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Hello

Welcome And The Core Truth

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and welcome to the West Side Church's special podcast.

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Matthew 26 is where we will center our thoughts, at least to begin, uh, in this part of our Bible study and worship this afternoon. Matthew chapter 26. Go ahead and open there. Want to say a word before I get started, which is a word of gratitude to all of you, to this church, for uh the long-term efforts to engage our young people and for inviting me to be a part of that. That is uh something that's very exciting to me, uh something that's near and dear to my heart. And I also want to thank you, young people, uh, for all the things you could be doing today. You are here on a Saturday afternoon. Uh there are other things that demand your time and attention, and yet you've chosen uh to study God's Word, to sing praises to God, to be with other believers, and that is awesome. It makes me excited. In fact, it makes me want to do the best I can uh to make sure this time is worth the effort that you have put in and the sacrifices that you have made. So I want to begin as we think about truths that we can stand on, uh, to talk about this truth that you see on the board before you that God can redeem anything. And I want us to pursue this idea for a few minutes this afternoon. I want you to go with me on a journey through several different Bible stories about Bible characters, and as we do, we're going to trace this idea of what God can do and how that then relates to us. This is a truth that I want you, especially you young people, to just have in your back pocket. Because I don't know when. I don't know exactly why. I don't know in what circumstances, but at some point in your life you will find that this truth is the most important thing you could possibly think. That my story is not over, that there are things that have happened to me or things that I have done that make me feel ashamed or disappointed. And I am tempted to think that I've lost myself, or I'm tempted to think that the story is over, everything has gone wrong. And yet here it is, God can redeem anything.

Peter’s Denial And Bitter Tears

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So let's start in Matthew 26 and read, beginning in verse 69. Let's read together. Matthew 26, 69, it says, Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him and said, You also were with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied it before them all, saying, I do not know what you mean. And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied it with an oath, I do not know the man. After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you. Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know the man. And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. This moment is pretty dark for Peter. You can tell by the weeping bitterly part. For three years, Peter has left behind his home and his family and his job just to follow Jesus around. And he does. He follows Jesus around all the time. He is with Jesus, hearing him teach, watching him perform miracles, sometimes leaving him to go do his own preaching and then coming back and reporting to Jesus. And over time, what is curiosity blossoms into faith. Peter is the one who says, We have come to believe and to know that you are the Messiah, the Holy One of God. Peter is all in. And yet, there are some warning signs that things aren't going perfectly well for Peter. So when he says that to Jesus, and Jesus then foretells his own death, Peter rebukes Jesus and says, Far be it from you, that'll never happen to you. And he gets rebuked in turn. When Jesus says, as we'll read in just a moment, all of you will fall away tonight, Peter says, even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you. I'll never fall away. You see, I'm all in. And I believe he meant it. So imagine how he feels now. All his time, all his money, all his effort wasted. Everything he's put his hope in has been dashed. And he has the ongoing shame of having denied Jesus. So he goes out and weeps bitterly. So what comes next for Peter? What do you think he's thinking in this moment? What's his next step? Do you slink back home? Do you hang around Jerusalem just to watch him die? Do you take up fishing again? Do you see how nothing really satisfies the shame that he feels? And I want you to hear that and think about those emotions, especially young people, because we experience those emotions too. Times when we fail, times when people are cruel to us, times when it doesn't all work out. And in those moments, what matters most is the knowledge that God can redeem anything. When Mark contacted me about being on this lecture ship, he mentioned this is what we're discussing, truths that you can stand on. And I thought through, it's kind of a big question. When someone were to say, what do you think is the most important truth you could tell young people? It's kind of a fun thought experiment until you're the one who has to do the preaching. And I wrestled and I wrestled, and finally I just decided this is it. That you're gonna have times in your life when things go wrong and you need to know that God can redeem anything. Now I want you to see that word redeem on the board. I'm gonna use that word today. And there is a way that the Bible uses the word redeem to talk about buying someone back out of slavery, paying a price for someone. And I am not using the term that way today. So please don't think of that idea when you see that word redeem. I am using the word redeem in the way that we use it in common parlance, which is that God can change the awful things that happen to us and turn them into good. He can redeem them. And so I have a picture on the board of a dish that has been broken, and through the Japanese art of, I believe it's called kitsumi. Sometimes those cracks are breached and fixed and glued together with gold, and artwork is made. Something more beautiful than the dish was before it was broken, a way of taking the things that happen to us that are bad and redeeming them, changing them into good. So, what I want to do for our time is just to think about how that truth is true, and then think about what that means for you and me as we enter into the important decisions of our lives. First,

Why Big Mistakes Happen

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I want you to know that God can redeem your big mistakes. God can redeem your big mistakes. Peter makes a big mistake here, and I kind of want to take a moment and process just how big the mistake was. Go back a few verses to verse 31 of Matthew 26. Matthew 26 and verse 31. It says, Then Jesus said to them, talking to the disciples, Jesus said to them, You will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. And Peter answered him, Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Jesus said to him, Truly I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter said to him, Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And all the disciples said the same. So just a few hours earlier, Peter was convinced, I will never do this. Never. I cannot imagine a scenario in which I will deny you. And if Jesus says he would do it, then Jesus is wrong. That's Peter's logic. He knows his heart and his heart is all in. In fact, did you notice how he threw his friends under the bus? He says, Even if they would deny you, I will never deny you. Even if they all fall away, I will never fall away. This is not something I am capable of doing. And I believe Peter was ready to die. I believe he meant it, every word of it. But look down a little further in verse 50 of Matthew 26. In verse 50, it says, Jesus said to him, speaking to Judas, Friend, do what you came to do. Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him, and behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to him, Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so? When soldiers come to arrest Jesus, Peter is ready to fight. Peter is the unnamed man here, by the way, who cuts off the ear of a high priest's server. Even if I have to die with you, I'll never deny you. And yet Jesus stops them. Says, put your sword up. It's not what we're doing here, Peter. Those who take the sword will die by the sword. And so Peter is so, so confused. Have you ever been so confused that you didn't know what was going on? You didn't know what the next course of action should be, and you were sort of paralyzed by your confusion. That's Peter. I thought we were gonna fight, I thought I might die, I thought Jesus might become king tonight, and yet he told me to put my sword up, and they arrest him, and we all scatter. So, so confused. And that's why when people start accusing him, he just denies. Everything has gone wrong. The battle never happened. Jesus has been arrested, the others have scattered, Peter is confused, and so he denies Jesus. So, what do you do when you make a huge mistake? I'm sure you guys, even the young ones among us, know that feeling. Doing something you shouldn't do and deeply regretting. You know that feeling where you can't take it back? You know that feeling where people are upset with you and there's not enough apologies to make it better? When things are not normal, when trust is damaged, innocence is lost, you know that feeling? It is an awful feeling. And I want you to remember that God can redeem your big mistakes. Because that's what he does with Peter. What happens with Peter after the bitter weeping? I think we've diagnosed his failure quite enough, but I just want you to know that when Jesus is raised after all of this, Jesus singles out Peter. Go, the angel says, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. This is also an interesting tidbit that Peter is still there on the day of the resurrection. In John chapter 20, Peter went out with the other disciple, that's John, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. That is John, bragging about being faster than Peter. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb. Peter is not done. Peter is still a part of the group of believers in Jesus, even after he denies. And Peter goes in and sees that the tomb is empty. Peter becomes one of the first witnesses to the resurrection. Peter has Jesus appeared to him again and asks him, by the way, when he denies around a charcoal fire, so he affirms around a charcoal fire to Jesus. Jesus says, Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? And Peter says, You know I love you, you know I love you. Feed my sheep, tend my lambs. Peter believes in Jesus again. And so there is this process after the big mistake by which Peter continues to try to follow Jesus. Whatever that looks like, whatever the next step may be, Peter goes through it. And do you know why? Sometimes we name our kids Peter. It's not because he denied Jesus. Do you know why you know the name of Peter? It's not because he denied Jesus. It is because after he denied Jesus, he became something amazing. What a leader Peter becomes. Peter becomes the one who preaches salvation in the name of Jesus, the same name he denied. Now he says, you don't deny him, you follow him. He becomes over time a stable and strong man, the kind of man you would have never thought Peter would become if you knew him when he was younger. He becomes a rock in Jesus' words. He becomes an elder, we learn later in 1 Peter. He is widely admired among the early Christians. It's almost as if you forget his denial when you see how he bounces back and moves forward. And that, friends, is what it looks like when big mistakes are redeemed.

How Jesus Restores Peter

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Contrast that with Judas. Judas betrays Jesus. Judas also is very upset, just like Peter weeps bitterly. And yet Judas never repents of his sin. Judas gives up. Judas gets overwhelmed by his mistake, and he commits suicide. So while Peter and Judas both make a very similar big mistake, Peter becomes a great preacher, apostle, elder, and Judas becomes a failure. When you read the list of the apostles, you have Peter first, and you have Judas last, usually with the traitor. Judas allows that mistake to define him. But Peter's mistake is redeemed. I want to explore that just a little more with you. Let's go to Luke chapter 22. In Luke 22, Jesus says something about what Peter is going to become after all of this. Luke chapter 22. And I want you to think about the power of the redemption Jesus gives to Peter here. How his big mistake is transformed because of the way Jesus deals with him and because of the way Peter responds after his big mistake. Luke 22, let's read in verse 31. Luke 22, verse 31, Jesus is speaking to Peter and he says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. I want you to notice that even before Peter denies Jesus, Jesus tells him, verse 32, about what happens when you have turned again. That is a word means that means when you have come back or when you have turned around. That when when you go through this and later on you turn, I've got some work for you then. When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Jesus says, You're going to make a mistake here, Peter, but that mistake can be redeemed into something that helps his brothers. So Peter's experience is that something helpful and useful can emerge out of a big mistake. Your story can be redeemed like that too. I want you to think about this passage. This is somewhat familiar to us, especially if you've attended a Bible class. You probably heard this passage, learned about this passage, this image of Satan as a roaring lion. He says, in 1 Peter 5, 8, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Can I ask you a question? Doesn't that verse hit a little different? When you realize who's writing? This is Peter. Doesn't it hit a little different when you realize that Peter knew exactly what he was talking about? That Peter could say, you know, there was a moment where I was not sober-minded and watchful. Jesus told me to be, but I was not. When he tells us, you be careful, because Satan is coming after you. Satan has demanded you, Jesus tells him, that he might sift you like wheat. Peter says, I know what it's like to be sifted. You watch out. Isn't it interesting how Peter can strengthen his brothers after the sin because he can say, look at my example and do better? That is redemption. I want you to think about, especially you younger disciples, what it would feel like to go talk to elder Peter when you made a big mistake. Can you think about it? What if Peter could sit you down and say, let's talk about this? I wonder if he wouldn't say something like this. If he wouldn't look you in the eyes and say, I know exactly how you feel. I know exactly what it feels like to be embarrassed by your own choices. I know how you kick yourself that you should have known better. I know how you replay your mistakes over and over in your head. Sometimes I still cry thinking about what I did. But you know what? I also remember Jesus looking into my eyes and telling me, You feed my sheep, you strengthen your brothers, you do my work. And what if Peter then put his arm around you and said, Jesus wasn't done with me and he's not done with you? Let's do better. Do you see the power that comes when God takes our sins and mistakes and then redeems them, makes them into something that can encourage and bless other people? That's what it looks like for God to redeem your big mistakes. I

Paul’s Past And God’s Mercy

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want to tell you, especially you young people, I grew up with a, I think, a faulty idea. When I was, so to speak, sitting on this side of the room and looking over to this side. I often thought, you know, these people, well, for one, they don't want me to have any fun. And these people, they they kind of got their lives figured out. They don't ever do anything wrong. You know, they're always dressed up. And it is only as I've kind of moved from this side of the room over to this side that I've begun to realize the truth is these people are the people who have made the big mistakes. The people who are here are not here because they're perfect. They're here because they're not. And the reason they tell you, hey, watch out for that. This is a risk, this is a danger, don't do that, is because they have made the big mistake and they don't want you to. They know the pain, they know the suffering that comes from falling into sin. And they want you to avoid that. And that's what Peter is doing here. Encouraging us, don't fall into my trap. God can redeem your big mistakes. I would also just put for your consideration, I would put Paul on the board here. Remember Paul, who had his life defined by the fact that he persecuted the church of God. He should have known better, and yet he did not. In good conscience he did it, and yet he did it. And yet Jesus appears to him, his heart is changed, he is transformed to become an apostle of the man that he persecuted. And he says this about it. This is a long quotation, but I hope you'll look through it with me. He says, I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. Big mistakes, right? But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. He says, Yes, I made a horrible mistake. And Peter and Paul talks about that over and over again. It becomes a staple of his preaching. Let me tell you what I did, and let me tell you how Jesus saved me from it. Because he wants everyone to know. Not that he made a big mistake, but that God can redeem even your big mistakes. And Paul can say, I made a bigger mistake than you ever will. I am the chief of sinners, and yet, and yet here we stand. Christ Jesus came to save people like me. God can redeem your big mistakes.

Joseph And Redeemed Hard Times

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Second thing I want you to see is that God can redeem your hard times. I want you to go with me to the book of Genesis, chapter 50. Genesis 50. Genesis 50. As you're turning there, I want to remind you of the story of Joseph. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, an act of breathtaking cruelty. Now, Joseph was a little bit of a punk, and yet I'm not sure that he deserved being sold into slavery. He is a teenager, so you teenagers, think about yourself. Suddenly being Being sold by your family into a foreign land as a slave. Imagine how angry you would be if this was you. Angry at your brothers, why did they do this to me? Angry at your dad. Why didn't he come when he realized that I was no longer home? Angry at God, perhaps. Why did God allow this? After all, God made me promises. I saw these dreams. And so Joseph goes to Potiphar's house. And I just want you to remember the story. As he works at Potiphar's house, the Lord was with him, and the Lord blessed what he did and gave him favor in the sight of Potiphar, and yet a false accusation from Potiphar's wife means he goes to prison. And in prison, God blesses him. He has favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. He interprets dreams in the prison, and yet, and yet he waits. And he waits and he waits. Surely at some point he becomes convinced this is just my life now. For years and years, into his twenties, he thinks this is just the way things are going to go. I'll probably die in this prison. And then suddenly he is brought out to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. Life dramatically changes for him. He is made second in Egypt. He marries and has kids. And guys, I want you to notice what he says about his kids. Have you read these passages? This is Genesis 41. This is what he says. Joseph called the name of his firstborn Manasseh, for he said, God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house. The name of the second he called Ephraim, for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. Do you see the name? Even the names of his kids, he is saying, Man, I've been suffering. And he's trying to get over it. You can tell that God has made me forget, but has he really made him forget when he names one of his kids about it? Hmm. Or God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. He's trying to get over it. But I would hazard he's still not over it. This is what happens when you have hard times. Hard times are hard. Then there's famine. His brothers come, and Joseph has to face them all over again. He's no longer in prison, but he's still wrestling and struggling and hurting. He finally reveals himself to his brothers. He gets all his family to come down to Egypt, including his father. There is some measure of reconciliation, and yet there is still this risk for the brothers. Is he going to kill us now that Dad has gone away? Is he going to be mad and finally get revenge? So, Genesis 50, this is where we are, and I want you to notice, as Joseph processes this and talks to his brothers, how he is using the language of redemption. Genesis 50 and verse 19 is where I want to read. Genesis 50 and verse 19, it says, But Joseph said to them, his brothers, do not fear, for am I in the place of God. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear, I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. The language of redemption, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. Joseph sees all the good in their evil, all the good things that it made possible, all the provision God made for his family, all the healing it has brought, the way it matured him, the way it gave him a foothold in Egypt, the way it gave them food in a time of famine. He says, God turned your evil into good. That's just what God does. God can redeem anything. And he can transform your hard times into a blessing. Now, don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean hard times are easy. Joseph would not say so. This is still the land of his affliction. Prison is prison. False accusations are false accusations. Rejection is rejection. Slavery is slavery. But God can redeem the cruelty of violence and the pain that he has gone through and the hurt of being forgotten and the years of waiting, God can take that and make it into good. God can redeem anything. Now a

Paul’s Prison Time With Purpose

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similar thing happens to Paul. In the latter chapters of the book of Acts, Paul is arrested for really no good reason. Just imagine how you would feel, by the way. Arrested for no good reason. And then he is just sent around like a hot potato to different locations. Got out of Jerusalem. He's going to Festus. He's going to Felix. Finally, he is, in his mind, forced to appeal to Caesar. And so he waits and waits, and then finally he takes the trip. He goes across the sea. He is shipwrecked on the way to Rome. A snake latches onto his hand. By the way, that's probably the worst part for me. I am not a snake guy. There are no good snakes. That's not a thing. On he goes. Finally, he gets to Rome and he waits. And he waits. Just imagine how you would feel. Honestly, it makes me a little angry just to talk about. Years of your life. You should be out preaching the gospel, writing letters, making new converts, and what are you doing? Nothing. You're stuck for no reason. It's just injustice and incompetence. Hard times. And this is what Paul says about them. As he's writing from Roman custody in Philippians chapter 1. He says, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me, that by the way, is everything I just described. What has happened to me, the stuff that's been going on with me, has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident of the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Paul says, Hey guys, great news. Everything terrible that happened to me, God made it good. Let me tell you some of the good stuff that's happened. He says, first of all, there are people who would have never heard the gospel, who have now seen me, the Imperial Guard. They know about Jesus, they know that my chains are in Christ. And some of them seem to have become disciples of Jesus because of Paul's work with them. And then he also talks about there are other people who have heard of me and what's happened to me, and they have become more bold to speak the word without fear. They look at me and they say, I want to be bold like Paul is bold. God redeems his time. The gospel keeps marching. This is what God does. So, young people, especially, I want you to have this truth in your back pocket. Because you're going to have hard times. I just don't know what those are going to look like yet. You don't either. You're going to have times when your friends reject you and hurt you and abandon you. Or you're going to have times where money is tight. Or you're frustrated by your circumstances. You can't get the job you want. You can't find the mate you want. You can't have children when you want. You don't deal with people the way you want to. You can't find the church that does things the way you think they should. And you just struggle and you worry and you stress. And you may spend years waiting for something that never happens. And I want you to know that God can redeem your hard times. That they do not define you any more than Joseph's hard times to find him, or any more than Paul's hard times to find him. It is just something that all people will go through and that God can redeem. James says it this way. He says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various trials, or when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. He says, You rejoice when hard things happen because you know God's at work on your character to make you complete and mature, that steadfastness or patience is going to come out of the hardship. Count it joy, because God can redeem anything.

Jacob And Esau Reconciled

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And let's look at one more story. I want to talk about how God can redeem your bad relationships. I want to look in Genesis 32 for a moment. Genesis 32, just back a few pages. Let me tell you about these brothers who could not get along. If you have siblings at home and you struggle to get along with them, I'm sorry, but you got nothing on Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau had a strained relationship. I think that's a little mild. They're twins, and yet they're so different. Esau is the firstborn, and so he has, as a result of that, the birthright and the blessing. And Jacob schemes a way when Esau is really hungry to trick him out of his birthright. And then he schemes a way to convince his dad to give him the blessing, thinking he was Esau. Evidently, being hairy and smelly was enough. And so he convinces his dad. So Esau is furious and finally has had enough. He pledges to kill Jacob. This is the classic big brawny guy against the skinny smart guy. And so Jacob runs away. And he stays away for years. Jacob finds a new life in Haran with Laban. He marries both of his daughters. He becomes a father many, many, many times over. And then he discovers it's not so nice to be tricked, the way he had tricked his brother and his own dad. And so he decides ultimately it's time to go back home. There is just one problem. What about Esau? Esau's still big and hairy and smelly. And as far as he knows, he's still mad. So I want you to read with me in Genesis 32. Genesis 32 and verse 9. This is Jacob praying to God the night before he is to meet Esau. Genesis 32 and verse 9, and Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, Return to your own country and to your kindred that I may do you good. I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant. For with only my staff I crossed this Jordan. Now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. So he is fervently praying to God, Don't let Esau kill me and my family. Please help, you promised you would do me good. And this is the night when Jacob wrestles with the angel, holding on to him until he can secure a blessing, because he knows how much he needs God's blessing in this moment. Turn the page to Genesis 33. Genesis 33, verse 1. It says, And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. Here he is. It's the army that's going to destroy his family, four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants, and he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. He's separating his family out by saying, Which one of my kids and my wives can I lose? And he goes in front and just bows. And I just picture him taking a few steps and bowing, and a few more steps and bowing. He is terrified. What will Esau do? Verse 4. But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him. And they wept. And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, Who are these with you? Jacob said, The children whom God has graciously given your servant. They began to discuss in a precious moment the families that God has blessed them with. Brothers. Brothers have to hug, being apart for so long. And Esau, Esau wants to meet his new sisters-in-law and all his nephews. There are a lot. Don't you wish you knew why suddenly the change of heart? But here's what we know he's calmed down. He's realized he shouldn't stay mad like this. And he probably shouldn't try to kill his brother. Now, I just want you to see that on Jacob's end, God is at work. He keeps praying to God and asking God and seeking blessings from God. And God changes this situation so that his will is accomplished and his people are saved. God can redeem even your bad relationships. I gotta tell you, it didn't look like things were gonna get better for Jacob and Esau. I don't think anyone saw a reconciliation on the horizon, and yet here it is. Because God can redeem even your bad relationships. Guys, I hate to tell you this, but you're gonna have some bad relationships. Sometimes you're gonna hurt people, and sometimes people are gonna hurt you. Sometimes it's just gonna go south. And you will be tempted in times where you struggle in relationships to get frustrated and despair and give up on people. And I want to remind you that God is capable of redeeming even your bad relationships. I want you to know that God can redeem struggling marriages. I want you to know that God can redeem sibling rivalries. I want you to know that God can redeem hurts you suffer when you are young. I want you to know that God can be at work. The reason I've gone into these stories so extensively is because I really want you to feel this truth. This is what God does. And when you read in the Bible statements like Gabriel makes to Mary, nothing will be impossible with God, I want you to know that's not just a promise about what God did in the Bible. That is a promise for you. Nothing is impossible with God. God can redeem anything. He can take your big mistakes, and he can take your hard times, and he can take your ruined relationships, and he can make them into something you never imagined they could be. God can do it because God does it. That's who he is. It's about the character of God, not about what I have made a mistake in. Redeeming. Redeeming is what God does. It's his business. Redeeming is what it looks like when Naomi limps back home with just one daughter-in-law and says, Don't call me sweet, call me bitter. And yet God is able to provide for her and provide a new family for her. Redeeming is what it looks like when David waits for years for God to finally give him what he promised, to make him king. And David can look back on those years and say, the whole time God was with me, protecting and blessing me. Redeeming is what it looks like when Hezekiah looks out from Jerusalem and sees the Assyrian army surrounding the city. What Isaiah calls the water up to the neck, and he says, God, look on these people and their threats and answer them. And God does. And suddenly what looked like the worst thing that could ever happen becomes the best thing that could ever happen. That's what God does. Redeeming is what God does when he says to Ezekiel, Prophet, Son of Man, can these bones live? And Ezekiel looks at them, and of course he doesn't know what to say, but in his mind he's thinking, absolutely not. Dead bones don't live, and they're very dry. And yet he says, Lord, you know, and God says, I can give them new life. This is what God does. Redeeming is what it looks like when Peter denies Jesus and then comes back and is forgiven and becomes one of the most influential people who has ever lived. When something is redeemed, you look back on it with different eyes. It changes in your mind. The situation doesn't change. It's still a terrible situation. But you see new purpose in it and new meaning from it. We see how those things make us better, how they mature us, how they bring good in the lives of others. And I am saying to you today that God can redeem anything. Now it may take time. God usually does not act immediately, despite the fact that we want that. Sometimes it is even about teaching us patience, like James said and we read earlier. And I also want to say that that redemption may look different than what we expect. In fact, I would say if you want to know anything about God, it's that God likes to do the unexpected. He seems to revel in doing things that we had not expected or planned and in ways that we do not expect or plan. It may require some hard circumstances, it may involve people. But God can redeem anything. I

Redemption Takes Time And Surprise

SPEAKER_01 39:29

have people who talk to me a lot about what's on their heart. I talk to Christians who have fallen away and no longer believe in Jesus. Those are hard conversations. Sometimes I talk to their parents. I watch them grieve over their kids. I talk to people who are struggling in their marriages and they're so frustrated with their partner. I talk to some people who have a long-standing hostility, a grudge, a problem that has never been resolved, never forgiven. I talk to some people who wrestle with their own flaws. They have addictions. They have ongoing struggles. I talk to some people who are frustrated with other Christians, sometimes in the very same local church. I talk to a lot of people who are unsure about the path of their life. Sometimes they're paralyzed by indecision. And the reason I bring up all those different kinds of people is because I find myself saying the same thing in all of those situations. You know what I say? I say the story's not over yet. I say you need to trust that maybe God can be at work here. You need to seek what God wants from you, and then trust that God's going to do what's best for you because God can redeem anything. I'll just speak for a moment from my own experience here. My parents divorced when I was nine years old. And I have to say, it was awful. I grew up in a house that was full of fighting and anger and bitterness. And the divorce was especially painful. For years I spent every other weekend at my dad's house. We went to different churches. And I was so angry. I will tell you, I look back on those days with different eyes now. I'm a grown man with kids of my own. And it still hurts. It still makes me sad. But now I see that that experience matured me. It made me closer to God because even as a child, what I saw was that the things that were so wrong about what was happening in my home were wrong because God said they were wrong. And it made me trust that God knew how a home should run. It was just that it wasn't the way my home was running. And now what I see at this stage in my life is that God can use my experience to help people who are struggling with their own marital problems, thinking about divorce, thinking about whether they should just give up. God can use my experience to help children who were in my position. Because I am just right where they were, but 25 or 35 or 45 years down the line. What I am telling you is that God has redeemed my pain. And I praise him. I have been nearly bankrupt and did not know how the ends were going to meet. And yet I look back on that and I say, you know, God has shown me in that, not to get too attached to money, to be disciplined and careful about treasures on earth. I have had serious struggles with sin that have hurt me and my God and often other people. And yet I know that through that experience and the growth that I have experienced since, that God has not only blessed me, but can bless other people through that. I have had my failures as a father and as a husband, and yet I also see God using my weakness to connect me to other people, to show them that God can do something in them that he has done in me. God can redeem anything.

Three Reasons To Keep Hope

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So let me just say, before I close, these three things. If God can redeem anything, I can trust him to do good. One of the most dangerous thoughts we can have in moments where things are going wrong is how can this be good? These stories show that God wants my good, even if it just hurts right now. Jesus wanted good for Peter. God meant good things for Joseph. God blessed Jacob and Esau to restore their relationship. And this trust helps me relieve the anxiety that says, I don't know what's going to happen because I have messed things up. If God can redeem anything, I can be confident that the best is ahead. In ways I can't see yet, God is working in my present situation to bring good. Now that does not mean that God's going to make all my wildest dreams come true. That's not the idea. It means that evil and distress are not the last word. They are never the last word. Because we serve a Savior who has victory over all of it. And so I can be confident that the best is ahead no matter where I am in life. And if God can redeem anything, I should never give up. Never despair. Judas gave up. Peter never did. So I want to say, young people, God can redeem your big mistakes, but you have to try to do better. It's not enough to wallow in them or intentionally commit them. God can redeem your hard times, but you have to keep going. You can't quit. And God can redeem your bad relationships, but you have to keep trying to love and pursue God's will in those relationships. So I just say to you, never, ever, ever lose hope. Because God can redeem anything. Thank you so much.

Closing And How To Connect

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Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ podcast. For more information about Westside, you can connect with us through our website justchristians.com and our Facebook page or our music is from Upbeat.io. That's Upbeat with Aor. Where creators can get reviewed. We share our podcast with us and we look forward to showing you again.