Join Pastor Rick Warren as he delves into the profound impacts of Easter and how it opens the door to forgiveness, a purpose-filled life, and a promise of eternal homecoming. In this enlightening episode, explore the unique opportunity Easter presents for inviting others to church, and how you’re empowered to make lifelong differences in others’ lives by sharing the gift of faith.
Hi, this is Rick Warren, Bible teacher for 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.com. That’s rick at pastorrick.com. I would love to hear from you. God bless you and happy Easter.
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Amen. Amen.
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that hold the keys for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships, and even your career. Right now, here’s Pastor Rick with part two of a message called The Word of Victory.
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When Jesus died on the cross and he said these three words, it is finished, he was announcing five benefits to you. The first one, he fulfilled what God had promised us. He fulfilled all the scripture, all the prophecies, all of the promises. Number two, this is a big one. He satisfied what God’s justice required. He satisfied what God’s justice required. Now let me explain this to you. God is a God of justice. He is imminently fair. God cannot be unfair. God is a God of justice and truth and righteousness and holiness and justice. Always does what’s right and can never do what’s wrong. So God is a God of justice, and God is a God of order, and God is a God of laws, and God is a God of fairness. Now, the only reason the universe works is because that’s God’s nature. God wired the universe to run on certain laws. There are laws of physics. God designed them all. There are laws in astronomy. There are laws in chemistry. There are laws in the environment. There are physical laws. There’s the law of gravity. How about if the law of gravity just worked every other day? And it was totally unreliable. God’s laws always work all the time. And so God designed the entire universe so that rotations work and gravities work and the laws of thermodynamics work. All of God’s laws are immutable. Now there are physical laws, laws of physics I said, there are physical laws, there are spiritual laws, there are moral laws, and there are relational laws. God is a God of justice and law. Now, God gave the moral laws to Moses, and to the nation of Israel, to the Jews. And the Jews were to take the moral laws and share them with everybody else. You’ve heard the phrase that the Jews are God’s chosen people. It’s true. What were they chosen to do? They were chosen to be the purveyors or the ambassadors of God’s moral law to everybody else, those of us who are not Jews. That’s what they were chosen to do. To take the word of God and to take the truth of God and to pass on the laws of God to everybody else. Now, human beings, you and I, we have two problems with the laws of God. Number one, we are completely unable to keep them all. We just can’t keep them all. In fact, here’s what the Bible says, Romans chapter 8. The law of Moses could not save us because our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan. This is like a plan B. God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. And God destroyed sin’s control over us giving his son as a sacrifice for our sins. That’s what he was doing on the cross. He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished, finished, satisfied, completed. For us, who no longer follow our own sinful nature, but instead follow the spirit, is what the rest of that verse says. Jesus is the only person in human history who ever kept all of God’s law perfectly because he was the son of God. Now, the first problem we have is that we’re completely unable to keep all of God’s laws. The second problem we’ve got is this. Justice demands that lawbreakers pay the consequences. You don’t have laws and then if you break them, nothing happens. There are certain laws. There are laws of sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, your body pays for it. There are laws, if you don’t exercise, your body pays for it. If you eat the wrong foods, your body pays for it. You are free on this planet to do anything you want to. God gives you that freedom, but you are not free from the consequences. I’m free to go out and get drunk, cause accidents, blow up buildings, steal things, live a totally licentious, self-centered life, and I’m free to do that. God gives me that freedom. He does not give me the freedom from the consequences of it. And every kick has a kickback, and there is a payoff. And justice demands that lawbreakers pay a penalty. So God is a just God, but he’s also a loving God, and Jesus did for us what God’s justice and God’s law required. Look at the next verses. Look at this verse on the screen. After Jesus had finished his work, what’s the work he’s talking about? That work on the cross, dying for our sins. After Jesus had finished his work on the cross, he became the source of eternal salvation for who? For everybody. Everybody who obeys him. It doesn’t matter what your background is, doesn’t matter what your culture is, doesn’t matter what your religion is, doesn’t matter what your personality is, your sex is, doesn’t matter. He says salvation is for everybody who obeys him. Who accepts what he did for him. Look at the next verse in your outline. Romans 10, four. Christ ended the law. so that everyone who believes in him may be right with God. Now, circle that phrase, ended the law. Did you know that’s what God did when he let Jesus die on the cross? He ended the law. Now, wait a minute, you say, wait a minute, does that mean I don’t have to keep the Ten Commandments anymore? No, that’s not what that means. Let me explain. Now, I want you to listen really closely because the world gets this wrong all the time. There are three kinds of law in the Bible. There’s legal law for the nation of Israel, there’s ceremonial law for the worship of Israel, and there’s moral law for everybody in the whole world. There are legal laws in the Old Testament books that are for the nation of Israel. You’re not obligated to fulfill those laws. You’re not a Jew, you don’t live in Israel, and you weren’t living in the time where there’s the theocracy of God being the king of Israel. You’re not obligated. And then there’s ceremonial roles. In the book of Leviticus, anybody ever read that book? There’s some strange rules in there. Okay, rules of hygiene, rules of health, rules of the kind of clothes you’re supposed to wear, rules of the way you’re supposed to do worship in the temple and all that. That was the ceremonial law for the nation of Israel. You’re not obligated to keep those. You’re not an Israeli and you’re not under that system. God ended that system. The end of that system. Now, the moral laws are still in effect. You can’t murder, you can’t lie, you can’t commit adultery. Those are the big ones. And those are always in effect. And what happens is, is people will come up to you and say, well, what about the law that says da-da-da-da-da-da? And you say, well, that’s a ceremonial law. Well, that’s a national law. It’s not a moral law. And it doesn’t have the same effect as the laws that are to keep on. Jesus ended the old system. He just says it right there. He ended the law so everyone who believes in him may be right with God. Here it is in a nutshell. Look at the next verse, Romans 5, 18. Here it is in a nutshell. Just as one person did it wrong and got us into all this trouble with sin and death, that guy was called Adam, by the way, Paradise was lost. Another person did it right and got us out of it. By the way, his name was Jesus. But more than just getting out of trouble, he got us into life. What did Jesus finish on the cross? He fulfilled all the promises and he satisfied God’s justice that was required. Number three, this is an even bigger one. He paid off the debt that I owed God. When Jesus finished dying for me on the cross, he paid off the debt that I owe God. Now, you have a lot of debt in your life, and I’m not just talking about your financial debts. You owe something to everybody you’ve ever hurt, you’ve ever offended, you’ve ever sinned against. You owe them something because you’ve taken away something from them by offending them, hurting them, sinning against them. But you’re even in deeper debt to God. Because everything you have is a gift from God. And many times you’ve been ungrateful, you’ve been unthankful, you’ve been rebellious, you’ve done your own thing, you’ve basically said forget you God and did whatever you wanted to do. You’ve gone with your plan instead of God’s plan. When God said do this, you’ve done the exact opposite. You’re in deep, deep, deep debt to God. And here’s what the Bible says, Colossians chapter two. We owed a debt because we’ve broken God’s laws. And that debt lists all the rules that we failed to follow. But, here’s the good news, God forgave our debt and he canceled our debt by nailing it to the cross. Circle the word cancel. This is the third thing Jesus did when he says, it is finished. He’s saying, I’ve paid off your debt. It’s paid in full. You don’t have to pay it anymore yourself. You don’t have to nail yourself to the cross. I took that punishment for you. I’ve canceled your debts. Now, can you imagine waking up on Monday and getting a call from Visa credit cards or American Express or MasterCard, they called and said, you know what? We’ve just decided to wipe your slate clean. We’re gonna eliminate all your debt on all your credit cards. We’re just gonna wipe it out and we’re just gonna start over. Would anybody like that? Yeah. Well, that’s exactly what Jesus Christ did for you when he cried on the cross, it is finished. I’ve paid all your debt, tetelestai, paid in full. Like that stamp, paid in full. The bill’s been paid off. The sentence has been served and I’ve paid your debt financially, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. I did it all for you. Colossians 1 verse 14 says, God’s son paid the price to free us. Which means, and that’s like bail. No, maybe more than bail, because you don’t have to go to court. God’s paid the price to free us, which meant that our sins are forgiven. And which of your sins are forgiven? Every one of them. Every single blasted one of them. Even the ones you haven’t committed yet. I remember years ago, Kay and I went on vacation and We stayed in a hotel somewhere, I don’t remember what it was, and somebody recognized me. And I remember when we went down to check out, I went up to the clerk to check out, and the attendant said, oh, your bill’s been paid off. I said, what? And a guy said, oh, I’ve taken care of that. I looked at this guy. I didn’t know him from Adam. I said, you are my new best friend. And who are you? And why did you do this? And we got to know each other. He said, I’ve taken care of your bill, and I just paid it off. That’s exactly what Jesus Christ did for you. Look at this verse on the screen. Now that our sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices. Now leave that verse up there on the screen for a minute. Let me explain this. 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, the 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 peace trip, that’ll pay off my sin. Maybe if I go to church, that’ll pay off my sin. Maybe if I tithe, then I can get rid of this guilt. 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, tetelestai. There will never be anything else you could ever, ever do to pay for your sins because it’s already all been paid for.
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Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and listening to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. You know, your prayers and financial support are having a huge impact on millions of people here and around the world. So thank you. Thank you so much. And now Rick’s going to share a letter from one of our listeners who says Daily Hope is making a real difference in their life.
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I love letting you hear some of the letters that we receive every day here at Daily Hope. Here’s one from a woman named Bonnie. She says, Dear Pastor Rick, my husband Tom and I both receive your Daily Hope print devotional in our email every morning. We take turns each day reading the daily devotional. They must read it aloud. And it’s a great way to start our day along with our individual daily quiet time. It’s been such a blessing and encouragement to us in each of our daily lives, and sometimes I’m able to turn on the podcast and we listen to the broadcast as well. Now, we’ve both been Christians for a long time, but that daily encouragement from you helps us keep on track, and it helps us make our lives so much richer as we follow God every day. So thanks, and may God continue to bless you and use you for many more years to come. Blessings to you, Pastor Rick, Bonnie, and Tom. Hey, thanks for writing, Bonnie. It always blesses me when we hear that daily hope is helping other people grow strong in the Lord.
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Did you know that you can start every day with hope and encouragement from Pastor Rick? Well, you can when you sign up to receive his life-changing Bible study teaching delivered directly to your inbox. Just go to pastorrick.com and sign up for this free Daily Hope devotional. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God’s Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
