Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hello and thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren, and today we're continuing in a series called The Miracle of Mercy. Rick will show us how God's mercy can lift your guilt, heal your wounds, and transform the way you live. And now the final part of a message called God's Mercy and My Failure.

Pastor Rick Warren: Number four: When we fail, He shows us mercy when we're down. He shows us His mercy when we're down. He doesn't beat us up. He doesn't pile on. He doesn't add to our guilt. He doesn't add scorn and shame and a scolding. He saves us. When you have failed, He doesn't just come in and say, "Let me tell you how bad you've done." No, He shows mercy when we're down.

There's a beautiful example of this. It's tender, it's a very tender example in John chapter 21. Here's the story: This is a couple weeks after the resurrection, so it's about like now. We're two weeks after Easter. Right about now, two weeks after Easter, Jesus was around for 40 more days. It says two weeks later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. Seven of the disciples were there, and Simon Peter said—they hadn't seen Jesus yet—Simon Peter said, "I'm going fishing."

Friends, that's a statement of depression. "I'm going fishing," okay? Peter's going, "I haven't recovered from this trauma. It's only two weeks out since my biggest failure in life. All I'm going to do, all I need to do is go back and do what I used to do before I started following Jesus three and a half years ago. I was a professional fisherman. All I know how to do is go fishing. I'm down. I'm discouraged. I'm not feeling good. I'm going fishing. Anybody want to go with me?" And the other guys go, "Sure, we'll go with you."

So Peter said, "I'm going fishing." "We'll come too," they all said. So they went out in the boat, but even though they fished all night, they caught nothing. Ever felt like that? I've been looking for a job for how many months? I fished all night; I've caught nothing. I've been looking to get married for so long. I fished all night; I've caught nothing. I've been waiting for this ship to come in. I fished all night; I've caught nothing. This is called a failure. These are professional fishermen. If anybody should catch fish, it's professional fishermen.

We fished all night; we've caught nothing. This is a failure. They got another failure in their life. Now at dawn, the disciples saw a man standing on the shore, but they couldn't see that it was Jesus. And Jesus called out, "Friends, have you caught any fish?" "Not a thing," they replied. At least they're honest about their failure. Then Jesus said, "Throw out your net on the right side of the boat, and you'll get plenty of fish."

So they did what Jesus said to do, and they instantly caught so many fish they couldn't even draw in the net because it was so full of fish. Now, you may have fished all night and caught nothing, but God can do more in five minutes in your life than you can do in 50 years of planning. They had fished all night and caught nothing. You've been planning this dream of yours for so long, and it just has gone nowhere. Well, it says when they did what Jesus said to do, they caught more than they could possibly handle.

God can do more in your life in a few seconds if you'll just obey Him than you can do on your own schemes and plans. So they caught all these fish, and it was just so full of fish. Then John, one of the disciples, said to Peter, "It's the Lord!" Well, duh. All of a sudden, we followed this guy's advice from a shore. We don't really know who he is. Maybe he saw something we saw, so we throw it over and we catch all these fish. And John goes, "It's the Lord!"

I love what happens next. When Peter realized that, he put on his tunic, for he had stripped for work. Now, get this: Peter is fishing butt-naked. They've been fishing all night. He's out with the guys. He's not showing off for anything. He's not working on a tan, obviously, because they're fishing at night. He just doesn't want to get his clothes dirty and have to take them into the laundromat. So while they're out fishing, he doesn't want it to smell. He takes his robe off, he's laid it over in the side of the boat. They're all stand there. He's fishing naked.

John goes, "It's the Lord!" And it says when Peter realized that, he put on his tunic, for he'd stripped for work, jumped in the water, and swam ashore, leaving the others in the boat to pull the loaded net ashore, for they were only out about 300 feet. Now, when they got to shore, they saw that Jesus was cooking fish and bread over a charcoal fire. He's got a barbecue going on here. Okay, now Jesus can cook. I'd like to see that show on the Food Channel. Chopped: Jesus won again. We like this meal better. Okay, so Jesus, He's got a little barbecue going on here at the side of the Lake of Galilee. He's cooking fish and bread over a charcoal fire.

Now Jesus says, "Bring some of the fish that you just caught," graciously not mentioning the fact that they would have never caught them without Him, that they had caught nothing on their own. So Peter goes back aboard and dragged the net ashore, and it was filled with 153 large fish. And yet the net had not torn. Now, that's another miracle, because if you know anything about the Bible, you know that they were constantly mending their nets because they were always breaking. In fact, when Jesus met them three and a half years earlier, they were out mending their nets.

Now Jesus says, "Now come and have some breakfast." Jesus said, "You deserve a break today. I've got these little Fish McMuffins for you for breakfast." Fresh bread, fresh fish, Fish McMuffins, a little special sauce on the side here. Okay, "Come on, we're going to have breakfast," Jesus said. Now they were sure it really was the Lord. Then Jesus served them. Circle that phrase. "Then Jesus served them." He's being kind. He's being loving. He's being merciful. He's cooked them breakfast. Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish.

Now, this was the third time that Jesus had appeared to His disciples since He had been raised from the dead, and there were many other times after this. That's a beautiful tender story of the mercy of God. Let me put it in context. Let's talk about you. Let's say you just went through your worst day of your life, as Jesus is arrested, tortured, and murdered. You've gone through the worst day of your life, and your best friend deserts you, doesn't show up, and more than that, denies you and pretends like they don't even know you. Two weeks later, would you cook them a nice breakfast?

No, you wouldn't. That's mercy. That's mercy. He's showing how much He loves them even after their betrayal and denial. He cooks them breakfast. You wouldn't cook somebody who had just betrayed you a nice meal. You'd probably spit in the food if you did. Lug it back at them. That's mercy. You see, God's mercy toward you is not dependent upon your performance.

The Bible says it like this in Lamentations 3:22 and 23: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases." In other words, it never stops. It never ends. The steadfast love, it's unchanging, it's never exhausted. God never gets tired of loving you. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. God's never going to say, "Okay, I've had enough of your failures. That's enough. Forgiveness 9,000 times, not 9,001. Okay, that's just one too many. I've had enough." His mercies never come to an end. It says His mercies are new every morning. You've got the same old sins, but He's got new mercy for you every single morning. And then it says, "Great is your faithfulness." God is faithful to you in His mercy, no matter what you do.

Do you realize how faithful God's mercy is to you? Let me show you one of the most amazing verses in the entire Bible. Look up here on the screen. 2 Timothy 2:13: "If we are unfaithful, He, God, remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." God cannot deny Himself. God cannot be unfaithful. And even when you're unfaithful, He will be faithful. You may give up on God; He's never going to give up on you. That's the mercy of God. You may be unfaithful to God; He's never going to be unfaithful to you.

Now, the last point is the greatest miracle of mercy of all, and it is this: Number five, He uses our failures to build His church. God actually uses our failures to build His church. Jesus had told Peter, "Peter, when you have turned back to Me, strengthen and build up your brothers." He's talking about the brothers and sisters in Christ, the family of God, the church. Use your failure to strengthen and build up others. Here's the rest of that story there on the beach at Galilee.

Verse 15, John 21: After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" Now, this is echoing back a statement where at the last supper, Peter had said, "I love You more than all of these, and I would never, never deny You. Everybody else might, but I would never do that." He said, "Simon, do you love Me more than these?" "Yes, Lord. You know I love You," Peter replied. "Then feed My lambs," Jesus said. "My flock." That's the church, the flock of God, the church. "Then feed My lambs," Jesus said.

Then Jesus repeated the question: "Peter, do you love Me? Do you love Me?" Peter said, "Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. You know I love You." "Then take care of My sheep," Jesus said. "I want you to care about My family, the flock, the body of Christ, the church. Take care of My sheep."

Then Jesus asked the same question one more time: "Peter, do you love Me?" Now Peter was grieved that Jesus asked the question a third time, so he said—and I can hear the exasperation in his voice—"Lord, Lord, You know I love You. You know everything, and You know that I love You." And Jesus replied, "Then feed My sheep." The way you show your love for God is by helping other people in the family of God.

Why did Jesus ask this question three times, "Do you love Me?" He was giving Peter the opportunity to make up for three denials. "I will never deny You. I will never deny You. I will never deny You." And he did, one, two, three times. And so He said, "Do you love Me? Do you love Me? Do you love Me?" "Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord." "Then feed My sheep."

Now let's go back to the beginning. Both Judas and Peter, friends of Jesus, both of them committed the same sin. They both denied Christ. The exact same sin, just different experiences. They turned their back on Him in a time of need. Judas became a traitor; Peter became a teacher. Feed My sheep. Judas became a traitor; Peter became a teacher. What are you going to become from your failure? What are you going to allow the failures in your life to make you? Traitor or a teacher? It's your choice.

The fact is, God is building His church on people who fail. God has only used failed people because there aren't any non-failures in life. And in Matthew 16:18, Jesus said this to Peter: "Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the powers of hell will not conquer it." Now, some of you know this is actually a play on words in the original Greek manuscripts, because the word Peter is the word *Petros* and the word rock is the word *Petra*. They're very different. He said, "You are Peter, *Petros*, but you're going to be *Petra*, the rock on which I'm with My mercy going to build on the faith, your faith and on your failures."

*Petros*, Peter, literally means a stone. It means a small rock. It means a pebble. So Peter really was a pebble. He was a stone. That's his name: Stone. A rock and a pebble. *Petra* means a giant rock, a boulder. It can mean a cliff of rock. It could be a mountain of granite. It's a Rock of Gibraltar. That's a *Petra*.

And Jesus is saying to this guy who's just had this enormous failure just a few days earlier, "Yeah, you've been unstable. You've been foot-in-mouth. You've been impulsive. You've denied Me. You've been a little stone, but you're going to be a Rock of Gibraltar because of My mercy. And the past is past, and we're going to go on. And I'm going to build My church on your failures." God wants to build His church on your failures. He wants to use you the same way He used Peter.

So let me end with two questions. Number one: What failure have you had that God wants to use in this church? What failure have you had that God wants to use to build His church? If you've had a failed business, you should be helping businessmen, because you know what it's like to have a failed business. If you've had a bankruptcy, you should be helping people who are going through bankruptcy. If you've had a failed marriage, you should be helping people save their marriages. If you've had an abortion, you should be helping women who are struggling with that decision right now.

If you've had a failure in any other area of your life, if you've had an addiction, you should be helping people who have that addiction. God wants to use your failures to build His church. Don't waste your failures. Last week we talked about not wasting your pain, and I said you're going to have pain; don't waste it. If you've been abused, use it to help people who've been abused. If you've been raped or molested, use it to help people who've been raped or molested. If you've been abandoned or betrayed, help people who've been abandoned or betrayed, and on and on. God wants to take your greatest failure and turn it into your greatest success. God wants to take your greatest hurt and turn it into your greatest ministry. Chuck Colson went to prison and then founded Prison Fellowship, an enormous ministry that helps prisoners all around the world. What failure does God want to use in your life?

Second question: Are you going to respond to your failure like Judas or like Peter? Now, that's your choice. Judas had a breakdown; Peter had a breakthrough. Judas gave up; Peter looked up. Judas rejected the mercy of God; Peter accepted the mercy of God. Judas lived in condemnation; Peter lived in celebration of the mercy of God. Judas ended up taking his life in despair; Peter ended up living his life on purpose.

It's all your choice. And just 50 days after Peter's biggest failure, God chose him, Peter, that guy, the screw-up, the mess-up, the guy who denied Jesus in his deepest hour of pain. He chose Peter to be the guy to preach on the day of Pentecost, on the first day of the Christian church, and 3,000 people were saved and baptized. That is the mercy of God. And it wasn't like a year after the failure. It's 50 days after he screwed up. He's standing in front of everybody preaching on Pentecost at the birth of the Christian church. That is the mercy of God. Let's bow our heads.

Would you pray this prayer? "God, I've had a lot of failures in my life. And like Peter, I've overestimated my strength and said I'd never do that, but I did. And I've feared the disapproval of other people, and I've been quiet, and I've been a coward, and I've denied You when I could have spoken up for You at work, when I could have told other people about Your love, and I was more worried about their disapproval. And I fallen into that trap.

And Lord, of course, many, many times I've spoken without thinking, and my tongue has gotten me in a lot of trouble. I want to do the right things that Peter did. I don't want to brush it aside and rationalize my failures. I want to grieve them, and I'm coming to You saying, 'Lord, my heart's broken, and I'm sorry.' And I have a contrite spirit, and I'm a little more humble than I used to be. And I'm coming to You with the repentant heart, saying, 'I'm sorry.'

And forgive me for the times that I've isolated myself and tried to handle everything on my own and not want people to know about my pain. Help me to let my small group support me. Help me to build that social support network now, to get in a small group now before the next crisis comes. And then most of all, Lord, I cast myself on Your mercy. And like that giant boulder, I just let it go. I just drop it. And today I'm dropping my anxiety. I'm dropping my insecurity. I'm dropping my fears, the regrets, the shames, and all of the things that Satan pulls that trigger on and whips me around with.

I cast myself on Your mercy. I don't deserve Your forgiveness or Your grace, but You are a forgiving God, and You love to show mercy. Thank You that You're not shocked by my failures. Thank You that You're praying for me right now. Thank You, Jesus, that You believe in me, that You know my name, that You give me encouragement, not discouragement. Thank You that You show me mercy and You fix me breakfast when I'm down. Thank You that Your mercies never come to an end, that they're new every morning, and that even tomorrow morning, You'll have new mercy for me. You are a faithful God. Great is Your faithfulness. And I, God, want You to use my failures to build Your church. I don't want to be a traitor; I want to be a teacher. And I want You to turn this little stone into a Rock of Gibraltar. And I humbly ask this in Jesus' name. Amen."

Guest (Male): Hey, did you know that the number one attribute of God in scripture is His mercy? It is, and He wants to be merciful to you too. Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." Matthew 5:7. Now you can dive deeper into our current study with Pastor Rick's Miracle of Mercy study kit.

Through his six-session video and workbook study, he'll show you the five marks of mercy. You'll discover how mercy forgives the fallen, helps the hurting, is patient with difficult people, is kind to its enemies, and cares for the lost. And as you grow in mercy, you'll experience the blessing God promises to the merciful. The Miracle of Mercy six-session video study kit is perfect for both personal and small group study time. So please be sure to request your copy today when you give a gift to help Daily Hope share the certain hope of Jesus with people everywhere. That's our way of saying thanks.

Just go to PastorRick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That's PastorRick.com. Or you can just text the word "hope" to 70309. Again, that's the word "hope" to 70309. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.