Rick Warren - God's Mercy and My Failures—Part Three

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 are 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. Right now, here's part three of a

message called God's Mercy and My Failures.

Let me show you another example. Easter night, same night,

that was in the morning that night, they're still together.

It says that evening the disciples were together again with

the doors locked.

They're in a house, their house group. They're in a

home church.

They're in a small group and a home with the

doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders. They're thinking, Hey,

they killed Jesus, maybe they're gonna kill us too. Maybe

they're gonna crucify us. Now, this is Easter, so Jesus

there is. And it says suddenly Jesus appeared in the

middle of the group and said peace be with you,

and the disciples were filled with joy when they saw

the Lord. I guess so now I've been in a

small group thirty five years. I've never had Jesus suddenly

show up in the middle of the group. Okay, not physically,

not physically, but I will you tell you this. I've

seen Jesus show up in my small group hundreds of

times through the words and the emotions and the prayers

of other people. And I have sat in group after

group after group when somebody start talking and I knew

God is talking to me. Right now, He's talking directly

to you, Rick Warren, and you better listen. It may

be their mouth, and it may be a man, and

it may be a woman. Didn't really matter who it is.

But I'm talking to you right now. And God's presence

showed up in my life in the middle of that

small group. I have seen that happen over and over

and over. And if you've been in the small group

for any length of time, you know that God's presence

Jesus often shows up in a small group. In fact,

he promised, where two or three are gathered in my name,

I will be there in the midst of them. Not physically,

but His presence is there. His spirit is there, his

love is there, his mercy is there, and he shows

up in the middle of the group. And if you're

never in a group. He's never going to show up.

You got to get in that situation where two or

three are gathered in my name, he says, I'm there,

which with you. The reason this is important when you

have a failure is because in a crisis, you don't

think straight. And the bigger the failure, the bigger the

loss in your life, the more you don't think straight,

and you need other people around here.

Have you thought about this? Have you considered this?

And they just kind of calm you down and they

straighten you out, and they're there to support you, and

they're there to be with you. A third example of

Peter and his small group, John chapter twenty, verse twenty

six says, a week later, remember I told you last

week that Jesus rose from the day, he stayed around

Jerusalem for another forty days. He didn't just go right

back to heaven. And so a week later, it says,

the disciples were together again, meeting in a home. They're

having their weekly small group. They're meeting every week, in fact,

for the next fifty days. After Peter's big failure and

after the cross and the resurrection, about all the disciples

did was go to the small group. They pretty much

just hung out together, kind of processing what in the

world did we just go through the death and the

burial and the resurrection of Jesus. And they're going through

this trauma together, and they're coming to their small group

over and over and over. Now, I don't think I

have to repeat to you the importance of a small group.

I've taught on you this many many times, but let

me just say this again. The best time to build

the support network in your life is before the crisis.

You're going to have some rogue wins in your life.

You're gonna have some major pain in the days I

had count on it. This is Earth, it's not Heaven.

You're gonna have losses. You're gonna have deaths, You're gonna

have major illnesses. You're gonna have all kinds of problems

that you don't even know about that I don't even

know about.

The time to get.

Your social support system, that network in place. The time

to build a small group is now, not in the crisis.

It's a little late by then. Fortunately, Peter had a

small group he'd been in for three and a half years,

so when he had his biggest failure, he had a

place to go and say.

Man, did I screw up?

And they go, yeah, you did, but we did too,

and so let's all encourage each other.

And so he had a place to go. He grieved.

He let his small group support him. Third thing, very important.

Third thing to do when you have a fail in

your life. I cast myself on God's mercy. Cast myself

on God's mercy. Now we know this, and we know

Peter did this because Peter wrote about it. Peter wrote

two books in the Bible. The first book is called

First Peter. Guess which one. The second one's called Yeah,

Second Peter. Yeah you're really bright today, okay, Second Peter.

But in First Peter, he starts the whole book talking

about how God has showed him mercy. I mean verse

one and verse two. He said, Hi, it's Peter talking,

and he tells who he's writing to. And so then

the first thing he talks about in his book is

God's mercy. First Peter, Chapter one, verse three. Because of

his great mercy, he knew that God had shown him mercy.

God has given us a new life. He goes, I'm

not the same old Peter. I'm a new Peter. I

got a new life. I'm not the old guy. I'm

a new guy. Now He has given us new life

by raising Christ, Jesus Christ from the dead from death.

This fills us with a living hope. Now Peter has

had a massive failure in his life, but he's not

going around in despair. He's not going around in condemnation.

He's not going around in guilt. He's not walking around

in shame. He's not walking around in regret. He's not

timid and going well. God could never use me. So

he says, I'm walking around in hope. My life is

filled with hope in spite of my failure. My life

is filled with hope. Why because of the mercy of God.

And later in the same book he says this, and

he says it from personal experience. One Peter five to seven.

Cast all your anxiety on him God, because he cares

for you. He says, that's what you do. Now, why

did Peter tell people to do that? Because that's what

he did when he failed. He just cast all his anxiety.

He cast himself on the mercy of God. Now I

went and I looked up this word cast in the

original Greek, in the original manuscripts of the Bible, and

the word cast there. It doesn't mean kind of like

fly fishing cast, you know, where you're just kind of flipping,

you know, ten two and four, you know, kind of

a you know, you're you know, doing back and forth,

back and forth.

That's an easy cast. Okay.

This kind of cast all your cares really is more

like when you're carrying a giant boulder and that the

boulder is so big you couldn't throw it three feet.

Basically, it just means let it go. It means drop it.

And when he says cast your anxiety or other translations

cast your cares on the Lord, he means take them

and drop them. You just let it go. You don't

have to throw it. You don't have to toss it.

You just go.

God, I'm dropping it.

I'm dropping my fear, I'm dropping my insecurity, I'm dropping

my guilt, I'm dropping my shame because you are a

loving and merciful God, and I'm just gonna drop it

all on you. I'm going to cast myself on the

mercy of God. What does it mean to cast yourself

on the mercy of God? Well, it means to pray

something like this. You say, God, there is no way

I deserve your forgiveness. I really blew it. There's no

way I deserve your mercy. I've thumbed my nose to you.

I've ignored you so much of my life. I've made

them mistakes. God, There's no way I deserve your grace,

your mercy, your kindness, your love. But God, you are

a kind God. You are a loving God. You are

a merciful and forgiving God. In fact, you have said

that you love to show mercy. So I'm throwing myself

on your mercy. I need a fresh start. I don't

deserve it, I couldn't earn it. But you are a

merciful God. So I'm just gonna ask you to do

what you love to do and show me mercy. That's

casting yourself on the mercy of God, you see.

That's why.

It's the antidote to everything Satan says to you so

much of the time. And Satan is whispering in your ear.

You're not good enough. Who do you think you are?

You think God could ever use you? Why do you

think God would answer your prayers? After all the stuff

you've done, all those dumb stunts you've done. Why do

you think God you're not good enough, and then they

said he's always maximized things said, no way will God

ever forgive you on that. He does not want you

focused on his mercy. But I'll tell you what the

antidote to get rid of all of that talk in

your mind and Satan's constantly giving you those negative thoughts

and it's kind of like, you know, the teacher on

the Charlie Brown movies, Why Wow, why whoy why why?

You know you can't hear, but it's just there. What

is the antidote to that? When you cast your care,

you lose your despair. When you cast your care, you

lose your despair because then Jesus moves into action the

moment you say, God, I'm throwing myself on your mercy,

what does Jesus do with our failures?

This is what I really want us to look at.

Before Jesus even was arrested, he told Peter in advance

this was gonna happen. And Jesus actually told Peter four

things in advance of his failure. And here's what he said.

In Luke chapter twenty two, thirty and thirty one. He said,

Simon Simon, by the way, you know Peter's name, was

actually Simon Peter, so sometimes he's called Peter and sometimes

he's called Simon. Now Peter actually means rock rock in Greek,

and it was Peter Barjona, which means he was the

son of John, the son of John. So today Peter

would have been called Rock Johnson. Okay, Okay, So Peter

Barjona today in America would have been called the disciple

Rock Johnson, Simon or Peter Barjona. Okay, he says, Simon, Simon.

See the tenderness in God's voice. Jesus says, Satan has

asked to sift you. Like what he says. Satan wants

to turn your crank, Peter. He wants to test you.

He wants to turn you inside out because he doesn't

think you're gonna come through. I know you will, but

he doesn't think you will. And so Satan wants to

mess with you. He's telling you this is gonna happen.

You're gonna get messed with, You're gonna be tempted. But

Jesus says, I've prayed for you in advance. He says,

I've already prayed for you that your faith should not fail.

So he says, when not if when you have repented

and turned back to me again. That's the third thing

he says, strengthen and build your brothers. In other words,

I want you to use your pain to help other people.

I want you to use your failure to build up

other people, to encourage other people to help them. So

what do we learn? We learn five things that Jesus

does with our failures. Write these down. Number one. First,

he isn't shocked. He isn't shocked by your failure. Jesus

goes Satan, wants to sift you. He predicted Peter's temptation

long before it happened, and even said you're gonna deny me.

He already knew it.

God is not ever surprised or caught off guard by

anything you do, good or bad. He already knows everything

in advance. He already knows your weak spots. As I

said the message paraphrase of Matthew twenty six, he said,

you're all going to fall to pieces because of what

happens to me. He knew this was going to happen.

The Bible says in some one ohs three, verse fourteen.

God certainly knows what we're made of. He bears in

mind that we are dust. In other words, God knows

we're not God. We're not perfect. We're human beings. We

mess up, we screw up, we falter, we fall, we fumble,

we flub up. He knows our frame. He knows we're

not perfect. And not only does he know everything about

you and what's inside you, he also knows every temptation

and every trick that Satan's gonna throw at you. So

he's not surprised. He's not shocked when you fail number two,

this one, you will surprise you. He prays for us,

He prays for us. Jesus told Peter before he had

even failed. Peter, this is gonna happen.

But I have.

Already prayed for you that your faith will not fail.

And jesus prayers are answered. I've prayed for you that

you will not fail. In Hebrews chapter seven, it talks

about this. By the way, do you know what Jesus

Christ is doing right now.

In heaven?

Do you know what Jesus Christ is doing in heaven

right now? The Bible says he's praying for you. He's

praying for you now. When you pray for someone, that's

called intercession. When you pray for someone, you intercede them,

and the Bible says that Jesus is interceding for you.

He's living to do that in heaven right now. He's

praying for you, for your temptations, for the failures you've had,

and for the ones you're gonna have tomorrow and the

next day. The Bible says this Hebrews seven twenty five.

Jesus is able to save us completely from all of

our failures because in heaven he lives.

To intercede on our behalf.

He he's always talking to the Father asking him to

help us. In heaven, Jesus is talking to Father, praying

to the Father back. And when he said, wait a minute,

this is kind of weird. Here God is talking to himself. Oh,

you never talk to yourself. You talk to yourself all

the time, and you're made in God's image. So if

you talk to yourself any time, God can talk to himself.

And when God talks to himself about you, it's called prayer.

And the Bible says God is praying for you. Just

like he said, Peter, I've already prayed for you before

you even failed. I've prayed that you'll you'll make it

through this, and he prays for us. Jesus is praying

for you. That's the mercy of God. Number three. Third

thing Jesus does when you fail, he believes in us.

He believes in us. In fact, he expects us to recover.

And that's why he told Peter even before Peter's big failure.

He said, so, Peter, when you have repented and turned

back to me again, circle the word when it's not.

If not, it might happen. He said. When he goes,

I know you're going to come back to me.

You're going to sin, you're gonna fail, you're gonna make

a mistake, but you're gonna come back. When you come

back to me. This is the mark of a true believer.

Look at this verse on the screen, Proverbs twenty four

to sixteen. Let's read this verse aloud together, for even

though a righteous man falls seven times, he will rise again.

And leave that verse up there for a minute, for

you know what I love about this verse. It says,

even the good guy screw up, Even righteous people fall.

They make mistakes. Okay, sometimes good people make dumb decisions.

I mean, sometimes good people take their lives. Doesn't mean

they were evil. That means they made a dumb decision

in that moment. Sometimes we all make dumb decisions. Even

though a righteous man falls seven times, even good people,

even righteous people, have failures, and we fail repeatedly seven times.

I don't know if you'd figure this out yet, but

your biggest weaknesses are habitual. You don't just do them

one time and then that's it. You do them over

and over and over and over and over, and if

it's a weakness of yours, you're back there within an hour,

falling in the same area again and again and again.

Jesus says, my mercy isn't just for the big, one

time mess up. My mercy is for those every day

mess ups that you do twenty times an hour, and

all of a sudden you take back control and you

start worrying again and again and again and again, and

you're worrying, and you're worrying, and you're worrying, and I've

told you don't worry. But his mercy will forgive nine

thousand and ten thousand and one million times. Because God

is a mercyful God. He's more willing to show mercy

than you're willing to ask for it. He's not shocked.

He prays for us. He believes in us. We fail repeatedly,

but God says, I'm still gonna believe in you. Now

we see a good example of Peter, I mean Jesus

believing in Peter. From a little phrase that you might

miss that happened on Easter morning.

You remember a couple of weeks.

Ago at Easter, we were talking about the fact.

That Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went up to

the tomb.

Maybe they're taking flowers on Easter morning, and the Angel

meets him and says, he's not here.

He's gone.

He's like he promised, he'll see you guys in Galilee.

Now go tell the disciples, and notice what the Angel

says on that Easter morning, Mark sixteen six and seven.

The Angel said to the women, I know you were

looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, but he's

not here. He's risen from the dead. Now go tell

his disciples and tell Peter that he's going ahead of

you to Galilee and he'll see you there, just as

he promised. Did you notice any redundancy in that verse?

He says, go tell his disciples and tell Peter. Why

did he add in Peter. Isn't Peter a disciple, wouldn't

he be included? Couldn't he just say, hey, go tell

his disciples. But Jesus knew how discouraged Peter would be

from his.

Failure.

Jesus knew how much he needed encouragement, so he puts

out an additional thing. Go tell my disciples, Oh, and

especially tell Peter. When you fail, God knows your name,

and he gives you a personal word of encouragement. He says,

go tell my disciples, Oh, and especially tell Peter. I

know how bad he feels about this. I know he's

taken it the hardest of all. He's taken the hit.

He's feeling ashamed, he's feeling regretful, he's down in the dumps.

Go tell my disciples, and go tell Peter I'm alive.

I'm alive. I kept my promise. And he singles him out. Friends,

that is loved.

What a great message from pastor Rick today. There's something

I they always take away from his message. Here's Rick

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