Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Rick Warren: None of us can earn our way into heaven because eternal life is a free gift when you accept Jesus as the Lord of your life.

Guest (Narrator): Hey everybody, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Today, Rick Warren continues a series called Good News About Grace. You can't truly understand the Christian life until you understand grace. It's at the heart of your faith and your relationship with God. In this series, you're going to discover how not only to understand grace, but how to experience it and the joy that it brings. Okay, and now here's part two of a message called Restoring Grace.

Rick Warren: God does not reject believers when we sin. First, because his love is unconditional. Second, because my salvation isn't based on my performance. Romans 9:16 says it doesn't depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

We covered this in detail in the very first message in this series on saving grace. I'll say it again. The only way you ever have any hope of getting into heaven is by the grace of God. You can't earn your way into heaven, buy your way to heaven, work your way into heaven, or bluff your way into heaven. If you don't get saved by grace, you're not getting saved. If you don't get into heaven on the grace of Jesus Christ, you're not going to get there because it's perfect and you're not. It's the only way.

Read with me Titus 3:5: "He saved us not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy." So God doesn't reject me as a believer when I sin because his love is unconditional and my salvation isn't based on my performance. Number three, because Jesus has already taken my punishment.

God doesn't reject me when I sin because Jesus has already taken my punishment if I've accepted that as a believer. In America, we have a law called the law of double jeopardy. I think it was invented by Alex Trebek. The law of double jeopardy says that you cannot be tried for the same crime twice. You cannot be convicted for the same crime twice. You cannot be punished for the same crime twice.

That's true in God's book too, that people are not punished for the same sin twice. 2,000 years ago, Jesus stretched his arms out on the cross and took the punishment for my sin and for yours. He took it all. He paid the price for you. He took your rap. He served your term. He took the death penalty for you. The wages of sin is death, and he died for you.

What sins did he die for? All of them. The ones in your future that you don't even know about yet, he died for those too. They've already been punished. The sins that you committed in the past and the ones you're going to do in the future, somebody's already taken the punishment for them: Jesus Christ. That's why he cried out on the cross, "It is finished." In Greek, it was *tetelestai*, meaning "paid in full." It's paid in full.

Can you imagine God coming to you the next time you sin and saying, "Oh, by the way, what Jesus did for you wasn't good enough. I'm going to punish you too"? It doesn't make sense. That's double jeopardy. If God punished you, it would mean saying that what Jesus did for you wasn't good enough. But it was.

I don't know how to say it any clearer than this. If you are a Christian and you have received the grace of God, God does not punish you when you sin because that punishment was already taken by Jesus on the cross. I know what some people are thinking. They say, "Wait a minute. Let me get this right. Jesus has already been punished for all the things I'm going to do too?" Yes.

Some people say, "Well, that means somebody could go out and say I can do whatever I want. This is great. All my sins have already been punished and paid for. I can go to bed with anybody I want to, I can cheat on my income tax, I can lie, I can steal, I can do whatever I want to do because it's already been punished on Jesus and I'm not going to pay the punishment for it."

If you feel that way or if you think that thought, you are not a genuine believer in Jesus Christ. You're not a real Christian because no real, genuine believer would ever pervert the grace of God, flaunt it, or abuse it in such a way. Grace makes me want to do what's right, not what's wrong.

Grace is not a license to just say, "Well, I know I'm all forgiven, so I'll go ahead and just keep on doing what I want." "Therefore, I'll keep having this affair." "Therefore, I'm just going to go ahead and leave my family." "Therefore, I'll just do whatever I want to do." That is an abuse of grace. No genuine believer would flaunt the grace of God like that in the face of God.

Grace makes me want to do what's right. When I really understand grace, I say, "God, I am so grateful. You're telling me that everything I'm ever going to do wrong has already been taken care of?" Yes. "Oh God, I am so grateful for that. I want to serve you the rest of my life. I want to love you. I want to do whatever you made me to do in this world."

Besides, while God does not condemn you and God does not punish you, you will be disciplined. Discipline is very different than punishment. Punishment is retribution for the past. Discipline is correction for the future. Punishment is done in anger. Discipline is done in love. Punishment is to say, "This is what you get for what you did." Discipline says, "I want to train you to get you on the right path for the future."

The Bible says that if you continually sin and you're not disciplined, it just means you're not in God's family. I don't go next door and discipline the kids next door. They're not in my family. But I discipline my own kids because they're in my family. One of the ways you know you're a Christian is you can't sin and get away with it. God brings discipline into your life to correct you.

Notice what the Bible says in 1 John 2:2. Read it with me: "When Jesus served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for God. Not only ours, but the whole world's." He solved it right there. So God doesn't reject me when I sin because Jesus has already taken the punishment.

Number four, God doesn't reject me when I sin as a Christian because Jesus understands my human weaknesses. He's sympathetic. He's understanding. He knows my frailties and my faults. He knows what makes me tick. He knows how I'm wired. One of the most beautiful truths you're going to need to learn in the Christian life is this: God is patient with you.

God is patient with you and he doesn't get impatient. In fact, look at what the Bible says in Hebrews 4:15. Jesus "understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin." When Jesus Christ was here on the earth, he experienced every temptation known to man. He says, "I understand what you are. I know what it's like to be a human being." He lived in human flesh for 33 years.

He's sympathetic. He understands your weaknesses. He knows what you're going through. He knows what it's like to be tempted. And then number five, God doesn't reject me when I sin because God doesn't hold on to grudges. Psalm 103 says this in the New Living Translation: "God will not constantly accuse us nor remain angry forever. He has not punished us for all our sins, nor does he deal with us as we deserve. He is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him."

What does that mean? Those who respect him, those who trusted in him, those who committed to him, those who are in his family. Again, this is the benefit of being a believer, that God doesn't hold a grudge against me. If you're a believer, God is not angry with you. Why? All of the punishment was taken on the cross.

You may be thinking, "Rick, you don't know how far I've fallen. You don't know what I've done." No, I don't, but God does. You may think, "I've just strayed too far away." Well, if you've strayed far away from God, either by one giant step like having an affair or just a bunch of little small steps where you slacked off in your Christian commitment, this is what God says to you in Jeremiah 3:22.

Would you read it aloud with me? God says, "Come back to me, you unfaithful children, and I will beat you up." Oh, that's not what it says. It says, "Come back to me, you unfaithful children, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful." I want you to hear a beautiful example of that today. Our testimony is by Randy. So give him a warm welcome.

Randy: I committed my life to Christ eight years ago in May of 1990 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. A friend of mine from work named Jeff was responsible for introducing me to Christ. I always tried to change the subject, but he never gave up. One day he invited me to a Christian concert and it was there that I gave my heart to Jesus.

After I was saved, I got involved in a local church. It was a small church with only about 20 members. But I jumped headfirst into the Bible. I studied it on my own and also in group Bible studies. For the next six months, I continued to grow in Christ. I served in our small church by setting up and taking it down on weekends and doing the many things that a church needs done week to week.

But being a young Christian, I had a lot to learn. I thought that now that I was a Christian, I'd never have any problems anymore and things would go just as I planned. In fact, I expected God to do things my way. At the time I was a student in the Navy learning to operate nuclear power plants for submarines. I'd been selected to stay after my class's graduation to become an instructor. I was sure that this was God's plan for me.

But then I failed my final evaluation and was rejected for instructor duty. This was a major blow to me. I felt that God had let me down and I had my first doubts. But my church family supported me and I felt I could handle this disappointment. Instead of becoming a teacher, I was assigned to a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine in Bangor, Washington. It was in overhaul at the time, so my life of relatively easy hours as a student changed radically.

We would typically work 12 to 16 hours a day for weeks at a time. It was really hard work and the more tired I got, the more frustrated I became. I grew increasingly bitter and resentful as time passed. I started to think that God had given up on me. This was a big mistake. As a result, I began to spend less and less time with God and instead I started trying to solve all my problems myself.

Of course, this did not work and my frustration increased. As the stress built up, I started to do what I saw everyone else on the sub doing to relax when they got off work: drink. We drank like fish. I can still remember racing from work to Denny's across town to get there before last call. I would order three or four drinks at once.

But turning away from Jesus was not a quick one-time event. It was a slow day-by-day erosion of my faith. I'd let my guard down. The more I turned away from God, the more I continued to get deeper into sin. Sadly, I went from a man who was saving himself for his wife as God had intended a man to do to a man who lost his virginity to a prostitute. I was in sad shape for being a Christian. By the time our boat left overhaul, God was the last thing on my mind.

After our sub was overhauled, we went to sea. At sea I found even more opportunities to stray farther from God. The stress of living and working in a confined space, the peer pressure, and the race to have as much fun as possible when in port pushed me farther and farther from Jesus. I fell so far away that I even started challenging and attacking other Christians for their faith.

I would ridicule them and attack their knowledge of the Bible. I would even go to lay pastor services and openly attack their beliefs. Looking back, I can see now how all my actions were motivated by guilt, shame, and bitterness. Since I was running from God like Jonah, I didn't want anyone reminding me of what I turned my back on. Of course, nothing I did could bring me any happiness. The farther I got from God, the more bitter I became.

My family relationships also suffered. Anyone in my family that didn't agree with me, well, I would just stop calling them. In my backslidden condition, I wasn't close to them or anyone else for that matter. Whenever I dated women, I treated them badly. I would only call them when I wanted something for myself and when I was done with them, I would dump them or reject them until they would leave me.

But even during the lowest of these times, God never gave up on me. Even without me realizing it, he was working in my life to bring me back to him. The tool God chose to use in my life was the woman that I became interested in. Her name was Anita, and I met her during a group dinner with a large group of guys and their wives. We hit it off and started seeing each other.

After a few weeks, I slipped into my familiar pattern of trying to come up with a way to get her to reject me so I could move on. Let me tell you about one of the all-time stupid stunts that I pulled. I went on vacation for two weeks, telling Anita specifically when to pick me up at the airport. Instead, I stayed an extra two weeks and didn't bother to call her.

When I did return, I fully expected her to dump me. To my complete surprise, Anita held me accountable for my actions and she even made me talk it out. I couldn't believe it. I was so amazed that someone would actually care enough for me to do that. I decided that night I'd better marry her. So I took her to Sunset Cliffs in San Diego and asked her to marry me. I had to ask her twice, but she finally said yes and we were married.

Shortly after that, I got out of the Navy and we moved to Tustin. Anita's friends at work told her about a church called Saddleback. Of course, I wasn't interested at all, but my wife kept trying to get me to go and I finally went just to make her happy. The last place I wanted to be was back in God's house. But we went and I liked it enough to come back. I told myself it was just for her.

As I began to hear God's word and be around genuine Christians, God was able to slowly soften my heart. Finally, one night after one of Pastor Rick's sermons, I found myself sitting on the floor in my living room and God opened my eyes. I realized that although I had moved away from God, he had never moved away from me. I saw that even though I had turned my back on him, he was still there waiting for me to return to him.

More than that, he had put the people and circumstances in my life to show me that he still loved me as much as he ever had even though I'd been a jerk. When I finally saw the great blessings in my life for what they were, I broke down and I prayed right then and there and rededicated my life to Jesus. It was so incredible to feel his love in my heart again.

I wondered why it had taken me so long to return to him. There's a verse in the Bible, Romans 2:4, that says, "The goodness of God leads to repentance." That is certainly true in my life. It wasn't a crisis or tragedy or bankruptcy or a divorce that God had used to get my attention. It was the simple realization that God had blessed my life so much even when I was turning my back on him and even though I didn't deserve it. That's grace.

It was seeing God's undeserved goodness in my life that brought me back to him. Since I've come back to fellowship with Christ, I've realized even more how much God has blessed me. First, I have a greater appreciation for my wife that I didn't have before. I'm so grateful that she never gave up praying for me. If you have a spouse that has wandered away from God, don't give up on them.

Next, I'm grateful for the wonderful church family that Anita and I have here at Saddleback. The church is a gift of grace that God has given to help us grow in him together. We were happy to take Class 101 and were baptized together and became Christians. Then we took Classes 201 and 301. Now I'm grateful that God has given me a new ministry and a place to serve him.

When I think of all that God has done for me, I want to give back to him. I'm now serving in AdventureLand and enjoy teaching third graders on Saturday evenings. God has also blessed me with being a part of a great men's group and couples small group. Don't get me wrong. Because I turned away from God's plan for my life and I sinned, there were scars and hurtful consequences for my actions.

But God was not waiting for me to come back just so he could condemn me and tell me all the things I had done wrong. Instead, what I found when I returned to him were open arms, a loving smile, and the power to help me face my mistakes and the strength to overcome them. In closing, I'd like to say that if you're a Christian who is not as close to Christ as you used to be, I urge you to come back to him today.

No matter how far you've fallen or run away from Christ, you are only one step away from returning to him. All you have to do is turn around and return to his love. His grace is really amazing. Thank you.

Rick Warren: Now you may be thinking, "Rick, I've gone so far down the slope there's no way back. It's just going to take too much effort, too much energy. I've gone too far away." Well, you're wrong. You're very wrong. I really liked what Randy said. He said, "No matter how far you've run away, it's only one step back." Did you get that?

It's not this long, drawn-out, complex process that's going to take years for you to get back into fellowship with God. It's just one step.

Guest (Narrator): What a special message from Pastor Rick. And now let's hear how lives are changing through Daily Hope. Here's Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

Rick Warren: Hi everybody, today I'm going to share with you a special testimony from Delia. Delia says that Daily Hope has helped her with deep anxiety. Then she also shared about what happened as she began to share Daily Hope with her parents. She writes this:

"Pastor Rick, a couple years ago I found myself pretty lost. My company had a merger and all the senior management were changed overnight and I was among them. At the same time, my long-term relationship ended. Then a couple months later, my father was diagnosed with colon cancer. I was in shock and I fell into a deep depression from all these changes. In fact, every day I experienced a panic attack."

"But then I found your teaching on Daily Hope. It just seemed that you understood every emotion that I was going through, emotions that I didn't even know how to verbalize to other people. But it was Daily Hope that helped me get out of bed every morning and gave me the strength to get through each day. Through your teaching on Daily Hope, Pastor Rick, I was able to experience God's love and power like never before."

"I even translated the Daily Hope devotional for my parents, who don't speak English. And they accepted Jesus too." That's amazing, Delia. "I'm so grateful for you and the team at Daily Hope because it has become the morning routine that I can't live without."

Now Delia, you have been through more pain than I can possibly imagine, some very challenging times. I'm sorry. Sometimes we experience multiple traumas at the same time and when that happens, that's when we really need the hope of Jesus Christ. I'm so glad you experienced that, that you found God's love and found God's power.

What a blessing that you translated the Daily Hope devotionals for your parents and then they accepted Christ. I am celebrating with you that they are now in the family of God. It's stories like yours that encourage me and keep me going. Thanks so much for taking the time to write and share your story. By the way, anybody else listening, if you have a story, please write me. I would love to read it and love to share it if I can with others. You'll encourage other people with your story. God bless you.

Guest (Narrator): Now if you'd like to let Rick know how much this broadcast has blessed you, please feel free to send him an email. He loves it. Send it to rick@pastorrick.com. That's rick@pastorrick.com. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Daily Hope Ministries and your generous financial support.