Rick Warren - God's Unbreakable Promises About Your Future - Part 2

0:00I've been walking with the Lord, I've been a friend of Jesus for over 50 years. You know, I've discovered the more mature I get, the more Satan tempts me. Because Satan doesn't bother with you if you're not doing anything, but if you, if you, if you can make a difference with your life, he's going to really go after you. And so actually some of the temptations in your life, the more mature you get, the more you'll be tempted. You just have better resources, you know how to deal with it. Doesn't mean the temptation to go away, just means you don't give in to them anymore. And so they will actually increase. See, some people, some of you are carrying false shame. Because you think, I should be at the stage, just doesn't tempt me anymore. I shouldn't have this thought, I shouldn't have this feeling, feeling this way. Well, that's just not true. Because you're not responsible for every thought that comes into your mind. You're responsible for what you do with it. When Satan gives you an idea and puts it in your mind, we call that temptation.

1:02When God gives you an idea, and he suggests that in your mind, that we call that an inspiration, temptation, inspiration. And then you have your own thoughts. Have you ever been praying, and like you're trying to be serious about praying at something, and you're praying in all sudden, the most awful, ugly thought comes into your mind while you're praying? And you'll, where did that one come from? Anybody ever had that happen? Oh, come on. Anybody ever had that happen? The rest of you were liars. Okay, because it happens to everybody. You'll be, you're trying to pray, and all of a sudden, something just comes out of here. Zebra, well, you're not responsible for that. That was from Satan. It was just an idea. Martin Luther said, you can't keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. And when I should not feel guilty about a thought that I didn't have a Satanist through that in there real quick, I know where that one came from. Get out of here.

2:02And I just tossed it, and you don't, you get intimidated. The bad news is you're going to be tempted the rest of your life. The good news is it's not a sin to be tempted. It's a sin to give, and the temptation. But it's not a sin to be tempted. The Bible says Jesus was tempted in every point as we were, but he never sinned. Temptation is just a choice. That's all it is. So don't get intimidated about it. Why don't we be tempted by this? Well, because you're human. That's why. It's just a choice. And every time you choose to do the right thing, you grow. Every time you choose to do the wrong thing, you stumble, you fail. And you go back. But temptation is just an opportunity to grow. So don't be intimidated by it and don't be ashamed of it. I mean, Christians all the time who, you know, they get a thought from the devil or they have an attraction or they have an arousal. And they go, oh, I shouldn't be doing that. I shouldn't have that.

3:03Would you write this down? Attraction is not a sin. Action is. Write this down. Attraction is not a sin. Action is. You are not responsible for your attractions. You are responsible for your actions. If we're walking down a buffet, you know, I might see a certain kind of potato salad. It's very attractive to me. And I'm, you know, I'm salivating and everything. That, where did that come from? It's just inside me. You're welcome. I hate potato salad, you know, and you just walk to the next one. We all have different attractions. An attraction or an arousal is not necessarily lust. It just means you're human. Ladies, if today you walk out a church and you're walking to the parking lot and you just see some gorgeous sexy hunk of a man.

4:04Kind of looks like me, you know. And you're going, man, I find that guy attractive. Attractive, but I'm married. I shouldn't be having that. It's just an attraction. It's not an action. It's not a lust. Lust is when you start going, man, I'd like to, what would it be like to be married to him? And what would it be like to go to bed with him? And then you fantasizing on it. Let me say it another way. You might write this down. I can't control what gets my attention. I can control what keeps my attention. Hear the difference? I can't control what gets my attention. If I'm at a beach and a beautiful woman walks by, it's probably going to get my attention. I'm just not going to do anything about it. I'm going to turn my mind and think about something else. I'm not going to fantasize. I'm not going to linger. Wow, that girl's beautiful. God, you did a good one on her.

5:06Good God, man. Wow. Good going God. She looks nice. But that's not lust. Lust is when you start saying, I want that instead of who I have. That's, does that make sense? A lot of people feel ashamed when they get attracted or get aroused. You can't control your arousals. That's just that's part of humanity. It's what you do with it. Like I said, I can't control what gets my attention. I can't control what keeps my attention. And so I'm just going to change my mind. Something else. Now this could be heterosexual. It could be homosexual. You might have a same-sex attraction. And you go, I'm not supposed to have this. I'm a Christian. Well, it's not that attraction. It's the action. It's not a sin for what attracts you. Some people attract the barbecued ribs.

6:10That's no sin. Eat in five pounds of them as a sin. Okay. But am I clear on this? Okay. So what I'm trying to relieve is a little bit of false shame. That you shouldn't be ashamed. That's things are getting your attention. I mean, it could be a material thing. You walk past a store window. Man, that's a pretty shopping bag. That's a pretty suit or dress or something. That's not materialism. It's just it caught your attention. And it just caught your attention. It's what you do with it. Now, I said, the bad news is you're never going to outgrow temptation. The good news is it's not a sin to be tempted. It's sin to give in. So you shouldn't feel, oh, I shouldn't feel this way. But the best news is this. God has promised to provide a way out of temptation. The Bible says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13. Remember that the temptations that come into your life

7:14are no different from what others experience. Now, I know Satan tells you, you're, nobody else feels this like you do. Nobody's tempted this way. And he wants to isolate you. The Bible says, no, we all have the exact same temptations. And now, if they're common to humans, then there are common solutions to them. And here's the thing. If we all share the same temptations, then we, if we talk about it with each other, they lose their power over us. When you have a temptation and you keep it a secret, then it's going to get worse, for instance. If all of a sudden you're being tempted at work by a coworker to like having a fair, if you keep that a secret, it's just going to get worse. It would be better for you to tell if you're a woman, another woman, or if you're a man, another man, or tell, even tell your spouse, I'm being tempted right now. If there were more confession of temptation, there'd be less need to confess sin. Because we'd stop it early.

8:15Yet, a lot of times we don't want to admit we're being tempted, that's setting us up for the failure. It would be better to say, you know what? I'm being tempted right now. Tell your friend or your spouse or whoever, tell them, and then all of a sudden it lowers the tension. If you can't talk about it, it's already out of control in your life. If you can't talk about it, it's already scaring you. And so it's not a sin to be tempted. It's a sin to give in, but God says this. Remember the temptation that comes into your life. There are no different than the ones others experience. We all have the same ones, so let's talk about them. And God is faithful. And because God is faithful, He promises two things. First, He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. That's His first promise. Second, and when you're tempted, He'll show you a way out so that you'll not give into it. Now it's comforting to know that God understands our struggles.

9:16And He knows exactly what you're going through, when you're going through it, He's pulling for you. Jesus experienced the same temptation. He's prepared an escape route. He says, I'll strengthen you and I'll prepare an escape route. That's the promise of God. Now, sometimes people come to me and say, Hey, Rick, I just fell, I stumbled here. I couldn't help myself. The temptation was just too strong, and I could not resist it. And when they tell me that, I know they're not telling the truth and they're not being asked for themselves. Why? Because God says, I will never allow more on you than I put in you to bear it up. And God also says, with every temptation, I will make a way of escape, that you can get out of there. It wasn't that the temptation was too strong for you. You didn't want to resist it. You wanted to give in. You're not being asked yourself. You wanted to give in at that moment. Because if you had wanted to not give in, God said, I'll give you the strength and I'll give you a way out. So it's just not true to say the temptation was too strong.

10:19You wanted to give in to that. The first, second, Fessalonians chapter three, verse three says this, The Lord is faithful. There's that phrase again. He keeps His promises. And He will give you strength and will protect you from the evil one. I've noticed that a lot of believers are not only just afraid of temptation, they're actually afraid of the devil. What in the world are you afraid of the devil for? Graders, He that is in you, the He that is in the world, what the Bible says. For the devil to get, if you're a Christian believer, and you have Jesus in your heart, you have the Holy Spirit, you have God's love around you. For Satan to get at you, he's got to go through the Trinity. That isn't going to happen. You got triple protection around your life. The only thing Satan can do to a Christian is make suggestions. That's all he can do. And if you buy that suggestion and you believe that fear, you just lost. If you buy that idea, you believe that fear, you just lost.

11:23But he can't do anything other than give suggestions. And for Satan to get at a believer, he has to go through the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible says, you're in Christ. The Bible says, Christ is in you. The Bible says, you're hid with Christ and God. The Bible says, you're see with the Holy Spirit. That's triple protection. There's no way he can get at you. If you're trusting in God at that moment, you're a believer. It's only if you believe his suggestion and you open the doorway. So he says, don't worry about it. I'll give you strength and I'll protect you from the evil one. Let's go to the third promise. The third promise about your future is another good one. And it says, God promises to support me in trouble. God promises to support me in trouble. He's going to guide me when I'm confused. He's going to help me when I'm tempted. And he's going to support me when I'm in trouble. Now, what's the difference between temptation and trouble? Oh, big difference. Temptation is inside me.

12:25Trouble is outside me. Temptation is internal. Trouble is external. Temptation has to do with my character. Trouble has to do with my circumstances. I know many of you use the Daily Hope Devotionals as part of your regular Bible study. And so I want to share some exciting news. We've put 365 of the best devotionals into a brand new book that we're calling the Daily Hope Devotional, Purpose, Peace and Promise for every day. This devotional book is designed with clear, practical, biblical teaching to help you make knowing God your number one priority. I believe it will help you stay focused on God throughout the day as he provides you with real purpose, lasting peace and his unfailing promises. Imagine starting every day like that.

13:26This book is a great way to share the hope you have in Jesus with your friends, co-workers and relatives. I hope you'll get a copy for everyone you know. Be sure and request your copy when you partner with Daily Hope to take the word of God to a hurting world. Now there's all kinds of trouble. There's relational trouble, financial trouble, physical, you know, in trouble in your body. There's mental trouble. You know, there's all kinds of different trials and troubles and tribulations in life. Some people expect life to be heaven on earth. This is not heaven. They expect everything to be perfect. Well now that I'm a Christian, shouldn't everything be perfect in my life? Of course not. It is in heaven where there is no sorrow, no suffering, no sickness, no sadness, no trials, no tears, no tangles. There's nothing wrong in heaven. It's all great there, but this is earth.

14:27That's why we pray that I will be done on earth that's in heaven because it's done perfectly. On earth, God's will has seldom done. Sometimes you hear a big disaster or you hear a big, you know, a terrorist attack and people say, must have been God's will. That wasn't God's will. God is not the author of evil. If I go out and I get drunk and I get an accident, kill myself, that wasn't God's will, that was my will. Be done. So don't blame God for evil. The Bible says God cannot do evil. God's will is not always done on earth. That's why we're to pray that I will be done on earth. But when that happens, that people expect it to be heaven, have you noticed that everything on this planet is broken? The weather is broken, the economy is broken, your body is broken, it doesn't always work right, relationships are broken, you find broken, it's everywhere. Why? Because of sin. Because we make bad choices.

15:28Now the Bible says God will promise to support me in trouble. In a church family, our size, you know, today, in our 20 or so locations, there's about 30,000 people in our church family going to church, worship, at Salah Back Church. In a crowd that big, the law of average is that some of us this next year, are going to lose loved ones. And some of us this next year are going to get cancer. And some of us this next year are going to get laid off or fired or go bankrupt. And some of us this next year may be face of divorce. You know, bad things happen in this world. But God says, I will support you in trouble. One of the greatest promises in the Bible is the next one on your outline. Isaiah chapter 43, verse 2 and 3. And here's what God promises about your future.

16:31When you go through deep waters, notice you're going to say, if it's a matter of when. Okay, you're going to go through deep waters at times in your life. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. I'm going to support you. And when you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. And when you walk through fires of oppression, you know, when the heat's on, you will not be burned up for I am the Lord your God. Now, look at that verse. And what it, it doesn't say when you go through deep waters and rivers of difficulty, you won't get wet. Doesn't say that. It says, you won't drown. You're going to go through some problems that have pain. You're going to get wet. You're not going to drown. And it says when you go through the fire, when the heat's on in your life, it doesn't say it won't get hot.

17:34It doesn't say it won't get uncomfortable. It says, you're not going to burn up. I'm going to make sure you make it through. The next verse, Philippians 413, I have strength for all things, the good and the bad. Everything that's going to hit me in the future, which I don't know about. I have strength for all things. This is confidence. I have all strength for all things in Christ, not in myself, who empowers me. I am ready for anything and equaled anything through him who infuses inner strength in me. That's the confident way to look at the future. I can do anything. I can handle whatever God allows in my life with the strength of Christ. Now, I know you're saying, Rick, I don't feel very strong right now. In fact, I'm feeling pretty weak right now. Write this down. Very important. The strength I need will come when I need it.

18:36The strength I need will come when I need it. God doesn't give me strength today for a problem I'm going to have next week. The Bible doesn't say where to pray. Give us this day our weekly bread or our monthly bread. It says, God, give me my daily bread. I need just enough strength for today. God's not going to give you strength for tomorrow until it's tomorrow. And God knows what you can handle. And He says, I will support you in trouble. And the strength I need will come when I need it. God promises to repay those who hurt me. Oh, baby, oh, baby. Let's just camp here for a moment, okay? God promises to repay those who hurt me. And He doesn't want you repaying them. He didn't want you seeking retaliation. He says, let me handle this. Have you noticed that the world seems to be getting meaner?

19:36More hateful. More rude. More uncivil. More unfair. You ever listen to the news or watch the news and you go, man, that's just not fair. On the other side of the world right now, there are people living in total poverty simply because they were born into that. And we get to benefit from all the blessings here. Is that fair? Of course, it's not fair. And we say, well, it just isn't fair. Well, do you know what? The truth is life is not fair. God never said that life is fair. In fact, it's unfair because of the sin in the world. Jesus came to make things right. And one day they will be made right. But life is not fair right now. Sometimes bad people win. Sometimes good people suffer. Come sometimes the innocent get hurt. Sometimes well-meaning people get abused.

20:41And a betrayed and are cheated on and have the heart broken and on and on and on. If you have been discriminated against. Because of your race or culture or language. Or gender. If you've been abused. If you have been harassed. If you have been mistreated. As your pastor, as your shepherd, that breaks my heart. I agree for that. And I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry for your hurt. That's not fair. It's just not fair. And we should do whatever we can to correct injustice. But there's something even more important in the way I feel about it. It's the way God feels about it. It's the way God feels about it. And God, you need to know that God has seen every hurt in your life and he grieves over it too.

21:42I can't tell you how many times I've been asked by somebody. Where was God when your son died? And I say he was the same place he was when his son died. Grieving. Grieving over man's inhumanity to humanity. God looks down and sees so much of what's going to happen in the world today. And it hurts and it grieves. And the Bible says he, God, grieves over and over and over. God has seen every hurt in your life. Every means word, every mean action, every injustice, abuse, prejudice, bias, or anything like that. He says, well, why didn't he stop it then? Well, God could stop all the evil in the world just like that. Take away our freedom to do it. But if he's going to be fair, he's not only going to have to take away other people's freedom, he's going to have to take away yours too. If we're going to be just and fair. And the fact is, you've hurt people. You haven't always done the right thing to people.

22:45I've hurt people. Yes, God could get rid of all the evil in the world instantly. Just take away our freedom to choose to not follow him. Take away our freedom to say, I'm going to do what I think's best. That would instantly get rid of all the evil in the world. So we can't blame God for that because he's given us the freedom to make that choice. God's never stopped me from hurting people, stopped you from hurting people. But I do know this, God is keeping a record. The Bible says very clearly, the God is keeping a record of all the ways you've been hurt in life. Did you know that in Psalms, Psalm 56 verse 8, it says, God stores up your tears in a bottle. You don't even know all the tears you've shared. God does, says he's kept an accounting of how much how many tears you've shed. And you're like, that's how much your good, good father cares about you. And that kind of God says this, Romans 12, 19, here's the next promise.

23:46Never avenge yourselves. In other words, don't retaliate. Don't try to get revenge against firstness hurt you. Never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it. Wow. Now follow me on this. God is a God of love. And because God is love, that's why we all have love in our lives. If our creator wasn't loving, there would be no love in the universe. God is the source of all love. Because God is loving, as a loving God, he is also a God of justice. God is a just God. God is a fair God. He is a righteous God. Why? Because to allow evil to hurt his children and not seek justice would be unloving. Justice is sometimes the loving thing to do. And protection. Sometimes if somebody tried to hurt my wife or my kids or my grandkids

24:47and I did nothing about it and I didn't care about it, that's called being unloving. Sometimes love fights. Sometimes love defends. Sometimes love fights for the protection of other people. The Bible says greater love has no man than this than a man laid down. His life for his friends. The greatest compliment Jesus ever gave, he gave to a Roman soldier. He said, I've never seen great faith like in this. What? The guy was given his life for a cause greater than himself and for the protection of other people. I know many of you use the daily hope devotionals as part of your regular Bible study. And so I want to share some exciting news. We've put 365 of the best devotionals into a brand new book that we're calling

25:50the daily hope devotional, purpose, peace, and promise for every day. This devotional book is designed with clear, practical, biblical teaching to help you make knowing God your number one priority. I believe it will help you stay focused on God throughout the day as he provides you with real purpose, lasting peace, and his unfailing promises. Imagine starting every day like that. This book is a great way to share the hope you have in Jesus with your friends, co-workers, and relatives. I hope you'll get a copy for everyone you know. Be sure and request your copy when you partner with Daily Hope to take the word of God to a hurting world.