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Will You Be Happy in a Million Years? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: We talk a lot about eternal life here because you
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  Speaker 1: want to talk a lot about eternal life here, And
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  Speaker 1: I'm not complaining about any of it. I love it.
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  Speaker 1: I love returning to conversation about our eternal happiness in heaven.
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  Speaker 1: And often when we talk about the joys of heaven
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  Speaker 1: and the end of pain and the end of suffering
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  Speaker 1: and a world of no more tears where nothing is broken,
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  Speaker 1: there's just so much to anticipate about eternity. But if
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  Speaker 1: we're honest, there are some fears about eternity too that
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  Speaker 1: can come up. Those fears can creep in and keep
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  Speaker 1: us up at night. Sometimes we wonder if our happiness
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  Speaker 1: is really too fragile to live forever. We doubt that
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  Speaker 1: in ten thousand years of doing the same things we
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  Speaker 1: will be entertained. And if we are happy ten thousand
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  Speaker 1: years from now, what if eternity expires? What if heaven
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  Speaker 1: ends at some point? And if not, how do we
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  Speaker 1: know for sure it won't? That's today on ask Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: will you be happy in a million years? The question
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  Speaker 1: is from Emily in Austin, Texas. Pastor John, I am
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  Speaker 1: a teen who struggles with strong and frequent anxiety attacks.
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  Speaker 1: And I have a question about heaven that sometimes worries
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  Speaker 1: me a lot. It's at least part of my problem.
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  Speaker 1: Will God ever get rid of people in heaven to
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  Speaker 1: be done with them or simply to start over and
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  Speaker 1: make new people for some other reason. I'm not talking
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  Speaker 1: about those who aren't in heaven the annihilation of the wicked,
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  Speaker 1: I mean the annihilation of the godly. Is that possible?
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  Speaker 1: And if it's not, what do you think life will
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  Speaker 1: be like for us in a million years?
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  Speaker 2: Emily? The first thing I want to say is that
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  Speaker 2: Jesus is really good at helping people with anxiety. He is,
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  Speaker 2: in fact, a specialist in overcoming fear and sustaining glad
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  Speaker 2: hearted boldness. He doesn't just tell us to be free
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  Speaker 2: from anxious anxiety, doesn't just tell us not to be anxious.
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  Speaker 2: He gives us reasons not to be anxious. He helps
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  Speaker 2: us believe them. For example, when you read Matthew six
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  Speaker 2: twenty five to thirty three, there are eight reasons in
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  Speaker 2: that paragraph not to be anxious. Or another example would
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  Speaker 2: be one Peter five seven, where Peter tells us not
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  Speaker 2: to be anxious because God cares for us. Wow, what
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  Speaker 2: a great reason not to be anxious. The creator of
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  Speaker 2: the universe cares for me, kid or let us think
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  Speaker 2: in I think I sent that in an email this
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  Speaker 2: morning to two people, one older man going into the
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  Speaker 2: heart surgery and my grand son going in for a
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  Speaker 2: heart procedure. I use that very text. God cares for you.
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  Speaker 2: He cares for you, hang on. So that's the first thing, Emily.
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  Speaker 2: Be confident that Jesus Christ is really good at helping
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  Speaker 2: us with our fears. So let me see if I
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  Speaker 2: can be his ambassador now to help you with this
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  Speaker 2: particular anxiety about whether heaven could come to an end.
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  Speaker 2: Could God just stop Heaven, annihilate the people in it,
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  Speaker 2: start over a whole new universe, a whole new people,
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  Speaker 2: and be about another redemptive history. And I can imagine that.
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  Speaker 2: If I thought that, I think it would keep me
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  Speaker 2: awake at night. So I don't blame you if that's
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  Speaker 2: what you think is a possibility for feeling anxious at
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  Speaker 2: night about that. And I think I ponted this for
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  Speaker 2: a long time because not many people ask me this question.
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  Speaker 2: I can't remember everything being asked.
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  Speaker 1: Ever.
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  Speaker 2: I love this question. I love new questions. But I
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  Speaker 2: thought about it and thought about it I pondered the scriptures.
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  Speaker 2: I think I could give you dozens. Well, let's just
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  Speaker 2: say a dozen a dozen reasons why that's not going
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  Speaker 2: to happen. But we don't have time for a dozen,
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  Speaker 2: so we'll do five. And all these reasons have to
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  Speaker 2: do with Jesus Jesus Christ. If you think about God
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  Speaker 2: in the abstract, your mind can invent all kinds of
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  Speaker 2: unbiblical scenarios. But if you think about God specifically coming
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  Speaker 2: into this world as Jesus Christ, who was God in
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  Speaker 2: the flesh, who chose this humanity to save, who died
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  Speaker 2: on a cross to save sinners, made them His people,
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  Speaker 2: who rose from the dead never to die again, who
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  Speaker 2: reigns in heaven today over a redeemed people, then you
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  Speaker 2: can begin to see how it is impossible that God
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  Speaker 2: would throw away this redeemed people. So let's begin with
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  Speaker 2: the most important argument, namely, what did the cross of
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  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ actually achieve? And here's John three, fourteen and fifteen.
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  Speaker 2: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so
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  Speaker 2: must the son of Man be lifted up on the
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  Speaker 2: cross to die, so that whoever believes in him would
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  Speaker 2: have eternal life, not temporary, not a million ages, but
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  Speaker 2: eternal life. So there you have the absolutely crucial statement.
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  Speaker 2: The reason Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on
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  Speaker 2: this planet among this humanity is so that a vast
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  Speaker 2: number of people who believe in him would have eternal, eternal,
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  Speaker 2: eternal life with him. Let us underline it forever. Think
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  Speaker 2: of it this way. If the life of Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 2: was infinitely valuable, God is infinite, right. The worth of
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  Speaker 2: his life is of infinite worth. It's an infinitely valuable life.
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  Speaker 2: If the salvation that he purchased by the payment of
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  Speaker 2: his infinitely valuable life turns out to be a finite salvation,
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  Speaker 2: then the worth of the cross and the worth of
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  Speaker 2: the life of Jesus given on the cross is diminished, dishonored.
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  Speaker 2: That's not going to happen. God will never ever dishonor
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  Speaker 2: his son. God is not going to dishonor the infinite
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  Speaker 2: payment of his son's life. By treating the salvation that
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  Speaker 2: he bought as finite, an infinite gift doesn't purchase a
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  Speaker 2: finite result. It's not finite. It's infinite infinite because its
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  Speaker 2: blessings go on forever and ever. In other words, the
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  Speaker 2: eternal duration of our salvation is the manifestation of the
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  Speaker 2: infinite worth of the death of Jesus. I'm gonna say
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  Speaker 2: that sentence again because it's the most important one. I'll
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  Speaker 2: say the eternal duration of our salvation is the manifestation
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  Speaker 2: of the infinite worth of the death of Jesus. So emily,
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  Speaker 2: keep your eyes on Jesus and beauty and greatness and worth,
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  Speaker 2: and remember the connection He gave his infinitely valuable life
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  Speaker 2: to provide an infinite salvation, meaning it will never end.
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  Speaker 2: That's reason number one, and all the other reasons flow
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  Speaker 2: from that one. For example, reason number two. In Revelation
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  Speaker 2: five thirteen, it says, to him who sits on the
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  Speaker 2: throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and
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  Speaker 2: glory and might forever and ever. We will be giving
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  Speaker 2: glory not just to God in the abstract forever endeavor,
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  Speaker 2: but to Jesus the Lamb. The Lamb slain. We will
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  Speaker 2: be praising the Lamb forever, because it was by the
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  Speaker 2: slaying of the Lamb that the eternal praises are guaranteed.
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  Speaker 2: That's number two. Three, It says in Hebrews five six,
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  Speaker 2: You Christ are a priest forever. After the Order of Melchizedic.
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  Speaker 2: Christ's priesthood cannot be cut short without dishonoring him as
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  Speaker 2: a priest. His priesthood is forever because the blood he
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  Speaker 2: shed is of infinite value, and he will be holding
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  Speaker 2: it out in the presence of God the Father as
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  Speaker 2: long as it has value, and it will always have value.
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  Speaker 2: It is of infinite value. For God to cut off
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  Speaker 2: the people of Christ would be to trample on the
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  Speaker 2: infinite worth of his blood and on the priesthood of Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: That's not going to happen. God's never going to trample
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  Speaker 2: the worth of his son's blood or the beauty, greatness,
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  Speaker 2: and perfection of his son's priesthood. Fourth, when God promised
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  Speaker 2: in Jeremiah thirty two forty that he would make with
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  Speaker 2: his people and everlasting mark the word an everlasting covenant.
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  Speaker 1: The reason he could do.
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  Speaker 2: This is first because the blood of Jesus would be
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  Speaker 2: the blood of the covenant Luke twenty two, meaning it
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  Speaker 2: would cover the sins of all God's people for all time.
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  Speaker 2: And the second reason this covenant is everlasting is because
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  Speaker 2: God made the covenant depend not finally on man's faithfulness,
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  Speaker 2: but finally, on his own commitment to keep man faithful.
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  Speaker 2: That's the New Covenant. In other words, the covenant that
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  Speaker 2: God made with his people cannot be canceled because it
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  Speaker 2: was certified by the blood of Jesus, the infinitely valuable
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  Speaker 2: blood of Jesus, and because God himself had pledged to
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  Speaker 2: see to it that his people will meet the conditions
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  Speaker 2: of the covenant. It will never be broken. God won't
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  Speaker 2: let it be broken. That's the meaning of the New Covenant.
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  Speaker 2: His covenant. People will never cease to be blessed by God.
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  Speaker 2: They will eternally keep the covenant because God will keep
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  Speaker 2: them keeping the covenant. And finally, number five, the Church,
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  Speaker 2: the Redeemed people of Christ, are the theater for the
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  Speaker 2: display of the wisdom of God forever Ephesians three twenty one.
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  Speaker 2: To God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: throughout all generations, forever and ever. That is the strongest
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  Speaker 2: phrase for eternity there is in Greek forever and ever.
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  Speaker 2: God will not put the Church out of existence anymore
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  Speaker 2: than he would put his son out of existence, because
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  Speaker 2: the Church is united to the Sun and displays the
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  Speaker 2: glory of the Sun forever. Endeavor. So finally, Emily, you ask, well,
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  Speaker 2: if you're right, what do you think life will be
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  Speaker 2: like in a million years? That's a good question. When
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  Speaker 2: I was a child, I worried about being bored in heaven.
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  Speaker 2: And it wasn't because of heaven stopping. It was because
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  Speaker 2: it didn't stop. It's going to go on and on
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  Speaker 2: and on and on. How could it not get old?
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  Speaker 2: It was the length of eternity that worried me as
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  Speaker 2: a little child. I don't worry about this anymore, Emily.
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  Speaker 2: I've grown up into the Bible, and I believe the
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  Speaker 2: Bible better than I did then. I have a better
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  Speaker 2: biblical imagination than I did then. So here are two
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  Speaker 2: passages that describe what life for Christians will be like
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  Speaker 2: in a million years Ephesians two seven. In the coming ages,
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  Speaker 2: he will show the immeasurable riches of his grace in
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  Speaker 2: kindness towards us in Christ, Jesus, God is infinitely rich,
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  Speaker 2: infinitely rich. He has an infinite store of fresh ways
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  Speaker 2: to be kind to us and lavish his grace upon us.
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  Speaker 2: It will never cease, and we will never be bored. Instead.
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  Speaker 2: Psalm sixteen eleven says, in God's presence, there is fullness
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  Speaker 2: of joy, and that his right hand are pleasures for
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  Speaker 2: evermore so, Emily, if you hold fast to Jesus, you
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  Speaker 2: will be as happy as you can possibly be in
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  Speaker 2: a million years.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, a man boredom is banished forever in heaven. The
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  Speaker 1: eternal duration of our salvation is the manifestation of the
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  Speaker 1: infinite worth of the death of Jesus. Love that I
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  Speaker 1: love how you centered all things on him, Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: thank you. In Christ, we are not simply buying a
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  Speaker 1: ticket to heaven. We are tethered to the infinite life
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  Speaker 1: and reputation of Christ himself. Yes, reminds me of a
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  Speaker 1: very direct promise in fet Thessalonians four seventeen. The Paul
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  Speaker 1: gives us we will always be with the Lord, always
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  Speaker 1: with Christ. That's heaven in substance, heaven in duration, always
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  Speaker 1: with Christ. Well, speaking of heaven, you might think that
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  Speaker 1: the rewards of heaven aren't equally distributed among all of
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  Speaker 1: God's children. And they are not. So how do we
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  Speaker 1: know they're not? And why not? And why does it matter?
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  Speaker 1: And how will we not live in a state of
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  Speaker 1: jealousy of one another for all of eternity? Because some
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  Speaker 1: get more rewards than we did. For that, see the
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  Speaker 1: Ask Pastor John book on page three sixty three. That
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  Speaker 1: is a fascinating conversation here at the Ask Pestor John book,
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  Speaker 1: page three sixty three. Thanks for joining us today. If
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  Speaker 1: you have a question to ask Pastor John, find a
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  Speaker 1: link to email us your question and find a complete
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  Speaker 1: episode archive of everything we've talked about at the same place,
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  Speaker 1: Ask pastor John dot com. I'm Tony Rinky. Pastor John
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  Speaker 1: and myself will see you on their stay. Thanks for listening.