Speaker 1: You know, none of us can earn our way into
Speaker 1: heaven because the eternal life is of free gift when
Speaker 1: you accept Jesus as the Lord of your life. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And today Rick Warren
Speaker 1: continues a series called Good News about Grace. You can't
Speaker 1: truly understand the Christian life until you understand grace. It's
Speaker 1: at the heart of your faith and your relationship with God.
Speaker 1: And in this series you're going to discover how not
Speaker 1: to only understand grace, but how to experience it and
Speaker 1: the joy that it brings. Okay, and now here's part
Speaker 1: two of a message called Restoring Grace.
Speaker 2: God does not reject believers when we sin, first because
Speaker 2: his love is unconditional. Second, because my salvation isn't based
Speaker 2: on my performance. God doesn't reject believers when they send
Speaker 2: because my salvation isn't based on my performance. Romans nine
Speaker 2: sixteen says it doesn't depend on man's desire effort, but
Speaker 2: on God's mercy. Now, we covered this in detail in
Speaker 2: the very first message in this series on saving Grace,
Speaker 2: and I'll say it again. The only way you ever
Speaker 2: have ever any hope of getting into heaven is by
Speaker 2: the grace of God. You can't earn your way into heaven,
Speaker 2: buy your way to heaven, work your way into heaven,
Speaker 2: bluff your way into heaven. You know whatever, If you
Speaker 2: don't get saved by grace, you're not getting saved. If
Speaker 2: you don't get into heaven on the grace of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: you're not gonna get there. Because it's perfect and you're not.
Speaker 2: It's the only way. Read with me Titus three. Five.
Speaker 2: He saved us not because of the good things we did,
Speaker 2: but because of his mercy. And so God doesn't reject
Speaker 2: me as a believer when I sin, because his love
Speaker 2: is unconditional, and my salvation isn't based on my performance.
Speaker 2: Number three, because Jesus has already taken my punishment. God
Speaker 2: doesn't reject me when I sin because Jesus has already
Speaker 2: taken my punishment. If I've accepted that as a believer.
Speaker 2: You know, in America, we have a law called the
Speaker 2: law of double jeopardy. I think it was invented by
Speaker 2: Alex Trebek, and the law of double jeopardy says that
Speaker 2: you cannot be tried for the same crime twice. You
Speaker 2: cannot be convicted for the same crime. Christ, you cannot
Speaker 2: be punished for the same crime twice. That's true in
Speaker 2: God's book too, that people are not punished for the
Speaker 2: same crime and the same sin twice. Now, two thousand
Speaker 2: years ago, Jesus stretched his arms out on the cross
Speaker 2: and took the punishment for my sin and for yours.
Speaker 2: He took it all. He paid the price for you,
Speaker 2: He took your wrap, he served your term, he took
Speaker 2: the death penalty for you. The wages of sin is death,
Speaker 2: and he died for you. Now what sins that he
Speaker 2: died for? All of them? The ones in your future
Speaker 2: that you don't even know about yet, He died for
Speaker 2: those two. And they've already been punished. The sins that
Speaker 2: you created in the past, the ones you're going to
Speaker 2: do in the future, somebody's already taken the punishment for him,
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ did. That's why he cried out
Speaker 2: on the cross. It is finished. And in Greek it
Speaker 2: was to tell us die. He's saying, paid in full.
Speaker 2: It's paid in full. Now, can you imagine God coming
Speaker 2: to you the next time you sin? And they said, oh,
Speaker 2: by the way, what Jesus did for you, It wasn't
Speaker 2: good enough, I'm going to punish you too. That makes sense,
Speaker 2: does it. That's double jeopardy. If God punished you would
Speaker 2: mean saying that what Jesus did for you wasn't good enough,
Speaker 2: but it was. Let me, I don't know how to
Speaker 2: say it any clearer than this. If you were a
Speaker 2: Christian and you have received the grace of God, God
Speaker 2: does not punish you when you sin, because that punishment
Speaker 2: was already taken by Jesus on the cross. Now I
Speaker 2: know what some people are thinking. They said, wait a minute,
Speaker 2: let me get this right. Jesus has already been punished
Speaker 2: for all the things I'm going to do too. Yes,
Speaker 2: And some people say, well, that means somebody could go
Speaker 2: out and say that I can do whatever I want.
Speaker 2: This is great. All my sins have already been punished
Speaker 2: and paid for. I can go out and I can
Speaker 2: go to bed with anybody I want to go to
Speaker 2: bed with. I can cheat on my income tax I
Speaker 2: can lie, I can steal. You know, I can do
Speaker 2: whatever I want to do because it's already been punished
Speaker 2: on Jesus and I'm not gonna pay the punishment for it.
Speaker 2: Let me just say this, if you feel that way.
Speaker 2: If you think that thought, you are not a genuine
Speaker 2: believer in Jesus Christ. You're not a real Christian, because
Speaker 2: no real genuine believer would ever pervert the grace of God,
Speaker 2: would flaunt it, would abuse it in such a way.
Speaker 2: Grace makes me want to do what's right, not what's wrong.
Speaker 2: Grace is not a license to just say, well, I
Speaker 2: know I'm all forgiven, so I'll go ahead and just
Speaker 2: keep on doing what i want to because I'm forgiven.
Speaker 2: Therefore I'll keep having this affair. I know I'm forgiven.
Speaker 2: Therefore I'm just gonna goe and leave my family. I
Speaker 2: know I'm forgiven I therefore I'll just do whatever I
Speaker 2: want to do. That is an abuse of grace, and
Speaker 2: no genuine believer would flaunt the grace of God like that.
Speaker 2: In the face of God, grace makes me want to
Speaker 2: do what's right. And when I really understand grace, it
Speaker 2: goes God. I am so grateful you're telling me that
Speaker 2: everything I'm ever gonna do wrong is already been taken
Speaker 2: care of. Yes, Oh God, I am so grateful for that.
Speaker 2: I am so grateful. I want to serve you the
Speaker 2: rest of my life. I want to love you. I
Speaker 2: want to do whatever you made me to do in
Speaker 2: this world. Besides, while God does not condemn you and
Speaker 2: God does not punish you, you will be disciplined. So
Speaker 2: what's that. Well, Discipline is very different than punishment. Punishment
Speaker 2: is retribution for the past. Discipline is correction for the future.
Speaker 2: Punishment is done in anger. Discipline is done in love.
Speaker 2: Punishment is to say, this is what you get for
Speaker 2: what you did. Discipline says, I want to train you
Speaker 2: to get you on the right path for the future.
Speaker 2: The Bible says that if you continually sin and sin
Speaker 2: and sin and you're not disciplined, it just means you're
Speaker 2: not in God's family. So I don't go next door
Speaker 2: and discipline the kid's next door. They're not in my family,
Speaker 2: But I discipline my own kids because they're in my family.
Speaker 2: One of the ways you know you're Christians. You can't
Speaker 2: sin and get away with it. God brings discipline in
Speaker 2: your life to correct you. But notice what the Bible
Speaker 2: says First John two too read it with me. When
Speaker 2: Jesus served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved
Speaker 2: the sin problem for God, not only ours, but the
Speaker 2: whole world's He solved it right there. So God doesn't
Speaker 2: reject me when I sin, because Jesus has already taken
Speaker 2: the punishment. Number four, God doesn't reject me when I
Speaker 2: sin as a Christian because Jesus understands my human weaknesses.
Speaker 2: He's sympathetic. He's understanding. He knows my frailties, my faults,
Speaker 2: he knows what makes me tick, he knows how I'm wired.
Speaker 2: And one of the most beautiful truths you're going to
Speaker 2: need to learn in the Christian life is this, God
Speaker 2: is patient with you. God is patient with you, and
Speaker 2: he just doesn't get impatient. In fact, look at what
Speaker 2: the Bible says in Hebrews four fifteen. He meaning God,
Speaker 2: Jesus understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the
Speaker 2: same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. When
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ was here on the earth, he experienced every
Speaker 2: temptation known to man common de man. He said, I
Speaker 2: understand what you are. I know what it's like to
Speaker 2: be a human being. He came and lived in human
Speaker 2: flesh for thirty three years, and so he's sympathetic. He
Speaker 2: understands your weaknesses. He knows what you're going through. He
Speaker 2: knows what it's like to be tempted, and he's sympathetic.
Speaker 2: And then number five, God doesn't reject me when I
Speaker 2: sin because God doesn't hold on to grudges. God doesn't
Speaker 2: hold on to grudges. Psalm one three says this in
Speaker 2: the New Living Translation. God will not constantly accuse us,
Speaker 2: nor remain angry forever. He has not punished us for
Speaker 2: all our sins. I'm glad for that. Nor does he
Speaker 2: deal with us as we deserve. I'm glad for that too.
Speaker 2: He is like a father to his children, tender and
Speaker 2: compassionate to those who fear him, to those who fear him.
Speaker 2: What does that mean? Those who respect him, those who
Speaker 2: trusted him, those who committed to him, those who are
Speaker 2: in his family. Again, this is the benefit of being
Speaker 2: a believer. God doesn't hold a grudge at me. If
Speaker 2: you're a believer, God is not angry with you. Let
Speaker 2: me say that again. If you're a believer, God is
Speaker 2: not angry with you. Why all of the punishment was
Speaker 2: taken on the cross. You may be thinking, Rick, you
Speaker 2: don't know how far I've fallen. You don't know what
Speaker 2: I've done. No, I don't, but God does. And you
Speaker 2: may think that I've just trayed too far away. Well,
Speaker 2: if you've strayed far away from God, either by one
Speaker 2: giant step like having an affair, or just a bunch
Speaker 2: of little small steps where you kind of slacked off
Speaker 2: in your Christian commitment, this is what God says to you,
Speaker 2: Jeremiah three twenty two. Would you read it aloud with me?
Speaker 2: God says, come back to me, you unfaithful children, and
Speaker 2: I will beat you up. Oh that's not what it says.
Speaker 2: It doesn't say that. Does it Come back to me,
Speaker 2: you unfaithful children, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful.
Speaker 2: I want you to hear a beautiful example of that. Today.
Speaker 2: Our testimony is by Randy, so give them a warm welcome.
Speaker 3: I committed my life to Christ eight years ago in
Speaker 3: May of nineteen ninety in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Speaker 2: A friend of mine from work.
Speaker 3: Named Jeff was the guy responsible for introducing me to Christ.
Speaker 3: I always tried to change the subject, but he never
Speaker 3: gave up. One day he invited me to a Christian
Speaker 3: concert and it was there that I gave my heart
Speaker 3: to Jesus. After I was saved, I got involved in
Speaker 3: a local church. It was a small church with only
Speaker 3: about twenty members, but I jumped head first into the Bible.
Speaker 3: I studied on my own and also in group Bible studies.
Speaker 3: For the next six months, I continued to grow in christ.
Speaker 3: I served in our small church by setting up and
Speaker 3: taking it down on weekends and doing the many things
Speaker 3: that a church needs done week to week. But being
Speaker 3: a young Christian, I had a lot to learn. I
Speaker 3: thought that now that I was a Christian, I'd never
Speaker 3: have any problems anymore and things would go just as
Speaker 3: I planned. In fact, I expected God to do things
Speaker 3: my way. At the time, I was a student in
Speaker 3: the Navy learning to operate nuclear power plants for submarines.
Speaker 3: I'd been selected to stay after my class's graduation to
Speaker 3: become an instructor. I was sure that this was God's
Speaker 3: plan for me. But then I failed my final evaluation
Speaker 3: and was rejected for instructor duty. This was a major
Speaker 3: blow to me. I felt that God had let me
Speaker 3: down and I had my first doubts, but my church
Speaker 3: family supported me and I felt I could handle this disappointment.
Speaker 3: Instead of becoming a teacher, I was assigned to a
Speaker 3: nuclear powered fast attack submarine in Banger, Washington.
Speaker 2: It was an.
Speaker 3: Overhaul at the time, so my life of relatively easy
Speaker 3: hours as a student changed radically. We have typically worked
Speaker 3: twelve to sixteen hours a day for weeks at a time.
Speaker 3: It was really hard work, and the more tired I got,
Speaker 3: the more frustrated I became. I grew increasingly bitter and resentful.
Speaker 3: As time passed.
Speaker 2: I started to.
Speaker 3: Think that God had given up on me.
Speaker 2: This was a big mistake.
Speaker 3: As a result, I began to spend less and less
Speaker 3: time with God, and instead I started trying to solve
Speaker 3: all my problems myself. Of course, this did not work
Speaker 3: in my fresh increased. As the stress built up, I
Speaker 3: started to do what I saw everyone else in the
Speaker 3: subdoing to relax when they got off work.
Speaker 2: Drink.
Speaker 3: We drank like fish. I can still remember racing from Denny's,
Speaker 3: racing from work to Denny's across town to get there
Speaker 3: before last call. I would order three or four drinks
Speaker 3: at once. But turning away from Jesus was not a quick,
Speaker 3: one time event. It was a slow, day by day
Speaker 3: erosion in my faith. I had let my guard down.
Speaker 3: The more I turned away from God, the more I
Speaker 3: continued to get deeper into sin. Sadly, I went from
Speaker 3: a man who was saving himself for his wife, as
Speaker 3: God had tended a man to do, to a man
Speaker 3: who lost his virginity to a prostitute. I was in
Speaker 3: sad shape for being a Christian by the time our
Speaker 3: boat left overhaul. God was the last thing on my mind.
Speaker 3: After our sub was overhauled, we went to sea. At sea,
Speaker 3: I found even more opportunities to stray farther from God.
Speaker 3: The stress of living and working in a confined space,
Speaker 3: the pure pressure and the race to have as much
Speaker 3: fun as possible when pushed me farther and farther from Jesus.
Speaker 3: I fell so far away that I even started challenging
Speaker 3: and attacking other Christians for their faith. I would ridicule
Speaker 3: them and attack their knowledge of the Bible. I would
Speaker 3: even go to lay pastor services and openly attack their beliefs.
Speaker 3: Looking back, I can see now how all my actions
Speaker 3: are motivated by guilt, shame, and bitterness. Since I was
Speaker 3: running from God, like Jonah, I didn't want anyone reminding
Speaker 3: me of what I turned my back on. Of course,
Speaker 3: nothing I did could bring me any happiness. The further
Speaker 3: I got from God. The more bitter I became, my
Speaker 3: family relationships also suffered. Anyone in my family that didn't
Speaker 3: agree with me, well, I would just stop calling them.
Speaker 3: In my back slidden condition, I wasn't close to them
Speaker 3: or anyone else for that matter. Whenever I dated women,
Speaker 3: I treated them badly. I would only call them when
Speaker 3: I wanted something for myself, and when I was done
Speaker 3: with them, I would dump them or reject them until
Speaker 3: they would leave me. But even during the lowest these times,
Speaker 3: God never gave up on me. Even without me realizing it,
Speaker 3: he was working in my life to bring it back
Speaker 3: to him. The tool God chose to use in my
Speaker 3: life was the woman that I became interested in. Her
Speaker 3: name was Anita, and I met her during a group
Speaker 3: dinner with a large group of guys in their wives.
Speaker 3: We hit it off and started seeing each other. After
Speaker 3: a few weeks, I slipped into my familiar pattern of
Speaker 3: trying to come up with a way to get her
Speaker 3: to reject me so I could move on. Let me
Speaker 3: tell you about one of the all time stupid stunts
Speaker 3: that I pulled. I went on vacation for two weeks,
Speaker 3: telling Anita specifically when to pick me up at the airport,
Speaker 3: but instead I stayed an extra two weeks and didn't
Speaker 3: bother to call her. When I did return, I fully
Speaker 3: expected her to dump me. To my complete surprise, Anita
Speaker 3: held me accountable for my actions, and she even made me.
Speaker 2: Talk it out.
Speaker 3: I couldn't believe it. I was so amazed that someone
Speaker 3: would actually care enough for me to do that. I
Speaker 3: decided that night i'd better marry her. So I took
Speaker 3: her to some cliffs in San Diego and asked her
Speaker 3: to marry me. I had to ask her twice, but
Speaker 3: she finally said yes, and we were married. Shortly after that,
Speaker 3: I got out of the nave and we moved to Tustan.
Speaker 3: Anita's friends at work told her about a church called Saddleback.
Speaker 3: Of course, I wasn't interested at all, but my wife
Speaker 3: kept trying to get me to go, and I finally
Speaker 3: went just to make her happy. The last place I
Speaker 3: wanted to be was back in God's House, but we went,
Speaker 3: and I liked it enough to come back.
Speaker 2: I told myself it was just for her.
Speaker 3: As I began to hear God's word and be around
Speaker 3: genuine Christians, God was able to slowly soften my heart. Finally,
Speaker 3: one night, after one of Pastor Rick's sermons, I found
Speaker 3: myself sitting on the floor in my living room and
Speaker 3: God opened my eyes. I realized that although I had
Speaker 3: moved away from God, he had never moved away from me.
Speaker 3: I saw that even though I had turned my back
Speaker 3: on him, he was still there waiting for me to
Speaker 3: return to him. More than that, he had put the
Speaker 3: people in circumstances in my life to show me that
Speaker 3: He still loved me as much as he ever had,
Speaker 3: even though I'd been a jerk. When I finally saw
Speaker 3: the great blessings in my life for what they were,
Speaker 3: I broke down and I prayed right then and there
Speaker 3: and rededicated my life to Jesus. It was so incredible
Speaker 3: to feel his love in my heart again. I wondered
Speaker 3: why it had taken me so long to return to him.
Speaker 3: There's a verse in the Bible Romans two four that
Speaker 3: says the goodness of God leads to repentance. That is
Speaker 3: certainly true in my life. It wasn't a crisis or tragedy,
Speaker 3: or bankruptcy or a divorce that God had used to
Speaker 3: get my attention. It was the simple realization that God
Speaker 3: had blessed my life so much, even when I was
Speaker 3: turning my back on Him, and even though I didn't
Speaker 3: deserve it.
Speaker 2: That's grace.
Speaker 3: And it was seeing God's undeserved goodness in my life
Speaker 3: that brought me back to Him. Since I've come back
Speaker 3: to fellowship with Christ, I've realized even more how much
Speaker 3: God has blessed me. First, I have a greater appreciation
Speaker 3: for my wife that I didn't have before. I'm so
Speaker 3: grateful that she never gave up praying for me. If
Speaker 3: you have a spouse that has wanted away from God,
Speaker 3: don't give up on them. Next, I'm grateful for the
Speaker 3: wonderful church family that Anita and I have here at Saddleback.
Speaker 3: The church is a gift of grace that God has
Speaker 3: given to help us grow on Him together. We were
Speaker 3: happy to take class one O one, we were baptized
Speaker 3: together and became Christians. Then we took classes two O
Speaker 3: one and three oh one. Now I'm grateful that God
Speaker 3: has given me a new ministry and a place to
Speaker 3: serve Him. When I think of all that God has
Speaker 3: done for me, I want to give back to Him.
Speaker 3: I'm now serving in adventure Land and enjoy teaching Third
Speaker 3: graders on Saturday evenings. God is also blessing me with
Speaker 3: being a part of a great men's group and couple
Speaker 3: small group. Don't get me wrong, Because I turned away
Speaker 3: from God's plan for my life and I sinned. There
Speaker 3: were scars and hurtful consequences for my actions. But God
Speaker 3: was not waiting for me to come back just so
Speaker 3: he could condemn me and tell me all the things
Speaker 3: I had done wrong. Instead, what I found when I
Speaker 3: returned to Him was open arms, a loving smile, and
Speaker 3: the power to help me face my mistakes and the
Speaker 3: strength to overcome them. In closing, I'd like to say
Speaker 3: say that if you're a Christian who is not as
Speaker 3: close to Christ as you used to be, I urge
Speaker 3: you to come back to Him today. No matter how
Speaker 3: far are you fallen or run away from Christ, you
Speaker 3: are only one step away from returning to Him. All
Speaker 3: you have to do is turn around and return to
Speaker 3: His love. His grace is really amazing. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Now you may be thinking, you know, Rick, I've gone
Speaker 2: so far down the slope. There's no way back. It's
Speaker 2: just gonna take too much effort, too much energy. It's
Speaker 2: too long. I've gone too far away. Well, you're wrong,
Speaker 2: You're very wrong. I really liked what Randy said. He said,
Speaker 2: you know, no, no matter how far you've run away,
Speaker 2: it's only one step back. Did you get that. It's
Speaker 2: not this long drawn out, complex process that's gonna take
Speaker 2: years for you to get back in fellowship with God.
Speaker 2: It's just one step.
Speaker 1: What a special message from Pastor Rick, And now let's
Speaker 1: hear how lives are changing through Daily Hope.
Speaker 4: Here's Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, today, I'm going to share with you a
Speaker 2: special testimony from Delia. Delia says that Daily Hope has
Speaker 2: helped her with deep anxiety, but then she also shared
Speaker 2: about what happened as she began to share Daily Hope
Speaker 2: with her parents, and she writes this, Pastor Rick, A
Speaker 2: couple of years ago, I found myself pretty lost. My
Speaker 2: company had a merger and all the senior management were
Speaker 2: changed overnight, and I was among them. At the same time,
Speaker 2: my long term relationship ended. Then a couple months later,
Speaker 2: my father was diagnosed with colon cancer. I was in
Speaker 2: shock and I fell into a deep depression from all
Speaker 2: these changes. In fact, every day I experienced a panic attack.
Speaker 2: But then I found your teaching on Daily Hope, and
Speaker 2: it just seemed that you understood every emotion that I
Speaker 2: was going through, emotions that I didn't even know how
Speaker 2: to verbalize to other people. But it was Daily Hope
Speaker 2: that helped me get out of bed every morning and
Speaker 2: gave me the strength to get through each day. Through
Speaker 2: your teaching on Daily Hope, Pastor Ect, I was able
Speaker 2: to experience God's love and power like never before.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I even translated the Daily Hope devotional for my parents
Speaker 2: who don't speak English, and they accepted Jesus too. That's amazing, Delia.
Speaker 2: I am so grateful for you and the team at
Speaker 2: Daily Hope because it has become the morning routine that
Speaker 2: I can't live without now. Delia, you have been through
Speaker 2: more pain than I can possibly imagine, some very very
Speaker 2: challenging times that I'm sorry, I really am. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we experience multiple traumas at the same time, and
Speaker 2: when that happens, that's when we really need the Hope
Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ. And I'm so glad you experienced that
Speaker 2: that you found God's love and found God's power, And
Speaker 2: what a blessing that you translated the Daily hope devotionals
Speaker 2: for your parents and then they accepted Christ. That's amazing.
Speaker 2: I am celebrating with you that they are now in
Speaker 2: the family of God. It's stories like yours that just
Speaker 2: encourage me and keep me going. So thanks so much
Speaker 2: for taking the time to write and share your story.
Speaker 2: And by the way, anybody else listening, if you have
Speaker 2: a story, please write me. I would love to read
Speaker 2: it and love to share it if I can with others.
Speaker 2: You'll encourage other people with your story. God bless you now.
Speaker 4: If you'd like to let Rick know how much this
Speaker 4: broadcast has blessed you, please feel free to send him
Speaker 4: an email. He loves it. Send it to Rick at
Speaker 4: pastor Rick. That's Rick at pastorick dot com. Be sure
Speaker 4: to join us next time as we look into God's
Speaker 4: word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by
Speaker 4: Daily Hope Ministries and your generous financial support