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A Place of New Beginnings Part 4
A New Beginning Needs a Great Ending
Dr. Dave M. Hartson
Bala Chitto Baptist Church
01/24/06
Introduction:
In our series on a New Beginning we have discovered so far that God offers each one of us a “New Beginning”. He offered a New Beginning to the woman caught in adultery and he offered a New Beginning to the ones that wanted to stone her. But we discovered in that passage of Scripture that only the woman accepted her New Beginning. So we concluded that although God offers a New Beginning to each one of us only a few accept it.
And in the next sermon we said that once God has given us a New Beginning we can not let it slip through our fingers by trying to hold onto the past. The past is what we are trying to break away from and start over. That is why Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, go and sin no more. He was telling her not to go back to her past. So we can’t lie to ourselves that the past was the best part of our life. We need to pursue our New Beginning.
And then in our third sermon we discussed that if we are to walk away from our past, you have to be walking toward something else. And we discussed that we need to choose to walk toward God and what He desires of us. And then I gave you some ways how you might know if you are walking toward what God desires of you.
Tonight as we conclude this sermon series it seems to me that if God gives you have A New Beginning you ought to have a Great Ending. The Scripture agrees with that:
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
So the Bible makes no bones about it. If God gives you a New Beginning, you ought to have a Great Ending. So why so often do we not have that Great Ending.
Body:
1. We do not have Great Endings because sometimes there is a great distance between the beginning and the end and we don’t persevere to the end.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
a. Judas Iscariot didn’t persevere as disciple of God and ended up betraying Jesus.
b. Adam and Eve didn’t persevere with God’s plan as to what they could eat in the Garden and as they were expelled from the Garden.
c. The Israelites didn’t persevere in their faith in God that He would do what He said and bring them into the Promised Land and as result they ended up dying in the wilderness.
d. Each one had a New Beginning but did not persevere to the end and the result was that their end was disastrous and not great.
2. We do not have Great Endings because we settle for the world’s idea of a great ending.
Proverbs 16:25 (NIV)
25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
a. The world would tell us that the end of a marriage is divorce. The Bible would tell us the end of a marriage is death. One is a Great Ending the other is the world’s cheap substitute.
b. Wherever God has a Great Ending, the world will always show us a cheap substitute.
c. Too many Christians think the great end of the Christian faith is walking the aisle in the church. The Bible would tell us that the end of our faith is living our life each day for Christ. One is substitute and one is a Great ending.
2 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
d. The world would tell us that if you love each other than it is OK to be physical. The Bible tells us that it is OK to be physical when you are married. One is a cheap substitute and the other is a Great Ending.
e. I think so many of us don’t have Great Ending because we settle for cheap substitutes.
3. We do not have Great Endings because we don’t have the patience to wait for God’s Great Ending.
Ecclesiastes 7:8 (NIV)
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.
a. I wonder if you were Abraham would you have the patience to wait for the Promised Son, Isaac. Or would you have settled for the substitute just like Abraham initially did.
b. I wonder if you were Noah could you have waited in the Ark for nearly a year to let the flood waters subside before leaving the Ark.
c. I wonder if you were Jacob would you have waited 14 years to marry the woman you really loved and all that time working for her father.
d. When you start telling yourself, “it is too hard;” “I can’t do it;” “I won’t make it;” you are growing impatient and about ready to give up.
4. We do not have Great Endings because we discover that we are not in charge and we don’t like that.
Romans 12:1 (NIV)
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
a. A sacrifice has very little say so. Isaac did not have any say so when Abraham put him on the altar to offer him to God.
b. The animals that were sacrificed by the high priest didn’t have any say so. They couldn’t tell the High Priest that we don’t want to get on the altar.
c. And you and I if want a Great Ending we are not in charge, God is.
5. We do not have Great Endings because we become consumed by our anger.
Proverbs 29:11 (NIV)
11 A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.
a. Cain did not have a Great Ending because he was not able to keep his anger under control.
b. Joseph had all the reason in the world to get angry at Potiphar’s wife but he kept himself under control and had a Great Ending.
c. Moses in his anger struck the rock and as result he was not able to enter the Promised Land. His anger caused him to miss out on his Great Ending.
Conclusion:
Tonight, God wants to give you a New Beginning but He also wants to give you a Great Ending. The New Beginning depends entirely upon God’s grace and His mercy. The Great Ending depends upon what I do with what God has given me. I have given you tonight examples of people who have squandered their Great Ending. I plead with you don’t do that in your life. If you accept God’s New Beginning don’t settle for less than a Great Ending.