The Offer of a Second Chance

SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, February 28th. If you try to measure up to God’s standards on your own, you’ll always come up short. But today, you’ll hear how God has provided a way for you to be given the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:18

For people who look at their past and still feel the pangs of guilt, and somehow think in their hearts there’ll never be a time in their life when they’ll ever feel free and clean again, this is a message of hope. The passage of Scripture I want to deal with deals with this very issue of how God looks upon our life. Not in condemnation, but love and forgiveness and cleansing and freedom and a whole new beginning. And the title of this message is simply this, The Offer of a Second Chance. Now somebody says, well now, how can God give me a second chance? I want you to see it in this passage. God’s offer of a second chance. If you’ll turn to John chapter 8. The Scripture says, beginning in John chapter 8, verse 1, “‘But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him, and He sat down and began to teach them. And the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the midst, they said to Him, “‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery in the very act.'” Now in the law of Moses, it commands her to be stoned. That is to stone such women. What then do you say? They were saying this, testing him in order that they might have grounds for accusing him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking him, he straightened up and said to them, he who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And when they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones. And he was left alone in the woman where he had been in the midst. And straightening up, Jesus said to her, Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you? And she said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.” Well, listen to what happens in this passage because here is certainly a word of encouragement to people who have fallen in life or whatever the reason. Jesus has been talking, and in fact, the day before, they tried to arrest him. And the Scripture says that the officers who came back to the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and they said, well, where is he? And here was their reply. Never a man spake like this. They could not arrest him. So the scripture says the people go home. Jesus goes up to the Mount of Olives, which is one of his favorite places of praying. And he probably spent the night up there praying and talking to the Father. the next morning early he comes down to the temple and so the people of gather around them because they’re so interested he’s teaching their and the temple and the people of gathered around in the midst of his lesson whatever he was teaching on here come the pharisees and the sadducees dragging this woman in and sort of flinging her down in front of him and saying to him a rabbi this woman was caught in the very act of adultery what do you think should be done to her When you first read that, you say, well, what should be done to her? But what you have to ask is, what’s really going on here? Because these Pharisees and Sadducees hated Jesus so intensely. Their hatred was so intense that they would be willing to do anything in order to trap him in some fashion. And so this is what this passage of Scripture is all about. It’s all about God’s forgiveness on the one hand. It’s all about the religious leaders of Jesus’ day being willing to do anything in order to destroy his influence and to destroy his impact upon the people around him. And so when you read this passage, you have to ask yourself the question, what is going on in the hearts of these people? Now, here’s this woman lying here before him in her sense of guilt and shame, knowing that she had failed, knowing that she was guilty of what they were accusing her of. But what was really going on is that these Pharisees and Sadducees, every time they got in an argument with Jesus, they failed. And they would have to walk away. Oftentimes, he would give them some very short answer to their questions or turn it right back on them. And so in their sense of embarrassment, their determination, their vehemence, their anger, their hostility, they were willing for this woman to be shamed. They were willing for her to be embarrassed. They were willing for her to even be stoned to death. They were willing to use her as a tool in order to get their objectives. And that is to see Jesus destroyed in some fashion. It didn’t make any difference. Listen, the worst kind of persecution is religious persecution. The world oftentimes persecutes its own, but somehow it seems that people who are legalistic, legalistic in their beliefs can sometimes be the most intense, in their persecution, in their criticism, in their judgment, in their condemnation of other people. And oftentimes, what you’ll find out is this, that those who are the most condemning are those who have the most to hide themselves. And so, my friend, in the Christian life, according to what Jesus said, and according to what Paul said, he said we are to lift up one another, we are to love one another, we are to encourage one another, we are to forgive one another. In fact, there’s a whole string of one another’s that Paul gives us. And all of them are those encouraging kind of one another toward each other. You say, well, now, are you trying to belittle this sin? Not trying to belittle at all. There’s nothing about it that can be belittled because she was guilty. She admits her guilt. There is absolutely no defense whatsoever in this passage anywhere in here. And so they bring her before the Lord Jesus and they say, here’s what the law says. The law says that she is to be condemned. And so they said to him, what is your judgment about this? The Bible says that Jesus didn’t say anything for a moment. He stooped down and he began to write in the dust of the sand in the temple floor. And so they kept on saying, well, what do you say? What do you say? And so they thought they had him trapped because if he’d have said, well… we’re not going to stone her. Then it said, aha, see, he doesn’t keep the law, and he would have lost credibility with the people who are following him. If he had said, stone her to death, then the Romans would have him in real trouble because while the Sanhedrin had the right and the authority to prosecute people who broke the civil law, the religious laws, they did not have the privilege or the right to condemn or to execute someone. That was Roman law, and only by Roman law could a person be executed. And so they were absolutely certain. They had him where he could not escape. And so he simply wrote in the sand. He didn’t say anything, and they kept saying to him, Well, what do you say? Here’s what the law of Moses says. Now, what are you going to say about this? And so Jesus wrote. They must have come up and started looking to see what he was writing. He said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. Can you imagine how quiet everything became? And the Bible says that one by one, beginning with the oldest one, they begin to slip out. Now, somebody said, well, why do you suppose they began with the oldest one? Because the older they were, the more sins they had on their list. Can you imagine how embarrassed they were? and how shocked they were and how their conscience was stung all the way to the bitter center. And here, once again, they could not trick the Lord Jesus Christ. And while they were in the process of trying to condemn this woman, He simply said to them, well, go ahead, cast the first stone. And they could not. So Jesus said to her, woman, where are thine accusers? the Bible says that she said, I don’t have any accusers. They’re gone. And Jesus said, neither do I condemn thee. And so someone says, well, how could he simply say to her, go and sin no more? Here’s the reason. Because you see, Jesus Christ knew that he was the Lamb of God sent into this world to die for her sin. You say, well, but Calvary hadn’t even happened at that point. No, it had not. But here’s what you have to remember. He knew that Calvary was coming, but in the mind of God, God sees all things at one time as if it were present tense. God sees it all at one time. So when she fell before the Lord Jesus Christ and looking into those eyes of compassion and loving forgiveness, and he was forgiving her, he was forgiving her on the basis of what was about to happen. He was going to the cross. In the mind of God, the crucifixion was there before the beginning of time. So that when God forgives, he sees all things and he sees them all at one time. It is the cross of Jesus Christ and the cross only that provides forgiveness. So when he said to her, neither do I condemn thee, was he excusing her sin by no means? Was he just saying, well, it’s all right? No, he was not belittling her sin. He was not compromising with her sin. He was conquering sin by forgiving her. He understood her heart. He understood where she was in her shame and her sense of condemnation and guilt and regret. He knew her heart. It was a heart of genuine repentance. And so he said to her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. what do you imagine suddenly burst forth in her mind? Here she was full of fear, full of condemnation, full of guilt, full of sin, and full of deep, deep regret, full of fear of what was about to happen. When he said to her, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. Hope burst forth in her heart. And what was that hope? It was the hope of That she could begin life again. It was the hope that she had a second chance at life. That this was nothing. Listen, it had come to what appeared to be the end. But it was Jesus who gave her another opportunity. That’s what forgiveness is all about. That’s what the grace of God is all about. The grace of God is God forgiving us of our sins. The grace of God is about God looking into our life and giving us forgiveness and looking into our life and saying life’s not over. There is a second chance and a third chance and a fourth chance and a fifth chance. And you see, every time God has ever forgiven us of our sin, we have a new opportunity. We have the new privilege of walking today in the grace and goodness and love of God. but my friend if you don’t believe in the forgiveness of god and if you believe that somehow that your sin could be so bad listen doesn’t make any difference what it is it’s not a matter of compromising sin we’re talking about the awesome power of the shedding of the blood of jesus so awesome that god has placed upon the lord jesus christ the debt of the sin of the entire world And he says, if you’re willing to ask him to forgive you, if you’re willing to ask him to cleanse you, if you’re willing to ask for a new beginning, that he is willing to give it, listen, not on the basis of a brand new performance of no sin, but on the basis of what Jesus did at Calvary and you’re placing your trust in him. So he said to her, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. So we have to ask the question, how does God provide forgiveness? He provided forgiveness in the Old Testament. He provided forgiveness in the New Testament. He provides forgiveness today the very same way. It was through the blood of Jesus that forgiveness came. And so no matter what is in the past, It is a matter of placing your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and asking Him to forgive you of your sin. So you say, well, in order for God to give me a second chance at life, for God to be able to so work in my life that I’m no longer glued to the past, trapped by the past, locked in the past, imprisoned by it, you mean I can be so forgiven that I don’t have to look at that anymore, I don’t have to live with that anymore, that I can look at life with an absolute newness of heart? What has to take place? Three things. Number one, you have to face your sin. You can’t deny it. You can’t just ignore it. You can’t just act like it never happened. You have to face it. And you see, one of the reasons some people can’t experience freedom from the past, they won’t really face it. That is, they won’t face it as if to deal with it. They face it because it is there, but it is always a burden they carry. We’re talking about facing sin by saying, Father, I am guilty. Yes, God, this was in my life. This was in my mind. These were the actions of my life. Yes, God, I did blow it in the past. That is, facing sin is being willing to confess it to him. Facing sin is acknowledging it. Facing sin is taking responsibility for it. Acknowledging it, facing responsibility, and refusing to blame circumstances and someone else for what happened. So if I want a second chance, I have to face my sin. The second thing that’s important is this. I have to be willing to accept His forgiveness. Until you’re willing to accept His forgiveness, the burden is going to remain there. Nothing else in life will take away that burden except your willingness to accept God’s forgiveness based on the cross. It’s what He did, not what you’re going to do. And so first of all, I must face the sin. Second, I must be willing to experience the forgiveness of sin. And there’s a third thing, and that is I must believe that I have a future in the person of Jesus Christ. You see, if you don’t face it and you can’t be willing to forgive yourself for what God has forgiven you for and believe that you have a future provided by Almighty God, you will live in the past. You will live with the burdens. You will feel the drag on your life emotionally. You’ll feel the drag in your life spiritually. You’ll feel the drag in your life physically, ultimately out there somewhere, unless you are willing to deal with it. Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Does that mean that he expected her to live a perfect life? No. He was saying to her, do not get involved in this again. Do not commit this sin again. He knew she was not going to be perfect. No one’s perfect. He was simply saying to her, neither do I condemn you. Jesus said, for example, in the third chapter of John, he said, I have not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through me might be saved. And in Galatians, for example, he said, Paul said, if you see your brother stumble, you don’t condemn him. You don’t kick him. You don’t criticize him or her. What do you do? He says, you encourage them. You lift them up, lest you too being tempted should fall. And so the people of God are to be loving, kind. Doesn’t mean you ignore sin. Doesn’t mean you overlook sin. But listen, we have the pattern of Jesus. When someone stumbles, someone falls. It is to be loving, forgiveness, and encouragement. And he says reaching out to help that person, to restore that person. That is exactly what Jesus did. He had the authority and the right to say to her, you’re to be condemned because you’ve sinned. You’ve violated very specifically one of the Ten Commandments. Therefore, this is what you have coming to you. Aren’t you glad that God does not give us what we deserve? Amen? We don’t get what we deserve. It is the grace of God. But my friend, listen, it only comes through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. So when somebody says to you, well, how could Jesus just say to her, you’re forgiven? Because he knew her repentant heart. He knew her heart was confessing. Her heart was repentant. He could look into her eyes and see the humility, the regret, the penitence, He could see in her heart, he knew her heart, that it wasn’t just a matter of regret because she had been caught. She said to him, Lord, no one. She understood who he was. She yielded herself to him right there in the moments in which she was about to die from being stoned to death. It was Christ’s loving compassion that said to her, neither do I condemn thee. Do you know what that says? It says, my friend, God is not in the habit of just condemning. God didn’t come to condemn but to convert these evil ways of ours. He came to transform our life. He says, I come to give you life abundantly. He wants to transform our life, give us a whole new beginning. He wants us to love Him because love is His way. And so when you look at your life and you say, how could God ever forgive me? By His great grace, He forgives all of our sin. And so as you think about your present life and you think about your past and you think about your future, you have to ask yourself this question. Am I going to live like this the rest of my life? Am I willing to accept the goodness and the love and the graciousness of God and accept His forgiveness and understand that my heavenly Father offers me another chance, a new beginning in life? You have the privilege at this very moment to say to your past, I don’t have to live with you anymore. I don’t have to bear this weight anymore. I don’t have to feel this shame anymore. I don’t have to feel this guilt anymore. My loving heavenly Father provided in the coming of Jesus a way for me to lay down the past, feel clean and pure and free once again, and to start a brand new life. How does it begin? This is the way it begins, by asking the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin. On the basis of what He did at Calvary and telling Him the beginning today, you are laying down the past in faith, in His forgiveness, and you’re trusting Him to be your Savior, your Lord, and your Master. My friend, the moment you’re willing to do that, your life begins to be brand new, and you can tell your past goodbye and say good morning to a brand new life. It is yours for the asking if you’re willing to receive His forgiveness and His cleansing. It is the gift of a loving Father.

SPEAKER 02 : 18:55

Thank you for listening to The Offer of a Second Chance. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.