Will I Go to Heaven? | Expectations for Believers

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Sign up at harvest.org. Since there is fullness of joy, and that is right Ken, there are pleasures forever more. Many of us have seen a trailer for a movie, and it looked pretty good.

Then, after seeing the movie itself, we thought the trailer was better than the movie. It's all about expectations versus reality. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us what to expect about heaven, and it will surpass our wildest dreams. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.

A revealing study is coming. All right, well, we're in a brand new series, as you know, that's called Timeless. Today, I want to talk about the afterlife, and the title of my message is, Will I Go to Heaven? I'd like you to turn to John 5.

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 has overlooked, but now He commands men everywhere to repent, because He has 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? 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 is 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. 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 am 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?

Number one, because I'm moving from a tent 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.

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 want to 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. 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. 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 will be like a perfect city. So when you go to a city, maybe you love to go to this restaurant or you love this coffee place. One of the first things I do when I go into a city is I Google for good coffee.

Because I'm going to have a proper cup of coffee. So I'll find the good coffee, maybe talk to someone who's been there before. However, I do know people who if they recommend food or coffee it's always great. And I know other people who if they recommend it it's literally the worst I've ever had.

And it takes a while to figure that out. Because I'll say, where should I eat? Eat here. And I'll go eat there. And I say, that was a horrible meal. What else? Well go to this other place.

And that's horrible too. So I know avoid the places they tell me to go to. But then there's other people.

They'll give me a recommendation and it's legit and it's always good. So we're going to be enjoying ourselves in heaven. Is that so hard to understand? Will we go to concerts in heaven? Well there's a lot of godly men and women that did concerts on earth that maybe we'll do them in heaven. Maybe you'll be out with some friends and someone says, we're going to go see Handel's Messiah tonight. In fact Handel will be there directing it. We're not going to go to that.

Why? We're going to go see Johnny Cash. Really? Oh yeah he's doing a concert. The man in black? Well he's the man in white now. But still.

He's still good right? It's going to be awesome. 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 forever more. The Bible says there's joy in heaven over one sinner that repents. That's heaven. Quick glimpse of heaven.

What's the other destination? That would be hell. Here's what Jesus says. John 5 28.

The time is coming. When the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God's son they'll rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life. Those who have continued evil and evil will rise to experience judgment. Now just as there is a distorted view of heaven there is also a distorted view of hell. Starting with the devil.

We think the devil rules from hell. He sits on a throne. He has red skin. Pointed ears. A pointed tail. A pitchfork and a goatee. He always has a goatee right? He has hooves too.

Kind of a weird looking guy. Well there's no biblical basis for any of that. That's a caricature of Satan that is not found in the pages of Scripture. Oh hell is going to be a big party. Well be there and we'll party with all of our friends. No hell is not going to be a big party unless you like to have parties in a blast furnace. Hell is a real place.

And the Bible speaks of it using different pictures of outer darkness and flames and this is something that is a horrible thing to consider. And it is worth noting that Jesus spoke of hell more than all the other preachers of the Bible put together. We might say wow well why would he do that? I thought Jesus was loving. Well yeah he speaks about it because he's loving.

He alone has seen it. He knows what hell looks like. And the last thing he wants is any man or any woman created in his image to end up for all eternity in this place called hell. We think heaven is for good people. Hell is for bad people.

Wrong. Heaven is for forgiven people. In fact hell was not created for bad people. Hell was created for the devil and his angels or demons according to Jesus. And God doesn't want any person to spend eternity separated from him in this place called hell.

Just as surely as heaven is a real place for real people hell too is a real place for real people. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey I don't know if you know about this but we have a weekend service called Harvest at Home exclusively for people that are tuning in literally from around the world. Listen to this. We even have harvest groups where you can get into a small group with folks from all around this planet of ours and study the word of God.

So join us this weekend Saturday and Sunday for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well today we're considering the afterlife. Pastor Greg is pointing out how the Bible describes both heaven and hell.

Let's continue. In Luke 16 Jesus gives us a behind the scenes look at hell. He tells the story of two men who died the same day. One was named Lazarus and he was a beggar and he was impoverished and he was starving to death and he spent his time outside of the palatial estate of a very wealthy man who flaunted his wealth. And one day they both died and according to Jesus Lazarus went into Abraham's bosom. He went into this place of comfort and the rich man went into a place of fire and judgment. Now understand the rich man didn't go to hell because he was a rich man. He went there because he had no place for God in this life. He worshiped his possessions instead of the Lord.

And there he was suffering and he was conscious. Now I know the question that comes to our mind immediately is how could a God of love send people to hell. Is that not an inconsistency on the part of God.

No not at all. Again as I said earlier he did not create hell for people. He created it for Satan.

Listen to this. If a person ends up in hell they are getting what they actually wanted. One person put it this way and I quote, people only get in the afterlife what they most wanted.

Either to have God as savior and master or to be their own saviors and masters. Hell is simply one freely chosen path going on forever. C. S. Lewis put it this way and I quote, there are only two kinds of people in the end. Those who say to God thy will be done and those to whom God says in the end thy will be done. All who are in hell choose it without thou self choice. There could be no hell.

So literally if a person ends up in this place called hell they have no one to blame but themselves. They have to effectively climb over Jesus to get there. He has done everything he can to get you into heaven. He has died on the cross. He has suffered and died in your place. He has paid the price for the sins we have committed. He literally faced hell on earth so we could be with him in heaven.

He entered the darkness so we could walk in the light. So it is our choice if we end up there. So that brings us to an interesting thing I read about the most commonly asked questions from people who are in hospice care and know they are going to die soon.

They always ask these questions. What is going to happen to me after I die? Is there really a God and will I be going to heaven?

Let me answer those questions. What is going to happen to me after I die? Your body will go into the ground.

Your soul will enter the afterlife. I heard about a pastor that was doing a funeral service for a man and there was a casket in front of the pulpit and the pastor gestured toward the casket and he says, what we have here is a shell. And then he said, but the nut is gone.

Not the way he meant it to come out but actually technically right. The shell is there. The body is there. But the nut if you will the soul goes on. And God will give us new bodies that will never wear out or age. One of my granddaughters asked me a while ago, Papa why do we have to die? Why can't we just float up to heaven?

I thought that is a good question isn't it? The answer is because our first parent sinned. Adam and Eve. Sin entered the world and it infected the whole planet but Jesus died on the cross for our sin and rose again from the dead. And we no longer have to be afraid because he said, I am the resurrection and the life he that believes in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. I reminded her of a time when I was walking down the beach with her and some of the other kids and I stepped on a bee and I cried like a little girl. It hurt. And so I reminded her that when Jesus died on the cross he effectively took the sting of death away. He absorbed it in our place. The Bible says oh death where is your sting?

Oh grave where is your victory? Question number two. Ask of people who are in hospice care and are facing death is there really a God? Well you are going to find out.

And you need to answer that question now. I heard about a Russian cosmonaut who actually went to space. He was an atheist and he actually said after he came back when I went into space I didn't encounter God.

If he would have taken his helmet off in space he would have encountered God. I will tell you that. But you don't want to wait until the afterlife to find out if there is a God.

You can find that out right here right now. Because obviously he loves you and he has a plan for your life and that is why Jesus came. Now the big question. Will I go to heaven? Well that is up to you. Really?

Oh yeah. The invitations in the Bible are clear. God wants you in heaven. Whosoever will let him come. Whoever is thirsty let him come and drink of the water of life freely. Invitation after invitation Jesus says come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Revelation says and the Spirit and the pride say come let him that is thirsty. Come come come the Lord says to us. But we don't have to come.

We don't have to go to him. We can say no and then that will determine where we will spend the afterlife. You need to admit you are a sinner and ask Christ to come into your life. And he will forgive you of your sin and you can know you will go to heaven. Let me close by asking this. 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 is the most important issue in all of life?

I think so. And I believe you can have that question answered right here right now. Jesus who died on that cross and rose again from the dead stands at the door of your life and he knocks and says if you will hear his voice and open the door he will come in and he can come into your life right now. So I would like to stop and pray and extend an invitation for anyone here if you want Christ to come into your life.

Respond to this invitation right now. Let's pray. Father thank you for this great promise of life beyond the grave. Lord Jesus thank you for coming to this earth and being born in that manger and dying on that cross and rising again from the dead. And now we pray for anyone here if they don't know you help them come to you right now and believe.

Listen while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. If you want your sin forgiven. If you want Jesus Christ to come into your life.

If you want to know with certainty that you will go to heaven when you die. Why don't you pray this prayer after me. In fact I am going to ask everyone to pray this prayer out loud. And if you want Christ to come into your life you join us in this prayer.

Just pray these words. Lord Jesus. I know that I am a sinner. But I know that you are 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 my Lord.

As my God and my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer asking the Lord to forgive our sins. Did you pray along with Pastor Greg just now? Did you make a commitment to the Lord?

If you prayed those words sincerely the Lord has heard you and forgiven you of your sin. And we want to welcome you into the family of God. And we would like to help you begin to grow in your new faith. Pastor Greg would like to send his New Believers Bible with the text and the easy to understand new living translation.

Along with lots of extras that new believers find helpful. We will send it all free of charge when you call 1-800-821-3300. Dial anytime 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Well Pastor Greg, I know there's a brand new movie we're excited about that deals with the subject of fame. And the other day I saw one of those brief reels on social media, little short video clips. And this was featuring Julia Roberts, the famous film star. And she said early in her acting career, after one of her first movies as she was just starting to get famous, she was in a public restroom and she heard a voice from outside the stall. It said, girl in stall number one, if you were in that movie such and such, give me your autograph. Oh my gosh.

And a hand reached up under the divider holding a piece of paper and a pen. Wow. And she thought, hmm, things have changed in my life. Yeah, and probably not for the better.

No. You hear what happens to these celebrities and, you know, people can be incredibly obnoxious and rude and demand so much from them. And I think that, you know, that you dream and you hope one day that maybe you'll be successful and people will know your name and then you get to the top and you're so empty. I think deep down inside we are searching for significance. We are searching for meaning and we think fame is the answer, but fame is not the answer. In fact, many ways, fame is like gasoline on an out of control fire and it can make things worse because I think, you know, when you think, oh, if one day I won the lottery or if one day I was famous or I had a hit song or I had more followers on social media or more people knew about me, you'd think then I would be happy.

So that kind of keeps you going because it's always one day my ship will come in or one day if the ship comes in you realize, oh, this is empty. And sometimes you even see these people say, I miss my old life. I miss the anonymity.

I miss the ability to walk into a market and just be a regular person. So let me just save you a lot of misery. Don't chase after fame.

It's empty. Chase after Christ. That's what you're looking for, but I talked to some people that I would describe as experts on this topic, Alice Cooper, Daryl Strawberry, and others. You know, Daryl Strawberry had incredible success as a baseball player playing for some of the best teams out there and he has an amazing story because here he is hitting home runs, people packing stadiums to watch him in action, little kids and young boys wanting his autograph and their bats and their balls. And Daryl was having this empty life as he was getting heavily into drugs.

And well, let's just hear from Daryl himself. Here's a little excerpt from our film called Fame, where I talked to baseball great Daryl Strawberry. Being famous is hard. It's not easy. And I think people believe it's the greatest thing to be famous. But when you reach that point, you're going to usually stay in the house because everybody's going to be looking for you. Everybody's going to be pulling at you and you don't, you never know who's pulling at you for the right reasons. In that lifestyle, you get kind of embedded in it and it's really hard to get out because it gets ugly.

Like my lifestyle, it got real ugly. So today, Daryl is not only a Christian, he's a preacher and he travels around inspiring people. I had him in our church a few years ago and I interviewed him and after this service, he said to me, Greg, if anybody wants to meet me afterwards, I'd be happy to meet them.

And I went over there after the service was over. He was the last man in the room. He signed every baseball, every bat, took time with every one of those kids because he knows he has influence. He wanted to use that influence for God. So fame isn't always bad.

It's just not the answer. And it's like money. You know, money is not good or bad. Money is whatever you make of it. And so you can take a platform where you're known and use it to touch people with the gospel.

And certainly, Daryl Strawberry is a great example of someone who does that well. Well, I know in addition to the movie Fame, we have a book by the same title that actually takes the subject of fame and goes into more detail about its dangers and how we can steer our kids away from those dangers. Is that right?

That's right. And it's filled with a lot of quotes, a lot of illustrations, a lot of examples from people who did it, who found it, and saw the emptiness of it. And then I have some biblical principles on what we really should be looking for in life. So we will send this book to you for your gift of any size to help us continue on here at A New Beginning to reach more people with gospel. And we'll also encourage you to go see our brand new film, Fame. Dave, tell them where they can see that. Yeah, you can watch the movie Fame right now at our new Harvest Media platform at harvest.org.

And also other streaming platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, Amazon Fire, and Google Play. And don't forget the companion book, also called Fame. It's an engaging look at how to find significance in God's plan for our lives, rather than the culture's rush to make people insta-famous and often filled with long-term regret. We'll be glad to send a copy of the book called Fame to thank you for partnering with us so Pastor Greg can continue to bring the gospel through this radio program, through books and film, and through so many other forms of outreach. Get in touch with your donation today by calling 1-800-821-3300. Call any time 24-7, 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well next time, as Pastor Greg continues his series called Timeless, Unchanging Truths and the Changing Culture, he points to an important ingredient to success in our walk with the Lord. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. The preceding podcast was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a Harvest Partner, sign up for daily devotions, and find resources to help you grow in your faith at harvest.org.