Hello, and welcome to Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren. You've joined us
during our Easter series and we're so glad you're here. As Rick continues to
share the six major benefits that the resurrection of Christ brings to people who choose
to follow him. And now here's part two of a message called the Mystery
of God's Plan. Now, before we get too upset with Adam for messing
up a perfect planet, we need to realize that we share the blame too,
because every one of us have done the exact same thing Adam and Eve
did. We thumbed our nose to God. We've said, God, I'm
gonna do what I want to do. I know what the right thing to
do is, but i'm gonna do what's easy. I'm gonna do what's convenient.
I'm gonna do what's fun. I'm gonna do what's popular. I'm gonna
do what I want to do. And God, you got your plan,
But no, thanks God, I'm gonna go with my plan. And I
know you say, don't do these things, but I'm gonna do them anyway.
The Bible calls that rebellion, it calls it disobedience, it calls us
sin, and the Bible tells us this. We've all sinned, every one
of us. Not a single person on the planet is perfect. Nobody bats
a thousand. We've all blown it. We've all made mistakes, we've all
heard ourselves, we've all hurt God, we've all heard other people. We've
all sinned and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives.
That's that life of perfection that God wills for us. We just can't do
it, okay, and so we've all messed up. Now as a result
of that, not only death entered the world, but everything in the world
was broken. And that's the second consequence. The world was broken by sin.
And now nothing on this planet works perfectly. I don't know if you've
noticed this or not, but everything is broken, nothing works perfectly. Have
you noticed your body does not work perfectly? Okay, it don't look perfect
either, And you know what, your relationships don't work perfectly. Have you
noticed that there's a lot of conflict and a lot of times we don't understand
each other perfectly. And I don't get what you're saying, and we have
imperfection in our relationships. Have you noticed the economy does not work perfectly.
Have you noticed that even the weather does not work perfectly. The Bible says
that creation grows because when the sin virus hid Earth, it destroyed everything.
It was never God's will that we have floods and famines and hurricanes and tidal
waves and all this is because even the weather got messed up. Everything on
the earth is broken. We do not live on Heaven. We live on
earth, and so now nothing works perfectly. Our minds don't always work perfectly.
Our emotions don't always work perfectly. Our attractions and our cravings and our
desires don't. Sometimes we desire stuff that's bad for us instead of stuff that's
good for us. And even our DNA got warped in all of this.
It was never God's plan that people have Alzheimer's. It was never God's plan
that people have cancer. It was never God's intention that people have diabetes.
That's because the DNA of our body is broken. On this planet, everything
is touched by sin, and because there is real evil in the world.
We have things that God never intended, like rape, incest, child abuse,
racial injustice, war, sexual trafficking, and everything got messed up and
everything is broken on this planet. The Bible says this. The earth has
broken down in utter collapse, and everything is lost and confused. And that's
why it's not fair. Have you noticed that life is not fair? It's
not fair. It's never been since Sin broke it all down. And things
aren't fair, and they don't always work out in the good way. Now
there's a third cause the catastrophe that happened, and that is the loss of
purpose. When Sin hit the world because of what Adam did, and he
chose to disobey God and ruined the perfect plan that God had for earth and
for men, God's purpose for everything was lost, and every one of God's
gifts, good gifts that God gave to us started being abused and misused.
Sex is a gift of God? Is it abused and misused today? Yes?
It is. Food and drink is a gift of God? Are they
abused and misused today? Yes? Money is misused and abused. Everything lost
its purpose. Family lost its purpose, nations lost their purpose, individuals lost
their purpose. I don't even know what I'm here for because it all happened
in the Bible, sayce is this for creation was condemned to lose its purpose.
Yet there was this still this hope. If you have an outline,
you might circle the word still this hope, this hope that all creation will
one day be set free from its slavery to decay, and we will share
the glorious freedom of the children of God. That's one day God's family would
be set free, and so would creation. Now it says there was always
this hope. You see this act that where things aren't well going right,
that's still in the first part of the Bible, and for the first two
thirds of the Mystery Story of Creation, for two thirds of the Bible,
God says, I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm going to send
a solution. There is hope. Yes, I love you, and yes,
you screwed it up. You've messed up your lives, you've messed up
your relationships, and you've messed up the planet. But I still love you,
and so I'm going to send a solution. I'm going to send a
savior. I'm going to send a Messiah. And for thousands of years we
read this promise in the story the Mystery of History over and over and over,
and God gives us signs, and he gives us symbols, and he
gives us scriptures, and he gives us sacrifices that one day he's going to
send the solution to make the problem right that we can't we can't fix.
And that leads us to Act three and Act three in the Mystery of History,
happened two thousand years ago, and Act three is this, Jesus came.
God sent Jesus, and Jesus came to restore us. He came to
restore us to God, to rebuild that relationship, to pay for all of
our sins, to make the wrong things right. And Jesus is Act three.
Now let me tell you how important this is. A lot of people
have made his way in life, a lot of people make history, but
Jesus is the only one to split history. Only one person split history into
AD and BC. And every time you write down a date two thousand and
nine years you are using Jesus Christ as the reference point. Nobody else in
history gets that clarification or classification, because in two thousand and nine years ago,
God came to earth, and he came to earth in a human form,
so we can understand what he's like. If God had wanted to communicate
to ants, he would have become an aunt. If you want to communicate
to birds, he would have become a bird. But God wanted to communicate
to his children, to human beings, so he became one of us,
and God came to earth in human form Jesus Christ, and he lived a
perfect life in an imperfect world. But he didn't just stop there. He
died on the cross to pay for the sins, the wrong, that sin,
IRUs of every sin of humanity that had ever been done up to that
point, and for all of the sins that have yet to be done,
you know, all the ones we're going to do tomorrow and the next day
and the day after that, those sins, everything has already been paid for
by Jesus Christ on the cross. And that's Act three. Here's what the
Bible says. Jesus was given to die for our sins, all the sins
of humanity, and he was raised up from the dead to make us right
with God. Have you ever thought about why do people wear crosses around their
neck? Why do they put crosses up on their walls, Because when you
think about it, the cross is an instrument of torture. It's not as
how did the cross become the universal symbol of hope, like the red Cross
is showing up at the you know, the tragedies of life. How is
it that the cross becomes a symbol of hope. It's a symbol of torture.
It would be like wearing an electric chair around your neck. The cross
was invented by the Romans to put people to the most grisly, hurtful,
shameful death. You can imagine. It's an instrument of torture, and yet
it is the universal symbol of hope and people wear it around their neck.
Why. Because what Jesus did on that cross is the solution to all the
problem that Adam created. Jesus replaced what Adam erased, and the Bible says
he was given for our sins and raised from the dead so that we could
be right with God. Now, why did God go to all that trouble,
I mean, after Adam blew it? Why, well, let's forget
it. Let's just blow up the Earth start over with a whole new,
whole new galaxy. I mean he could have You're gonna say, forget these
guys. You know, I gave him one choice, one thing wrong,
and he goes right for it. Why did he do this? Why did
he send Jesus? Because that's how much he loves us? He says,
I know these people. I love him, I created him. I want
him in my family for eternity. And they have messed up so royally and
there's no way they can fix it themselves. So I'm going to have to
go to Earth and fix it for them. The Bible says that when we
were unable to help ourselves, let us stare on your outline, when we
were unable to help ourselves at the moment of our need, Christ died for
us although we were living against God. And why did he do that?
Let me just be real honest with you. You're not gonna like what I
say, but it's true. You and I are broken in ways that we
cannot fix ourselves. You've tried and I've tried, and we're broken in ways
we can't fix, and we need a savior. It's part of living on
a broken planet. Now, we could go out and we could set up
all kinds of rules and say we're gonna abide by these rules, but that
won't fix the Brokennes sentice. And we could go out and we could set
up all kinds of regulations say here's this, and that won't work. That
won't keep us from doing the wrong thing. We could have all kinds of
rituals that we do, but that won't stop. That won't change us on
the inside. You see, laws never change anybody. You can outlaw something,
but it doesn't change the heart. We could pass a law right today
that says there will be no more racial bigotry in America, and people still
be bigots. We could pass a law right now it says everybody will never
be unselfish, everybody will always be kind, and we break the law all
the time because a law can never change you on the inside. What needs
changing is your nature, not just your behavior, and only God can change
that. And that's why the Bible says this, the Law of Moses could
not save us. What's it, by the way, what is the law
of Moses? It's the Ten Commandments. Moses gave us the ten Commandments.
You know, I was talking to a guy one time and I said,
are you going to heaven? He goes? Oh yeah, I said,
how do you know he goes? Because I keep the ten Commandments? I
said, name them. You couldn't name them if I asked you to stand
up right now and name all ten commandments. You couldn't name them. You
not only don't keep them, you can't even name them. Keeping the law
will never work because you'll never be perfect. Heaven's perfect and I'm not.
Heaven's perfect and you're not. So the Bible says, keeping the spiritual laws,
the laws of Moses, could not save us because of our sinful nature.
That's what needs changing. But God put into effect a different plan to
save us. He sent his own son in a human body like ours,
except that ours are sinful. And God destroyed sins control over us by giving
his son as a sacrifice for our sin. Now, if you're taking notes,
I want you to circle. He destroyed sins control. The Bible says.
One of the things Jesus did on the cross was not only die for
the penalty of your sins, but he wants to release you from the power
of sin. What does that mean? Jesus came to destroy sins control in
my life? How to sin control my life? What's real? Simple?
You know all those bad habits that you'd like to change but can't. That
sins control in your life? You know all those self defeating things that you
do that you know you're bad for you, but you still do them.
That's sins control in your life. You know, those addictions you can't let
go of, That sins control in your life. You know, those compulsive
thoughts, those worries that you keep thinking over and over and over, and
that compulsive stress that keeps beating you down, and that compulsive fear and that
compulsive anger, and all those emotions that you can't seem to get control of
in your life. That sends control over you. You know, the attractions
that you can't stop, and the cravings that you can't stop, and the
compulsions and the obsessions you can't stop. That sends control over you. And
the Bible says that God came and sent Jesus to not only pay for the
penalty of everything you've done wrong, but to give you the power to break
away from things that are messing up your life habits, hurts, and hang
ups. Now, let's just be honest again. Are there things in your
life that you know are good for you and you don't do them? Yes?
Are there things in your life that you know hurt your relationships and hurt
you, but you still do them? Yes? Have you tried to stop
yes, has it worked? No? Why? Because you don't have a
power to change your nature. You need a savior. You need God in
your life to make those changes. And that's why Jesus came. And that's
Act three. And the Bible summarizes Act three this way up here on the
screen. Here it is in a nutshell. Just as one person did it
wrong, that's Adam got us all into this mess, this trouble with sin
and death. Another person did it right. That's Jesus, and he got
us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble by
paying for all our sins, it says he got us into life. The
Bible says it, when I open my life to God's son Jesus Christ,
whom he sent to be my savior, that I get three kinds of life.
I get a new life, I get an abundant life, and I
get eternal life. What does that mean, Well, it means that God
says, I'm going to take care of all your problems past, president future.
You're going to get a new life. That means your past gets forgiven.
You're going to get an abundant life. That means you get a purpose
for living and you're gonna get an eternal life, that's your home in heaven,
past forgiven purpose for living home in heaven. Who else can offer you
that deal, No human being can offer you that. Only God can offer
you past forgiven purpose for living home in heaven. But you've got to receive
it. And that's why we call Jesus the Mighty Savior, because when he
came to earth, he came to save us from ourselves, from our sin,
from the expectations of others, from the past, from the present,
reistresses, from the future of hell, and all these things. He is
the Mighty Savior. Now that's Act three. Jesus Christ conquered the grave.
He busted through death so that you could live again. Believe me, if
he hadn't risen from the dead, you wouldn't either, because he broke through
that. And there's a whole explanation behind it. Now, God did this
because he loved you. And let's just review. God made it all,
Adam messed it up. Jesus came to put it back together. God says,
I thought of you before you were born. I thought of you before
I created the universe, and I made the universe so I could create a
family, and I want you to be a part of it. And the
reason you are alive is I made you to love you. And then when
you messed up and you rebelled against me, and even though you've done your
own thing and ignored me, I still love you. And so I said,
I'm gonna have to solve that problem because you can't solve it. And
so I'm going to come to Earth myself in human form and die on the
cross for you, so everything you've ever done wrong can be paid for and
forgiven and wiped out. He's done it all for you. There's not a
thing you have to do to be in God's family. You don't earn it,
you don't work for it. It's a free gift of God's grace.
All you can do is accept it. But God still gives you the choice.
That's Rick Warren with his Easter series called He Has Risen Right now,
Pastor Rick has a very special message. You know. Perhaps the best known
verse in the Bible is John three point sixteen. For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish, but have eternal life. Easter is God shouting down to
Earth. I love you, I love you, I love you, I
care about you, I want you and my family. Have you really grasped
that I want to challenge you this Easter. Don't come to your church's Easter
service alone. You know there are two times a year that most people will
accept an invitation to a church service Christmas and Easter, So don't miss it's
this great opportunity to invite somebody that you care about who doesn't know Jesus.
Don't go to church by yourself at Easter. You know in the Bible,
in Luke chapter fourteen, verse twenty three, Jesus says this, go out
into the highways and the countryside and urge everyone you find to come in so
that my house will be full. God wants a full house, and I
want people in heaven because you cared enough to invite them. I guarantee you
the people that you invite to Easter service are going to hear a gospel message
on Easter. So make a list of the people that you want to invite
to bring to Easter service with you. Thanks for listening today. I'd love
to hear from you. You can write to me Rick at Pastorrerick dot com.
That's rickat Pastorrick dot com. By the way, if you can send
a gift this Easter to help us expand this ministry, I would deeply appreciate
it. I know not everybody can afford to give a lot, some of
you can. Whatever amount you give, we're grateful for it. And I
want you to know that all of the money given to this ministry goes into
the ministry. I do this for free. I take no salary from it,
and so you can be certain that this is going to further the good
news all around the world. And by the way, let me just say
this to you, happy Easter. Would you like to help support Pastor Rick
in this ministry financially, We'll go to Pastorick dot com or text the word
hope to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Once again, Pastorick
dot com or text the word hope to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and
four, and thank you so much for your support. We hope you'll 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,