THROW OUT THE OLD, BRING IN THE NEW
Mark 1:15
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.
2. In 2023, may your neighbors respect you, troubles neglect you, angels protect you, and heaven accept you.
3. May all your troubles last as long as your New Year resolutions.
4. Remember you can reset your resolutions on January 14th (Orthodox New Year) and February 8th (Chinese New Year). After that, even I can't help you.
5. Keep the smile, Leave the tear, Retain the laugh, Leave the pain, Think of joy, Forget the fear. Be joyous, cause it's a New Year.
6. New Year’s Eve is when the Mayor drops the ball in New York while Congress is dropping the ball in Washington.
7. Every New Year I resolve to lose 20 pounds, and I do. The problem is that I gain 30. - Melanie White
B. 2023 THEMES
1. 2023 – YEAR OF SPIRITUAL BATTLE. We’re going to do battle with the flesh. Lighten the load. The devil’s been taking ground all year. Aren’t you glad you can start over? Women like to do Spring cleaning. We like to get our cars detailed. It’s time to get our personal life detailed. We ought to be doing that spiritually.
2. January is Go-To-The-Altar Month. I want you to plan on going to the altar every Sunday in January – if for no other reason – than to put down the flesh and showing God you’re sincere about drawing closer to Him in 2023.
C. THESIS
1. NEW YEAR’S TRADITION OF THROWING THINGS out of the window. In European countries they throw old chipped dishes or glasses out their windows at midnight to bring in the New Year. In South Africa they throw old furniture, including chairs, old TVs, and even refrigerators out into the streets at midnight. Anything that has a bad memory or something unpleasant associated with it, is heaved out the window! That’s a great idea for getting rid of the old, and starting off with the new!
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13517223/new-years-eve-traditions-world-furniture-cemetery-parties/
2. It’s scriptural; “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” 2 Cor. 5:17. What a great thing – to start off the new year with a clean slate!
3. OUR DIRECTION TODAY IS REPENTANCE. 2 Chron. 7:14 says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The first three things to do can be summarized in the word – “REPENT.” The first sermon Jesus preached was “The time has come. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news!” Mk. 1:15. REPENTANCE HAS 3 PARTS:
I. DEEP SORROW FOR OUR SINS
A. ARE YOU TEACHABLE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT?
1. This happens as we EXAMINE OUR LIVES FOR SINS. God told Jeremiah the prophet, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (17:9) We are so blinded by sin we don’t even see our sin as God does.
2. David was “a man after God’s own heart” for a reason; he was willing to be vulnerable to God. He prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Ps. 139:23-24.
3. We need to ask God to turn on the search light of His Holy Spirit in our hearts to expose every word, thought, motive & action that is displeasing to God. Q - Are you willing to know the truth about yourself?
B. OUTWARD SYMPTOMS YOU’RE MOVING AWAY FROM GOD
1. The Lord Jesus reminded us of LOT’S WIFE (Lk. 17:32). You know you’re starting to mess up if you a. BEGIN TO LINGER BEHIND other Christians, like Lot’s wife. As she and her family fled from Sodom, she began to slacken her pace in departing from the world. SHE STARTED WISHING SHE COULD GO BACK; Have YOU felt like doing the things you used to do again? It’s a Dire Warning!
2. Have prayer meetings lost their interest? Have your personal devotions become stale & powerless? Is “one service a week” more than enough? It’s because your heart is cold; you no longer love God’s House! The old fallen nature is growing again, and IF YOU DON’T DO SOMETHING, the sin will take you over again!
3. ILLUS. When I first started playing the guitar, the strings cut & hurt my fingers very much. But after each time I got “cut” by playing, my skin (like conviction) began to thicken and eventually developed a callous. Now when I play it no longer hurts.
4. At first we’re very sensitive to the Holy Spirit, but if we keep dabbling with sin, our hearts become harder & harder until we can’t feel the Holy Spirit’s conviction!
5. DEEP SORROW, not only for our own sin, but the sin of our Nation! God told an angel, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it” Ezek. 9:4. Do we grieve over sin?
II. UTTER FORSAKING OF SIN
A. ‘REPENT’ MEANS TO STOP KNOWN SINS
1. Repent means to make a UTURN, to go the opposite direction you’ve been going. In Eph. 4:28 Paul said, “Let him that stole steal no more.” We could say, “Let him who gossiped, who lied, who hates, who practices sexual sin, who curses, etc., do so NO MORE!”
2. REPENTANCE MEANS TO STOP.
a. A police officer pulled a man over for failure to stop at a stop sign. The driver argued that to slow down - almost to a stop - was the same as stopping.
b. The officer took out his ticket book and said, “Let me illustrate the difference. I’m about to write you an $800 ticket. Would you rather me ‘slow down’ writing the ticket, or completely ‘STOP’ writing the ticket?
3. REPENTANCE IS BEING SORRY ENOUGH TO QUIT
a. A pastor asked a group of young people, “What is meant by the word repentance?" A boy raised his hand, "Being sorry for your sins.”
b. A girl on the back row looked like she disagreed, so the pastor asked her, “Makayla, what do you think?" She said, “I think repentance means being sorry enough to quit."
B. ILLUS.: FORSAKING SIN NECESSARY
1. At a large church, one of the staff asked a man who’d come forward to commit to Christ, “Do you believe John 3:16 and 1 John 1:9?”
2. The man answered, “Yes I do!” The staff member said, “Then you are saved.”
3. To which the man replied, “No I’m not, for the Bible also says, “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord…for He will abundantly pardon” Isa. 55:7.
III. TRUST IN CHRIST TO WASH AWAY SIN
THANK GOD FOR THE WONDERFUL TRUTH THAT THERE IS FORGIVENESS FROM SIN!
A. ILLUS.: ACCESS TO HIGH PLACES
1. During the Civil War, a man’s son deserted his post in battle and was to be shot by a firing squad. So the father went to Washington DC seeking the President’s pardon.
2. But he couldn't get into the White House; the guards denied him access. So he sat on the bench outside, praying, day after day, that his son’s execution might be stopped.
4. One day a small boy saw him crying and asked him why? He told the boy about his son; the boy was touched. The boy said, "Follow me." He walked up to the front gate, looked up at the soldiers and said, "It's okay. He's with me." The gate opened.
5. They marched up to the White House; the guards opened the door. The boy walked down the hall to the meeting room where the President was with his cabinet. The boy went up to the President and climbed on his lap. An intermission was called.
6. The boy said, "Daddy, I met a man. He needs your help." The man was brought and told his story. Lincoln took out his pen, signed a document and handed it to the man. It said, "Presidential Pardon, Signed, Abraham Lincoln, President of the U.S." The man's SON had been pardoned!
7. Through tears, the man asked, "Why did you do this for me?" Lincoln replied, "I did it because my SON took an interest in your situation!” (David A. Sargent)
8. The same is true of God the Father forgiving us because of His Son Jesus!
B. THERE’S POWER IN THE BLOOD
1. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 Jn. 1:8-9. “Without the shedding of blood there is NO forgiveness!” Heb. 9:22. Thank God for the blood of Jesus. We’re saved through faith in His blood.
2. We can’t be a Christian without repentance, and we can’t grow without regular repentance. Acts 17:30-31. In fact, spiritual growth is the habit of repenting and turning to Christ regularly. Repentance must be our lifestyle if we’re going to stay Christians. That’s why we’re going to the altar!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: ALL THE CHURCH NEEDS TO REPENT
1. In 1985, a missions organization assigned a family to work in a predominantly Muslim city. For decades the denomination had labored in that city and only had 5 small missions churches with few members.
2. So the new mission’s family joined 14 other believers in praying for a break-through. During an all-night prayer meeting they sensed God was telling them “He didn’t have any clean vessels to use.”
3. They fell on the dirt floor and began confessing their sins. God revealed everything in their lives that was hindering His work.
4. REVIVAL BROKE OUT. The people proclaimed the gospel with boldness. Over the next 3 ½ years, 132,000 people made professions of faith. By 1989, 156 churches had been started.
B. THE CALL
1. Are we so good that we don’t need to repent? NO! The old sinful self must die. You have a paper, “SEVEN THINGS TO CHANGE IN THE NEW YEAR.” Fill it out.
2. God is giving us an opportunity to repent and get a second chance. Don’t let it expire! COME NOW TO THE ALTAR!
3. After you repent and commit these things to the Lord, take them to the PAPER SHREDDERS and grind it up, signifying that you’re leaving all those things behind in 2022.
HANDOUT, BEGINNING OF SERVICE
SEVEN THINGS
TO CHANGE IN THE NEW YEAR
1. TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS
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2. COMPLAINING Attitude
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3. Dump FAILURES/BAD DECISIONS
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4. HEAL YOUR BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS
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5. Get rid of UNHEALTHY HABITS
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6. Limit OVERCOMMITMENT/ PERFECTIONISM
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7. OTHER...
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