Pastor Rick Warren leads us on a journey of spiritual insight, discussing how Jesus’s last words ‘It is finished’ signify a complete defeat of fear, particularly the fear of death, and the end of Satan’s power to control us. The symbol of baptism as a representation of death and resurrection is explained, providing believers with the hope and strength to resist temptation and live confidently against condemnation.
00:00:02 Introduction to the Seven Greatest Words of Love
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.
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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 life insurance premiums. I just can’t afford to do it anymore. And they said, ma’am, 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 tetelestai 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, tetelestai. 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 gonna come back to life, and if I am the resurrection, you can be resurrected in believing in me. Death is not the end, and you don’t need to fear it anymore. Couple verses, Romans 5, 17. The sin of one man, Adam, caused the death to rule over all of us. But all who receive 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, Hebrews chapter two, 14 and 15. 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 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 a 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. 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. 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. I’m being raised to live a brand new life. 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 set us free from, that he liberated us 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 it’s 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 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 foolishness of thinking that you can fight God and win. Because three days later, Jesus arises from the dead and he says, I’m back. And Satan’s going, oh no. We have no idea what we’ve just got ourselves 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 of God in your life, you are defenseless against the devil. He can just whip slap you around, do anything he wants. 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 wild. 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, nada, 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. Come on, everybody does this. Go ahead, 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. He doesn’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 kidding. But Satan’s putting on, this is no big deal, it’s no big deal. And then the moment you do that particular sin, you know what he does? He reverses strategy and instead of minimizing it, he maximizes it. You did that. Are you kidding me? God will never love you again. It’s over. You’re dead. You’re done for. You’re had. 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 his 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 finish? 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. You say, well, wait a minute, Rick. You say, 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 explain 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 to kill a chicken. You chop its head off, or you wring its neck. Okay, now, when I was a little kid, and my dad would do this, wring its neck, it just grossed me out. When I became a teenager, I thought it was hilarious. It was the funniest thing I’d ever seen. And I just thought, wow, come on, let me do it, Dad. When you’re a kid, ugh. But I have seen this many, many, many times as a 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 whole 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 tempt me? Yes, but I now have a power inside of me that 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 2, 15. 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’s triumph at the cross where your sins were all taken away. Now what does that mean? Before I sin, Satan says, it’s no big deal. Then I sin, he goes, it’s a big deal. God will never, never love you. And I just say, you’re a liar, go to hell. You could tell Satan to go to hell. Nobody else, but just Satan. 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 accusations. 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, well I accused you of this. And Jesus, the defense attorney, steps in and said, out of order, inadmissible evidence. It’s already been cleansed. I canceled the payment. I paid the debt. I satisfied the justice. Tetelestai! 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, you 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 add anything to it. You can’t add to it. It’s done, tetelestai, it’s finished. So let me summarize. Jesus fulfilled the scripture, what God had promised to do. He satisfied the law and in his own justice did what God required. He paid off the debt that I owed, a massive debt that I could never possibly pay off on my own. My penalty, he 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 1.6 says this. You can be certain of this. Now let me stop. Do you remember last week I talked about three kinds of hope? There’s wishful hope, which is you’re just wishing. There’s expectant hope, you have a reason to expect something. 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. 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 D.L. Moody, previous generation pastor. But a man came up to me and he said, he was pretty frantic, he goes, I just wanna 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. I said, what do you mean it’s too late? What do I need to do? You’re too late. It was all done 2,000 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 gonna end your life with unfinished business. But there’s one thing that’s definitely been finished for you. And it’s the last verse on your outline. Ephesians 2.8. 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. Let’s bow our heads. Would you pray this in your heart and mean it with every bone of 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 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 116, what can I offer the Lord that all he’s done for me? And you say, just offer me your heart. Offer me your life. If you’ve never invited Christ into your life, say, 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 finished work of Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray this prayer. Amen. Hi, everybody. This is Rick, and I hope you enjoyed today’s broadcast. 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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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. Just go to PastorRick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That’s PastorRick.com or just text the word HOPE to 70309. Again, that’s the word HOPE to 70309. And really, thank you so much for your support. It means so much to us because your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people all around the world. We hope you’ll join us next time when 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.
