Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / God of the Second Chance │ Msg 59

Transcript

God of the Second Chance │ Msg 59 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: It was the prophet who said, your words were found
0:05
Speaker 1: and I did eat them. And your word was unto
0:10
Speaker 1: me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I
0:16
Speaker 1: am called by your name, O Lord of hosts. What
0:22
Speaker 1: an interesting way to put it. Your words were found
0:26
Speaker 1: and I ate them. The ultimate assimilation physically is the
0:37
Speaker 1: consuming of food. And for the prophet, God's word was
0:45
Speaker 1: the ultimate food to be consumed, to be applied, to
0:53
Speaker 1: be lived out. So he said, when I found your
0:58
Speaker 1: word and I unrolled the scroll, And I saw its truth.
1:08
Speaker 1: I ate them. Frankly, that is often my thought when
1:15
Speaker 1: I turn to the scriptures. This is food at its
1:21
Speaker 1: very best. It's the kind of food that will never
1:26
Speaker 1: leave you hungry after you have appropriately consumed it. It
1:35
Speaker 1: always digests well. And the result is a magnificent flow
1:44
Speaker 1: of energy through us and beyond us. We're engaged in
1:54
Speaker 1: an interesting study of a much maligned book Ask most
2:03
Speaker 1: scholars in virtually any high-ranking university about the book of
2:14
Speaker 1: Jonah or the story of Jonah, and you will hear laughter,
2:19
Speaker 1: if not literally, you will hear it in the tone
2:22
Speaker 1: of their response. But Jonah is no joke. It is
2:30
Speaker 1: a part of God's inspired word, recorded and preserved, therefore
2:39
Speaker 1: considered as significant as the writings of Moses or the
2:46
Speaker 1: Psalms or the Prince of the Prophets, Isaiah. We turn
2:54
Speaker 1: to Jonah chapter three, As we continue our journey with him,
3:02
Speaker 1: part of it was treacherous and ultimately he was rescued.
3:07
Speaker 1: And now having been rescued and safely, if you will,
3:14
Speaker 1: deposited at the shore, Jonah hears the words of grace. Really,
3:24
Speaker 1: more specifically, they are words of mercy as he is
3:30
Speaker 1: given a second chance. You'll hear those words as I
3:36
Speaker 1: read them from the New Living Translation of Jonah chapter three,
3:43
Speaker 1: verses one through four. When you have found that passage
3:48
Speaker 1: of scripture, please stand together out of respect for the
3:53
Speaker 1: Word of God, as I read these four verses for us.
4:01
Speaker 1: Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time. Get
4:07
Speaker 1: up and go to the great city of Nineveh and
4:13
Speaker 1: deliver the message I have given you. This time, Jonah said,
4:20
Speaker 1: obeyed the Lord's command and went to Nineveh, a city
4:27
Speaker 1: so large that it took three days to see it all.
4:35
Speaker 1: On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to
4:40
Speaker 1: the crowds, 40 days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed. that,
4:55
Speaker 1: though brief and abrupt and harsh, in less than 10
5:04
Speaker 1: English words, really less than that in Hebrew, is the
5:10
Speaker 1: message from God to the people of Nineveh. We will
5:15
Speaker 1: see next time we're in this book the difference it
5:21
Speaker 1: made when they heard the warning and realized God meant
5:27
Speaker 1: what he said through his prophet. My hope today is
5:33
Speaker 1: that you who need a second chance will hear of
5:38
Speaker 1: the mercy of God in such a way that you
5:41
Speaker 1: will avail yourself of it. It's yours for the taking.
5:48
Speaker 1: It is available to all of us. For he, a
5:53
Speaker 1: God of grace, offers us many second chances. Bow with
6:00
Speaker 1: me as we pray. Dear Father, we turn to you
6:06
Speaker 1: with the realization that when you speak, the rest of
6:10
Speaker 1: us are wise to be silent. When you warn, the
6:15
Speaker 1: rest of us are wise to heed what you are warning.
6:24
Speaker 1: When you call out, we are wise to pay attention.
6:32
Speaker 1: Speak today in such a way that nothing interrupts your message.
6:39
Speaker 1: Though we are together only a brief period of time,
6:43
Speaker 1: given this full week that will unfold before us, may
6:48
Speaker 1: the words we hear become the most important words of
6:53
Speaker 1: this week. We give you our word, Father, that we
7:00
Speaker 1: will hear what you say, and as the week unfolds,
7:06
Speaker 1: it will prove whether or not we take them seriously.
7:11
Speaker 1: Thank you especially for those who have been courageous to come,
7:17
Speaker 1: though they may feel uneasy in a context such as this,
7:24
Speaker 1: though some may come out of shame, disappointment in themselves,
7:33
Speaker 1: may they be reminded that you have a wonderful way
7:38
Speaker 1: of overcoming shame and replacing it with forgiveness, covered over
7:46
Speaker 1: by maximum grace. For where sin abounds, grace super abounds.
7:56
Speaker 1: We are the recipients of that, which is why we
8:01
Speaker 1: are able to stand today and hear these words, and
8:06
Speaker 1: I'm able to stand and deliver them, all because of
8:10
Speaker 1: your grace. Not one of us is deserving. Touch all
8:16
Speaker 1: our lives, since we are in that category of sinful,
8:21
Speaker 1: with a reminder that you have provided us with the
8:26
Speaker 1: second chance, and a third, and a fourth, and an
8:32
Speaker 1: infinite number. How grateful we are for that. Because of
8:38
Speaker 1: your mercies, we have not been consumed. Your compassions fail not.
8:48
Speaker 1: So speak to us, sinful though we are, needy as
8:52
Speaker 1: we are, may we hear And may we heed what
8:59
Speaker 1: we have heard. Our gifts are yours, Father. We could
9:05
Speaker 1: not hold our occupation without the strength you give us.
9:09
Speaker 1: We could not live without the breath you give us
9:12
Speaker 1: in our lungs and the heartbeat in our chest. Remind
9:19
Speaker 1: us that our need for you is total, not partial.
9:27
Speaker 1: And use these gifts, we pray, for your great glory
9:32
Speaker 1: as we give them gratefully and generously. In the name
9:40
Speaker 1: of Jesus, we ask this. Everyone said amen. There are
9:48
Speaker 1: so many things I love about our God. I love
9:54
Speaker 1: it that he is so faithful. That he isn't fickle,
10:01
Speaker 1: he isn't moody, he isn't warm in the morning and
10:06
Speaker 1: then cools off in the evening. I love it that
10:11
Speaker 1: he is the same, what does it say, yesterday, and
10:18
Speaker 1: today and forever. Theologians call that God's immutability. He doesn't change.
10:31
Speaker 1: You can count on him, which brings up another reason
10:34
Speaker 1: I love him so. He's truthful. What he declared centuries
10:43
Speaker 1: ago holds true Even today, trusting him is not a
10:52
Speaker 1: guessing game. It is not hoping for the best and
10:58
Speaker 1: then experiencing at times the worst. No, I can count
11:05
Speaker 1: on my God to keep his word. He's truthful. And
11:12
Speaker 1: I love it that he is so powerful. So powerful
11:19
Speaker 1: that there is no obstacle that can stand in his
11:23
Speaker 1: way or hinder his plan. No weapon formed against him
11:29
Speaker 1: can wound him. No important individual can intimidate him. No
11:39
Speaker 1: force can restrain him. Our God is faithful and truthful,
11:46
Speaker 1: immutable and powerful, and so much more than all that,
11:57
Speaker 1: causing us to stand in awe as we respect and
12:02
Speaker 1: worship him, as we respect and worship no other. We
12:06
Speaker 1: reserve the word awesome for our God. He alone qualifies.
12:13
Speaker 1: as the awesome one. But of all these magnificent attributes,
12:25
Speaker 1: all these great characteristics of our God that make us
12:29
Speaker 1: love him so, there is one that always brings me
12:34
Speaker 1: to my knees and overwhelms me with gratitude. And it
12:43
Speaker 1: is that our God is so merciful. So merciful. He
12:53
Speaker 1: is full of grace and mercy. Do you remember the
12:58
Speaker 1: immortal words of the prophet Jeremiah? When I began to
13:06
Speaker 1: quote them, you will recall. You may not remember where
13:10
Speaker 1: he was and the The circumstance in which he found himself,
13:17
Speaker 1: which was so depressing. The enemy had come in and
13:24
Speaker 1: taken his city by siege and it lay in ruins.
13:31
Speaker 1: Jeremiah is walking among the debris and he is, old word,
13:39
Speaker 1: he is lamenting He's grieving. So he puts his words
13:47
Speaker 1: in a book, only five chapters in length, named Lamentations.
13:57
Speaker 1: While lamenting, he lights a torch of hope. As he recalls,
14:06
Speaker 1: it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.
14:12
Speaker 1: because his compassions fail not, they are new, get this,
14:21
Speaker 1: every morning. Every morning. Including this morning. His mercies are
14:35
Speaker 1: new this morning. one of my mentors for several years, J.
14:43
Speaker 1: Dwight Pentecost, who has now gone to glory. But while
14:50
Speaker 1: on this earth and ministering in such an effective way,
14:53
Speaker 1: I remember his teaching that mercy is God's ministry to
15:01
Speaker 1: the miserable. Isn't that good? Who hasn't felt miserable at
15:09
Speaker 1: one time or another, don't answer out loud. It would
15:12
Speaker 1: be one great statement in unison. I have. I've been miserable.
15:22
Speaker 1: I've made a miserable mess of my life. When I
15:28
Speaker 1: look back on certain things, I can only qualify as
15:33
Speaker 1: a person good at misery. because I've created it. So
15:40
Speaker 1: I need mercy. That's why it seems so meaningful to
15:46
Speaker 1: me and to us. The Oxford-educated 19th century hymn writer
15:54
Speaker 1: Frederick Faber put it in these words, there's a wideness
16:00
Speaker 1: in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea. There's
16:09
Speaker 1: a kindness in his justice, which is more than liberty.
16:17
Speaker 1: There's a welcome for the sinner and more graces for
16:21
Speaker 1: the good. There is mercy with the Savior. There is
16:27
Speaker 1: healing in his blood. A wideness like the sea is wide.
16:42
Speaker 1: I was sitting in this congregation last evening ready for
16:47
Speaker 1: the wonderful Getty concert and smiled when they began their
16:56
Speaker 1: first song, which focused right out of the chute, we say,
17:01
Speaker 1: on the mercy of God. I noticed that the theme
17:07
Speaker 1: was threaded through the songs of the evening. How powerful,
17:16
Speaker 1: how necessary is mercy? That's wonderful news for all of
17:21
Speaker 1: us to hear because God's mercy has a wonderful way
17:29
Speaker 1: of covering over our shame. and offering us full forgiveness,
17:40
Speaker 1: hear this. Listen to the hope in these words. Strong
17:48
Speaker 1: encouragement for the miserable to press on beyond the moment.
17:55
Speaker 1: You may have blown it and you may feel like
17:58
Speaker 1: a failure right now, but mercy says now is not forever.
18:06
Speaker 1: I've come to help you back on your feet and
18:11
Speaker 1: say with my arm around you, let's go on. Now,
18:18
Speaker 1: I warn you, if you haven't learned it already, other
18:22
Speaker 1: people will not do that. You have the slightest mark
18:30
Speaker 1: on your record, they will not forget. they will remind
18:36
Speaker 1: you and others of that failure. And when your name
18:41
Speaker 1: is mentioned, they will remember the failure. You know what
18:45
Speaker 1: it says of our God? As far as the east
18:50
Speaker 1: is from the west, so far has he removed our
18:57
Speaker 1: transgressions from us. I love the story of the man
19:02
Speaker 1: who had made a mess of his day week and
19:06
Speaker 1: he came back and he poured his heart out. It
19:10
Speaker 1: was a Saturday night knowing Sunday was coming. He happened
19:13
Speaker 1: to be the preacher that next morning and he said, Lord,
19:19
Speaker 1: here I am again with the same, same sin to
19:26
Speaker 1: bring before you. And the Lord said to him, what sin?
19:33
Speaker 1: What a great reminder. If he has confessed that sin,
19:37
Speaker 1: it is removed as far as east is from west
19:43
Speaker 1: with God. This is why I call our God of grace.
19:50
Speaker 1: the God of the second chance and third and fourth.
19:56
Speaker 1: And would you believe 150th and four million and 10 trillion?
20:04
Speaker 1: For as often as you fail, he is there to
20:09
Speaker 1: hold you fast and to take you on. Now, the
20:19
Speaker 1: second chance, grace of God, needs to be understood. So
20:26
Speaker 1: allow me for a few moments before we look at
20:28
Speaker 1: how it became for Jonah a reason to go on.
20:35
Speaker 1: What it means is this. His understanding is limitless. He
20:47
Speaker 1: realizes that each one of us is far from perfect. Oh,
20:52
Speaker 1: we may amass a mighty fine resume and we may
20:57
Speaker 1: have impressive credentials, some more than others, but God who
21:05
Speaker 1: looks beyond the surface, seeing the heart, reading the motives,
21:11
Speaker 1: knowing the truth, all of it, has an infinite capacity
21:22
Speaker 1: to forgive us at any moment of failure. Hear this.
21:30
Speaker 1: Because you will not hear it from others who will
21:34
Speaker 1: write you off. Some will even blot you out of
21:39
Speaker 1: their family if you make certain decisions that go against
21:46
Speaker 1: the longstanding family traditions, especially in the realm of religion.
21:54
Speaker 1: But our God, our God is the best, remembering that
22:01
Speaker 1: we are but dust. Remembering that we often refuse to
22:07
Speaker 1: obey him offers us a second chance, a third chance,
22:15
Speaker 1: a lifetime of opportunities to move on past where we
22:21
Speaker 1: are at this time. The beautiful thing about him, for
22:26
Speaker 1: this is what that second chance means, he will never
22:30
Speaker 1: blot you out of his family once you have entered
22:33
Speaker 1: His family through faith in Jesus. You are in and
22:39
Speaker 1: you are secure. He has an infinite capacity to forgive
22:44
Speaker 1: us an infinite number of times where sin abounds, grace
22:50
Speaker 1: abounds all the more. He remembers Psalm 103 verse 14
22:56
Speaker 1: that we are dust. And after we have refused to
23:06
Speaker 1: trust him, along he comes, graciously offering another chance. It
23:17
Speaker 1: all begins with his understanding of us. God is never
23:21
Speaker 1: surprised that we fail him, though admittedly it grieves him
23:26
Speaker 1: when we do, which brings up the subject of what
23:30
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean. To say that God is a God
23:34
Speaker 1: of the second chance doesn't mean that he doesn't care.
23:39
Speaker 1: Any more than a father doesn't care that a son
23:42
Speaker 1: or daughter disobeys again and again. It doesn't mean that
23:49
Speaker 1: our resistance doesn't matter. He always longs for us to
23:56
Speaker 1: obey him. But there are occasions when we continue to
24:04
Speaker 1: do so when he steps in. And according to Hebrews 12,
24:10
Speaker 1: verses 5 through 11, as a father disciplines his children,
24:15
Speaker 1: so the Lord disciplines those he loves. And no suffering
24:21
Speaker 1: for the present time is joyous but grievous. So while
24:26
Speaker 1: he forgives, there may be consequences to our wrongdoing. Matter
24:36
Speaker 1: of fact, I find as I work my way through
24:39
Speaker 1: the Scriptures, one person after another whom we would all
24:44
Speaker 1: say stand out as a significant character in the Bible,
24:50
Speaker 1: often being given a second chance. Turn back to Exodus
24:56
Speaker 1: chapter 3. Let's make that Exodus chapter 2. The second
25:06
Speaker 1: chance is in chapter 3. But the failure is in
25:10
Speaker 1: chapter 2. The hero of this Exodus story is named Moses.
25:19
Speaker 1: And in verse 12 of the second chapter of Exodus,
25:29
Speaker 1: we read of Moses saying, 212 reads, after looking in
25:44
Speaker 1: all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses
25:50
Speaker 1: killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.
25:55
Speaker 1: You may not have known that Moses was first a
25:58
Speaker 1: murderer before he was a deliverer. in the Exodus. By
26:04
Speaker 1: the way, Stephen tells us in Acts chapter 7 that
26:08
Speaker 1: Moses at this time in his life is 40 years old.
26:15
Speaker 1: He sees an Egyptian taskmaster beating a fellow Hebrew, and
26:23
Speaker 1: Moses can't stand the sight, and he kills the taskmaster.
26:30
Speaker 1: and he hides the evidence. Pharaoh gets word of it,
26:35
Speaker 1: and when he heard that that had happened, according to
26:39
Speaker 1: verse 15, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled
26:44
Speaker 1: from Pharaoh and went to live in the land Midian,
26:49
Speaker 1: that would be in the Sinai region of the wilderness,
26:54
Speaker 1: a rugged area. blazing sun day after day, hot sands,
27:01
Speaker 1: and he's there, hear this, for 40 years. 40 years.
27:09
Speaker 1: Do the math. He killed the Egyptian at age 40.
27:13
Speaker 1: He is in the Midian Desert for 40 more years.
27:17
Speaker 1: And then we read in chapter 3, Moses was tending
27:21
Speaker 1: the flock of his father-in-law, the priest of Midian He
27:26
Speaker 1: led the flock to the wilderness and came to Sinai,
27:30
Speaker 1: the mountain of God, and there the angel of the
27:32
Speaker 1: Lord appeared to him. Listen to this second chance. Spoke
27:38
Speaker 1: in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush.
27:41
Speaker 1: Moses stared in amazement. The bush didn't burn up. Verse four,
27:46
Speaker 1: when the Lord saw Moses come to take a closer look,
27:51
Speaker 1: God called from the middle of the bush, Moses, Moses.
27:55
Speaker 1: Here I am, says Moses. And he says, don't come
28:00
Speaker 1: any closer. Take off your shoes. You're standing on holy ground.
28:04
Speaker 1: Then the Lord told him, I've seen, verse 7, I've
28:08
Speaker 1: seen the oppression of my people. And then a little further,
28:12
Speaker 1: he says now, verse 10, go, I am sending you
28:17
Speaker 1: to Pharaoh. You must lead my people out of Egypt.
28:20
Speaker 1: Second chance right there. Now, it didn't come quickly. 80
28:27
Speaker 1: years old. No, I'm not going to ask that. I
28:31
Speaker 1: was going to ask, how many of you are 80
28:32
Speaker 1: years old, and how would you feel hearing God's second
28:36
Speaker 1: chance saying, now I've got a place for you in
28:40
Speaker 1: the main purpose of your life? 80 years old. Most
28:44
Speaker 1: people are looking for a rocking chair and a dog
28:47
Speaker 1: to train when they're 80 years old. Looking for a
28:51
Speaker 1: back porch to sit on. looking for a place to retire.
28:55
Speaker 1: Moses is just getting started. And for 40 more years,
29:00
Speaker 1: he leads the Exodus, right up to the edge of
29:03
Speaker 1: the Promised Land. That's a second chance. I kept working
29:08
Speaker 1: my way through the Scriptures, and I found the book
29:12
Speaker 1: of Judges. What an unusual book. Keep turning. You'll locate it.
29:18
Speaker 1: I'm seeing little dust pockets come up from the pew
29:22
Speaker 1: as you get into Judges. When you got to chapter 14,
29:26
Speaker 1: you meet a man named Samson. And Samson's biography takes
29:32
Speaker 1: you chapter 14, 15, and the climax is chapter 16.
29:38
Speaker 1: For most of 14, 14, 15, and 16, Samson is
29:44
Speaker 1: a womanizer. I call Samson a he-man with a she-weakness.
29:50
Speaker 1: All the way through his adult life, in fact, the
29:53
Speaker 1: first words you read from the lips of Samson, you
29:56
Speaker 1: can check it for yourself, are, I have seen a woman.
30:02
Speaker 1: He messes around with women. Even after he has judged
30:06
Speaker 1: Israel for 20 years, he winds up laying in the
30:10
Speaker 1: lap of Delilah. And there he finally yields, and she
30:16
Speaker 1: is crying those crocodile tears that he won't tell her,
30:21
Speaker 1: the secret of his life. And he finally tells her
30:24
Speaker 1: and falls asleep and wakes up and finds that his
30:28
Speaker 1: hair has been taken from his head, and she has
30:31
Speaker 1: told her colleague, the Philistines, that that's where his strength lies.
30:37
Speaker 1: And they took him, and they put him in a dungeon,
30:40
Speaker 1: and the first thing they did, not surprisingly, they gouged
30:44
Speaker 1: out his eyes. Enough lust for one man. You won't
30:50
Speaker 1: lust any further. And there he lives as a prisoner
30:55
Speaker 1: in the dungeon of the Philistines until the end of
30:59
Speaker 1: chapter 16, where you can read it for yourself. He comes,
31:06
Speaker 1: and they're going to make fun of him. He's going
31:08
Speaker 1: to be the Hebrew clown in their midst, and they
31:14
Speaker 1: put him between the columns in the Temple of Dagon,
31:19
Speaker 1: and he says, this one last time, may my life
31:22
Speaker 1: be avenged. And what he should have been doing all
31:25
Speaker 1: of his life, and that's delivering the people from the Philistines,
31:28
Speaker 1: he kills more at his death than he did in
31:31
Speaker 1: all his life. Second chance finally comes with his final breath.
31:37
Speaker 1: Samson at the end of his life. Another man who
31:41
Speaker 1: began with such possibilities but ended his life in such
31:46
Speaker 1: an intriguing and disappointing manner, but a second chance given him.
31:54
Speaker 1: I turn next to 2 Samuel chapter 11. When I
31:58
Speaker 1: do that, you who know your Bibles know where we've come.
32:02
Speaker 1: We've come to the life of David, Israel's favorite king
32:06
Speaker 1: to this day. When you travel there, it's the city
32:10
Speaker 1: of David that you hear about. It's the star of
32:14
Speaker 1: David you see waving on their flag. It's David this
32:19
Speaker 1: and David that. While he was king, he expanded the
32:23
Speaker 1: boundaries from 6,000 to 60,000 square miles. Never once experienced
32:28
Speaker 1: defeat on the battle. From the time he kept his
32:32
Speaker 1: father's sheep all the way through Goliath, all the way
32:35
Speaker 1: through running from Saul in his paranoia, all the way
32:41
Speaker 1: through his being anointed king at age 30, and all
32:45
Speaker 1: the way to about age 50, his life is like
32:49
Speaker 1: a rooftop. It's going up and up and up and
32:52
Speaker 1: up and up. It looks like it will never end
32:56
Speaker 1: until Bathsheba. Second Samuel chapter 11, in a moment of
33:06
Speaker 1: adulterous lust, The man forgets himself and his God, and
33:17
Speaker 1: what a tragedy he is. F.B. Meyer writes, this is
33:25
Speaker 1: the most heinous of all, that one would become the
33:32
Speaker 1: cause of his own suffering, that the vulture which feeds
33:36
Speaker 1: on the vital is the nestling of one's own rearing. Ami,
33:40
Speaker 1: this is pain. And then the rooftop changes. And from
33:46
Speaker 1: there on, everything seems downhill. However, at the confession of
33:52
Speaker 1: his sin, which is chapter 12, Nathan faces him. And
33:58
Speaker 1: David finally hears enough to know the misery is over.
34:03
Speaker 1: I have been found out. And he says to Nathan,
34:06
Speaker 1: verse 13 of chapter 12, David confessed to Nathan, I
34:11
Speaker 1: have sinned against the Lord. Listen to the second chance.
34:16
Speaker 1: Nathan replied, yes, but the Lord has forgiven you. You
34:20
Speaker 1: know what should have happened and could have happened and
34:22
Speaker 1: would have happened? He would have been stoned. But he
34:27
Speaker 1: doesn't die by the grace of God and in the
34:30
Speaker 1: mercy of God, he lives on and begins to write
34:34
Speaker 1: other Psalms. By the way, no Psalms are written during
34:37
Speaker 1: the full year of his deception. when he hides his
34:41
Speaker 1: sin from his people. Finally, he's found out, and ultimately
34:46
Speaker 1: the sword never leaves his home as the consequences unroll.
34:52
Speaker 1: I could go on through others. I get to the
34:54
Speaker 1: New Testament. We come to Peter. We've looked at him before.
34:58
Speaker 1: No reason to turn. This spokesman for the disciples who
35:05
Speaker 1: has just made his greatest statement in life, you are
35:08
Speaker 1: the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord
35:13
Speaker 1: says to him, flesh and blood does not reveal that
35:16
Speaker 1: to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And
35:19
Speaker 1: then the Lord tells of his plans for the cross,
35:22
Speaker 1: and Peter rebukes him and says, you're not going to die.
35:28
Speaker 1: Many things will happen, but death will not be one
35:30
Speaker 1: of them. And the Lord says to him, get behind me, Satan.
35:35
Speaker 1: Shortly thereafter, Jesus says to him, before the cock crows twice,
35:41
Speaker 1: you will have denied me three times. And he did.
35:45
Speaker 1: That's exactly what happens. And Peter goes out and weeps
35:52
Speaker 1: bitterly at the second crowing of the cock. And ultimately
35:59
Speaker 1: the Lord comes back and says to him at the
36:01
Speaker 1: shores of Galilee, I want you to feed my sheep
36:05
Speaker 1: and feed my lambs. He gives him a second chance.
36:08
Speaker 1: And then I'll name another that is a little less famous,
36:13
Speaker 1: but we've talked of him before. That would be John Mark.
36:18
Speaker 1: Or John as he travels with Paul and Barnabas as
36:24
Speaker 1: they begin their first journey. And when things get tough
36:29
Speaker 1: and the mosquitoes bite and the diseases come and the
36:34
Speaker 1: mountains are high and the climb is arduous, and the
36:38
Speaker 1: future is bleak and the enemy is real, he gets
36:46
Speaker 1: scared and he deserts. He deserts the two and he
36:53
Speaker 1: slips away. He doesn't even leave a note. And they
36:57
Speaker 1: find out in the morning that he's taken his backpack
37:01
Speaker 1: and he's run. He's failed him. The failure is so
37:07
Speaker 1: real that when the apostle Paul and Barnabas are talking
37:11
Speaker 1: of a second journey, Barnabas wants so much to give
37:16
Speaker 1: John a second chance. Paul will have nothing of it.
37:20
Speaker 1: A man who will prove himself unfaithful once will prove
37:24
Speaker 1: himself unfaithful again, and he won't hear of it. Barnabas
37:28
Speaker 1: takes John and sails to Cyprus. Paul chooses Silas and
37:32
Speaker 1: begins the second journey. And John lives in the the
37:36
Speaker 1: backwash of that embarrassing failure, until finally, at the end
37:42
Speaker 1: of Paul's life, 2 Timothy, writing that final letter, Paul
37:48
Speaker 1: says to Timothy, bring John Mark with you. He would
37:53
Speaker 1: be profitable to me for the ministry. Second chance. How
37:58
Speaker 1: great that must have sounded in the ears of John Mark. Oh,
38:03
Speaker 1: should I mention? Yes. The same John Mark who gave
38:07
Speaker 1: us the second gospel. Aren't we grateful for the second chance? Matthew, Mark, Luke,
38:17
Speaker 1: and John. That's the one who wrote the first of
38:20
Speaker 1: the four gospels. Most likely Mark getting most of his
38:25
Speaker 1: information from Peter, Mark writes that first gospel account. He
38:31
Speaker 1: has been given a second chance. Now all of that
38:35
Speaker 1: has has prepared us for this third chapter of Jonah.
38:45
Speaker 1: We've groaned our way through Jonah's life, and we've found
38:51
Speaker 1: ourselves longing for Jonah to get the message. And finally,
38:59
Speaker 1: in the belly of the fish, he prays and offers
39:04
Speaker 1: up his his songs of praises and his sacrifices to
39:12
Speaker 1: the Lord and says, I will fulfill my vows, Jonah
39:16
Speaker 1: 2 and verse 9. My deliverance comes from the Lord alone.
39:21
Speaker 1: And when the Lord heard that, the fish spewed him
39:24
Speaker 1: out on the shoreline and there stands Jonah ready to
39:30
Speaker 1: hear these words of mercy from the Lord. Before I
39:36
Speaker 1: go into this third chapter, I know without walking among
39:46
Speaker 1: you that there are some of you who need to
39:48
Speaker 1: hear these words today. Some of you viewing this message
39:54
Speaker 1: today need to hear this. Because you have failed, and
40:01
Speaker 1: you're living in the misery of your memory. And you're
40:09
Speaker 1: embarrassed to think that that would be found out by others,
40:15
Speaker 1: and realize that you certainly are found out by the Lord.
40:21
Speaker 1: He's never been absent. So you especially hear these words,
40:29
Speaker 1: these brief words that come from Jonah chapter three. I
40:36
Speaker 1: love the beginning of the verse one, then the Lord.
40:39
Speaker 1: Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time. There's
40:50
Speaker 1: the God of the second chance. He doesn't have his
40:54
Speaker 1: hands on his hips shaming Jonah. He doesn't have his
40:58
Speaker 1: finger pointing at him saying, your own probation for the
41:04
Speaker 1: next two years to prove the sincerity of your repentance. No,
41:10
Speaker 1: that's not a second chance. That's probation. That's not forgiveness.
41:18
Speaker 1: The Lord comes to Jonah the second time. How great
41:22
Speaker 1: that must have been. Clarence Edward McCartney, pastor of the
41:26
Speaker 1: First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for years, toward the
41:31
Speaker 1: end of his life, wrote of the heroes of the
41:35
Speaker 1: Old Testament. And when he gets to Jonah, writes of
41:39
Speaker 1: this moment, how Jonah must have rejoiced over that second chance.
41:46
Speaker 1: What if God had spoken to us but once and
41:52
Speaker 1: never again? But how many second chances he gives us
41:59
Speaker 1: in his patience and his mercy? Isn't that the truth?
42:07
Speaker 1: How often God has come to us saying, I hear
42:12
Speaker 1: your words. I realize that you are repenting before me.
42:18
Speaker 1: I will honor that repentance with full forgiveness. Now let's
42:24
Speaker 1: go on. And notice what he says to Jonah. He says,
42:32
Speaker 1: get up and go to Nineveh. That sound familiar? It's
42:38
Speaker 1: exactly what he heard as the book begins. where he
42:44
Speaker 1: was told to get up and go to the great
42:48
Speaker 1: city of Nineveh. Check it for yourself, verse 2. But
42:53
Speaker 1: in that case, rather than going 500 miles east to Nineveh,
43:00
Speaker 1: he gets on the ship to travel 2,500 miles west
43:05
Speaker 1: to Tarshish. But now Jonah hears the second time It's
43:13
Speaker 1: the same message. God's desire for Nineveh to hear it
43:20
Speaker 1: has not changed. His person to make the announcement has
43:26
Speaker 1: not changed. It's still you, Jonah. You're still my spokesman.
43:35
Speaker 1: Failure though you have been, I give you this second
43:38
Speaker 1: chance to speak for me and deliver what I will
43:43
Speaker 1: give you. And I think that's worth noting here in
43:46
Speaker 1: this second verse, deliver the message I have given you.
43:56
Speaker 1: It wasn't Jonah's message to be proclaimed, it was God's.
44:02
Speaker 1: And every preacher, every evangelist, every missionary, Every musician who
44:09
Speaker 1: delivers the message of God must remember it is God's message.
44:17
Speaker 1: His message is to be proclaimed. It is not mine.
44:21
Speaker 1: It is not ours. It's interesting what God does not do.
44:29
Speaker 1: He does not tell Jonah what's going to happen as
44:33
Speaker 1: a result of his proclamation. How gracious of God not
44:40
Speaker 1: to tell him. Because I think Jonah was thinking they
44:44
Speaker 1: are going to be destroyed. Hot dog. That's what I want.
44:51
Speaker 1: As we've talked about Jonah the racist. He despises the Ninevites.
44:57
Speaker 1: He hates what they've been doing. He wants nothing but
45:00
Speaker 1: their destruction. So when he hears the message is the same,
45:03
Speaker 1: he thinks, I'll do it. I can take that message,
45:07
Speaker 1: but God doesn't tell him what is going to happen.
45:11
Speaker 1: By the way, it's gracious of God not to tell
45:16
Speaker 1: preachers or evangelists or prophets what he's going to do.
45:22
Speaker 1: Just deliver the message. Get out of the way. I'll
45:27
Speaker 1: take it from there. All I need is a voice box.
45:32
Speaker 1: You carry the message. I'll take it from there. reminds
45:36
Speaker 1: me of Habakkuk, one of the minor prophets that we
45:41
Speaker 1: rarely read. If you read Habakkuk, you're not very far
45:47
Speaker 1: into the account before you read two questions that stand out.
45:54
Speaker 1: I have them circled in my Bible. The first question is,
45:58
Speaker 1: how long, Lord? Because Habakkuk is living in perilous times.
46:05
Speaker 1: The people around him are wicked people. They are compromising.
46:11
Speaker 1: They are unjust. They are unfair. When justice goes forth,
46:18
Speaker 1: it's twisted. It's prejudiced. How long do I put up
46:25
Speaker 1: with this kind of people? And the Lord says, you
46:30
Speaker 1: stay right where you are. You're my man. And I
46:34
Speaker 1: know what I'm doing. And Habakkuk says, tell me what
46:39
Speaker 1: you're going to do. I'm ready to hear it. And
46:42
Speaker 1: the Lord says to him, if I told you, you
46:45
Speaker 1: wouldn't believe it. And Habakkuk responds, I will tell me.
46:52
Speaker 1: He says, all right. I'm bringing in the Babylonians, and
46:58
Speaker 1: they are going to wipe you folks out. And Habakkuk goes,
47:02
Speaker 1: I can't believe it. He finds out, and that's exactly
47:07
Speaker 1: what happens, which causes him in that second question to ask, why?
47:14
Speaker 1: Why would you do that? You see, in God's sovereign plan,
47:21
Speaker 1: there are mysterious ways things that unfold, and we can't
47:27
Speaker 1: see the end to at the time they are happening.
47:31
Speaker 1: And we wrestle with them. Matter of fact, we have
47:35
Speaker 1: trouble justifying some of them. We even can't defend them.
47:44
Speaker 1: But God is at work, and he knows what he's about.
47:51
Speaker 1: He says to Jonah, you take my message and you
47:55
Speaker 1: declare it, and this is it. Forty days from now,
47:59
Speaker 1: Nineveh will be destroyed, period. I'm telling you, that was
48:09
Speaker 1: a brief message, and that's Jonah's message. God could have
48:16
Speaker 1: used an angel. He didn't want to use an angel.
48:19
Speaker 1: He wanted a man. He wanted a spokesman. He chose
48:24
Speaker 1: a prophet, flawed though he had been. He chose one
48:29
Speaker 1: who had been given a second chance. And God's plan
48:36
Speaker 1: was to the point, wasn't it? I mean, look at
48:42
Speaker 1: the message there in that verse. I mean, it gives
48:49
Speaker 1: new meaning to what most young preachers need to remember.
48:54
Speaker 1: Stand up, speak up, and shut up. You tend to
49:00
Speaker 1: be reluctant about standing, getting into a message. You tend
49:04
Speaker 1: to meander around when you deliver. And it comes to
49:07
Speaker 1: the end, you don't know when to stop. Jonah, I
49:10
Speaker 1: got a period in this message. Don't hesitate to deliver it.
49:15
Speaker 1: Don't complicate it. And don't elaborate. You deliver. this message.
49:22
Speaker 1: Step up. No hesitation. Say it straight. No meanderings. And
49:32
Speaker 1: when you're done, get out of the way. No pleadings.
49:41
Speaker 1: I wish I had learned the value of that early on.
49:47
Speaker 1: I felt it was that so much was my responsibility.
49:51
Speaker 1: I felt that if I'm to deliver God's message, then
49:56
Speaker 1: I'm responsible for following up. So I got pretty legalistic
50:03
Speaker 1: early on, checking up on people and cornering people and
50:10
Speaker 1: and forming opinions about people. You know what? I don't
50:17
Speaker 1: do that anymore. I rest very easily in my nap
50:22
Speaker 1: on Sunday afternoons. I'm not worried about you. I'm not
50:29
Speaker 1: struggling over what God is going to do with his—
50:32
Speaker 1: the only thing that may bother me is if I
50:36
Speaker 1: garble the message. if I didn't deliver it clearly and
50:40
Speaker 1: carefully and well. But if I did, I'd get out
50:44
Speaker 1: of the way. You'll never know me to plead with
50:48
Speaker 1: you or follow you or beg you or in some
50:53
Speaker 1: way corner you, poking a finger on your sternum saying,
51:01
Speaker 1: are you listening? Did you stay awake and hear that?
51:06
Speaker 1: What have you done about last week's message? Most of
51:10
Speaker 1: you can't even remember last week's message, for whatever reason.
51:15
Speaker 1: So let me say this, and I'll get out of
51:17
Speaker 1: the way and take on my nap for this afternoon.
51:22
Speaker 1: Let me say, first of all, if you're running, you
51:27
Speaker 1: can't escape. If you've been running from God, I don't
51:32
Speaker 1: know of a bigger waste of time. You can't outrun. omnipresence.
51:39
Speaker 1: He's everywhere. The psalmist, as we heard read this morning
51:47
Speaker 1: in Christian's words from Psalm 139, even if I take
51:53
Speaker 1: the wings of the dawn and dwell in the remotest
51:56
Speaker 1: part of the sea, even there you will be. Even there.
52:03
Speaker 1: If I go to heaven, there you If I go
52:06
Speaker 1: to the place of the grave, you're there. You can't
52:09
Speaker 1: escape God. So stop the running. Stop and listen and
52:17
Speaker 1: turn around. It's called repentance. Second, I would say if
52:24
Speaker 1: you've blown it, seek his forgiveness. Don't wallow in the
52:31
Speaker 1: misery of your shame. Another waste of time. God sees
52:38
Speaker 1: that you've blown it. He understands that you're just like
52:43
Speaker 1: the rest of us, sinful, a pile of dust. That's
52:48
Speaker 1: the way you are. And he knows fully what you've
52:52
Speaker 1: done and why you've done it. And the good news
52:55
Speaker 1: is he's full of mercy. So if you've blown it,
53:02
Speaker 1: come to him. Come, just exactly as you are. You
53:09
Speaker 1: don't have to clean up or dress up or act up.
53:14
Speaker 1: All you've got to do is say, here I am, fallen, broken, miserable,
53:23
Speaker 1: and I need what you can give, and that's your forgiveness.
53:29
Speaker 1: So third, if you need a second chance, it's yours
53:32
Speaker 1: for the asking. Take it. Listen to these reassuring words again.
53:44
Speaker 1: It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not
53:48
Speaker 1: consumed because his compassions fail not. His compassions fail not.
53:59
Speaker 1: They are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. What
54:06
Speaker 1: good news that is. There's a wideness in God's mercy
54:13
Speaker 1: like the wideness of the sea. Bow with me, will you?
54:26
Speaker 1: Just with that mental image in mind of the vast
54:31
Speaker 1: sea that has formed the oceans around us. That's God's mercy.
54:42
Speaker 1: It's there. It's limitless. It's infinite. And the best part
54:50
Speaker 1: of all, it's available. It's there for you to take it.
55:00
Speaker 1: Embrace it. Claim it. I often give people a simple
55:08
Speaker 1: prayer to follow, if that will help. Lord, I'm a sinner.
55:18
Speaker 1: I know it. You know it. Most people who know
55:21
Speaker 1: me know it. I'm lost. I've been going in the
55:28
Speaker 1: wrong direction long enough. Today, I turn around. I repent
55:39
Speaker 1: of that direction and I move to you. Dear Father,
55:47
Speaker 1: and I take your son who paid the penalty for
55:52
Speaker 1: my sin as my Savior. Right now, I trust him
56:01
Speaker 1: to forgive me, to give me another chance. Thank you Father,
56:12
Speaker 1: for bringing Christ into my life. If you will pray that,
56:18
Speaker 1: we would love so much to follow up and help
56:22
Speaker 1: you along the way. But because we don't follow you around,
56:26
Speaker 1: we don't corner you, the next move is yours. You
56:31
Speaker 1: let us know you have made this decision Let us
56:37
Speaker 1: know how we can connect with you, and that will
56:40
Speaker 1: be our pleasure. That's why we exist, is to help
56:46
Speaker 1: people move from misery to mercy. Thank you, Lord, for
56:56
Speaker 1: speaking today in such a way that really even a
57:01
Speaker 1: child could understand. Thank you for the record that you
57:07
Speaker 1: have kept of people we've known about and read about,
57:13
Speaker 1: each of whom was a failure at some point, each
57:18
Speaker 1: of whom was used again by your mercy and grace.
57:25
Speaker 1: Thank you for telling us about that and giving us
57:29
Speaker 1: hope in the midst of this sea of mercy Thank
57:36
Speaker 1: you for cleansing us and washing us clean through the
57:42
Speaker 1: blood of the Lord Jesus. I pray that whoever may
57:48
Speaker 1: be hearing these words and having never come to Christ
57:53
Speaker 1: will trust you now for forgiveness and hope and eternal life.
58:02
Speaker 1: Through Jesus Christ, our faithful, truthful, loyal, merciful Savior, I pray.
58:16
Speaker 1: Everyone said amen. Amen.
58:25
Speaker 2: The preceding message, God of the Second Chance, was copyrighted
58:29
Speaker 2: in 2018, 2019, and 2025 And the sound recording was
58:34
Speaker 2: copyrighted in 2025 by Charles Arswindal Incorporated. All rights are
58:39
Speaker 2: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
58:44
Speaker 2: strictly prohibited.