Rick Warren - Easter Means It's a New Day of Mercy—Part Two

Hi, this is Rick Warren, Bible teacher of the Daily

Hope Broadcast. Did you know that because of Easter, your

past can be forgiven, you get a purpose for living,

and you can have a home in heaven. That's good news.

Where else can you get that kind of news? Nowhere else?

And did you know that at Easter, studies have shown

people are more open to an invitation to go to

church than at any other time of the year. Don't

go to church by yourself, but bring somebody who doesn't

know Jesus Christ, a family member, a friend, a coworker,

a neighbor, a relative. And if you bring them to

that church service and they come to know Christ, You're

going to be making a friend for eternity. It'll be

the most important investment you can ever make in their lives.

And by the way, if they come to Christ, would

you let me know about it. I'd love to hear

that story that you brought somebody to Easter and they

found Jesus. You can write to me Rick at Pastorrick

dot com. That's rickat Pastorrick dot com. I would love

to hear from you. God bless you and Happy Easter.

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. Okay,

and here's part two of a message called Easter means

It's a new day of mercy.

So what happens if I ask God for mercy when

I've messed up? You might write this down. God's mercy

forgives me and frees me. He does two things. He

forgives me and he frees me. Forgiveness takes care of

my past guilt, and freedom gives me the power to

change in the future. I'm forgiven from my past, so

i can get on with my future. So many people

are stuck in the past and they can't get on

the future because they can't let the past go. Jesus says,

I want to forgive you and I want to free you.

This is the very thing Jesus said he came to do.

And Isaiah sixty one, Jesus quotes this, I was sent

to announce freedom to all held captive and forgiveness to

all who've been imprisoned. Now he says freedom for captives

and forgiveness for those who've been imprisoned. Now, He's not

just talking about people in a little physical prison. He's

talking about the emotional prisons that we lock ourselves up in.

What holds you captive, what's got you locked up inside?

What has enslaved you, what has imprisoned you. Some of

you right now, in a crowd this size, you are

imprisoned with regret and you just can't forgive yourself over

that thing that happened in the past. And you're in

a prison of regret, some of you over things you've done.

Some of you are in a prison of resentment over

things that people have done to you. And they hurt me,

and I'm never gonna let them go, and I'm never

gonna forgive them.

And I'm never gonna let another.

Man get close to me because he hurt me, And

you're in a prison of resentment. Some of you are

in a prison of envy. How come my husband isn't

like her husband, how come my kids aren't like their kids?

And you're in a prison of envy.

Some of you are in a prison of worry, and

you worry constantly, and it makes you sick and tired,

and you get sick and tired of being sick and tired.

And some of you are in a prison of addictions

and secret sins and secret habits.

What does Jesus have to say to all of this?

Look of the next verse John Chapter twelve, Jesus said,

I have come to save the world and not to

judge it. I love that verse. I've come to save

the world and not to judge it. You know what,

I want to be like Jesus. It's not my job

to judge the world. Jesus didn't. I came to save it.

My job is not to judge the world. My jodge

job is to point to the Savior. And there's only one.

It's not me, it's not you, It's Jesus. Point to

him in that way. Now, let me be clear. There

is going to be a judgment day one day, no.

Doubt about it. Bible is very clear about this that.

At the end of time, every human being is going

to give account of their life before God at the

judgment day. But that day is only for people who

reject the grace and mercy of God.

God doesn't want to judge you.

He wants to show you mercy, which is why Jesus

came to earth, which is why he offers you mercy

before the judgment day comes.

It is his nature to be merciful.

The only people are going to be judged on the

judgment day are the people who have rejected the mercy

of God. There's a verse in the Bible that says

mercy triumphs over judgment.

I'm glad for that verse. It means I'm not going

to get what I.

Deserve, and neither are you if you accept the mercy

of God. And so Jesus says, I want to show

you mercy now. Saddleback Church is literally filled with ten

and tens of thousands of people whose lives have been

radically changed by experiencing the mercy of God. I want

you to just hear one example, and I want to

introduce Nate, who's going to come and share here at

Lake Forest.

Would you give him warm and.

Welcome, Happy sir everyone. My name is Nate, and I'd

like to share with you how experiencing God's mercy changed

my life in so many great ways. Growing up, my

idea of God was that he was just a bully

with a stick, waiting to punish me when I failed.

I believe that my salvation was up to me and

I had the work to achieve it. I was raised

in a Midwest church, and any time the doors were open,

my family was inside. Yet our lives were vastly different.

At home, physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse occurred.

Often.

I felt the shame of being told I hate you

by my mother and the neglect of a father who

would not stop her from hurting me. This led to

a pattern of escape, selfishness, and denial in my life

that I eventually took into my marriage. It was a

pattern of behavior. This pattern of behavior led me to

resent my wife and family. I eventually sought approval outside

of my marriage and I had an affair.

The guilt of what I.

Had done led me to celebrate recovery here at Saddleback Church.

Yet I was still just trying to keep my wife

from leaving me. I would eventually tell my wife about

my fair right before I deployed to Afghanistan with the

Marine Corps. While on deployment, I witnessed many horrors and

became very depressed and angry. The anger led to constant

fights with authority and eventually thoughts of suicide. I believed

I was a failure as a husband, a father, and

now as a marine. As passer Rick just talked about.

I felt trapped and caught in a prison that I

had created, and I saw no way out. I sat

on my cot ready to take my life with pistol,

and God reached to me through a photo of my son.

I was not going to abandon him. I found encouragement

through a copy of The Purpose Driven Life sent by

a small group from Saddleback San Clemente. I read it

every day and God would speak to me through passer

Rick's words. When I got home, things were anything but smooth.

My issues with combat grew along with my consequences of

my infidelity. This eventually led to separation from my wife

and almost a divorce. I was a liar all my life,

and when I told my wife about being suicidal, she

just thought I was manipulating her. God used the time

of separation to show me the extent of his grace

and mercy. He showed me that his love was not

bound to my acts, but stood apart from them. That

he sent his son to die on a Cross in

spite of my sin. I had accepted Christ as a child,

but it wasn't until an adult at the bottom of

at the bottom of my barrel, that I understood and

accepted Christ in me. His forgiveness of my sin freed

me from all condemnation. I still struggle with doing what's right,

but now I have a new power that comes from

God's mercy. In closing, I'd like to say say to

you that no matter who you are or what you've

done or been through, God is waiting to show you

his mercy. He wants to forgive you from your past

and free you for your future. Just say yes to

Him today. Thank you for letting me share.

Now.

I don't know what you're ashamed of, but let me

show you how God responds to it, what Jesus does

when I mess up. Look at these next verses, Psalm

chapter eighty six. Oh Lord, you are so good and kind,

You're so ready to forgive, so full of mercy to

all who ask your aid. If you come to God

with your habits and your hurts and your hang ups,

He's not going to scold you. He's going to save you.

It's good news. He's ready to show mercy. And even more,

look at this verse from the Bible Hebrews chapter four.

Jesus understands every weakness of ours. Well, you don't know

my weaknesses, but he does. Jesus understands every weekness of

ours because he was tempted in every way that we are.

But he did not sin.

Jesus had the same temptations you and I do. He

just didn't sin because he was God. So when ever

we're in need, we should come bravely before the throne

of our merciful God. That's a poetic way of saying,

you need to come with confidence in prayer and go, God,

I need help. Come before the throne of God, your

merciful God, God, I need your mercy. And you just

come confidently, and he says, there we will receive a

stern warning and a spanking. Oh that's the reviled substandard

perversion translation right there. He says, there, we will receive

what circle that word. We will receive mercy and find

what grace to help us in our time of need.

When you come to God and you've really messed up,

and go God, I've messed up.

He's not stern, he's sympathetic.

This is going to change your whole view of God,

and it's why you don't need to run from him. Now,

that's just one of the ways you need to see

God's mercy in your life. Let me give you a

couple others. The second is when you get angry. Now,

almost all anger in our lives comes either fear or frustration.

Anger is a warning light that says you're afraid.

Are you frustrated?

And when you don't have all your needs met, you

tend to get angry. And the more needs that go

unmet in your life, the more angry a person you become.

So write this down.

The second thing, I need God's mercy when I'm missing,

when I don't have what I need, when I don't

have what I need. Now, the fact that life is

none of us have all that we need. None of

us have everything we need within ourselves. We're all finite,

we're incomplete, We're broken people with weaknesses. We all have

things we lack in life. You don't have all the

talents that you need, you don't have all the abilities

that you need. In fact, God did that intentionally. God

gave us different abilities so we would need him and

need each other. If you had everything to meet your

needs and yourself, you wouldn't need God, you wouldn't need

other people. So you don't have all the abilities you

need in life. You just don't have them. On top

of that, we all have disabilities. Yeah, we're all disabled

in different ways. You have some mental disabilities. You can't

think in certain ways that other people can mental disabilities.

You have emotional disabilities, and that's and they keep coming

up over and over in your relationships, and you fall

on the same traps and you have the same arguments

in the same conflict because of your emotional disabilities. You

have physical disabilities. Have you noticed that your body isn't

perfect looked in the mirror lately? Your back doesn't always

work right. Parts other parts don't always work right. Yeah,

well so we're all we intentionally don't have it all

in ourselves.

Now.

This is because God wants us to be dependent. See,

in America, we think independence is the highest priority.

But dependence is not a bad word.

Dependence is just another word for trust, and trust is

another word for faith. And God wants you to learn

to depend on him. Why it makes God happy? God

happy when we depend on it. It's just like if

you're a parent. You are happy when your children trust you.

You are happy when your children depend on you, because

it shows confidence in you. It shows that they believe

in you. You give him a promise, they believe you're

going to keep it. God gets joy out of having

us be dependent upon him. Now, if you don't depend

on God in your life, and you only depend on yourself,

you're going to have a pretty small life. You're going

to have a frustrated life because you don't have enough

in you to meet all your needs. You could not

possibly meet all your needs. So you grow up being frustrated, disappointed,

and angry because you can't meet all your needs. There

are needs in your life only God can meet, and

you try to meet him, You're going to just be frustrated, angry, resentful,

and disappointed. Now, in John chapter five, we have another

story of Jesus showing mercy to a disappointed man, and

the story goes like this.

In Jerusalem, near.

The sheep gate, there were many gates into the city walls,

and this one was called the sheep gate because that's

where the sheep.

Went in duh.

And near the sheep gate there was the pool of Bethesda,

which was surrounded by five covered porches. So there's this

pool and there's like a portico around it, a colonnade

around it.

Now, a large crowd.

Of all sorts of disabled people would lie by the pool.

And by the way, we are a crowd. A large

crowd of disabled people awaited live by the pool, waiting

for a miracle.

Now, there was a legend.

It wasn't true, but there was a legend that everyone,

once in a while, an angel would stir up the water,

and whoever was the first to get in the pool

in the water while it was still moving, would get what.

They needed and be made whole.

So a lot of people blue sick. They're sitting by

this pool waiting for it to be stirred. Now, one

poor man had been waiting by the pool for thirty

eight years. That's a long time to wait for a miracle.

He's been waiting for his unmet need to be met

for thirty eight years. What unmet need in your life?

Have you been waiting to see met for thirty eight years?

And you keep expecting somebody else to meet that need

or something else to meet that need, and it's not happening.

What have you been waiting on to meet aug he's you.

Know, if I could just get married, all my needs

would be met. Anybody want to give a testimony on

that one. Yeah, okay, well don't. This guy is clearly

I nearly lost control there.

Okay.

When this guy's disappointed, I mean he's upset, he's frustrated.

He's been laying by this stinking pool for thirty eight years.

Why because he put his faith in something beside God.

And you're gonna always.

Be disappointed if you expect something else or someone else

to meet a need in your life that only God

can meet.

And he's just disappointed.

And imagine how discouraged he is, and how letdown he's

been laying by this pool for years. He has missed

most of his life. Imagine all the good things in

life he's missed simply laying by this pool. No wonder,

he's mad, No wonder, he's angry, no onody's frustrated his

needs aren't being met, and he's just so disappointed. What's

your secret disappointment? If we can do an X ray

on your heart, what would it reveal is your deepest

secret disappointment? Well, to be honest, Rick, I'm disappointed in

my marriage is not at all what I thought was

going to be, and I just settled for what it is,

and I'm disappointed in it, or maybe say, you know,

if I'm really honest, Rick, I'm disappointed in me. I

thought by this time in my life i'd be further

down the road, but I'm not. And life has not

turned out the way I thought it was going to be,

and I am disappointed in me. I'm disappointed in a child.

I'm disappointed in my career. What does Jesus do with

your disappointments? With your secret disappointments? He responds with mercy.

This guy's been disappointed for thirty eight years, and here's

what Jesus does verse six. When Jesus saw this man

and he heard that he'd been lying there for such

a long time, he asked the man, do you want

to get well?

Now?

This sounds like an obvious question here, doesn't it.

I mean, of course I want to get well. I've

been waiting for this.

I put my faith in this pool, and I've been

waiting for thirty of course, isn't it obviously he wants

to get well. No, it's not a lot of people

who are sick don't want to get well, because health

means you have to change, and change is scary, and

health means I have to take on responsibilities. I can't

just blame other people. I can't just lay around. Health

means I've got a I've got new things that are

scary in my life. A lot of people don't want

to get well. Do you want to get well? Do

you want to get healthy in your relationships? Do you

want to get healthy with God? Do you want to

get healthy in your life? Do you want to get well?

I can't tell you how many people you know. As

a pastor, I've probably counseled tens of thousands of people

over the years about marriage, about their business, about bankruptcy, death, divorce,

and you name it.

I can't.

I couldn't count the number of people that I've talked

to who are in very unhealthy, very sick, very miserable

relationships and aren't willing to change. And I go, well, man,

why don't you just change? Well, Ricky, are you telling

me to divorce?

No?

No, no, I'm not saying that. I'm saying change you change.

You can't change anybody else. Let's just settle that one.

You will never be able to change. Anybody else. You

can't change anybody else. You can only change you. But

when you change you, it changes the equation in a

relationship and it forces change in the other person's life.

So you can't change them, but you can't change you,

and that will change the relationship. And when I say

why don't you just do that, they start making up

all these excuses and start giving me rationalizations and start

blaming the other person for, you know, their problems. And

that's exactly what this guy did. Now, Jesus asks the

question do you want to get well? Straightforward question, yes

or no, and the guy doesn't give him yes.

Or no answer.

Here's what the guy says back verse seven, Jesus, you

want to get well? And the man says, Sir, I

have no one to help me get into the pool

when the water is stirred.

He didn't ask that question.

While I'm trying to get there, somebody is all else

always gets ahead of me. Jesus didn't ask that. Now

see his angers coming out. He's missed out on all

this stuff. But notice what he does. He blames other people.

There's nobody to put me in the water. Who are

you blaming for your unhappiness? Who are you blaming for

your unhappiness? Well, if my husband, if my dad, who

you blaming? You are as happy as you choose to be,

because happiness is a choice, and if you're unhappy, it's

your fault. Happiness is a choice. Nobody else can make

you or keep you happy. Happiness is a choice. I

think I've been in one hundred and sixty four countries,

and I spent a lot of time in little villages

with the poorest of the poor people, and they're extremely happy.

Why.

Because happiness is a choice, Who are you blaming for

your unhappiness? And then not only did he blame others,

he resented the success of others.

He says, you.

Know, while I'm trying to get there to down to

the pool by the way, where are you trying to

get Where's the there that you're trying to get there?

While I'm trying to get.

There that goal that you've got in your life, he says,

somebody else always gets ahead of me. Have you ever

felt that way? I just can't get ahead. Everybody else

gets ahead of me. Why did he get the promotion?

I should have got the promotion. Why'd she get engaged?

I should have got engaged. How come they're having a baby.

We've always wanted to have a baby. And you're not

only blaming, you're resentful of the success of other people.

This is not a very happy man here. He doesn't

have what he needs, and he's responding with bitterness, anger, frustration, disappointment.

And yet Jesus responds to him with mercy. And this

is what he does. In verse eight. Then Jesus simply

said to the man, stand up, stand up, pick up

your mat, and start walking. When the man trusted Jesus,

that's the key. When the man trusted Jesus, he was immediately.

Able to walk again.

What had become seemed impossible became possible when he trusted Jesus.

Hey, did you know that the number one attribute of

God in scripture is his mercy? It is and he

wants to be merciful. Two Jesus said, blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy Matthew five.

Seven.

Now you can dive deeper into our current study with

Pastor Rick's Miracle of Mercy studykit. Through his six session

video and workbook study, he'll show you the five marks

of mercy. You'll discover how Mercy forgives the fallen, helps

the hurting, is patient with difficult people, is kind to

its enemies, and cares for the loss. And as you

grow in mercy, you'll experience the blessing God promises to

the merciful. The Miracle of Mercy six session video study

kit is perfect for both personal and small group study time,

so please be sure to request your copy today. When

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