Restoring Grace—Part Three

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 co-worker,

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.

You know, none of us can earn our way into heaven because eternal life is a free gift when you accept

Jesus as the Lord of your life. Hey everybody, this is PastorRick'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. So let's jump right in for the final

part of a message called restoring grace. Many people do not understand the difference between

fellowship and relationship. Fellowship is your current status. Relationship is your permanent

position. Can I be out of fellowship with my wife and still be married to her? Well, of course I can.

Can a child be out of fellowship with his or her parent and yet still be a child? Of course.

When you sin, you don't lose the relationship, you lose the fellowship. You see, those of you

who are parents, you have children. And as much as you try to raise them in the right way, when they

get older, they're going to make their own decisions. And I hope this doesn't happen. But you might

have a child who does the very thing you despise the most. You might even have a child who one day

in a fit of anger publicly disowns you and disavows you as a parent. And you might even have a child

who, when they get older, never even talks to you. But nothing will ever change the fact that

they're your child. Nothing will ever change that. The fellowship is damaged, but the relationship

will always be there because they were born into your family and they cannot be unborn.

When you become a believer in Christ, you are born again into God's family and you cannot be

unborn. So although the fellowship with God has been broken, the relationship is still there

and you're only one step away from returning. What should I do when I sin?

As a Christian, what should I do? You do one word. You ready for it? Here it is. Return.

Return. Come back to Christ. It's that simple. I blew it and I'm back.

Listen to these beautiful verses. Jeremiah 15, 19. God says, if you return to me,

I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. No matter what you've done, God says this

and Isaiah 118. No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean

as freshly fallen snow. That ought to be the Chlorox verse of the Bible.

Is that it doesn't matter? And no matter what you've done in Isaiah 54, 70 says, with great compassion,

I will take you back. You know, there's a happy ending to the story of Peter's denial.

If ever there was a sin that you'd think was unforgivable, it's deny Jesus three times and the

night he's betrayed. But Jesus, new Peter would deny him and even knew he would come back to him.

In fact, before it even happened, Jesus said to Peter, Peter in the upper room, Satan has

desired to sift you. But I have prayed for you. And when you have returned, strengthen the

brothers. Did you get that? When you have returned, he knew he would come back. He says, I've prayed

for you. Did you know that the Bible says, Jesus prays for you? It says that he's in heaven right now

and he liveth to make intercession for the saints. He is praying for you every day. If you could

lose your salvation, that means Jesus prayers don't work. That's impossible. Because he prays for

you every day for the Father. Jesus said, I know you're going to fall away, Peter, but when you come

back, strengthen the brothers. Jesus knew that Peter's ministry would be more effective after his

denial than it was even before. And sure enough, it was. Peter wrote two of the books of the Bible.

It's called First and Second Peter. And then he shared his memoirs with a relative called Mark,

and that's called the Gospel of Mark. And there are two poignant incidents in Peter's life that

happened after his denial. The Bible tells us that in the book of Mark chapter 16, verse 7,

on Easter morning, when the three women went to the tomb, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother James

and Salami, and they went there and the stone was rolled away and the angel sitting on an angel

says, he is not here, he is risen. And the angel said this, listen, catch this. Go tell his disciples

and Peter.

Check that. Go tell his disciples and and Peter. Jesus knew that Peter was devastated by his denial.

He was humiliated. He was ashamed. He was depressed. He thought he could never face Jesus Christ

again for what he had done. And Jesus threw in a little special personal recognition. Go tell his

disciples and Peter. It's as if he were saying, it's okay, Peter. It's okay. All is forgiven.

Come on home. All is forgiven. That is the grace of Jesus Christ.

Come on home. It's okay. I haven't stopped loving you.

And later in John chapter 21, in one of the many incidents where Jesus appeared to people after

his resurrection, he's on the coast, on the on the border, had land of the lake. And Peter and

the fisherman are out fishing and they see Jesus on the shore. And Peter goes on, let's go in

and he goes, I'm not waiting. Then he dives in and he swims to shore. And Jesus has a little one

on one conversation with Peter. His first encounter really, the talk, personally, privately.

And Jesus says to Peter, Peter, do you love me? And Jesus and Peter says, you know, Lord, I love

you. And Jesus says, Peter, do you really, really love me? And Peter said a second time, Lord,

no, I love you. And Jesus said a third time, Peter, do you really love me?

And Peter said, you know, Lord, I love you. I do. What was going on there? A healing.

Jesus was giving Peter three times to affirm what he had denied three times.

That is the grace of God. And you may think God's forgotten you. He hasn't.

The good shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go after the one. And he knows how you fall on a way.

And if you have, and you say, you know, I don't know how it happened. Either it was one giant

step, some big humongous sin, or as a series of petty steps where you just slipped away. And

you're not as close to Christ as you used to be. You need to pray the prayer, the David prayed

when he came back to God. And so I'm 51, which David prayed by the way after he had committed

adultery. He said, restore to me again the joy of your salvation. Notice, David did not have

to pray. God restored to me my salvation because he hadn't lost it. He had lost the joy. He'd lost

the joy. And some of you have to. So come home to Christ today. That's our heads.

I'd like to close with a time of personal evaluation. And I want you to consider a few questions.

Was there ever time in your life when you were closer to Christ than you are right now?

If so, what happened? Have you allowed the slippage? Why? What got in the way? A career, a

relationship, bills, a hobby, television? As your relationship to Christ gone stale,

are you just heartlessly glowing through the motions? Has duty replaced the light?

Let me ask you this. Have you stopped caring about the salvation of those people around you?

When was the last time you shared a positive word about Christ with a seeker?

Have you been ashamed of your relationship to Christ?

What is it that you know God wants you to do but you've been putting off in procrastinating?

Being baptized? Joining the family here at Saddleback Church?

What is it that you used to do but you've slacked off on?

Reading your Bible, tithing, giving? It's just possible that that's why you've lost your joy.

And maybe you've committed something you think I'm so ashamed and I'm so afraid to come back

to full commitment to Christ. It's just one step back. It's your pastor I want to pray for you.

Father, I know that there are people here this morning who have been fighting a civil war in their minds

and they know the right thing to do but they've been fighting it and they've wanted to do the

convenient thing or the popular thing or the easy thing and now they've lost that spark and

they're ashamed. And there are others who are here who filled with a deep regret for the things

they've done and they've been afraid to return to you. Help them to experience the freedom of

restoring grace today. Now you pray. Say, Jesus, you know I've wandered away

and my heart has started growing cold and my level of love and commitment to you is not like it used to be.

But I want to thank you for your unconditional love and I thank you that you've never stopped loving me

and I really want to thank you that my salvation isn't based on my performance

and Jesus it's almost unbelievable but I thank you for taking all the punishment for my sin

and I thank you Jesus that you understand and sympathize with my human weaknesses

and I want to thank you that you don't hold on to grudges and that you're not angry with me.

So by grace I ask you to take me back today. Then I come home to your open loving arms

and I want to follow you by grace. I come back home today. If you've never invited Christ in

your life you really need the grace of God. You need to accept it today. Say, Jesus Christ I don't

understand it all but accept what you did for me, your forgiveness, your grace and I want to be a

part of your family and I want to follow you too. In your name I pray. Amen.

You know if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time or you just recommitted

your life to Jesus again today would you let me know about it? There's something real about sharing

your commitment. So write me Rick at pastorrick.com and say Rick I prayed that prayer of commitment.

I gave my life to Christ and I'll send you some material that will help you on your journey

with Jesus and I'll also pray for you. God bless you.

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