyond the grave. And number three, the destination we enter into depends on our relationship with God.

Let's start with point number one. There is a final judgment. In Acts 17 30, Peter says, in these times of ignorance, God is overlooked, but now he commands men everywhere to repent, because he's appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. So the fact that there is a future judgment reminds us that God is fair, because life is filled with injustices, isn't it?

You just read a news feed, and the horrible things that happen every single day, and it breaks your heart. People seem to get away with the worst crimes imaginable, and we think, how can that happen? Well, they're not going to get away with it. They may escape the long arm of the law, but they will not escape the long arm of the Lord. God is in control, and he keeps very accurate records. Colossians 3 25 says, the wrongdoer will be paid back, for the wrong he has done, and there's no partiality.

Listen to this. Every wrong in the universe will ultimately be paid for. It will either be paid for by Jesus Christ when he died on the cross, and the offender repents and puts their faith in him, or it will be paid for by the offender at the final judgment for those who do not put their faith in Jesus for salvation. Point number two. There are two destinations beyond the grave. Heaven and hell. There's no purgatory. There's no stopovers. Aren't you glad of that? When I fly, I hate stopovers, because things happen.

You get delayed. However, I did stop over in Chicago on the way back from DC, and I was very excited, because I wanted to get a Chicago dog. You know what I'm talking about? The hot dog. They have a very unusual way of doing hot dogs in Chicago.

So that was the one highlight. I have a stopover, but I'm going to get a Chicago hot dog. But generally, I don't like stopovers.

I like to just get to where I'm going. Well, when we die, as Christians, there's no stopovers. Do not pass go.

Do not collect $200. Monopoly reference. You go straight into the presence of the Lord.

Isn't that good to know? Right into God's presence. The moment you close your eyes on earth, you open them in heaven. When you take your last breath on earth, you take your first breath in heaven.

It's so fast, you could hardly even measure it. Paul writes in Philippians 1 23, I'm hard pressed between the two. I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. But it's important for me to stay here with you.

Why is heaven better than earth? Well, number one, because I'm moving from a tent to a mansion. How many of you remember the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies? Raise your hand. You're all really old.

Or you're young and you've seen it in reruns. So Jed moved from his ramshackle old shack in the woods to a mansion. And we're gonna move from this broken down shack of a body to a mansion that's far better than Beverly Hills. Right? Heaven is better than earth because all of my questions will be answered. We all have questions in life. I do, I'll admit. Things that have happened to me in life that didn't really make sense. Some of those things have been sorted out as I've gotten older. I'll look back and say, oh, now I understand maybe why God allowed that because this came out of it and this other thing came out of it.

But then there are other things that have happened to me that make no sense to me at all. And we all have those questions. It reminds me of a mother who invited a bunch of people over to her house for a dinner party. And so it was a lot of work, more than she expected. And so it was time to have the food and she turned to her little daughter and said, honey, why don't you give thanks for the meal? And the little girl says, well, mommy, I don't know what to say. And the mom said, well, just pray what you hear mommy say.

And the little girl said, okay, dear God, why on earth did I invite all of these people over to my house for dinner? But we have serious questions we wanna ask God. And we'll know.

One day we'll know. 1 Corinthians 13, 12 says, now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror. But then we will see everything with perfect clarity.

All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me completely. But the greatest thing of all, the reason that heaven is better than earth is not just because I'm upgrading my dwelling place, not just because my questions will be answered, but I'll be with Christ. I'll be with Christ.

That's it. Again, as Paul says, I wanna desire and be with Christ, which is far better. So what is heaven like? Short answer, amazing, awesome, better than anything you ever imagined.

It's beyond your wildest dreams. But let's start with this. We need to be reminded that heaven is an actual place. Jesus said in John 14, I've gone to prepare a place for you. Here's the problem with heaven.

Well, let me restate that. Here's our problem with our understanding of heaven. There's no problem with heaven. But we have concepts of heaven that are really not based on scripture. They're based on tradition or they're based on things we've seen in films or the way it's been depicted in religious art, where heaven is sort of this mystical place and there's clouds and more clouds and people sitting around plucking harps and little fat baby angels. I don't know where these came from.

They're almost like Cupid hovering above us. And we're thinking, I don't know that I really want to go to that place. That's probably why science fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote these words, and I quote, I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing hell or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse, end quote. Now he was an atheist.

I think he probably sees things a little differently now because he's died since he made that statement. But heaven is not boring. It's a real place for real people. So just think about places you've been to before. You're in a place right now.

You're gonna go to another place later. The Bible uses different words or pictures to describe heaven. It's described as a paradise.

You remember when Jesus was hanging on the cross, it was the thief crucified next to him who said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in what? Paradise. Paradise. So he was reminding that man of the glory ahead. Paul writes of his own experience where he died and went to heaven in 2 Corinthians 12, and he says, I know a man 14 years ago was seized by Christ and swept into ecstasy to the heights of heaven.

I know that this man was hijacked into paradise, and he heard the unspeakable spoken but was forbidden to tell what he heard. So it's paradise. But then the Bible describes heaven as a city. It doesn't say it's like a city. It says it is a city. Hebrews 13, 14 says we're looking for a city that is to come.

Hebrews 11, 10 tells us that the city has God as both the architect and the builder. So I want you to think for a moment of cities you've been to. And what do you have in a city?

Well, you have things to do. You have restaurants to go to. You have maybe a show to go see, or you have other things that you plan on doing while you're there.

Maybe you'll visit a museum or some other thing. So instead of thinking about a weird city of clouds with fat babies and wings, just think about cities you've been to. Certain cities have unique qualities to them. There's Jerusalem. There's Paris.

There's Norco. But in this city that we're going to go to, there's no crying. No one's going to mug you on the street.

You don't have to dodge cars. You don't have to look at urban decay. It'll be like a perfect city. Think of it as a real place with real people where you do real things. It's a happy place.

I think that's hard for some people to understand. But heaven is a happy place. The Bible says in His presence there is fullness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Am I talking to somebody right now that is wondering, will I go to heaven when I die? If you don't have the answer to that, if you can't say with certainty, I know I will, don't you think that's the most important issue in all of life?

I think so. Pastor Greg Laurie, with important insights today on The New Beginning, we're talking about heaven, and he's asking if you're headed there. Do you know?

Are you sure? Pastor Greg, how can someone come to God and have their sins forgiven so they can know they're going to heaven? What I would say is He's only a prayer way, which means if you will call upon the name of the Lord right now through prayer, He will hear your prayer and answer your prayer. Listen, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, just pray this prayer right now after me. Just pray, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that You're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now, and I choose to follow You from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord, as my God and my friend. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed that prayer and meant those words sincerely, we want to welcome you into the family of God. And let us help you get started walking each day with the Lord. Pastor Greg wants to send you his New Believer's Bible, absolutely free, along with some other helpful resources. Just let us know you prayed with Pastor Greg and that you want the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300.

We can take your call anytime at 1-800-821-3300, or go online to harvest.org and click the words, Know God. Well, Pastor Greg, we're excited to announce your new film called Fame. Yeah. We'll have more details about that in just a moment, but let me ask you, when you were growing up, did you ever want to be famous?

Well, the answer to that question is probably found in a drawing that I did when I was probably around 10 years old. It was a drawing of an amusement park called Lori Land. Oh, yeah. And in the little drawing I did, there's a convertible, and me, I'm sitting in the convertible and people are chasing me. So I guess, but it was, you know, it was my version of Disneyland, you know, because I enjoyed Disneyland and going there as a little boy. But I think what I was searching for really was not fame, but significance. You want to be known, you want to be noticed, you want to matter. And I think, to a large degree, because of the way I was raised, I felt I was experiencing the opposite of that.

Yeah. So I've met a lot of famous people now, talked with them, seen what their life is like. I've studied this subject deeply, and I've written a book about it, and we have a movie about it.

And here's the premise of the movie. Fame is not the answer. Fame is not the answer. You know, Jim Carrey, who's been very successful in film, made this statement, and I quote, I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see it's not the answer, end quote. You know, I think in our culture today, Dave, people feel if they could be rich and famous, then they would be happy.

But think about the year 2018. Two well-known celebrities took their own life, Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade. You know, you go to the Kate Spade store, it's all vibrant and colorful and happy, and this young lady unfortunately committed suicide, as did Anthony Bourdain, who had the very popular show on CNN, Parts Unknown, where he would travel around the world and sample all sorts of exotic fare and meals. But more than that, he had fascinating conversations with people, and he would often ask them, what makes you happy? He was really searching, and one day he just decided he didn't want to live anymore. Well, if fame and notoriety was the answer, why would two highly successful people like this take their own lives?

It's sort of like you're climbing a mountain, and you say, the mountain of fame, when I get to the top, I'll be happy, and you get to the top, and there's nothing there. And so we've produced a film where we interview two very famous people, among others, starting with Alice Cooper. I think it comes as a surprise to people to learn that Alice Cooper is a Christian, and not someone who recently became a Christian, but someone who has actually been a follower of Jesus for 25 years or more. And we also talked to baseball great Darryl Strawberry, another living legend, but in the sports world. And Darryl had it all, playing for the best teams in the world, World Series rings, but he also became infamous in addition to being famous for his off-field antics, getting arrested for drug use, and actually serving time in prison. His marriage collapsed, but God reached out and saved Darryl Strawberry, just like he saved Alice Cooper.

You couldn't have two guys that are any more different, but yet at the same time, both guys who found the same answer in Christ. So you're going to see and hear some amazing things in this new film that has never been revealed to the public before, real insights into these fascinating characters. This is a great film to show to a non-believer, and then afterwards have that important conversation with them. And at the end of the film, actually sitting behind the Hollywood sign, you know that famous Hollywood sign? We actually went to it, and by the way, that's not easy to get to. I had to literally rappel down the side of this very steep hill. I knew it was a bad idea the moment I started, holding under this rope and lowering myself to lean against a sign, which kind of is, you know, there's a huge drop right at the edge of it, but hey, you know, what is that expression? A pain is temporary, that film is forever.

Right? So we thought, let's get this right. So the sun was setting, it's beautiful, and we shot the closing part of the film where I present the gospel. And behind the famous Hollywood sign, point out that this Hollywood sign, an icon of this community known for all the stuff they put out, that it's really Christ we're looking for.

So great film to watch with a non-believer. And we also have a companion book by the same title, Fame, that I wrote with my friend Marshall Terrell. We wrote many books together, including Steve McQueen, The Salvation of an American Icon, Johnny Cash, The Redemption of an American Icon, and also Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. Now we have Fame to add to the collection. So we'll send you this book for your gift of any size, but encourage you to go see our brand new film, Fame.

Yeah, that's right. These are two important tools. Now we'll send you the book called Fame to thank you for partnering with us to keep bringing the gospel in innovative ways such as this. Your investment makes such a difference in how many lives we can reach with the hope of Christ. And so when you send your donation today, please ask for the new book called Fame. But you can also watch the new film called Fame. It's streaming now. You can view it free of charge at harvest.org and also at streaming platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, Amazon Fire, and Google Play. And at that website, you can also request the new book Fame for your gift of any size. That's harvest.org or call us at 1-800-821-3300.

That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Well, next time, more insight on the reality of heaven from Pastor Greg's new series called Timeless. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. Hey, everybody. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make Him known to others, or to learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org.