A Roadmap to Repentance

I'd like to ask you a question tonight. I'm going to start with an assumption...that is that all of you have driven a car while you were on the outside. This is the question: How many of you have gone on some kind of a trip to someplace that you've never been before and you're not exactly sure how to get there? OK, so how many of you looked at a map? How many of you stopped and asked for directions? How many of you discovered that you'd driven right past the place three times before finally figuring out where you were supposed to be? Sometimes, trips can be really frustrating because you know where you want to go, but you're not always sure how to get there! And , all too often, our pride gets in the way of stopping and asking for help along the way, or to get directions.

Tonight, I'd like to talk about a trip that, prayerfully, we are all on right now. That trip is to repentance, and I've entitled my message tonight, "A Road map to Repentance." Why did I choose to speak on this particular subject? Well, most importantly, according to Matthew 4:17, it was the first thing that Christ preached. And, we find in Rev. 2:5 and 2:16, it's one of the last things He preached in His letters to the seven churches. That tells me that it is a pretty important topic.

There is a passage in 1 John that I'd like to begin with tonight. I have to admit, I struggled with this passage for quite a while. It's found in 1 Jn 5:3-4. "This is love for God; to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world." The New Living Translation states it this way: "Loving God means keeping His commandments, and really, that isn't difficult.: I don't know about you, but I don't always find it "not difficult" or "not burdensome" to always obey God's commands.

Early in my Christian walk, I became really good at confessing. And, it seemed the more I confessed, the more I found myself NEEDING to confess. And often times, for the same repeated sin. I've discovered that my problem was that I was really good at confessing, but I was really lousy at repenting. Do you want to know why? I really didn't understand what repentance was all about. I tended to confuse repentance with remorse. I was using the wrong definition for what I was wanting to do. As we look at the meaning of repentance, it means to change any or all of the elements composing one's life: attitudes, thoughts and behaviours concerning demands of God for right living. I'd be really sorry about what I'd just done, but I didn't know how to change.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes the importance of understanding the difference. In 7:9-10, he says, "yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended...Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." What Paul is saying is that if all we are is sorry for our sin, it's going to lead to spiritual death. That sorrow must lead to repentance. And tonight, I want to share three essentials to mark your way on the road to repentance.

First, we need to be RENEWED. This is a critical step, but sadly, too few Christians focus on what that means, and why it is so important. 2 Cor 5:17 tells us that "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come." What does that passage mean? When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, your "old" self dies. He's dead! He has no more power in your life. I heard it described like this one time. How many of you have ever gone to a funeral? The casket is usually up front...and sometimes it is opened for a final viewing. Let me ask you a question. What would happen if you went up to the casket and said, "come out John, let's go play a round of golf." Would the dead man get up? Why not? Because he is dead!! He has NO power! When you are renewed by the power of Jesus Christ in your life, your sin is the same as the man in the casket. It has NO power! It is dead! You are a new creation! But, too often we resurrect the sin in our life. We try to bring it back to life, or, we act like it is still strong and powerful. You need to remember that you have been renewed...you are a new creation...a new creation in the image of Jesus Christ.

The second point on our road map is that we need to know how to RUN. And not only how to run, but also when to run. We live in a world that is filled with traps that Satan has set for us. Traps that include drugs and alcohol, old friends, greed, lust, people who irritate us. No matter where we go in this world, we can find temptation to sin. And if we are not careful, those temptations will overpower us. Sadly, I know from personal experience all too well. But Paul gives us one of the most encouraging verses in Scripture related to sin and temptation in 1 Cor 10:13. "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

There are some critical points to this passage I want to explore. First, you are not alone! Other people deal with the same temptations that you do. But the enemy wants you to think otherwise. He wants you to believe that you alone have those kinds of thoughts and desires. "You can't tell anyone. Do you know what people would think of you if they knew? You have to keep this a secret. You can handle it all on your own...you have to." I want to tell you something...those are all lies directly from the pit of Hell! Remember why the enemy is here...he's here to kill, steal and destroy, and he doesn't care what he has to do to accomplish that.

The second point is that the temptation will NEVER be so great that you can't bear it. It may feel like it is too big, or it has too much power. But remember, it may have been too big for the "old" you, but he is dead. You are a new creation. And second, you don't have to bear it by yourself...you have help. That help is Jesus Christ. Psalm 68:19 tells us that the Lord DAILY bears our burdens for us.

And the third point is that God will show you how to RUN. He will give us a way out if we only ask Him. He won't leave us in our temptations any longer than we want to stay there. Some of you may recall a time when you were strongly tempted to do something wrong, and said a silent breath prayer. And what happens...miraculously, the phone rings. Or, someone unexpectedly shows up. Or, the words to a new Christian song pops into your head, and the temptation is gone. A coincidence? Never! A miracle from God? Without a doubt!

After we have recognized that we are renewed in Christ and we have learned how to run, the third essential point on our road map is to REPLACE. We all carry about a lot of garbage in our minds and in our hearts. This stuff haunts us, and continually words to drag us back into our old way of life. So, what do we do? We follow Paul's advise in his letter to the Philippians. Phil 4:8 says, "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praise worthy--think about such things." This is one of the ways that we turn from the life we lived to the life God desires for us to live.

I encourage you to do this exercise sometime. On a small card, write each of the key words from Phil 4:8..."true", "noble", "pure", etc. And beside each of the words, write an example of what that word means to you. What would you be doing if you were "doing" each of the words listed? Those words become a picture of whatever repentance looks like. A picture of what your life will look like when you consistently walk the path of repentance.

I've described three key components of changing your life tonight...to turn from a constant battle with temptation to a walk of repentance. I've given you the three "R's"...RENEW, RUN and REPLACE. They should be easy to memorize. But, I want to leave you with one final "R" word tonight. That word is REMEMBER. What is that I want you to remember? Remember the guilt and misery that you felt every time you sinned. Remember the pain and sadness and suffering you caused to those you love and who loved you because of the sin in your life and the consequence for that sin. Remember the pain and agony that Jesus Christ bore for your sins when He hung on the cross of Calvary! Remember that Christ dwells in you, and He is sinless...draw on His power to walk in obedience to Him. Remember that you are a renewed creation, a child of the Creator of the universe. Remember that you can't get to the destination...repentance...if you try to do it on your own...follow the road map...it's all right here in the Word of God!

Let's pray.

Message delivered at TCI on February 8, 2007

Take the "Mulligan"!

How many of you here tonight have ever played golf? I love the sport! I'm not very good at it, but I do love to play. One of the things about the game of golf is, that unless you're a professional, no one is really all that good. And as a result of that, there is a practice common to golf called "giving a mulligan." What's a "mulligan" you may be wondering? I'm glad you asked! To put it simply...it's a second chance. If you mess up the tee shot, often times those men you're playing with will just say, "take a mulligan." I've learned to accept this gift. Before I came in here, I lived on a golf course and nearly every hole had deep woods, water or 'out of bounds' on it. And my ball frequently found one of those places. Receiving a mulligan saved my score on a number of occasions.

You may be wondering what playing golf and this "mulligan" thing has to do with our walk with Jesus Christ. Since I've been at TCI, I've kept a sticky note in front of my Bible that lists a bunch of people that God gave a second chance to in the Scriptures. I was reading a book last week and one of the chapters was titled, "The Lord of the Mulligan" and I didn't have to read a word of it to know what the author was going to talk about. We serve a God who gives us a second chance...who gives us a "Mulligan". For that reason, my message tonight is simply called, "Take the Mulligan!"

You know, the Bible is a strange book for a Holy book. If I had been the author, I think I would have written different stories. I would think that it should be full of stories about "perfect people", but it's not. It would be a stretch to say that many of the people we read about are even good...at least when left to themselves. But, the more I read this amazing Book, the more I understand that it's full of stories about people just like me...and you. And what I want to do tonight is take a look at a few of those people's stories.

One of the great characters of the Bible is Samson. When I was growing up, I didn't know a lot about the people in the Bible...we didn't go to church. But, I knew who Samson was. He was the strongest man around, and what boy wouldn't want to be just like him. I was no exception. He could beat everyone, even Hercules. We find the story of Samson in chapters 13-16 in the book of Judges. There are a few things about his story I want to touch on. First, Judges 13:5 tells us that Samson was set apart to God from birth. Like Isaac, Samuel and John the Baptist, Samson's birth was miraculous because his mother was sterile before God intervened. We read in Judges 13:24-25 that Samson was blessed by God.

Even though Samson was chosen by God and blessed by Him, he had a serious sin problem. He had a real problem controlling his sexual appetite. We read in Judges 14:1-2 that he decided to marry a Philistine, which was forbidden under Jewish law. We also read that he frequented prostitutes in 16:1. That wasn't Samson's only problem. He also had a problem giving into pressure, at least the pressure exerted by a nagging woman. He gave in and told his bride-to-be the solution to his riddle and gave the secret of his strength to Delilah after she nagged and prodded him day after day.

How many Samson's do we have here tonight? I'm not talking about those of you who have Samson's muscles...I'm talking about his weaknesses. Do any of you struggle with sexual sin? how about allowing yourself to be talked into doing something that you didn't really want to do, or that you knew was wrong? That was Samson's story.

But it's important that we read the rest of the story. Even in his sin, God didn't forget about Samson. We read in 16:21-22 that after his hair had been shaved off and his eyes gouged out and he was made a slave to the Philistines, his hair started to grow back. His hair that had been his strength when he was set apart to God. Samson could have just wallowed in his own self-pity and misery, but god had ordained a purpose for him from before his birth. God gave him a "mulligan", another chance, to serve God's purpose for Him. When given the opportunity to destroy more Philistines at one time than all the he had killed during his lifetime, he called on God for strength and toppled the temple on top of 3000 Philistines who were in it. God offered him a "mulligan" and he took it.

Another man described in the Bible is one many of us don't think or talk about very much, and I've never heard anyone say that they wanted to be like this man. His name was Zacchaeus, a tax collector and we read about him in Luke 19:1-9. During Jesus' time, tax collectors were a despised profession, much like it is today with the IRS. They were considered traitors by their fellow Jews and often were not men of integrity. But as we read his story, we find a man who is steeped in his sin, seeking to see who Jesus is. We know the story...Zacchaeus is too short to see Jesus over the crowd so he climbs a tree. And Jesus stops under the tree and called him to come down...that He wanted to eat at Zacchaeus' house that night. How did Zacchaeus respond? He took the "mulligan!" Zaccheaus repented, gave half of his wealth away to the poor and paid back all those he had cheated.

Do we have any Zacchaeus' here tonight? have you lived a life of selfishness? Have you cheated and stolen...extorted from those who trusted you? God is calling you tonight. "Take the Mulligan!" and live a new life in Christ.

I can't talk about second chances tonight without also talking about Peter. As we read the New Testament, we see him fail so many times. His sins weren't as obvious as those of Samson or Zacchaeus, but his sins are what most of us see in professing Christians every day. Peter relied on his own strength and his own way far too much instead of looking to Christ. He rebuked Jesus because He said He had to go to Jerusalem to die. He told Christ he would never deny Him, but he failed miserably. He walked on the water, but began to sink the moment he took his eyes off of Christ.

Is there anyone named Peter here tonight? Do any of you want to keep seeing things your own way instead of God's way? Do any of you deny Him by remaining silent when you have an opportunity to proclaim His power and majesty? John 21:15-19 is one of the greatest stories in the Bible about second chances. Jesus Christ gave Peter a "mulligan" and he accepted it. He'll give you one too...please take it.

Does everyone in the Bible who is offered a "mulligan" take it? Sadly...no. There are several stories I could share, but I'll only mention one. King Saul was anointed as the first king of Israel. He was counseled by Samuel and God gave Saul his directions through Samuel. In 1 Samuel 13:8-14, we read that Saul was rebuked by Samuel for not trusting in the Lord when he made a sacrifice of burnt offerings instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive and do it. God was displeased with Saul but He didn't reject him. Instead, God directed him to completely destroy the Amelekites. But again, Saul failed, and didn't obey God's command. When confronted by Samuel, Saul made excuses instead of confessing his sin and repenting. We know the rest of the story...Saul is later killed in battle and the kingdom goes to David. Saul was offered a "mulligan"...a second chance, and he didn't take it.

The Bible is full of stories about people just like you and me. People who had the same human frailties we have. As we read the stories, so many of them are offered a "mulligan"...a second chance. Some accepted, some didn't.

Where are you tonight? You are hearing this message for a reason! God wants you to know that He can still use you. He's giving you a "mulligan"...it's why you're here tonight. The second chance that He gives you might not be the shot that you want to take, but it's what God is giving you. Take the "mulligan" and renew your walk with Christ.

How many of you watched the movie over the weekend called "Gridiron Gang"? The story of teenage gangsters given a second chance to change their lives...to get away from the gangs. Sadly, not all of them accepted the "mulligan". I want you to look around this room right now. And later, look around your unit, and around the compound. Statistics tell us that of all the men on this compound, about 87% will re-offend and end up back in jail or prison. A sad number. But, I'll tell you what's even sadder. Of all the men on this compound who profess to be a Christian, who say they live for Christ, nearly the same percent, more than 80% will re-offend and end up back in a place like this. Eight out of ten in this room. Why? Because they are walking along with God, playing the game, but not accepting the "mulligan". They are not changing and starting over.

I want to leave you with a passage from 2 Corinthians 5:17. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone and the new has come." Tonight, you can become new. You can become a new creation. You can get a second chance. All it takes is surrendering completely to Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life. Don't be like King Saul and make excuses. Don't be like Judas and wait until it's too late. Take the "mulligan"...tonight...right now, and accept the new chance that God is giving you through His Son.

Let's pray...

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