RESTORE US, O GOD!
Text: Psalm 51:12 (from Responsive Reading)
I want to talk to us about something some of us may never want to talk about. That is, our mistakes. Each of us has made plenty of mistakes with our families, friends and co-workers. This is important because
Mistakes can cause feelings of –
· Regrets – “Oh I wish I had never done that…”
· Embarrassment – “Oops…that was dumb...”
· Shame and remorse – “I should’ve known better.”
· Guilt – “”It’s all my fault.”
Anyone of us can make all kinds of mistakes, but none of our mistakes are as critical as those we have made with our Lord. The fact is (if you are human) you will make more mistakes with the Lord than you can ever imagine making with anyone else you know, or love.
Our mistakes are the reason why the Bible says the Lord makes “His mercy new every morning.”
God loves us and He forgives us of all of our mistakes.
Regardless of what we have done wrong, we can always call out to our loving God,
“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit!”
Illustration: “A Second Chance” from Psalm 80.
Foolish mistakes can make history, but only be harmless. But, the mistakes we make with the Lord can be costly.
Text: Matthew 19:16 thru 22
In reading this story we can see that this man was:
· A rich man – probably had worked very hard.
· A prosperous ruler – a man who was accustomed to being in charge of his own life, and perhaps the lives of many other people.
· A real go-getter – young and ambitious
· Someone who was sincere about always doing what was right
· Willing to listen to good advice
· Wanting to learn from great teachers
· Someone you would be proud to know
With all of these great characters, with everything obviously going right in his life, this young man would surely succeed in anything he would set his mind to. Regardless, this young man made some critical mistakes that we all can learn from.
The 1st mistake: He did not recognize Jesus as Lord.
His desire was to have “eternal life”, so he asked Jesus what he needed to do. He seemed very sincere, but he made the same mistake so many people make.
Many people –
· Desire “eternal life”.
· Admire Jesus, and how He lived His life.
· Recognize that Jesus was a very wise teacher about how life and how to live.
· MAKE HUGE COSTLY MISTAKES with their lives/
To each of us today I would again say:
“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit!”
At the time this story took place, it was often customary for a student to kneel or sit at the feet of the one who was teaching. It was a sign of respect.
Many Bible scholars (of our time) believe the rich young ruler knelt before Christ as he asked Him to teach.
I am certain this rich young ruler respected Jesus.
Respect is a good thing, but reverence is what is required of us. Respect will perhaps give to you a “Thank You”, but true reverence for Christ will teach and lead you to His “eternal life”.
Respect (we have for God) has to do with how we act. Reverence has to do with how we live for our Master.
I would suggest that the mistake made by the rich young ruler is that he did not come to the Savior as so many others had. He respected Jesus but he only came to be educated and inspired with His teachings.
There were so many others that had come to Christ desperate to be delivered from their sickness, and/or to be saved from their sins.
Thus the question for each of us is this:
How and why have we come to Christ today?
Do we fully understand that Jesus is Lord?
Or are we like the rich young ruler? That is,
Do we just want to find the answers to our questions?
Are we looking for an education of the scriptures?
Or are we longing for a life of complete submission?
What is your posture when you come to Christ?
Will you sit attentively and listen? Or will you bow in worship, and adoration, and humility before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?
Like the rich young ruler, do we come to church each Sunday just to ask Jesus more of our questions?
Or do we come out of reverence, and awe, as a servant would come to His Master?
Do we come to Christ today just as the Psalmist said in our opening scripture, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.”
The 2nd Mistake: This young man wasn’t aware of his own faults.
Suppose for a moment that this young man had never-
· Violated any of these commandments Jesus spoke to him.
· Murdered - even with words of hatred.
· Committed adultery - even in his heart.
· Stolen - or even coveted or envied someone elses’ possesions.
· Spoken a single lie (big or small).
· Dishonored his father or his mother.
· Said or done anything hateful to any of his neighbors.
In spite of all of these good works, the rich young ruler did not see his own fault. What do I mean?
Jesus began by asking the young man:
"Why do you call Me good?
No one is good but One, that is, God.”
The young man was given the opportunity to acknowledge exactly Who Jesus was.
As smart as this young man was,
1. He was unwilling to see Jesus as the Forgiver of sins.
2. He would not be responsible or accountable for his own sins.
3. He would not surrender his life to the Savior.
Jesus was well aware of this man’s foolish pride:
· He wanted to help him to consider the mistake he was making. Jesus is forgiving and understanding.
· Jesus is willing to explain reasons for repentance in terms that we can easily understand.
· Jesus will do all that He can to bring you to repentance.
· But, (listen carefully) Jesus will not force you to surrender your life.
That decision is entirely up to you.
Don’t make the mistake of not –
· Confessing your own faults.
· Hearing the loving words Jesus is speaking to you.
Did you notice that Jesus only spoke to this young man with the commandments that dealt with man-to-man relationships?
The other commandments (not mentioned by Jesus) have to do with God-to-man relationships.
This young man had not considered the commandment spoken, in Matt 22:37-38,
37 Jesus said..." ’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 "This is the first and great commandment.
If this commandment were important to the young man, he would’ve recognized Jesus as the Son of God.
The fact is this young man made the mistake in thinking:
· He did not need to love God.
· He had all he ever would need in this life.
· His wealth and power would satisfy all of his needs.
As wealthy as he was in this life, he would be spiritually bankrupt in the next.
We cannot rely on the things we love in this life to have any value in the next. The grace and forgiveness that Christ has for us this morning is more than we will ever know or understand in this life.
And that brings us to this young man’s –
Third (and final) mistake.
He walked away from the Savior.
He did not understand all that he wanted to about “eternal life”.
So the rich young man chose to go back to his own life. Isn’t that the bottom line for each of us?
We have one of two choices.
Our own life, or we can choose His “eternal life”.
My friend, listen carefully. Mistakes in this life are common for us all. But our mistakes can’t and won’t change the plan of God for our life.
Adam and Eve made the first mistake by eating from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”.
I don’t believe God is going to change His mind about disobeying His commands. That is why you must choose to surrender your life to Jesus Christ and make Him the Lord, Master and Ruler of your life.
If you do, then you can call out as the Psalmist did in Psalm 51:12,
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Close:
Perhaps one of the best remembered mistake was the one made by Simon Peter when he denied Christ. Not once, but three times. That may difficult for any of us to imagine. But I have met and prayed with many people with lots of problems who remind me of Simon Peter.
Sure these fine folks wanted to do what was right.
They knew that there is only one Savior for this world.
And His name is Jesus Christ. Many people have been raised in Christian homes. They have been taught time and again the teachings of Christ. Nevertheless they continue to make the same mistake that Peter did.
They deny knowing Jesus by the way they live. One minute they follow Him, and the next moment they deny Him by the way they live.
This lifestyle is a life of one mistake after another.
Denying Jesus results in our being denied by God.
Matthew 10:33 "But whoever denies Me (whoever walks away) before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
Many times in the Bible, people chose to live ungodly lives. They were mistaken when they decided to live for false gods and allow idolatry into their lives. They made idols they could worship out of the gold that was once used for worship the One True God, the God of Jehovah. The fate of their mistakes was judgment and death.
That still holds true for us living today.
The Bible clearly tells us in Romans 6:23,
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Notice that passage does not read, “…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our teacher”.
