Starting Again

By Pastor William R. Cunningham
for January 1, 2006

Introduction

Today is the beginning of another year.  This is the time of year where many make there New Year’s resolutions.  We decide that we are going to lose weight, eat right, etc.   Many times these resolutions last only a few weeks or months and then we are right back where we were the year before.

I remember several years ago how I prayed to God for direction for the coming year during the New Year’s resolution period.  I also remember not hearing anything from God.  There was nothing that rose in my mind or as an unction in my spirit.  I basically heard nothing from God in response to my request for direction for the New Year.  Then it dawned on me.  Perhaps God isn’t saying anything because He wants me to continue with what I was doing. 

That situation taught me a couple of things.  First, life changes are not always in sync with New Years.  Second, the changes that we decide to make at any moment may take more than a year to complete or accomplish.  Therefore, it is very important that we are conscious of where we are in regards to accomplishing a particular goal and realize that reaching that goal may take a long time or at least longer than we might anticipate.

Most of us can look at our lives and know what we want to change.  There may be a bad habit, bad disposition, bad practice, bad way of thinking, or whatever.  We can always identify an aspect of our lives that we would like to improve in one way or another.   It may also be something that you have been battling for years and have since resolved that you will never be able to conquer or accomplish it.  You try and fail and try and fail again.  It haunts you and in some cases, depending on what the issue is, you feel guilty that you cannot overcome or accomplish it.

Well it’s time to start over all over again and realize that you may need to do this many times (ideally this next time would be the last).  The point is that you should do all you can to improve your life and by improve I mean to put it more in line with the will of God and His ways.  Let’s take this time that is dedicated to new beginnings anyway and use it to reconstruct the rest of our lives.

Let’s discuss some aspects of starting again.  What is involved with turning over a new leaf in life?  Sometimes we find ourselves in a more difficult situation than we expected when we attempt to make changes to our lives.  Sometimes we may find that we are locked down into a particular way of thinking or practice.  I am going to therefore present to you some things that I hope will help you pursue and accomplish those things that you decided to change in your life.

Identifying the what

First let us look at the following scripture.

John 8:1-12 (NKJV) -- {1} But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. {2} Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. {3} Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, {4} they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. {5} Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” {6} This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. {7} So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” {8} And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. {9} Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. {10} When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” {11} She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” {12} Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Here was a situation where the Pharisees (religious leaders) caught a woman committing adultery.  Now I believe that this was a case of temptation and entrapment else they followed a prostitute to catch her in the act of fornication (adultery is a special case of fornication).  In any case the Pharisees brought the woman to Jesus and tempted him.  They said that she was caught in the act of adultery and that Moses said that she should be put to death.  First let’s look at the law in regards to adultery.

Leviticus 20:10 (NKJV) -- {10} ‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.
Deuteronomy 22:22 (NKJV) -- {22} “If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.
As you can see, the man and the woman were to be stoned when they were caught or found to have committed adultery.  So one has to ask why the Pharisees didn’t bring the man as well as the woman to Jesus. 

We also note that the Pharisees were using the woman to get at Jesus. They accused her so that they would tempt Jesus.  The accuser is the devil.  He accuses us before the Lord.  This induces guilt in us, which can paralyze us if we allow it. 

Now we know the rest of the story.  Jesus didn’t respond to the Pharisee’s question about stoning the woman.  Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground as though He didn’t hear them.  However the Pharisees continued to press him about the matter.  Jesus then answered them with the famous statement, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”  Anyone who threw a stone at the woman would have been claiming to be sinless at that would have been a sin in itself because all have sinned.

Romans 3:23 (NKJV) -- {23} for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

No one could throw a stone at her.  They were all in the same boat so to speak though they weren’t caught in the act.  They had all sinned at one time or another.  The Bible declares that all unrighteousness is sin (1 John 5:17).

Jesus asked the woman about those who had gone and left her standing there alone.  He asked about those who condemned her.  She told Jesus said that no one is left who condemned her and she called Jesus “Lord.”  We will come back to this very important point later.

Jesus then says something very powerful and important.  He said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”  There are three things here that I would like to bring to your attention.

1. Jesus said that He did not condemn the woman
2. Jesus told her to go, which implies she was forgiven
3. Jesus told her to stop sinning

The above three are very important for us to make lifestyle changes as it was for that woman.  However, there is something even more important that on the part of the woman.  She had to first be willing to make the change that Jesus told her to make.

“We have to be willing to repent and start again.”

Jesus is Lord

Remember earlier that the woman called Jesus, Lord.  That was very important and it signifies what Jesus meant to the woman and perhaps it even signified how Jesus was perceived by the woman.  Jesus is Lord.

There are several Hebrew and Greek words that are rendered as the English word, lord. Some are shown below (These are taken from the Easton’s Bible Dictionary).

1. Heb. Jehovah, has been rendered in the English Bible Lord, printed in small capitals. This is the proper name of the God of the Hebrews.
2.  Heb. 'adon, means one possessed of absolute control. It denotes a master, as of slaves (Gen. 24:14, 27), or a ruler of his subjects (Gen. 45:8), or a husband, as lord of his wife (Gen. 18:12).The old plural form of this Hebrew word is 'adonai.
3. Greek kurios, a supreme master, etc. In the LXX (Septuagint) this is invariably used for “Jehovah” and “'Adonai.”
4. Heb. ba'al, a master, as having domination. This word is applied to human relations, as that of husband, to persons skilled in some art or profession, and to heathen deities.

We can ascertain from the context of the narrative that the woman most likely considered Jesus her master as one with authority over her.  This is especially probable since Jesus had just quieted the Pharisees and “outsmarted” them so to speak.  I doubt that the woman would have overlooked how Jesus handled the Pharisees and their response to Jesus (they walked away too).

No Condemnation

Notice that Jesus told the woman that He did not condemn her.  Keep in mind that she was caught in the act of adultery and was guilty of that sin.  However, consider the following scripture.

Romans 8:1 (NKJV) -- {1} There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Jesus Christ does not condemn us.  God does not condemn us.  If anything we condemn ourselves.  The ultimate condemnation is simply to deny Jesus Christ and die not believing in Him.  In such a case you have condemned yourself to hell because God was indeed calling you to salvation, but you refused to answer.

Go (forgiveness)

Jesus told the woman to go.  This implied that she was forgiven as I said before.  After all, she was still guilty of adultery.  However, Jesus forgave her of that.  He told her to go her way and continue her life being forgiven.

We too have to realize that God has forgiven us for our sins. Notice that the woman didn’t ask Jesus to forgive her. Jesus gave her forgiveness by His own initiation.  Likewise we have been forgiven of our sins even though we didn’t ask for it.  Jesus died on the cross as the payment for our sins.  He died instead of us.  He died for us and there was nothing we did to deserve it and we surely didn’t ask for it.  We were too busy living a life of sin.

Romans 3:21-26 (NKJV) -- {21} But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, {22} even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; {23} for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, {24} being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, {25} whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, {26} to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

We have forgiveness so we should begin to act like it.  Stop acting like God is out to get you and punish you.  God has forgiven you.  Even if you still commit sins today all that is necessary is to confess them before God (See 1 John 1:9).

Sin No More

Forgiveness is one thing and change is another.  The last thing that Jesus told the woman was to stop sinning.  This seems to imply that she was indeed a prostitute and Jesus was telling her to stop being a prostitute.  If this was an isolated incident then Jesus was still telling her to not do it again.

The woman had to stop sinning.  The woman had to stop committing fornication.  If she was a prostitute then this would have been a lifestyle change on her part.

We have to live a righteous life.  Christians are to live a life that is acceptable, consistent with the Lord’s Way, and pleasing to the Lord.  This means that we will need to make adjustments to our lifestyles from time to time.

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NKJV) -- {5} Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

Examine yourself.  Are there any areas in your life that need to be corrected?  Be truthful and then make the change.   If there are any areas of sin in your life then it is time to start again.  Don’t buckle under a guilt trip, but instead go to God and turn your life around.  Where does this begin?

Repent

The first thing that you have to do is to make the decision to change if indeed you want to start again.  You have to repent.  The word repent in this context means to make the decision to change.  You have decided to turn over a new leaf in life so to speak even if it is just an area of your life.  Without repentance then your quest for change will not last.

It is also important to realize that repentance here is true.  We are not talking about an emotional trip such as the case during the New Year’s season when people vow to loose weight and the like.  You have to be really honest with yourself and sincere about making the change.  Only then will you have a chance of success.

Repent and turn over a new leaf in life.  After that you must begin to learn.  What does it take to live the way that you want to live?  What is necessary to accomplish your goals?  It isn’t as simply as saying no most of the time.  The Bible declares that we are destroyed because of our ignorance (Hosea 4:6).

Educate and Persevere

We said above that we need to learn what it takes to accomplish the changes that we need to accomplish.  The woman in our story started on the right foot so to speak by recognizing Jesus as Lord.  Of course we have to recognize Jesus as Lord too since we are incapable of making righteous changes on our own strength.

Sometimes what we desire to accomplish takes years.  Sometimes the battle is very hard.  However, we should persevere and use the knowledge that we gain to continue moving forward in our quest for righteous living.  Continue moving forward in making the changes you need to make.  If next New Year’s resolution is simply to continue with what you are doing then so be it.  Sometimes the quest is a lifelong one.

You should realize that it is very unlikely that any of will reach the state of purity during the course of our life.  We will sooner or later do something that God does not approve us.  We will at one time or another do something that is not righteous and therefore sin.

Get help if you need it.  Join a support group, Bible study, or whatever to educate yourself about the changes you want to make.  Of course above all stay close to God because it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can succeed.

I could tell you that God will help you and that the Holy Spirit will help you overcome or accomplish.  However, what does that really mean?  When you go home and are alone to face your “demons” so to speak then what do you do?  Yes God will help you, but that doesn’t mean that there is nothing we can or should do.  We have to be active in accomplish the things that we want to change in our lives.  We surely were very active in getting things the way they are such that change is necessary.  So educate and persevere because you may have to fight a long time before you are victorious.

The Key

The key to success is of course Jesus Christ.  In regards to accomplishing your goals it is important to realize that you can do it with Jesus’ help.  Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” - Philippians 4:13

You are not in this alone.  You don’t have to do it by yourself and that is the very mistake that we make.  Go to Jesus to help you overcome or accomplish your goals.  Pray to God and seek direction.  Read the Bible and notice how others have overcome some of the issues that they faced. 

Another thing that you should keep in mind is that you should seek help.  Jesus will help you.  However, help often times come through others.  It is a good idea to therefore find a support group or someone that you can talk to and confide in.  Having someone with you usually goes a long way to success.

Conclusion

Jesus told the woman that was caught in adultery to go and sin no more.  We can do the same thing.  Live and sin no more.  However, we will quickly learn that it is easier said then done.  For the most part we don’t have any idea as to what to do in order to “go and sin no more.”

We have to first be honest with ourselves and genuinely want to make the necessary changes in our lives.  We have to realize that Jesus is Lord and that we are not alone in our quest for righteous living.  Next we have to realize that we are forgiven so that we can stay away from the guilt trips that will easily beset us.  Lastly we have to actually do it.  We have to do what we learn from educating ourselves about our quest and goal.

God is with you and He is not condemning you.  The Bible clearly shows that above all that God is reaching out to save you and to steer you to righteousness.  He is not out to get you.  He loves you and is with you as you strive to live according to His way.

It doesn’t matter if your quest is to eat right, get in shape or whatever.  You can do it with Jesus.  The Bible says,

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) -- {13} I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Fight for what you want.  If you fall down then get back up and continue striving for what you desire to accomplish.  Don’t give up and don’t think that God is out to get you because He is not.  Move forward as you get closer to the mark.  Start again as many times as you need, but be sure to be honest with yourself and keep going.  Amen.