Sermon Central
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What Is Written Is Written
Contributed by Mark Berry on Apr 1, 2011 (message contributor)
Summary: Sin can destroy a persons potential and lead to eternity in separation from God, but God is a God of second chances. Share with your congregation about the grace and mercy of God.
WHAT IS WRITTEN, IS WRITTEN
BUT GOD GIVES SECOND CHANCES
You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.
But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered. [16] Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. [17] Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). [18] Here they crucified him, and with him two others--one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
[19] Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. [20] Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. [21] The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews." [22] Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
Rev. 21:27
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Introduction:
➢ Many of us have created in our minds an image of God being non-forgiving…never forgiving our mistakes and blunders.
➢ With a concept like this, we cannot forgive ourselves and we continually remind ourselves of our failures.
Perhaps our prayer is like the Poem of Louise Tarkington:
"I wish that there were some wonderful place In the Land of Beginning Again.
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches
And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door and never put on again.
I wish we could come on it all unaware, Like the hunter who finds a lost trail;
And I wish that the one whom our blindness had done
The greatest injustice of all Could be there at the gates like an old friend that waits
For the comrade he's gladdest to hail. We would find all the things we intended to do
But forgot, and remembered too late,
Little praises unspoken, little promises broken,
And all the thousand and one
Little duties neglected that might have perfected
The day for one less fortunate.
It wouldn't be possible not to be kind
In the Land of Beginning Again, And the ones we misjudged and the ones whom we grudged their moments of victory here,
Would find in the grasp of our loving hand-clasp
More than penitent lips could explain...
So I wish that there were some wonderful place
Called the Land of Beginning Again,
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches, And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door And never put on again."
1. IT’S TOO LATE TO CHANGE SOME THINGS…”What is written, is written”
a. The report Card of life cannot be changed…
i. Your earnings of the past year are fixed
ii. Your investments and losses have already been determined
iii. If we had only known about the economy we could have re-invested our funds
iv. There’s the job that you could have had, but turned down
v. There’s the job you didn’t have and could not find
b. Your blunders, mistakes, sins, and wrong judgments all cannot be changed.
i. In fact, people won’t let you forget you made mistakes
ii. You’ll never forget some of the things you have said to hurt someone. It plays over and over in your mind.
iii. There will always be the wrong decisions you have made that haunt you.
iv. There are always those who started out in the year _________ with great zeal and enthusiasm. But, before the year could end…the resolutions fizzled out.
1. Some of us showed promise in the work of the church as the last year started, but today we are found not helping in any area of the church. Perhaps, we were guilty of saying, “Let the pastor do it, or someone else is more qualified”
2. Some of us have lost our zeal for the things of God
3. We have not won anyone for Christ
4. We have not started a family altar.
c. At this moment, your record does not look too good and I’m sorry to say that the record cannot change. The past year has already been written.
Illust:
Several years ago, a group of people came together for a New Year’s Eve Party. They talked about making New Year’s resolution, but someone said let’s make New Year’s expectations.
