Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Host: Hello and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. We are so glad you're here with us today. We're going to continue our series called the Keys to a Blessed Life.

Now, in these messages, Rick walks through Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to live a truly hopeful and purpose-filled life. Okay, let's dive right in for part one of, Why You Need to Stay Hungry.

Pastor Rick Warren: Recently, I got this letter. It says, Dear Reverend Warren.

Pastor Rick Warren: Anybody who writes a letter like that knows you know instantly they don't know me. Dear Reverend Warren.

I heard your program on the radio, so I thought you might be able to help me with my dilemma. I'm sure you're familiar with the old U2 song, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. That line could be the theme of my life.

It's a strange feeling, since I have, by all standards, achieved everything that most people work their entire life for. My success as an investment banker has given me multiple homes, nice cars, and all the kinds of perks and luxuries you'd expect.

I'm married to a great woman. I have two young kids that I adore, and I enjoy good health. And all of this came at a much earlier age than I figured it would take. And yet, I'm just not as happy as I think I should be.

To be honest, I'm often restless. I'm often bored. I'm often very unsatisfied with with my life. Sometimes at night I feel hollow and empty. And I keep thinking, there's got to be more to life than this. What do you think I should do?

You know, there's an entire book in the Bible about this dilemma. It's called the Book of Ecclesiastes. And it's written by another guy who had it all. His name was Solomon.

Solomon writes this book really as kind of a midlife crisis. It's pretty much of a downer book until you get to the end, where he goes, I guess it's all about God. But Solomon says, you know, I decided my life was empty, and my life didn't have a lot of meaning, and I I didn't feel very fulfilled by it. You know, I've got good things going on in my life, but I wasn't very satisfied.

So, he starts off in this search, and he tries all these different things to to find satisfaction in life, and every one of them were dead ends. And he starts off in the first chapter and he says, I I tried education. I thought, you know, if I just get smart, well, then life will be meaningful and satisfying and fulfilling. He said, I learned everything you could learn.

And I read everything you could read. And he said, in the making of books there is much weariness. And he says, when I got all that wisdom and all that education, I just realized, I'm still empty. Still empty.

So then he said, then I I I decided I'd go after a a great career. And I I I set some goals, big goals and achievements, and I actually became the king of my nation. And I started all kinds of public works projects and doing all these good things, and I had all of these great accomplishments to rack up, and it still left me empty.

He said, then I thought, well, then maybe money's the answer. Maybe if I just got more money. And he said, I went out and I amassed an enormous fortune. In fact, Solomon became the wealthiest man in the world in his day. And when the Queen of Sheba from Africa came up to she said, I've never seen any kind of wealth like this ever anywhere on the planet.

And he said, I amassed this enormous fortune. I had great, great wealth that I bought myself all kinds of nice things, and I invested in art and all of these things, and that left me empty. He said, you know, I I thought, well, then maybe being famous, or being popular. That left him empty. And he said, well, maybe I thought, maybe life's just all about having fun.

Maybe it's just about partying. It's having a good time, having thrills. And so he said, I I I just kind of let it all go and I invested in wine, women and song, emphasis on wine and women. And he said, I, you know, I partied to my heart's content, but he said, it still left me empty.

And he said, what everybody says is going to give you satisfaction is a lie. He said, there was this hunger, this this hunger inside of me that was was just not being satisfied.

Have you ever gone to your fridge? In fact, I'm sure you've done this. You wake up in the middle of the night, you're hungry, you go down to your refrigerator, you open the door, and then you just stand there and look. Because you know you're hungry, but you don't know what you're hungry for. And you look and nothing really looks appealing or satisfying or like it's going to really make you feel better. And so you just stand there and look. You know you're hungry, but you don't know what you're hungry for. How many of you would admit that? Can I see your hands? All right. The rest of you are liars. Dirty, rotten liars.

Now, Jesus says that having spiritual hunger is a good thing. In fact, he says it's one of the eight keys to being blessed by God. It's one of the eight keys to having God's blessing on your life is to stay spiritually hungry.

Matthew chapter 5, verse 6, as we go through the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon, Jesus says this: "God blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Now, I want you to circle the word righteousness and circle the word filled.

Now, the word filled, a lot of translations say, "They will be fully satisfied." I mean, they're going to live a satisfied life. They're going to live a fulfilled life. They will be filled. But it's you got to hunger and thirst for the right thing in order to live a fulfilled life. And he says, you've got to hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Now, what in the world is righteousness? If God says it's one of the eight keys to being blessed by God, how do I hunger and thirst for righteousness if I don't even know what righteousness is? Righteousness is a big word in the Bible. It's used literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times.

The Bible tells us, for instance, that God is righteous. The Bible tells us that the word of God, the Bible is righteous. The Bible tells us that God founded the universe and his kingdom on righteousness. The Bible says that God loves righteousness. The Bible says that God rewards righteousness in people that he sees it in. The Bible says Noah was a righteous man, and Abraham was a righteous man. And, of course, we all know the righteous brothers right here from Orange County.

The Bible says that God loves righteousness. The Bible says that one day God is going to judge the world in righteousness. The Bible says God made a covenant with Israel, which is righteous. The Bible says in the most famous Psalm, Psalm 23, "He leads me in the paths of righteousness." So, what in the world does this word mean? Well, I once looked it up in a theological dictionary and there were 27 pages on the definition.

But let me just boil it down for you into two sentences. It's about a relationship and it's about a lifestyle. Righteousness first simply means being right with God. It means being right with God, being right with God.

Now, the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 1, verse 17, "The good news tells us how God makes us right with himself." Now, look at that verse there in your outline for a minute. "The good news." You know, the word gospel? You've heard people talk about gospel singing, gospel preaching, gospel church. Gospel is simply the old English word for good news. That's all it means. The gospel is good news. So, the gospel, the good news tells us, and what is it so, why is it so good? It tells us how God makes us right with himself.

Now, notice, God makes you right with him. You don't make yourself right. This is something that God does for you. And in just a minute we're going to look in detail at the gospel. We're going to look at the good news, and why it's so good such good news to your life. But notice it's something that God does for you. He makes us right with himself. So, it's a relationship.

Second thing righteousness is, it's a lifestyle, and that means it means living right. Living right as God intends. So, it means being right with God and living right in faith or as God intends. So, it's a position and it's a practice. First John 2:29, "All who practice righteousness are God's true children."

Now, today I want us to do two things. I want us to say, how does God make us right with him, and then how do I keep this spiritual hunger to always be right with God going on in my life for the rest of my life? But before we do, I want to just ask this question, why should I care? Why should I care? Why should I really care about being right with God?

Particularly when none of my friends seem to care about being right with God. The people who live next door to you don't seem to care much about being right with God. A lot of people you work with don't seem to care about being right with God. Much of the world doesn't seem to care at all about being right with God. So, why in the world should I care about righteousness? About being right with God? Why should I hunger and thirst for these two things?

Well, in a nutshell, two reasons. One, it's the only way to live, and two, it's the only way to heaven. So, that ought to say it. Let me show you a verse. Proverbs 12:28 says this, "Righteousness is the road to life and the path to immortality." Okay, now I'm interested. I'm interested in the road to life, and I'm interested in the path to immortality.

Now, road to life, what does that mean? It means that when you are disconnected from God, you're not really living. You're just existing. Most people in the world aren't really fully alive. They're just existing, making it to the weekend. They don't really have a connection with God. To be disconnected from the creator who created you for a purpose is nonsense.

To live your life going, yeah, I know I was made by God, but I don't really care about it is nonsense. You're not really living, you're just existing. Saint Augustine said, "Thou has made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until we find our peace in Thee." You've heard me say this many times, you're made by God and you're made for God, and until you understand that, life isn't going to make sense. Life is not about the acquisition of things or the achievement of goals. Life is about getting to know God, the God who loves you and made you for a purpose. You're not really living. You're not really living until you're right with God. You're connected to God.

But not only is it good for here on Earth, the Bible says righteousness is the path to immortality. In other words, it's the way you get to heaven. Now, here's the point. God's not going to force you to go to heaven. It's a choice. You choose to go to heaven on God's terms. God created heaven as a place for his children that he loves, and he wants you to be with him forever and ever and ever. God has long-range plans for your life. He wants you to be in heaven, but he's not going to force you to go to heaven.

And so God gives you a choice. You can spend your life connected to him or disconnected to him. You can say, if you want to, you can rebel against God, you can ignore God your entire life. You can pretend God doesn't exist. You can disobey God, you can be apathetic toward God, and you know what God will say to you? Like Burger King, have it your way. God never forces anybody to love him because it's not love if you're forced. So God gives you the choice.

And if you say, I don't want to love God, I don't want to live for God, I want to live my own life. God says, have it your way, like Burger King. The only problem is, one day you're going to stand before God, and God's going to say, "You didn't connect with me on Earth. You didn't want to be close to me on Earth. Why in the world would you want to be close to me now in eternity? Have it your way." And you will be eternally separated from God.

Why would anybody say, I want to live my entire life separated from God, but when I die, I want to be in God's presence and love. Really? In both cases, God will say simply, "Have it your way." And if you don't go to heaven, that's your choice. You don't blame God. God says, I gave you the choice to be close to me, to be connected to me, to be in in relationship with me. But have it your way. Because he wants you to choose to love him.

Now, what is this plan? Notice that verse says, "God, the good news tells us how God makes us right with himself." How does he make us right with himself? What is God's plan to make you righteous? If righteousness is the only way to live, and if righteousness is the only way to get to heaven, how does God make you righteous?

Well, it's called the gospel, and there are three facts. And I want to go back to the very basics today, the ABC's. So, write these down, the three things. Number one, the first part of the gospel is this, I can't make myself righteous. That didn't sound very good, but it's the fact that I can't make myself righteous.

We're all imperfect, we've all blown it, we've all sinned, we've all made mistakes. I don't measure up to my own standards, much less God's. And the Bible says in Jeremiah 13:23, "Can a leopard change its spots?" The answer is no. And so, how do I, an imperfect person, become perfect? Well, why is that important? I'll tell you why.

Because heaven is a perfect place. The Bible says in heaven, there's no sin, there's no sadness, there's no sorrow, there's no evil, there's no hatred, there's no racial prejudice, there's no injustice. Heaven is a perfect place. Now, here's the problem. I'm imperfect. And by the way, so are you. So, if God let imperfect people into heaven, heaven would be no better than Earth.

And if he let us come into heaven with our sins and our faults and our weaknesses, then there would be rape in heaven, there would be murder in heaven, there would be gossip, injustice, prejudice in heaven, there would be evil, there would be worry and stress. Heaven would be no better than Earth. So, God can't let sinful people into heaven, otherwise it'll be full of sin too. So, there's a problem there, because I stopped being perfect along about the third breath of my life.

So, God had to come up with a plan, and that is the good news. That's the gospel that we'll look at in just a minute. But somehow God's got to take care of my unrighteousness so I can get into a perfect place. Let me show you a couple verses. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 20: "There is not a righteous person on Earth who always does what's right and never sins." That's me, that's you, it's the Pope, and everybody else. There's not anybody who always does the right thing and never sins. So, we are all unrighteous.

Now, look at the next verse. Romans 3:20: "No one can ever be made right in God's sight," that's righteous, "by doing what God's law commands." Because the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes we can't keep it. The only people who think they can keep God's laws are those who don't know them. Because God's laws are perfection and none of us are perfect.

You know, one time I was sitting on a plane one day and I was talking to a guy and he figured out I was a pastor, and so he started talking about heaven. And so I just asked him, I said, "So, you know, on what basis do you think you're going to get into heaven?" He said, "Because I keep the Ten Commandments." I said, "Name them."

Not only do you not keep them, you can't even name them all. You can't even name the Ten Commandments. And Jesus said, we've all broken every one of them because the Bible says, if you hate somebody in your heart, it's like murder. The Bible says, if you've lusted in your heart, it's like adultery. The Bible says, don't have any other gods before me, and we've all put other things before God at different times in our lives. We've all lacked integrity. We've all coveted other people's things. And so we've all broken the Ten Commandments. And so that's not going to get me into heaven because I've never kept them perfectly. If you could keep the Ten Commandments perfectly, yeah, you could probably get into heaven, but nobody ever has.

Another time I was sitting on a plane next to a guy and I said, "So, why do you think you're going to go to heaven?" He says, "Because I'm better than a lot of people." I said, "So you think God grades on a curve?" He said, "I have no doubt you're better than a lot of people. I mean, compared to Hitler, you're a saint." In fact, let me just tell you, my friend, you're probably a lot better than me. I have no doubt that most of you are probably more moral, more ethical than I am.

But the fact is, nobody gets to perfection. We all, the Bible says, we all fall short. I mean, let's just imagine this. Let's say Southern California is Earth, and Hawaii is heaven. All right? And we decide we're all going to try to get to heaven on our own work, by just being a nice person. And we want to be nice enough to get to heaven, but bad enough to be fun.

And so we decide, we're all going to swim our way, earn our way to heaven by swimming to Hawaii. Now, some of you don't know that for three years I was a Red Cross lifeguard. So, let's say I swim out 12 miles, and then I drowned. And then let's say you're an Olympic champion swimmer, and you you swim out 30 miles, and then you drowned. And let's say a friend of ours who is crippled doesn't even get into the water. Or somebody gets out three three yards, and they don't know how to swim, and they drown. Do some people get further than others? Of course they do. But nobody gets all the way because none of us are perfect. Does that make sense? It's just too far. Yeah, you're a lot better than a lot of people. Of course you are, but you're not going to swim to Hawaii. It's too far.

So, nobody can be made right by ourselves. We can't be made right on our own. God's got to have a plan. And so that's the second thing, write this down. God sent Jesus to pay for my sins. So that I could be declared righteous, so that I could be called righteous, so that I could get in on Jesus' ticket. It's not that I'm any better, it's that Jesus pays for my sins.

Let me give you an example of this. Let's say you had lived a lifetime of crime, and you get caught, and you go to court, and you get convicted, and you're given a life sentence for a lifetime of crime. And the judge sitting there in his robe puts the gavel down and says, "You've lived a lifetime of crime. You're going to serve a life sentence for the rest of your life." And he hits the gavel. And then, to the shock of everybody in the courtroom, the judge gets up, takes off his robe, and walks down and stands beside you and says, "But I love you, and I want to show grace and mercy to you, so I'll tell you what, I'm going to serve your sentence for you." And you hear a gasp, and the oxygen is sucked out of the room because the judge has just now become your savior.

Are you guilty? You're still guilty as everything. But now the judge has become your savior and says, "Yes, somebody's going to pay for your sin, and I'm going to pay for it." That's exactly what God did for you.

Host: Such a great message by Rick today, and every day. I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was. And now, here's Rick with an important message.

Pastor Rick Warren: Hi, everybody. Thanks so much for listening today. You know, my hope is that God uses this broadcast to help deepen your relationship with Jesus. Now, these Daily Hope messages are distributed on radio stations and digital platforms all across the globe, and listeners are writing and letting us know that their lives are being changed. They're telling us that they're walking with Jesus, and that guilt and fear has been chased from their lives by God's love.

You know, relationships are being restored, and marriages are being healed, and many people are saying that they found their life purpose. I want to say thank you to you because we're only able to carry the hope of Jesus to these people all around the world because of gifts from generous listeners like you. I just wanted to say, I am so grateful for your prayers and your financial support.

Now, I understand in times like these, many of you are unable to give financial support. Hear it from me, that's okay. Because I never want anybody to give unless God leads them to give. That's between you and God, not between you and me, but between you and God. And your prayers are a continual and incredible contribution to this Daily Hope ministry.

Now, if you do want to give a financial gift, I've got some really great news to share with you. There's a generous friend of Daily Hope broadcast who is offering to match the amount of your gift. In other words, if you give $20, then that person has combined it with a grant to make your gift $40. Now, if you've never given a gift to Daily Hope, I want you to pray about partnering with us so that together we can continue to share the hope of Jesus throughout the whole world. I love you so much.

Host: Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, just go to PastorRick.com. That's PastorRick.com or you can text the word HOPE to 70309. That's the word HOPE to 70309. And really, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. Hey, be sure to join us next time when 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.