You CAN Begin Again Pt 2

She didn’t think it was that big of a deal, at least not at first. Her boyfriend had only wanted to spend a little time making out, showing her, as he put it, “how much he loved her.” It was exciting to be held in his embrace. It felt good to be physically touched and caressed. But one thing led to the next and before long, raging hormones got the best of them, and found themselves in bed, not only with each other, but with a load of guilt and overwhelming shame. But they loved each other right? How could it be wrong when it felt so right? And yet there was always that nagging feeling in the back of their mind that something wasn’t so right. When all of their friends were gone, when they were apart, and they were left only to the thoughts in their own mind, they both knew, deep down that it wasn’t right. And yet, when they were with each other, they couldn’t control themselves and they found themselves getting more deeply involved, until one day they realized that life wasn’t quite as fun as it once had been. They were fighting more in between their sexual encounters. In fact, life had been reduced to that cycle. Fight and have sex. And the guilt continued to gnaw on them. And she just knew she was going to hell.

He thought that perhaps it was because she just wasn’t the right girl after all, and though he had promised a thousand times that he loved her, he began looking and jumped ship when he saw a prettier face come by. And it wasn’t long before he was involved in another relationship and pledging his love to another, “for all time!”

She could hardly stand herself for the choices she had made, and she liked him less. Something inside her screamed. “Wait!---Do-over!” But she realized that she could never go back, and since she was headed for hell and since a guy had ruined her, she decided that she was going to get her revenge by taking down as many guys as she could. She set out to see if she could seduce someone. At first, she did it for fun. But one day, a guy offered her money, and she realized that she could support herself and mess up guys at the same time. And guys were so stupid, she thought. They are so totally ruled by their hormones.

Weeks turned into months which turned into years. Always it was the same. Men, who just wanted one thing. Men from all walks of life. Business men. Construction workers. Professors. Lawyers. Doctors. And yes, even a few preachers, who always came at two or three in the morning to keep from getting caught. The hypocrites. All of them, professing to live honorable lives, some even having a wife and kids at home.

At least she wasn’t pretending…not anymore. There had been a time when she had told herself that she was still a good person. But not anymore. Now she knew what she was, and had accepted it…except for that same old gnawing feelings of guilt that she couldn’t seem to shake, and that she was headed for hell. And in the middle of the dark and lonely nights after the man of the hour had left her bed, she would lay and stare at the ceiling and wonder if there was no way out.

It happened early one morning. She had just gotten to sleep at 2:30, but at 5:00, just as the sky was starting to turn pale, there was an insistent knocking on her door. She pulled aside the curtain to see one of her regulars, a preacher, looking around and banging on the door. She opened the door and he swept in, angry that she had taken so long to answer the door. “Someone might see me,” he said. “Hypocrite,” she responded.

“Don’t call me that! I give you a good amount of business!”

“Yeah, and a good amount of guilt. If your God is so great, why doesn’t he rescue me from you?”

He pulled out a wad of bills. “Who's the paying customer here? Do you want the money or not? Just shut up and get on with it."

She went into the same weary routine of seduction and soon it was over. Suddenly, the door burst open and in came police officers and a bunch of other ministers. Finally she thought, they’ve nailed the hypocrite. He just sneered at her and picked up the wad of bills that he had laid on the nightstand. But instead of him, they grabbed her and yanked her naked and fighting from the bed, dragged her out into the street and down towards the local church. There was a Street Preacher there. And they threw her down in front of him. Naked and alone. And they began quoting scripture, “Moses said that such a woman should be killed. What do you say?”

You know the story and you know the preacher. Jesus bent down, without saying a word and took off his outer garment and covered her. Then he knelt down and began writing in the dirt. The accusers asked their question again. Jesus stood up and said, “let the one without sin be the one to throw the first rock.” And then he knelt and started writing. One of my favorite Christian writers, Ellen White says that he was actually writing their sins in the dirt, and one by one as they read their own sins written there, they dropped their rocks and slipped away.

When they were all alone, Jesus asked the woman a simple question. John 8:10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

I can imagine her looking up for the first time from the place she has been huddled waiting for the rocks to hit. And as she looks around she is forced to acknowledge that no one is left to condemn her except the one that truly could. John 8:11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus speaks the same words to you and me this morning. Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” Do-over!

That’s the good news. And some of you need that news this very day. Some of you, the Lord has been working on your heart all this week. You’ve had a spiritual struggle going on for a long time, because you know you need to drop the old life and start over, but you keep clinging to your sin. Let it go this morning. Accept before God, that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness. Confess your sins to Him, and he will forgive and cleanse you from all of your sin. He’ll let you start over.

Simply say in your heart to God: God, I am a sinner in need of your forgiveness. I need you to take my sin and guilt and shame and cover me with your robe of righteousness. 

 

You CAN begin again!!