It's popular to say that failure is not an option. But the truth is, failure is a fact of life. Even so, it doesn't have to destroy your life. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah returns to the book of Jonah and considers how God offers recovery and restoration to those who love and serve Him in the aftermath of failure.
Listen as David introduces the conclusion of his message, The Second Chance. You know, one of my friends in seminary was a man you probably heard of. His name is Erwin Lutzer. And Erwin wrote a book called Failure: The Backdoor to Success. And if ever there was a term that describes Jonah, that's it.
He failed, and his failure became the back door to his success. We are in the study of the book of Jonah in the third chapter, and today we're talking about the second chance, part two. This is the place where God said, And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, after he failed God miserably. and deliberately and blatantly God brought him back. and set him up.
And sent him back to do what he asked him to do the first time. And Jonah went and conducted one of the great revivals in the history of the world. We'll get to all of that next week sometime, but today this is part two of the second chance, the third chapter of the book of Jonah. It reminds me to remind you, you can get all the material on the book of Jonah in the study guide. The runaway profit study guide is available from Turning Point along with audio and video.
presentations of the teaching of this when I taught this to our church here. If you get these resources, you'll be ready to conduct your own small group study. You can be the facilitator. You can give all of your students a copy of the resource, the study guide, and you're ready to go to have a wonderful discussion on the book of Jonah. I hope you will do that.
Now, let's open our Bibles once again to the third chapter of this Old Testament book and conclude our discussion of the second chance. God is more willing to give people a second chance than most people are willing to give people a second chance. But second chances do not mean that sin has no consequence. Every one of these people paid a price. Still, God brought them to a place where He could use them again.
I want you to notice the way He dealt with them all. First of all, Moses Had to go through a period of separation. He put Moses out in the desert, away from his people, away from everything that he knew. Moses ended up raising his family out there and he became a shepherd. Moses wasn't really called to be a shepherd, he was called to be a leader, but God separated him from everything.
and gave him a long season to think about his life. And there's David. With David, God worked in a different way. The process he used was confrontation. You know, David had done all those terrible things we talked about.
and he kept on living as if everything was fine. He never came clean. And then one day God decided to deal with him. and spoke to David's preacher.
So God sent Nathan to David. He told David a story about a little lamb that was stolen. It was so powerful. And when David heard it, he was filled with anger, and he said, Whoever did that deserves to die. Nathan stuck his bony finger in David's face and said, Thou art the man.
Oops. Caught.
Sometimes the second chance comes only after confrontation because until you face what you've done, there can't be any new direction. If you keep going the way you're going, you're going to get where you don't want to be. God used confrontation on David.
So Moses' plan was separation. David was confrontation. The prodigal son was desperation. The prodigal took his money to the far country, spent it all on wild living, and when we finally see him, everything is gone: his money, his food, his friends. He's slopping around with the hogs, and suddenly he comes to himself and realizes what his choices have done to him, and he is desperate.
And he says, These servants have more than I have, and he. Decided to go home. And he went back and confessed.
Sometimes God allows you to Go down to zero, end up with nothing. Peter, I love this one. Peter, he got a demonstration. God put together an entire drama to deal with Peter. He set up the whole scenario ahead of time and even gave Peter an audio signal.
Jesus said, Before the night's over, you're going to hear the rooster crow after you've denied me. And Peter said, That ain't going to happen. And the Lord said, the rooster will tell you when it's done. Peter denied him, the rooster crowed, and Peter knew the jig was up. The Bible says he went out and wept bitterly.
God used a demonstration to show Peter what he had done. And then there's John Mark. Remember, I told you he's not as famous as the others, but he was the friend of Paul's. And he Turned his back on him. If God had used the same method on John Mark that he used on David or these others, he would have blown him out of the saddle.
He would have never recovered. But you know what God did? He brought along a guy by the name of Barnabas And Barnum said to John Mark, come on, man. You're going with me. We're going to get you back on the right path.
And sometimes people are so overwhelmed by failure that they need someone to believe in them again. And Barnabas did that.
Some need a hard confrontation like David, others need a gentle encouragement like John Mark. And then of course, here's the star of our story, Jonah. Let me go back over this. Moses was separation, David was confrontation. The prodigal son was desperation.
Peter was demonstration. John Mark was affirmation and Jonah was isolation. God used isolation on him. He put him in the belly of a fish with no one to talk to, nothing to distract him, just time to think about what he had done. Every one of those people received a second chance, but not before God dealt with them in a personal way.
Do you know that God might be dealing with some of you? Maybe He brought you here to hear this message, and He's dealing with you. about your life. Maybe you've messed up. And you think that no one's going to help you, or there's no chance.
But I'm here to tell you: God is the God of second chances. And he brought you here to deal with you, and you don't want to resist him because he wants you to come back. That's good. The door to that second chance involves something like this.
something that brings you to a place of recognition and repentance.
So we've looked at God's perspective on the second chance. Let's now look at our response. What do we do when we know That we've taken the wrong turn, and we've gone down the detour instead of the main road. Recognition is the first thing. You have to accept what you've done.
You say, well, Pastor, that's obvious.
Well, it's not that obvious to most people. One thing I've realized more and more, especially when talking to people who get into trouble, is that many of them will not fully face what they've done. The human mind is very skilled at protecting us from painful truths about ourselves. We build explanations and mental defenses that shield us from guilt or shame. It is remarkable how people can live in a kind of false reality.
seeing things not as they really are, but as they wish they were. Until you recognize the truth about your situation, it will not get better. In the Bible, when the prodigal son came to himself, it means he finally saw his life clearly. King David had a similar moment. After being confronted about his wrongdoing, he simply said this.
He said, I have sinned against the Lord, 2 Samuel 12, 13. Yeah. That was his moment of truth. No excuses, no deflection. The Bible says, he who covers his sins will not prosper.
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. 1 John 1, 8 and 9 says, If we say then we have no sin, We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is usually a moment like that for all of us, a moment of recognition. After everything that has happened, we finally admit that what we have really done is wrong.
And we accept that truth. Then after recognition, usually there's some remorse. Luke 22, 62 says that Peter went out and he wept bitterly when he realized what he had done. That moment came after he denied even knowing Jesus. When it finally hit him, he broke down.
I'm not saying that you have to shed a certain amount of tears. To experience God's grace, but I am telling you that just about everybody I know who goes through this process. reaches a point of deep sorrow. There comes a moment when the full weight of what has happened in their life settles on them. The excuses fade.
The reality becomes clear. and they are filled with remorse. The Apostle Paul wrote, Godly sorrow produces repentance. leading to salvation. not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Recognition opens the door. Remorse. Usually walks through it. And then there's repentance. Let me talk about this because it's so misunderstood.
Repentance is something deeper. It is facing what you have done, measuring it by God's standards, and saying, I will not continue in this. I'm turning around. It is not just feeling bad, it is choosing a different direction. And in the Bible, The word translated repent literally means to turn or change direction.
In the ancient world, if you were traveling on a road and you asked someone, Am I going the right way? They might say to you, No, you need to repent. You need to turn around. That is the picture behind repentance. It means to stop going one way and begin going another way.
Spiritually, repentance means coming to God and saying, I have sinned, I ask for your forgiveness, and I am turning away from this sin and turning towards you. Acts 3.19 says, Repent, therefore, and be converted. that your sins may be blotted out. It is a change of mind that results in a change of direction. Repentance is almost a lost word in our culture.
We don't hear it very often. But there cannot be restoration without repentance. There is no real change until you admit that what you are doing is not acceptable to God and you commit yourself to go a different way. People sometimes ask me to pray for them while continuing in something they know is wrong. For example, someone might say, Would you pray for me?
I'm in a relationship that is not right.
Sometimes it involves another person who is already married. I tell him I'm not going to pray for you. I'm not going to pray for you unless you repent. What do you mean? Are you willing to end the relationship?
If the answer is no, then prayer isn't the issue. Prayer is not a substitute for repentance. Psalm 66:18 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. You cannot ask God to bless what you are unwilling to surrender. You can't keep doing what you know is wrong and say, God, would you help me?
No, He's not going to help you do that. Repentance means you come to the place where you see clearly that what you have done is wrong and you turn from it toward God. That is what repentance means. Nothing more, nothing less.
So there is recognition, and there's often remorse and repentance.
Sometimes that's followed by a time of reflection. If you study all of these illustrations from the Bible, you'll discover an interesting thing: that there usually is a parentheses. Between the time of repentance. and the time of restoration. It takes a while for the soul to heal.
And the souls of those who have been hurt to heal. and for trust to be reestablished. And then finally, after recognition, remorse, repentance, and reflection comes reassignment. Do you remember what God said to Jonah after Jonah ran from God and experienced discipline? And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, and he said, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city.
And preach. The message that I will tell you. Does that sound familiar? It should, because that's what he told him before. That he didn't do.
God did not discard Jonah. He sent him again. And what did Jesus say to Peter? Listen to this, this is so encouraging. And when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?
And he said, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said, Feed my lambs. And he said to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And he said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, Tend my sheep.
And he said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.
Would you notice? Peter denied the Lord three times. And Jesus recommissioned him three times. just to make sure that he didn't lose the truth, that he wasn't done with him. There was restoration, there was responsibility, Peter was recommissioned.
and he had another opportunity to serve God. As best I know how to say it. Holding in balance God's grace and God's justice. The truth of Scripture is. that God delights in giving people another opportunity to serve Him.
I'm not suggesting that consequences disappear. Or that every situation looks the same, but the principle throughout the Word of God is that God forgives and restores those who truly return to Him. Listen to the word of Jeremiah from the Old Testament. What a tremendous illustration this is. Jeremiah said, I went down to the potter's house, and there he was.
Making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter.
So he made it again into another vessel. as it seemed good to the potter to make. When the potter saw that the vessel was marred, he didn't throw the clay away. He reshaped it. He reworked it.
He made it into something useful again. And that is the picture God gives to us of Himself. He does not discard us when we fail. He works with us, He reshapes us, He restores us so that we can be useful again. in his hands.
Some may misunderstand this. There is a tendency in our culture, even in the church. toward what some call easy beliefism. And that's the idea that you can knowingly do wrong and simply plan to ask for forgiveness later. I've actually had this happen to me as a pastor where people have told me I know that what I'm doing is wrong.
But I'm going to do it anyway, and I'll ask God to forgive me later. That's not repentance, that's presumption. And that is not what the Bible teaches we should ever do. The Bible says, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Certainly not. How shall we who died this soon live any longer in it? Grace is not permission to sin. Grace is the power to change. God gives second chances, but they are given to the repentant, not to those who plan their sin in advance.
Let me give you one thought to bring all of this into perspective. It comes from Psalm 19. I want to read this passage and then explain it. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me, then I shall be blameless and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Most of us are encouraged. By the truth that God restores. I mean, it's comforting to know that when we fall, When we fail, God offers restoring grace.
But some shows us that there are two sides to God's grace. And I want you to listen carefully. There is obviously restoring grace. What God gives after we have fallen. And turn back to Him.
It is His forgiveness, it is His willingness to reshape the marred vessel. But there's also restraining grace. Restraining grace is what keeps you from falling in the first place. The psalmist prays for both. He says, Cleanse me from secret faults.
That's restoring grace. And then he said, keep back your servant from presumptuous sin. That's restraining grace. He's saying, Lord, forgive the sins I am not even aware of, but also keep me from willfully stepping into sin because I know you are merciful. Presumption is a dangerous attitude.
It says, God will forgive me so I can afford to disobey. Psalm 19 warns against that spirit. It asks God not only to forgive sin, but to prevent it from gaining control. Men and women, when I was growing up, back in Ohio. Wish to go to a camp.
Right in the middle of Lake Erie, it was called Camp Patmos. was on a place called Kelly's Island. I remember going there as a young man. Every year we'd go and every Friday of the camp experience. everybody would gather around a big bonfire Everybody been given a little piece of wood.
They'd walk up to the bonfire, give their testimony, and throw the wood on the fire. And usually, what would happen is they would go up there and confess all the terrible things they'd done over the past year. It was really kind of an exciting moment to go to this campfire and find out what all your friends have been doing all year long. But I remember as a young man. I feel kind of strange about that.
I sure wasn't a perfect kid. I had my issues. But I grew up in a Christian home. Let me chase something. My parents were the evidence of God's restraining grace.
You got it? I was kept back from so much of the stuff they were exposed to. I mean, don't take this any place you don't want to take it, but I never saw alcohol in my home. I never saw tobacco in my home. I never heard cursing in my home.
I grew up in a protected environment by two parents who loved God and wanted to make sure we grew up in an environment. We're God. was central.
So, when it was my turn to give my testimony and throw my thing on the fire, I didn't know what to say. I was tempted sometimes to make some stuff up, you know. But then I realized Especially when I read this passage. how grateful we should all be for God's restraining grace. You know, it's wonderful to be forgiven of something.
It's even more wonderful not to have to be forgiven of it. And when we think about how God restores us when we fail, We should also be thankful for how God protects us. You know, when we get to heaven, we may be able to look back and see how close we came to some areas of fault. I don't know if that'll be true before the tears are wiped away. But I know this: every one of us in this room who baims the name of Christ.
If you've had any godly influence in your life, you've experienced restraining grace. And tonight, before you lay your head on your pillow, I hope you'll thank God for it. Thank God that he restores you, but thank God. that he restrains you. If you're walking with the Lord and you're serving Him and experiencing His blessing, then every day you ought to pray for restraining grace.
Pray, God, help me not to presume upon your mercy. helped me to live in a way That I honor you. and all that you have given me. That's the balance in Scripture. God protects.
One last thought before we close our Bibles. When restoration comes, God does some remarkable things. Moses, after his time in the wilderness, delivered Israel from Egypt. He delivered God's law to God's people, which has been considered by historians to be the greatest piece of jurisprudence that's ever been created. Almost all the laws of the world have some.
Foundation in Moses Law. And then he led Israel for 40 years. Yeah. David was forgiven and changed, and he went on to write more than 70 Psalms. and faithfully led Israel as king.
When the prodigal returned, he was given a robe that restored his honor. He was given a ring that restored his authority, and he was given some shoes that restored his status. Seven weeks after Peter denied Jesus and then was forgiven, he preached at Pentecost, and the Bible says 3,000 people were converted. Acts 241. After a period of time estranged from the apostle, John Mark went on to write the Gospel of Mark.
He reconciled with Paul and became a trusted partner in the gospel. And of course there's Jonah, the star of our story. On his second chance, he preached to Nineveh. He preached and the city repented and what some people have said, the greatest revival in the history of the world took place. All of them served and loved God powerfully after they had failed.
All of them were given a second chance. And God does some good work with restored vessels. You may think, no, Pastor, you don't know what I've done. No, I don't. But God does, and I can tell you one thing I do know: His grace is sufficient for whatever you've done.
If you allow him to have that part in your life. If you'll ask him to forgive you. and repent, go a different way. God wants to do something great in your life. I hope you let him do it.
That's the book of Jonah right there, that plea. to all of us to remember that God is a loving, forgiving God. Don't sell him short. Give him the opportunity to work in your life. He wants to use you, even if you failed him in the past.
We're going to take a break for the weekend. I'm so glad that you're with us for this study. Let me remind you again that one of the ways you can really take care of your soul is by being in church on the Lord's Day. It's one of the things you do to feed your soul and put yourself in a place where you can be victorious over the enemy.
So don't disregard that. You say, Well, I don't like some things. Listen, go to your church and find the things you like and camp on those things. Be a blessing to someone. And God will minister to you if you do that.
But you can't get very far without the church. It's God's idea and it's His plan for your life. Make sure you make it a plan for your life this weekend. And we'll see you next week on Monday. Hope you'll be right here with us as we open our Bibles to Jonah once again.
Have a good weekend. Today's message came to you from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr. David Jeremiah, the senior pastor. Turning Point is also on radio and TV this weekend. To learn where you can find it, visit our website davidjeremiah.org slash radio.
That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of our 14-month 2027 calendar, The Light of the World. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English standard New International and New King James Versions, available in several attractive and resilient cover options. It's such a blessing when we hear from you.
So please write us at Turning Point, PO Box 3838, San Diego, California, 92163. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us Monday as we continue the series, Jonah the Runaway Prophet, on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
