Rick Warren - The Word of Victory - Part Three

Thanks for joining us here today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,

the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we

continue in a series called the Seven Greatest Words of Love.

There are seven words in particular that Jesus spoke during

his final hours on the cross that hold the keys

for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships, and even your career.

Right now, here's Pastor Rick with the final part of

a message called the Word of Victory.

In the Old Testament, the sacrificial system was the way

that people said they were sorry for their sins, and

there were sacrifices made. And the Bible says, now that

Jesus Christ has died on the cross, there is no

need to offer any more sacrifices because Jesus was the

ultimate sacrifice for everything you've ever done wrong.

Now, let me explain this in implication of it. Some

of our.

Friends, some of you right here in our church are

Christians who believe about the second Coming, that for before

Jesus Christ can come back, that a temple has to

be built in Jerusalem and the sacrificial system restarted before

Jesus can come back. But the Bible just said there's

no need for any more sacrifice, so that's irrelevant. There

is no need for the temple to be built.

Because the sacrifice has already been made.

There will never again be a need for sacrifices in

the Temple in Jerusalem, never never never never never never

never never never again.

It doesn't have to happen.

Why because the Bible says Jesus was the sacrifice and

there will never ever again be any need for any

other sacrifice. Now, some of you have felt guilty over

something you've done wrong, and you believe God has forgiven you,

but you haven't really felt God has forgiven you, and

you keep trying to pay off your sin. Maybe if

I go on a piece trip, that'll pay off my sin.

Maybe if I go to church, that'll pay a fe

off my sin. Maybe if I tie, then I can

get rid of this gill. And you're trying to pay

off your sin when it's already been paid for.

That's good news, that is good news.

The sacrifice was final, it was complete, and it is finished.

To tell us Diy, there will never be anything else

you could ever ever do to pay for your sins

because it's already all been paid for. No need to

try to keep repaying for your mistakes. I remember one

time reading about a lady who was an elderly woman

and she went to her insurance company and she walked

in and said, how can we help.

You, ma'am?

She said, well, my husband died five years ago and

I can't afford to keep paying his insurance life insurance premiums.

I just can't afford to do it anymore. And I said, men,

you don't need to. It's been paid off. It's done,

and now you get to benefit from it. He died,

and because he died, you are now going to benefit

from his death. You don't have to pay anything anymore.

And that's what Jesus did for you. Now, there's one

other use of the word to tell us stye that

I didn't mention, and that it was often used as

a battle cry, and in war when armies would go

to battle and they had won the battle and they

had completely defeated the enemy, the soldiers would shout to

tell us die, it's done, we're finished, it's paid in full,

we won.

It's all ours.

And these are the last two meanings of this in

your life. Number four, The fourth thing that happened when

Jesus said, it is finished. Was he defeated the fear

of death. He defeated the fear of death. Now this

is a universal fear. Nobody is exempt from it. Everybody

has some fear of death. But Jesus broke that power.

And this was a battle cry. It was a shout

of a victorious conqueror when he says, I have defeated death,

and I have proved to you you don't have to

be afraid of it, because I'm going to come back

to life. And if I am the resurrection, you can

be resurrected. And believing in me, death is not the end,

and you don't need to fear it anymore. A couple

verses Romans five seventeen, the sin of one man, Adam

caused the death to.

Rule over all of us.

But all who received God's wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness

will live in triumph over sin and death. Through this

one man, Jesus Christ triumph over sin and death. Look

at the next verse he Brews chapter two, fourteen fifteen.

Jesus became flesh and blood by being born in human form,

for only as a human being could he die, and

only by dying could he break the power of the

devil who had the power of death. And only in

this way how Jesus died on the cross, could he

deliver those set us free, deliver those that's you and me,

who have lived all their lives as slaves to the

fear of dying.

I don't have to be afraid of death anymore. I'm

not afraid of death.

I can honestly say I'm afraid of pain, but I

am not afraid of death, because death is just a transfer.

And I know where I'm going, and i know I'm

supposed to be there, not here forever, and I'm looking

forward to being there since more and more of my

friends and parents and relatives are there. And he breaks

the fear of death, He defeats the fear of death

when he says it is finished. By the way, do

you know what is the symbol of this though you

don't have to fear death. It's baptism. Baptism. In the Bible,

every time you see the word baptism used, it's used

to refer to a burial and a resurrection. The Bible

says by in baptism, we're buried with Christ. And in

baptism we're raised with Christ, which is why we do

it the way they did it in the Bible. We

don't sprinkle water, we don't pour on water. We do

it the way that they did it with Jesus, because

it's a picture of a death, a burial, and resurrection.

Every time the word baptism is used in the Bible,

it refers. In fact, the word means to put underwater baptizo.

And so just as Jesus Christ died, was buried in

the ground three days and rose again and broke the

power of death, And we don't have to be afraid

of death anymore because we know you can be resurrected

from it. Jesus died, was buried three days, rose again.

That you know, I take you, or one of our

pastors takes you, puts you under the water, leaves you

there three days, raises you. I'm just seeing if you're listening,

raises you up again. And that is a symbol that

I have died to my old way of life. All

my sins are forgiven, they're washed away, they're forgiven, they're

wiped out, and I'm being raised to live a brand

new life. And I don't have to fear death all right,

number five now the fifth one. And I really love

this one. I appreciate it so much. Is that when

Jesus Christ died for us on the cross, one of

the things he said is free from that he liberates

from He finished was this. He destroyed Satan's power to

control me on the cross. He destroyed Satan's power to

control me, to control my mind, to control my life,

to control my destiny. You don't understand this, and I

don't have time to get into it fully right now.

But there was this cosmic war going on on the

cross and God versus Satan. And from a human standpoint,

when Jesus is dying on the cross and bleeding, it

looks like Satan's winning. It just looks and a lot

of times the world looks like Satan's winning. But God

has a bigger perspective and he had Satan.

Had no idea what was going on at this moment.

When Jesus died on the cross, Satan thought, man, I'm good.

I've put Jesus to death. I've killed the Messiah, I've

killed the savior of the world. Now all of those

people are gonna come to hell with me.

He thought he had won he thought.

Now the audacity, the foolish was thinking that you can

fight God and win, because three days later Jesus arises

from the dead and he says I'm back, and Satans go, oh, no,

we have no idea what we've just got ours into.

And one of the things that God did on the

cross is he destroyed Satan's power. When Jesus said it

is finished, Satan should have said I'm finished because his

days are numbered. Now, let me be frank. If you

don't have Jesus Christ in your life, you don't have

the power God in your life. You are defenseless against

the devil. He can just swip slap you around, do

anything you want. You have no power on your own.

You are not anywhere near as powerful as Satan. And

if you don't have God's spirit in your life, you

have zero defense, zero power, zero armory against Satan's while

he can just whip you around, he can manipulate your emotions,

he can mess with your mind, he can get you

addicted to all.

Kinds of stuff.

He's got all kinds of power, and you are flat

out powerless. You have no defense, zero, not a none

against the devil. If you don't have God in your life,

you have none. But when you get God's spirit in you,

the Bible says, greater is He that is in you

than he that is in the world.

Now let me again be frank.

Satan has two favorite tools to whip you around. One

of them is temptation and the other is condemnation, and

he loves to use them both. And the way he

uses temptation is he minimizes the sense that's no big deal.

Don't come on, everybody does this, you know, go ahead

and do this thing, rebel against God. You're smarter than God.

You know, it'll make you happy more than God does.

And He's given you all these thoughts in your mind.

You don't have to speak aloud. He just puts these

ideas in your mind, just like God. When Satan puts

an idea, it's called temptation. When God gives you an idea,

it's called inspiration. When you have an idea, it's called stupidity.

I'm just kidding.

I'm just just kidding. But Satan's but no, this is

no big deals, no big deal.

And then the moment you do that particular sin, you

know what he does. He reverses strategy and instead of minimizing,

and he maximizes. You did that? Are you kidding me?

God will never love you again. It's over. You're dead,

You're done for your head. God could never use you. You'll

never be blessed. What kind of person do you think

you are? How big is it God that is so big?

You could never never be forgiven for that? See a strategy.

Minimize the sin before you do it, maximize it afterwards.

Temptation, condemnation.

And what did Jesus Christ do on the cross when

he said his finished? He defeated temptation and condemnation. Look

at this. The Bible says that Jesus destroyed the irresistible

power of temptation. He now gives you the power to

resist it. In fact, he promises to give it.

Colossians, chapter one. God has freed.

Us from the power of darkness and brought us into

the kingdom of his dear son.

It's a fatal blow to Satan. He said. A minute, Rick, you.

Said, God has freed us from the power of darkness.

And you're thinking, well, it seems to me that Satan's

still pretty much alive right now. Yes, but he's on

borrowed time now I've tried to think of the best

illustration to explained to you the predicament that Satan is

in right now, between now and the end of history.

And the only thing I can give you this and

it's a little gory, is from growing up. I grew

up in an area that had a lot of farms,

and a lot of farms raised chickens. And actually, when

my parents lived in Portland, we actually had a chicken

coop and we raised chickens. Now, there's sorry, this may

be a little gory, but there are only two ways

killed chicken. You chop its head off or you ring

its neck.

Okay.

Now, when I was a little kid and my dad

would do this ring Dad, it just grossed me out.

When it became a teenager, I thought it was hilarious. Okay,

it was the funniest thing I ever seen. Okay, and

I just thought, wow, that come on, let me do

it dad. You know, when you're a kid, you know.

But but this I have seen this many, many, many

times as kid growing up, that when a chicken loses

its neck, either by wringing it or chopping it off,

it will then run around the yard for another three

or four minutes. That's where you get the phrase running

like a chicken with its head cut off. He's dead

and doesn't know it. It's the only illustration I could

think of. And at the Cross, Jesus whacked off the

head of Satan.

He's running around with his head cut off. He's dead

and doesn't know it.

If you have Jesus Christ in your life, Satan has

zero power over you except the.

Areas you choose to give him.

And when you choose to give in through resentment and

guilt and worry and fear, then you give him what's

called a foothold in your life. But otherwise he can't

touch you. He cannot harm you. Satan cannot harm me.

I'm hid with God in Christ, and I am protected.

I'm not afraid of Satan. I am afraid of listening

to some of the stupid things he says and actually

believing them. I ought to be afraid of that, because

he can only if you have Christ in your life.

He can only affect you by suggestion. He cannot come

at you.

Hold on now. If you don't have God in your life,

you're vulnerable. You're wide open.

But when Jesus Christ died on the cross, one of

the things he did was he defeated the power of

Satan to manipulate you.

Does Satan tent me? Yes?

But I now have a p inside of me. It

gives me the energy to say no, and I didn't

have that power before. And then not only does he

have temptation, he has condemnation.

Now look at this verse, second verse.

Jesus destroyed Satan's leverage to accuse you Colossians two fifteen.

God took away Satan's power to accuse you. God took

away Satan's power to accuse you of sin, and he

openly displayed to the whole world christ triumph at the Cross,

where your sins were all taken away.

Now what does that mean?

Before I sin, sayings it's no big deal. Then I

send it's a big deal. God will never never love you,

and I say, you're a liar.

Go to hell. You could tell Satan to go to hell,

nobody else but just Satan.

Okay, his accusations don't work on you, because the Bible

says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who

are in Christ.

Jesus.

If Jesus paid for all of my sins on the cross,

including the ones I haven't done yet, And Satan comes

to me and says, Warren, you are such a jerk.

You did this, and you did this, and you did that.

I just go But it was paid for on the cross.

I'm a trophy of God's grace and so are you.

So his accusations don't stick. He can't manipulate me anymore

by accusation. Does that make sense? And he can't manipulate

you anymore, because everything you've ever done wrong and everything

you ever will do wrong if you put your trust

in Christ has been forgiven. And Satan goes, oh, I

accuse you of this, And Jesus the defense attorney steps

in and said, out of order, in admissible evidence.

It's already been cleansed.

It's already I canceled the payment, I paid the debt,

I satisfied the justice.

To tell us die.

Do you understand the significance of what I'm saying. The

difference between our faith and every other religion or faith

in the world is the difference between just two words

do and done. Every other religion says you gotta do this, this, this, this, this, this, this,

gotta do do do do do in order to make.

God like you Christianity.

The Bible says it was all done for you on

the cross. You don't have anything to it. You can't

add to it. It's done to tell Ustye, it's finished.

So let me summarize. Jesus fulfill the scripture what God

had promised to do. He satisfied the law and in

his own justice. I did what God required. He paid

off the debt that I owed, a massive death that

I could never possibly pay off on my own, my penalty,

took my penalty. He defeated the fear of death and

destroyed Satan's power to control me. Is that a reason

to celebrate?

Yeah?

And I'm sure that the Father said, well done, well done.

Now these are the five things that give us hope.

This is the uniqueness of the Christian hope. These things

give us hope. But not only that. There's hope for

your future too. Look at the next verse. Philippians one

six says this. You can be certain of this, and

let me stop. Do you remember last week I talked

about three kinds of hope. There's wishful hope, which is

just you're just wishing. There's expectant hope. You have a

reason to expect some them, and then there's certain hope.

And that's the kind of hope God wants you to

build your life on. This is a certainty, This is

a certain hope. Right here you can be certain of this. God,

who began his good work within you, will continue his

work until it is finally.

What circle that word start? Put an arrow by it.

Who God, who began his good work in you, will

continue his work in you until it is finally finished

on the day when Christ Jesus comes back again. Now,

is there anything in there about you doing something? No,

it's all about him doing something. It's all about his work.

One time I was asked by a man. I was

out on the patio and I actually learned this response

from a guy named L. Moody, previous generation pastor. But

a man came up to me and he said, he's

pretty frantic. I gus, I just want to know what

do I need to do? I said, what do you mean?

What do I need to do to get into heaven?

And I said, sorry, you're too late. He said, are

you kidding me? No, I'm sorry you're too late. What

do you mean it's too late?

What do I need to do? You're too late?

It was all done two thousand years ago. You just

need to accept it. You can't do anything to get

into heaven. You couldn't be good enough to get into heaven.

But you could accept what Jesus did.

I started this message by saying that you're going to

end your life with unfinished business.

But there's one.

Thing that's definitely been finished for you, and it's the

last person your outline Ephesians two eight. Saving is all

his idea. Saving is all his idea, and it's all

his work.

It's God's work.

All we do is trust him enough to let him

do it. It is God's gift from start to finish.

Do or done, that's your choice. It's bow our heads.

Would you pray this in your heart and mean it

with every bone in your body. Dear Jesus Christ, thank

you that you did it all. Thank you that you

did it all. Everything I need to get to heaven,

to be forgiven, to have a purpose for living, you

did it all. Thank you for those three words, it

is finished. Thank you that it's all done. Thank you

that you've fulfilled the promises of God. You satisfied the

justice of God. Thank you that you defeated the fear

of death. Thank you that you paid off my debt.

Thank you that you destroyed Satan's power to manipulate me.

I want to live in those truths for the rest

of my life. And I thank you that what you

began in my life, you said, we can be certain

that you will bring it to completion. You will finish

it on the day that you return. And so really

with all my heart, I thank you. And in many ways, Lord,

like David said in Psalm one sixteen, what can I

offer the Lord that always done for me? And you say,

just offer me your heart, offer me your life. If

you've never invited Christ in your life, said Jesus Christ,

I ask you to come into my life and do

what I cannot do for myself and could never do.

I need a savior, and I know I would never

be good enough to be in a perfect place. So

I'm trusting you. Thank you for the work of Christ.

And Jesus name. I pray this prayer.

Amen, Hi, this is Pastor Rick. If you just pray

to accept Jesus Christ into your heart, Congratulations, you're now

my brother or sister and the Lord. And you need

to tell somebody, and why don't you tell me write

to me Rick at Pastorrick dot com. Just email me

Rick at Pastorrick dot com and tell me your story.

I would love to read it. And by the way,

I'll send you some free material to help you start

in your new journey with the Lord God bless you.

Pastor Rick Warren says that every word Jesus spoke was

important and has life changing power. The words that Jesus

spoke during his final hours on the cross hold the

key to finding fulfillment in your life, career, and relationships.

That's why Rick put together a powerful seven session study

kit called the Seven Greatest Words of Love. Get it

now and unlock the full meaning and amazing blessings of

Jesus' last words before his resurrection words of forgiveness, assurance, love, trust,

and more. And this is a life changing Bible study

with seven video sessions and a workbook. Request your copy

today by calling eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.

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