Before we begin today, I want you to think of someone that you have a hard time forgiving. Someone that you just can’t seem to forgive, no matter how hard you try. Now, if you have your notes, I want you to write the initials of that person down on your notes.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that it matters what you say. In other words, words are important—not just what is said, but how it is said.
A man was in the doghouse with his wife, so he ordered her some flowers and told the florist that the card should read, "I’m sorry, I love you." Unfortunately, his instructions must not have been clear enough. When the flowers arrived, the card read, "I’m sorry I love you."
I think it’s funny what we have done, maybe unconsciously, in our dealings with other people. When people come to us and tell us that they are sorry, what used to be the response in this country? Apology accepted, or maybe, you’re forgiven. Today, we just say, That’s okay.
But is it? We haven’t truly said that they are forgiven, and I think that is why we say it. Notice I said, “we”. I’m guilty of saying “It’s okay” as well. We say things like that, when things are not okay. We get hurt, and we remember. We hold on to hurts, and never let them go.
If there’s one thing that we all have in common this morning, it is that we all have a need for forgiveness. We all have a need for a second chance, an opportunity to make thngs right again. There’s not one of us here this morning that has lived a perfect life, that has not wronged someone else, including God. We all have a common need, yet sometimes we rarely practice it amongst ourselves.
This morning, we are going to look at John 8 this morning, the first 11 verses, as well as some other passages, so we can learn more about second chances, and why it is important.
READ JOHN 8:1-11
The first thing that we see about second chances are that they are freely given by God.
As Jesus was teaching at the temple, the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. This was a test to see what Jesus would say. They knew that Jesus would preach a message of forgiveness, so if they could get him to say that he forgave her, then they had him. You see, the Scriptures said in Deuteronomy 22—“If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 24 you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.”
So, if Jesus said to forgive her, then he was going against the Law. If he said to stone her, then he would be considered heartless. You see, the Pharisees could care less about her, or her crime. In fact, stoning for adultery had not occurred all that much in those days anymore. But that did not nullify the law.
So they thought they had him. But instead of answering the question, Jesus stooped down and began writing in the sand.
Now we don’t know what Jesus wrote. But we have some good guesses. Someone thought that Jesus was writing the names of their mistresses in the sand. Or those that they’ve lusted after.
There’s another suggestion, which I believe to be true.
EXODUS 31: 18 When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
What many believe, and what I believe He wrote in the sand was the 7th commandment. Does anyone remember what the 7th commandment is? “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
So, Jesus, as God, begins writing in the sand with his finger (much like the tablets), reminding them of another aspect of the law that they had forgotten.
And the Pharisees, didn’t get the message. “So, what’s the answer Jesus?”
So, since they hadn’t gotten it yet, he straightens up, and says, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And he stoops back down to write in the sand. And now, they get it. They were as guilty as she. They were not sinless in their hearts. So, one by one, they left, and there was just Jesus and the woman.
Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Second chances are freely given.
Maybe you’re sitting here this morning, wondering about all of the past mistakes that you’ve made, and you wonder if there is any hope of a second chance. Well, That is what God gives us in His forgiveness—second chances.
1 John 1:9—If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
What Jesus said so many years ago, He still says today. Forgiveness is freely given by God.
But the second thing about second chances is that they should be given freely to others.
Notice I said that it should be freely given. It often is not.
We looked at Matthew 18:21-34 last year; let me remind you what it says. READ IT.
Peter asks an honest question. Consider Amos.
3 This is what the LORD says:
“For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not turn back my wrath.
Because she threshed Gilead
with sledges having iron teeth,
The typical teaching of that day was that you were supposed to forgive someone three times for the same offense, but at the fourth time, it was all over.
So, Peter, in an attempt to be gracious, decides to take the number 3, multiply it by 2, and add 1. He says, do I need to forgive up to 7 times? And Jesus responds with an astronomical number—70 times 7!
The first servant has been forgiven a huge debt. 10,000 talents is a lot. 1 Talent is worth 60 denarii, which is 100 days wages. Minimum wage is $5.15. So, if you multiply 41.20 (1 day’s wage) by 100, you get 4,120. That is what the 2nd servant owed the first. However, to find out what the first servant owed, we have to multiply 4120 by 60, which equals $247,200. Multiply that times 10,000, and you get $2,472,000,000!
That is how much the king forgave that first servant, yet he did not in return forgive the little debt owed him.
The parallels are obvious. The King is God. The first servant is us—we have been forgiven a huge debt (we have been given a second chance). The third servant—that’s the person whose initials you wrote down on your notes. If God is faithful to give us second chance (after second chance after second chance), how can we do any less.
Ephesians 4: 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
And of course, we have the Lord’s Prayer—Matthew 6: Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Just as we have freely been given second chances, we also should give them as well.
But finally, the last point about second chances—second chances are not free.
In the parable we just looked at, forgiveness cost the king millions of dollars. Forgiveness would have cost the first servant $4,000 dollars. I don’t know about you, but I certainly wouldn’t mind not having to pay the last $4,000 dollars on my car. But that would be costly.
Forgiveness is never free. Second chances are never free.
Sometimes they hurt. Sometimes they cause fears and doubting about the person you are giving them to.
Bob Hoover was a famous test pilot and a frequent performer at air shows. Once when he returned to his home in Los Angeles from an air show in San Diego, both engines of his World War II propeller plane suddenly stopped. With skill and a lot of luck, he safely landed the plane without injury to himself or the other two passengers. After the emergency landing he inspected the airplane’s fuel. As he suspected, the plane had been filled with jet fuel rather than gasoline. He then asked to see the mechanic who serviced his plane. The mechanic, horrified at the prospect of seeing the man he had nearly killed, anticipated the full force of Hoover’s anger. But Hoover put his arm around the mechanic and said, "To show you I’m sure you’ll never do this again, I want you to service my F-51 tomorrow."
Giving that man a second chance could cost him his life, but he gave it anyway.
For God to forgive us, for Christ to forgive that woman, would ultimately cost him his own life. God gave His Son for us so that we could have a second chance.
One final thought about second chances this morning—they will run out.
Luke 16 tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus. EXPLAIN—there will come a day when all of the second chances are gone. Don’t miss out on the opportunity of God’s second chance.
Maybe you are living a life of rebellion. You know what God wants you to do, yet you have refused to do it. God is offering you a second chance to change your life, and do all the great things he has for you and wants to do for you, but the time will run out. God will not always strive with us.
Maybe you do not know God—he’s offering a full pardon on your sin. He wants to take your life and give you a second chance—he wants to take you from death unto life, and he’s waiting to give it to you. Take the chance now.
They are freely given.
They should be freely given.
They are not free.
