THE GOD OF ANOTHER CHANCE

PROCLAMATION

“Meanwhile a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and announced, ‘This is what The Lord says: ‘Do you see this vast army?  I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am The Lord.’”  1 Kings 20:13 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

Ahab, king of the ten northern tribes of Israel, did even more evil in the eyes of The Lord than all of those before him, and his wife, Jezebel, who worshiped Baal, was just about as bad as he was, if not worse. (1 Kings 16:29-31)  However, after Elijah challenged their god Baal with the public sacrifices, he prayed to The Lord so that the people would know that The Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel was the only true God. (1 Kings 18:36-37) Baal was unresponsive but The Lord God sent down fire from above and consumed the sacrifice.  Ahab left the sacrifice and went home to Jezebel.  The Bible does not say that he became a believer, but  afterwards The Lord was with him in his battles against Ben-Hadad. (1 Kings 20:1-21 and 22-30)  After defeating Ben-Hadad, Ahab was disobedient and did not kill him.  Instead he made a treaty with him and let him go. (1 Kings 20:34)  This displeased The Lord God. (1 Kings 20:42)

APPLICATION

We may sin differently but all of us have sinned. (Romans 3:23)  There is no such thing as a big sin or a little sin, all sin is sin.  Committing only one sin still makes us a sinner. (James 2:10)  Jesus, The Christ, paid the price for the sins of the world. (John 1:29)  Believers still sin, but when we pray and ask for forgiveness, our sins are forgiven. (Romans 10:9-10)  There is no sin that is so egregious that it cannot be forgiven.  The Lord God gives us another chance to live right and to do right.  It is said that He is the God of “another chance” because we all used up our “second chance” a long time ago.  We need to pray for, and to thank Him for, one more chance.

ONE MORE CHANCE

Proclamation:

"You forgave the iniquity of Your people and covered all their sins.  You set aside all Your wrath and turned from Your fierce anger.  Restore us again, O God our Savior, and put away Your displeasure toward us."  Psalms 85:2-4 (NIV)

Explanation:

This psalm was written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the sons of Korah.  They recorded the fact that God has forgiven His people in the past, and they were praying that God would forgive them again.  They recognized that they had sinned and sinned again, and they were asking God to restore them to His good graces.  

Application:

Today we recognize that we have all messed up and sinned against God. (Psalm 51:4)  We realize that we have sinned in the past and we know that The Bible teaches us that if we confess our sins that He will forgive us. (1 John 1:9)  Our problem is that we have sinned again and now we need to ask God for forgiveness again.  We need one more chance.  We are not asking for a second chance, we messed that one up a long time ago.  We need His forgiveness, and we need another chance.  We also need to pray for His help and His guidance in order to sin less and to do the right thing.  This is especially true for any sin which we commit repeatedly.  We need His help to turn from our sinful ways. (2 Chronicles 7:14)  Only He can restore us to His good graces and return us to a right fellowship with Him.  Only He can restore to us the joy of our salvation. (Psalm 51:12)