Rick Warren - Restoring Grace—Part Two

You know, none of us can earn our way into

heaven because the eternal life is of free gift when

you accept Jesus as the Lord of your life. Hey, everybody,

this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And today Rick Warren

continues a series called Good News about Grace. You can't

truly understand the Christian life until you understand grace. It's

at the heart of your faith and your relationship with God.

And in this series you're going to discover how not

to only understand grace, but how to experience it and

the joy that it brings. Okay, and now here's part

two of a message called Restoring Grace.

God does not reject believers when we sin, first because

his love is unconditional. Second, because my salvation isn't based

on my performance. God doesn't reject believers when they send

because my salvation isn't based on my performance. Romans nine

sixteen says it doesn't depend on man's desire effort, but

on God's mercy. Now, we covered this in detail in

the very first message in this series on saving Grace,

and I'll say it again. The only way you ever

have ever any hope of getting into heaven is by

the grace of God. You can't earn your way into heaven,

buy your way to heaven, work your way into heaven,

bluff your way into heaven. You know whatever, If you

don't get saved by grace, you're not getting saved. If

you don't get into heaven on the grace of Jesus Christ,

you're not gonna get there. Because it's perfect and you're not.

It's the only way. Read with me Titus three. Five.

He saved us not because of the good things we did,

but because of his mercy. And so God doesn't reject

me as a believer when I sin, because his love

is unconditional, and my salvation isn't based on my performance.

Number three, because Jesus has already taken my punishment. God

doesn't reject me when I sin because Jesus has already

taken my punishment. If I've accepted that as a believer.

You know, in America, we have a law called the

law of double jeopardy. I think it was invented by

Alex Trebek, and the law of double jeopardy says that

you cannot be tried for the same crime twice. You

cannot be convicted for the same crime. Christ, you cannot

be punished for the same crime twice. That's true in

God's book too, that people are not punished for the

same crime and the same sin twice. Now, two thousand

years ago, Jesus stretched his arms out on the cross

and took the punishment for my sin and for yours.

He took it all. He paid the price for you,

He took your wrap, he served your term, he took

the death penalty for you. The wages of sin is death,

and he died for you. Now what sins that he

died for? All of them? The ones in your future

that you don't even know about yet, He died for

those two. And they've already been punished. The sins that

you created in the past, the ones you're going to

do in the future, somebody's already taken the punishment for him,

Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ did. That's why he cried out

on the cross. It is finished. And in Greek it

was to tell us die. He's saying, paid in full.

It's paid in full. Now, can you imagine God coming

to you the next time you sin? And they said, oh,

by the way, what Jesus did for you, It wasn't

good enough, I'm going to punish you too. That makes sense,

does it. That's double jeopardy. If God punished you would

mean saying that what Jesus did for you wasn't good enough,

but it was. Let me, I don't know how to

say it any clearer than this. If you were a

Christian and you have received the grace of God, God

does not punish you when you sin, because that punishment

was already taken by Jesus on the cross. Now I

know what some people are thinking. They said, wait a minute,

let me get this right. Jesus has already been punished

for all the things I'm going to do too. Yes,

And some people say, well, that means somebody could go

out and say that I can do whatever I want.

This is great. All my sins have already been punished

and paid for. I can go out and I can

go to bed with anybody I want to go to

bed with. I can cheat on my income tax I

can lie, I can steal. You know, I can do

whatever I want to do because it's already been punished

on Jesus and I'm not gonna pay the punishment for it.

Let me just say this, if you feel that way.

If you think that thought, you are not a genuine

believer in Jesus Christ. You're not a real Christian, because

no real genuine believer would ever pervert the grace of God,

would flaunt it, would abuse it in such a way.

Grace makes me want to do what's right, not what's wrong.

Grace is not a license to just say, well, I

know I'm all forgiven, so I'll go ahead and just

keep on doing what i want to because I'm forgiven.

Therefore I'll keep having this affair. I know I'm forgiven.

Therefore I'm just gonna goe and leave my family. I

know I'm forgiven I therefore I'll just do whatever I

want to do. That is an abuse of grace, and

no genuine believer would flaunt the grace of God like that.

In the face of God, grace makes me want to

do what's right. And when I really understand grace, it

goes God. I am so grateful you're telling me that

everything I'm ever gonna do wrong is already been taken

care of. Yes, Oh God, I am so grateful for that.

I am so grateful. I want to serve you the

rest of my life. I want to love you. I

want to do whatever you made me to do in

this world. Besides, while God does not condemn you and

God does not punish you, you will be disciplined. So

what's that. Well, Discipline is very different than punishment. Punishment

is retribution for the past. Discipline is correction for the future.

Punishment is done in anger. Discipline is done in love.

Punishment is to say, this is what you get for

what you did. Discipline says, I want to train you

to get you on the right path for the future.

The Bible says that if you continually sin and sin

and sin and you're not disciplined, it just means you're

not in God's family. So I don't go next door

and discipline the kid's next door. They're not in my family,

But I discipline my own kids because they're in my family.

One of the ways you know you're Christians. You can't

sin and get away with it. God brings discipline in

your life to correct you. But notice what the Bible

says First John two too read it with me. When

Jesus served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved

the sin problem for God, not only ours, but the

whole world's He solved it right there. So God doesn't

reject me when I sin, because Jesus has already taken

the punishment. Number four, God doesn't reject me when I

sin as a Christian because Jesus understands my human weaknesses.

He's sympathetic. He's understanding. He knows my frailties, my faults,

he knows what makes me tick, he knows how I'm wired.

And one of the most beautiful truths you're going to

need to learn in the Christian life is this, God

is patient with you. God is patient with you, and

he just doesn't get impatient. In fact, look at what

the Bible says in Hebrews four fifteen. He meaning God,

Jesus understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the

same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. When

Jesus Christ was here on the earth, he experienced every

temptation known to man common de man. He said, I

understand what you are. I know what it's like to

be a human being. He came and lived in human

flesh for thirty three years, and so he's sympathetic. He

understands your weaknesses. He knows what you're going through. He

knows what it's like to be tempted, and he's sympathetic.

And then number five, God doesn't reject me when I

sin because God doesn't hold on to grudges. God doesn't

hold on to grudges. Psalm one three says this in

the New Living Translation. God will not constantly accuse us,

nor remain angry forever. He has not punished us for

all our sins. I'm glad for that. Nor does he

deal with us as we deserve. I'm glad for that too.

He is like a father to his children, tender and

compassionate to those who fear him, to those who fear him.

What does that mean? Those who respect him, those who

trusted him, those who committed to him, those who are

in his family. Again, this is the benefit of being

a believer. God doesn't hold a grudge at me. If

you're a believer, God is not angry with you. Let

me say that again. If you're a believer, God is

not angry with you. Why all of the punishment was

taken on the cross. You may be thinking, Rick, you

don't know how far I've fallen. You don't know what

I've done. No, I don't, but God does. And you

may think that I've just trayed too far away. Well,

if you've strayed far away from God, either by one

giant step like having an affair, or just a bunch

of little small steps where you kind of slacked off

in your Christian commitment, this is what God says to you,

Jeremiah three twenty two. Would you read it aloud with me?

God says, come back to me, you unfaithful children, and

I will beat you up. Oh that's not what it says.

It doesn't say that. Does it Come back to me,

you unfaithful children, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful.

I want you to hear a beautiful example of that. Today.

Our testimony is by Randy, so give them a warm welcome.

I committed my life to Christ eight years ago in

May of nineteen ninety in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

A friend of mine from work.

Named Jeff was the guy responsible for introducing me to Christ.

I always tried to change the subject, but he never

gave up. One day he invited me to a Christian

concert and it was there that I gave my heart

to Jesus. After I was saved, I got involved in

a local church. It was a small church with only

about twenty members, but I jumped head first into the Bible.

I studied on my own and also in group Bible studies.

For the next six months, I continued to grow in christ.

I served in our small church by setting up and

taking it down on weekends and doing the many things

that a church needs done week to week. But being

a young Christian, I had a lot to learn. I

thought that now that I was a Christian, I'd never

have any problems anymore and things would go just as

I planned. In fact, I expected God to do things

my way. At the time, I was a student in

the Navy learning to operate nuclear power plants for submarines.

I'd been selected to stay after my class's graduation to

become an instructor. I was sure that this was God's

plan for me. But then I failed my final evaluation

and was rejected for instructor duty. This was a major

blow to me. I felt that God had let me

down and I had my first doubts, but my church

family supported me and I felt I could handle this disappointment.

Instead of becoming a teacher, I was assigned to a

nuclear powered fast attack submarine in Banger, Washington.

It was an.

Overhaul at the time, so my life of relatively easy

hours as a student changed radically. We have typically worked

twelve to sixteen hours a day for weeks at a time.

It was really hard work, and the more tired I got,

the more frustrated I became. I grew increasingly bitter and resentful.

As time passed.

I started to.

Think that God had given up on me.

This was a big mistake.

As a result, I began to spend less and less

time with God, and instead I started trying to solve

all my problems myself. Of course, this did not work

in my fresh increased. As the stress built up, I

started to do what I saw everyone else in the

subdoing to relax when they got off work.

Drink.

We drank like fish. I can still remember racing from Denny's,

racing from work to Denny's across town to get there

before last call. I would order three or four drinks

at once. But turning away from Jesus was not a quick,

one time event. It was a slow, day by day

erosion in my faith. I had let my guard down.

The more I turned away from God, the more I

continued to get deeper into sin. Sadly, I went from

a man who was saving himself for his wife, as

God had tended a man to do, to a man

who lost his virginity to a prostitute. I was in

sad shape for being a Christian by the time our

boat left overhaul. God was the last thing on my mind.

After our sub was overhauled, we went to sea. At sea,

I found even more opportunities to stray farther from God.

The stress of living and working in a confined space,

the pure pressure and the race to have as much

fun as possible when pushed me farther and farther from Jesus.

I fell so far away that I even started challenging

and attacking other Christians for their faith. I would ridicule

them and attack their knowledge of the Bible. I would

even go to lay pastor services and openly attack their beliefs.

Looking back, I can see now how all my actions

are motivated by guilt, shame, and bitterness. Since I was

running from God, like Jonah, I didn't want anyone reminding

me of what I turned my back on. Of course,

nothing I did could bring me any happiness. The further

I got from God. The more bitter I became, my

family relationships also suffered. Anyone in my family that didn't

agree with me, well, I would just stop calling them.

In my back slidden condition, I wasn't close to them

or anyone else for that matter. Whenever I dated women,

I treated them badly. I would only call them when

I wanted something for myself, and when I was done

with them, I would dump them or reject them until

they would leave me. But even during the lowest these times,

God never gave up on me. Even without me realizing it,

he was working in my life to bring it back

to him. The tool God chose to use in my

life was the woman that I became interested in. Her

name was Anita, and I met her during a group

dinner with a large group of guys in their wives.

We hit it off and started seeing each other. After

a few weeks, I slipped into my familiar pattern of

trying to come up with a way to get her

to reject me so I could move on. Let me

tell you about one of the all time stupid stunts

that I pulled. I went on vacation for two weeks,

telling Anita specifically when to pick me up at the airport,

but instead I stayed an extra two weeks and didn't

bother to call her. When I did return, I fully

expected her to dump me. To my complete surprise, Anita

held me accountable for my actions, and she even made me.

Talk it out.

I couldn't believe it. I was so amazed that someone

would actually care enough for me to do that. I

decided that night i'd better marry her. So I took

her to some cliffs in San Diego and asked her

to marry me. I had to ask her twice, but

she finally said yes, and we were married. Shortly after that,

I got out of the nave and we moved to Tustan.

Anita's friends at work told her about a church called Saddleback.

Of course, I wasn't interested at all, but my wife

kept trying to get me to go, and I finally

went just to make her happy. The last place I

wanted to be was back in God's House, but we went,

and I liked it enough to come back.

I told myself it was just for her.

As I began to hear God's word and be around

genuine Christians, God was able to slowly soften my heart. Finally,

one night, after one of Pastor Rick's sermons, I found

myself sitting on the floor in my living room and

God opened my eyes. I realized that although I had

moved away from God, he had never moved away from me.

I saw that even though I had turned my back

on him, he was still there waiting for me to

return to him. More than that, he had put the

people in circumstances in my life to show me that

He still loved me as much as he ever had,

even though I'd been a jerk. When I finally saw

the great blessings in my life for what they were,

I broke down and I prayed right then and there

and rededicated my life to Jesus. It was so incredible

to feel his love in my heart again. I wondered

why it had taken me so long to return to him.

There's a verse in the Bible Romans two four that

says the goodness of God leads to repentance. That is

certainly true in my life. It wasn't a crisis or tragedy,

or bankruptcy or a divorce that God had used to

get my attention. It was the simple realization that God

had blessed my life so much, even when I was

turning my back on Him, and even though I didn't

deserve it.

That's grace.

And it was seeing God's undeserved goodness in my life

that brought me back to Him. Since I've come back

to fellowship with Christ, I've realized even more how much

God has blessed me. First, I have a greater appreciation

for my wife that I didn't have before. I'm so

grateful that she never gave up praying for me. If

you have a spouse that has wanted away from God,

don't give up on them. Next, I'm grateful for the

wonderful church family that Anita and I have here at Saddleback.

The church is a gift of grace that God has

given to help us grow on Him together. We were

happy to take class one O one, we were baptized

together and became Christians. Then we took classes two O

one and three oh one. Now I'm grateful that God

has given me a new ministry and a place to

serve Him. When I think of all that God has

done for me, I want to give back to Him.

I'm now serving in adventure Land and enjoy teaching Third

graders on Saturday evenings. God is also blessing me with

being a part of a great men's group and couple

small group. Don't get me wrong, Because I turned away

from God's plan for my life and I sinned. There

were scars and hurtful consequences for my actions. But God

was not waiting for me to come back just so

he could condemn me and tell me all the things

I had done wrong. Instead, what I found when I

returned to Him was open arms, a loving smile, and

the power to help me face my mistakes and the

strength to overcome them. In closing, I'd like to say

say that if you're a Christian who is not as

close to Christ as you used to be, I urge

you to come back to Him today. No matter how

far are you fallen or run away from Christ, you

are only one step away from returning to Him. All

you have to do is turn around and return to

His love. His grace is really amazing. Thank you.

Now you may be thinking, you know, Rick, I've gone

so far down the slope. There's no way back. It's

just gonna take too much effort, too much energy. It's

too long. I've gone too far away. Well, you're wrong,

You're very wrong. I really liked what Randy said. He said,

you know, no, no matter how far you've run away,

it's only one step back. Did you get that. It's

not this long drawn out, complex process that's gonna take

years for you to get back in fellowship with God.

It's just one step.

What a special message from Pastor Rick, And now let's

hear how lives are changing through Daily Hope.

Here's Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

Hi, everybody, today, I'm going to share with you a

special testimony from Delia. Delia says that Daily Hope has

helped her with deep anxiety, but then she also shared

about what happened as she began to share Daily Hope

with her parents, and she writes this, Pastor Rick, A

couple of years ago, I found myself pretty lost. My

company had a merger and all the senior management were

changed overnight, and I was among them. At the same time,

my long term relationship ended. Then a couple months later,

my father was diagnosed with colon cancer. I was in

shock and I fell into a deep depression from all

these changes. In fact, every day I experienced a panic attack.

But then I found your teaching on Daily Hope, and

it just seemed that you understood every emotion that I

was going through, emotions that I didn't even know how

to verbalize to other people. But it was Daily Hope

that helped me get out of bed every morning and

gave me the strength to get through each day. Through

your teaching on Daily Hope, Pastor Ect, I was able

to experience God's love and power like never before.

You know.

I even translated the Daily Hope devotional for my parents

who don't speak English, and they accepted Jesus too. That's amazing, Delia.

I am so grateful for you and the team at

Daily Hope because it has become the morning routine that

I can't live without now. Delia, you have been through

more pain than I can possibly imagine, some very very

challenging times that I'm sorry, I really am. I'm sorry.

Sometimes we experience multiple traumas at the same time, and

when that happens, that's when we really need the Hope

of Jesus Christ. And I'm so glad you experienced that

that you found God's love and found God's power, And

what a blessing that you translated the Daily hope devotionals

for your parents and then they accepted Christ. That's amazing.

I am celebrating with you that they are now in

the family of God. It's stories like yours that just

encourage me and keep me going. So thanks so much

for taking the time to write and share your story.

And by the way, anybody else listening, if you have

a story, please write me. I would love to read

it and love to share it if I can with others.

You'll encourage other people with your story. God bless you now.

If you'd like to let Rick know how much this

broadcast has blessed you, please feel free to send him

an email. He loves it. Send it to Rick at

pastor Rick. That's Rick at pastorick dot com. Be sure

to join us next time as we look into God's

word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by

Daily Hope Ministries and your generous financial support