A New Beginning presents a timely book from Pastor Greg Laurie called God's Answer to Fear, Anxiety, and Worry. God can help you in your times of anxiety and fear. There are specific passages that can bring comfort and perspective to you, and trust me, everything that I am talking about has been tested in my life in real time. So I hope you'll order your own copy of God's Answer to Fear, Anxiety, and Worry. Don't get to heaven by living a good life and you don't end up in hell by living a bad life because there's going to be bad people in heaven and there's going to be good people in hell.
Does that make sense? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shatters the myth of who heaven is for, its practical, important insight. Heaven is not for good people. Heaven is for forgiven people.
Everyone who turns from their sin can go to heaven. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
Oh, can you hear when the angels are singing? This is the day, the day when life begins. People can talk all day about what it takes to get to heaven. Inevitably, the discussion touches on the golden rule and includes phrases like, be true to yourself, and it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere.
Well, people can be sincere and sincerely wrong at the same time. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie goes straight to scripture for the real answer. If we want to know how to get to heaven, it's best to ask the God of heaven, and that's what we'll do today.
This is the day, the day when life begins. They're in heaven right now. The Bible is very clear about this. In fact, it tells us over in 2 Corinthians 5, 8, we're confident, and I would say we're away from the body and at home with the Lord, so we make it our goal to please Him whether we are at home in the body or away from it. So we're absent from the body. We're present with the Lord. This doesn't take months or years.
It's instantaneous. The moment you take your last breath on earth, you take your first breath in heaven. Paul even said in Philippians 1, 23, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
In other words, Paul is saying, I would like to be in heaven right now. Notice he didn't say, I have a desire to depart and just live in sort of a soul sleep for decades now. Or I have a desire to depart with Christ and hang out on purgatory for a while and atone for my sins.
No. He says, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Now there are questions that pop in our minds about the afterlife. Like, OK, will we still have our bodies in heaven? Actually the answer to that question is yes and no. You aren't given new bodies, but they're not completely disconnected from the body you're in now.
It's just a radically upgraded version of you. We're told over in 1 Corinthians 15, our earthly bodies will die and decay, but they'll be different when they're resurrected, then they'll never die. Our bodies now disappoint us. Amen to that. But when they're raised, they'll be full of glory.
They're weak now, but when they're raised, they'll be full of power. So what does this mean? It means if you were disabled on earth, you will not be disabled in heaven. It means if you were facing the ravages of age on earth, you will not face those in heaven. If you had cancer on earth, you won't have cancer in heaven.
So we talk about the differences, but they're similarities. You see, heaven is the earthly life of the believer glorified and perfected. When we pass to the other side, our minds, our memories are clearer than they've ever been before, because all of the clouding and damaging effects of sin are removed. And the Bible says we'll know as we are known. I don't think that means that God takes everything that He knows and puts it into our brain the moment we enter eternity. But what the Scripture seems to be saying is over time in eternity, the Lord will unveil to us more and more great truths and our knowledge will expand as we spend time in His presence worshiping Him. And we will be reunited with those that have gone before us who trusted in Jesus.
It is going to be amazing. Think of the purest joy you have ever experienced on earth. Multiply it a thousand times and you will have a fleeting glimpse of the euphoria of heaven. The Bible says in His presence there is fullness of joy and on His right hand pleasures forevermore.
Okay. That is what happens to a believer. Now what happens to a non-believer? Let's look at Revelation 20.
Pretty bleak. Verse 11. Notice plural. The books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it. Death and Hades or hell delivered up the dead that were in them and they were judged each one according to his works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
We will stop there. It is an ominous scene. This is the most serious sobering and tragic passage perhaps in the entire Bible. John the apostle.
The author of this. He is a great white throne. The throne is white because of its awesome power. It is a place of judgment.
It is a place of purity. The verdicts that will proceed from it now are righteous verdicts. There will be no debate at the great white throne over guilt or innocence. There will be a prosecutor but no defender. An accuser but no advocate. An indictment but no defense mounted by the accused. The convicting evidence will be presented. There will be no rebuttal or cross-examination.
There will be no jury but a judge. And His holy judgment is binding for all eternity. So what happens to the nonbelievers when they die now? They go to Hades.
I use this word intentionally. It is an interchangeable word with hell but let me explain because sometimes there is confusion. There is a difference between the lake of fire and Hades. The lake of fire that we just read about is the final destination of nonbelievers and the devil and his angels. The lake of fire is the destination nonbelievers are sent to after the great white throne judgment. The great white throne judgment has not happened yet.
It is still in the future. So what happens when a nonbeliever dies? They go to Hades.
Well what is that? Hades is spoken of among other places over in Luke 16. And that is an amazing story that Jesus told about two men that died on the same day. One was rich. One was poor. One was powerful.
One was weak. One was a believer. The other was a nonbeliever. The believer was named Lazarus. Not the same Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead in John 11.
A different one. But he died and he was carried by the angels into the presence of God. But then we read that the nonbeliever, the wealthy man, and by the way his sin was not in his wealth.
His sin was in his rejection of God. But he dies and he goes to a place of torment. So at this time historically Hades effectively had, for lack of a better way to put it, two sections. Sort of a comfort section and a torment section. The believer in our story Lazarus is there in what is described in King James as Abraham's bosom.
He is in a place of comfort. Meanwhile the nonbeliever dies and he is separated from this place of comfort in the place of torment. And so when we read death in Hades delivereth the dead that were in them to the great white throne judgment. It is sort of like you are arrested and you are in a jail.
Now you are being transferred from a jail to the judge who is going to give you your final sentence which will send you to prison. So the nonbeliever now is waiting. Now what happens to the believer coming back? That comfort section is no longer there for us to go to because when Christ died and rose He went down to Hades.
He preached to those who were waiting in faith. Those who had died waiting for the coming Messiah. And they are in heaven and that is where we go now. So this is no longer a destination for a believer. But the judgment or I should say the torment section of Hades is the destination for the nonbeliever. Now here are some hard core truths about hell.
Number one. People in hell suffer. They suffer. Luke 16 23. Being in torment in Hades he lifted up his eyes far off to Abraham. The fact that he speaks of torment shows that this is real in the afterlife.
In fact the word torment is used four times in the text of the story that Jesus told in Luke 16. Number two. Once you are in hell you cannot cross over to heaven. The impossibility of crossing from one side to another suggests that your eternal destiny is settled here and now and not in some future world.
Number three. You are conscious in hell and fully aware of where you are. Listen. Hell is just as eternal as heaven is. And even as you are fully conscious in heaven you are also fully conscious in hell. Luke 24. Luke 16. He cried and said, So he is aware of where he is. He is aware of why he is there. Then he says, I have five brothers.
There are 28. Send someone to testify to them so they don't end up in this place of torment. This sort of refutes the idea that hell is a party place. There is no partying in hell. There is no fun in hell. There is separation from God.
There is outer darkness. There is torment. There will be some surprises in eternity. Pastor Greg points out that some people who seem like nice folks won't make it into heaven. And some that seemed evil to the core will be in heaven.
More on that in just a moment. Hearing about listeners who find help because of Pastor Greg at Harvest Ministries is so encouraging. I have been listening to Pastor Greg Bori on his podcast for about two weeks now and it has been a game changer. I feel like his messages are very fatherlike and easy to understand. His stories are really funny and it brings me a lot of peace throughout my day. I've been having a little bit of anxiety and it has totally helped me to just take a moment, recenter and get close again with God in a way that I haven't been able to in a long time. I am so grateful that they have so much new content because I can always turn something on when it comes to Harvest or Greg Bori. Thank you.
We're so blessed to hear comments like that. Has Pastor Greg heard from you? Why not drop him an email? Send it to Greg at Harvest dot org.
Again, that's Greg at Harvest dot org. Well, we're considering life and death truth today. Pastor Greg is bringing us a study called the Biblical Worldview of the Afterlife.
Let's continue. Coming back to the Great White Throne Judgment now. This happens before people are sent to the lake of fire. Who is going to be at the Great White Throne Judgment?
Simple answer. Everyone who has rejected God's offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. And there will be sinners there in general. But there are different kinds of sinners. First of all there are what we would call out and out sinners. Or I will refer to them as garden variety sinners. I used to be one of those by the way. And many of you did too. You might be a different kind of sinner or were.
And I will get to that in a moment. These are the folks that just say, I don't want God. I don't want church.
I don't want the Bible. They will say things like, I don't need organized religion. I will live the way that I want to live.
I will do what I want to do. They may even go out of their way to mock Christians. To defy what the Bible says. So those sinners will be there for sure.
Number two. Listen to this. Self-righteous people. Self-righteous people. That is another kind of sinner by the way. It is different from the garden variety sinner that knows they are a sinner. Maybe they even celebrate the fact that they are a sinner. Maybe they have a big tattoo in their chest that says, I am a sinner. But then there is this self-righteous person.
Oh no. They are more cultured and they are not like that other person. And they try to do good deeds and they try to be considerate of others and that is a good thing. But they need Jesus as much as the garden variety sinner.
Listen to this. You don't get to heaven by living a good life and you don't end up in hell by living a bad life. Because there is going to be bad people in heaven and there is going to be good people in hell.
Does that make sense? Let me explain. There is going to be bad people in heaven. By bad I mean a garden variety sinner that owns it. Admits their sin and asks God to forgive them. They will be in heaven.
Then they will be good. I put that in quotes. Good people in hell. People that were moral to some degree. People that said they don't need Jesus Christ.
That live by their own rules. And they think that those good deeds they did will save them and they deceive themselves. Heaven is not for good people. Heaven is for forgiven people. Everyone who turns from their sin can go to heaven. This is why God sent His Son Jesus to die for us on the cross. Thirdly there will be procrastinators. These are the people that maybe weren't antagonistic like the garden variety sinners but they just said, I will talk to you later. Another day.
But they never got around to making that decision. And lastly there will be unsaved church members. Let me put it another way. Nonbelieving church attenders. Hey I am glad you are in church today. But you know attending this church will not make you a Christian. In fact what will happen is attending this church will make you accountable for what you have heard. And if you hear it and say I heard my sermon today and I did my duty for God today and you blow it off and disregard it and ignore it that is almost worse than the garden variety center. Because at least the garden variety center knows they are a center. Admits they are a center. But you might say, well I was in church today.
I was at harvest today. Well that is good but you need to do what the Bible tells you to do and church attendance won't get you to heaven. Having your name on a membership roll won't get you to heaven. So everyone who doesn't believe stands there.
And this is the key thing. They did not believe. Jesus said in John 3.18, He that believes in Me is not condemned but he who does not believe in Me is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son. It is not just that I am a sinner. It is that I have rejected God's solution.
God is saying, I love you. I don't want you to go to hell. I put My own wrath on My Son who I love for you so you could be forgiven.
You say, yeah really. Whatever. I don't care. I don't want Jesus. I don't need Jesus. I don't care about Jesus.
Forget it. That rejection of Him is what brings that judgment. It is not going to be a sin question in the final day.
It is going to be a son question. S-O-N. What did you do with Jesus? We don't want people to go to hell. So you say, all right.
I agree. What do I do? What do you do? You warn people. And here is what the Bible says. We need to go and snatch people from the flames.
Jude 1. Snatch them from the flames of judgment. So you say this.
Ok. I am going to do everything I can to warn everyone I know so they don't have to end up in this horrible place. I am not saying you should go call up everyone and say, you are going to hell. Because the Bible says it is the goodness of God that brings us to repentance. So tell them about what Christ has done for you. Tell them about the hope of heaven. Tell them about the forgiveness of sin.
Tell them lastly that if they don't believe what the repercussions are. Don't leave that part out. See we want to edit it because it is awkward. Awkward. You know they say, well you know I don't really want Jesus and I don't want to go to the crusade with you and I don't really care. So what is going to happen to me when I die? Uh.
Do you like warm climates? Hey. Don't salute it.
Don't be like that doctor and dilute the message. Say here is the truth. I hate to say this but it is true. And this is the last thing I want to see happen to you. And you pray for them. And I am thinking God is going to use us if we just get a better understanding of the afterlife. We have the hope of heaven but we don't want anybody to go to hell. So you say, this is not going to happen to my child. This is not going to happen to my husband or my wife or my mom or my dad or my grandparents or my neighbor or my coworker.
This is not going to happen if I have anything to say about it. I know it is ultimately up to God to save people. But I am going to make sure I do my due diligence and engage them with the gospel and pray that they will believe in Jesus.
And I believe as you do that you will be glad that you did. But let me just close by saying this. If you have joined us here today, and most of you have, at least physically some have fallen asleep and those are the pastors in the front row. No.
I am joking. There might be somebody here. I am talking about heaven.
How awesome it is. But you are sitting there thinking, I don't know that I am going to heaven. Have you believed in Jesus? Have you asked Him to forgive you of your sin?
No. Then do that. You can go to heaven.
You can change your eternal address. But you must say, Lord forgive me of my sin. And if you haven't done that yet, let me give you an opportunity to do it as we pray together.
Let's all bow our heads. Father, I pray for everyone here, everyone watching, wherever they are. If they don't know Jesus, help them to see their need for You, Lord. Help them to come to You now and be forgiven of all of their sin. In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important closing prayer. And if you'd like to do as Pastor Greg suggested and make things right in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you do that in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning wraps up. And then thank you for partnering with us to help these daily studies continue.
Your investments have eternal benefits. Why not make this a part of your personal ministry to partner in an effort that's making a real difference with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Thank you for your prayers and for prayerfully considering how God might lead you to help tangibly. Online you'll find us at harvest.org and there you'll see the way we'd like to thank you for your donation right now. That's harvest.org. Or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here around the clock to take your call, again at 1-800-821-3300. Well, Pastor Greg, you've mentioned how someone can become a Christian with just a simple prayer.
Yes. Maybe somebody would like to do that right now. Could you help them with that?
Sure, I'd love to. A simple prayer is right. In fact, I would like to just pray a prayer and I would ask you to pray it after me. You might even pray it out loud. Pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, but I also know that you are the Savior because you died on the cross for my sin and you rose again from the dead. Jesus, come into my life and forgive me of every sin I've ever committed.
I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer, Lord, and I pray all of this in Jesus' name.
Amen. If you just prayed that prayer and meant it, I want you to know on the authority of Scripture, God Almighty has heard your prayer and He will answer this prayer. You are now a newly minted child of God, so congratulations. You've made the right decision and welcome to the family of God.
I want to send you a special gift because of that prayer you've just prayed. It's called the New Believer's Bible. So the New Believer's Bible is the New Testament in the New Living Translation with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you are making to follow Christ. There's some other materials included as well in what we call the New Believer's Growth Pack, but let me get this New Believer's Bible into your hands as quickly as possible.
Here's Dave to tell you more. Yeah, we'll be glad to send it all your way free of any charge if you prayed along with Pastor Greg today. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can reach us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org and click Know God.
Well, next time, an important message. Pastor Greg points out the need for revival and renewal in our land. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins.
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