Life After Failure

Introduction

Well, what you just witnessed is what has been my privilege to be a part of this weekend. To see such good young people, and those who are interested not just in being together, but in being together with the Lord. And I understand that that didn’t happen on its own. And so I want to thank the parents and grandparents and those who have been an influence on them who are raising such godly teenagers in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. God bless you in this wonderful work. And this church is in good stead. I know so often we say that the young people are the future of the church.

1 Timothy chapter 1, we’re going to start reading at verse 12 if you’d like to follow along in your Bible. 1 Timothy 1, starting at verse 12. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. And yet for this reason I found mercy in order that in me as the foremost Christ Jesus might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life.

Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, the honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

This is a yes or no. And the question is this.

Let’s see the hands of yes. Okay, good. I thought that was just a Texas thing. Apparently it’s everywhere. Because failure is everywhere. Failure is a part of life. And some of the greatest success stories in our own country have risen out of failure. You look at the list that people make of the greatest presidents of our country. And usually Abraham Lincoln is either number one or near the top. But did you know that in his political career Abraham Lincoln lost more elections than he won? Thomas Edison, the great inventor, would tell you that before he invented the light bulb, found 1,000 ways not to. And Ford Motor Company failed three times before Henry Ford reorganized it and made it what it is still today. There is life after failure.

Just because we have failed does not mean we’re finished. Now we see that in other areas of life. But for some reason, when we think of the spiritual realm, it’s one and done. This guy messes up and we’re through with him. Because he failed.

And they came up with one athlete, and somebody objected and said, Now wait a minute. He can’t go in the Hall of Fame. There was this game I was watching one time, and he struck out with the bases loaded. I mean, we lost the whole game because of the error that he made. We don’t do that. We evaluate him on the total stats of his career, on his playing career as a whole, and not just one single at-bat or one single game. And yet, for Christians, it’s one failure. And we’re finished. I want you to know this morning that failure does not have to be fatal. Listen to what Solomon said in Proverbs 24 and verse 16. The righteous man falls seven times and rises again.

There’s life after failure. We’ve been talking this weekend about fight the good fight of faith. And it needs to be pointed out this morning that along this fight in this warfare, there’s going to be failure. The question is not, am I going to fail? The question is, what am I going to do after that? Because God gives life after failure. Now, he expects us to do the very best we can. I don’t mean that. When John writes his first epistle, he said in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 1, my little children, I am writing to you that you may not sin. That’s the goal. That’s what we’re striving for. We’re not perfect people, but we’re striving for perfection. But what does the same verse say after that?

1. Failure Is Why We Need God

I’m writing these things that you may not sin. But if you do sin, we have an advocate with God. Jesus Christ the righteous. God gives life after failure. What do we call the channel on YouTube? Epic fails. Well, I want you to see this morning that God gives life even after epic fails. Number one, failure is why we need God in the first place. If we were perfect people, what would we need him for? Paul the apostle wrote in this epistle, look at verse 15. Christ Jesus came into the world to save who? Sinners. That was the whole purpose of his coming, to seek and to save failures. Not those who were healthy, who didn’t need the physician. He came for those who were sick. That’s why we need God.

That’s why we need a Savior, because all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Romans 3 and verse 23. And Paul gave himself as an example of an epic failure, going so far as to call himself the chief or the foremost of sinners. He said, if there was any failure, I’m the greatest example. Look what he calls himself in verse 13. He said, I was formerly a blasphemer. He did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. And so he spoke out against him. He condemned him. And he realized later, I was blaspheming when I did that. I was speaking against the Son of God. But not only was he a blasphemer, he said, I was a persecutor.

We read in Acts that he ravaged the church. He went house to house and took families away from other family members, brought them to be tried, to be put in prison. He wasn’t satisfied with just driving them out of Jerusalem. He went with papers from the high priest to the city of Damascus to bring them back and have them tried and most likely executed. He said, I was a persecutor. I didn’t just speak out against Jesus. I persecuted his people who called on him as Lord in Christ. He said, I was a violent aggressor. Remember, it said he breathed threats and murder. In Acts 26, I think of all the things that described Paul’s former life, this is the saddest of all. He said, I tried to force them to blaspheme.

He took people who did confess the name of Jesus. And he tried to force them to give up their faith. Imagine how haunting that would have been in his mind as he replayed those scenes. Do you know what the key word is in that very same verse? It’s not blasphemer or persecutor or violent aggressor. It’s that he says, I was formerly. That’s what I used to be. But it’s not who I am now. He was a failure. But God gave him life again. The same passage. Look at what he said. I was shown mercy, verse 13. The grace of the Lord was more than abundant, verse 14. His perfect patience, verse 15. That’s his new life. That rescued him. It saved him. It washed all those things away.

I was formerly, but he was no more. Failure is why we need God. My preacher friend and I was going to go visit someone in the hospital, Bayshore Hospital in Pasadena. It’s right across the street from a donut shop. So usually we’ll go visit someone in the hospital and then we’ll go across the street and get coffee and a donut. And while we were on this particular visit, we had noticed at the corner down the street, the 24 hour fitness was having a two for one special. And we thought, you know, we ought to go do that, sign up. So we ordered another donut, and we went down to the fitness place. And the lady said, You sit here and someone will be with you in a moment.

And we were kind of watching people work out and looking around. Very large person came in. I mean several hundred pounds. And it was as if the whole place stopped and were watching this person. And though nobody said it, the feeling in the air was what are they doing here? Where else are they supposed to go? Isn’t that where they need to be? Isn’t that where they should be? Isn’t that where they can get better?

2. Failure Does Not Mean God Is Finished With You

There’s life after epic fail. If God can forgive and use a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent aggressor of his own people. Please tell me, what sin is there in your past that he cannot forgive? What failure can he not rescue you from? God gives life after failure. Even epic failure. Number two, failure does not mean that God is finished with you. Just because you have fallen and failed does not mean God has no more use for you that he’s finished with you. Turn from here to Luke chapter 5 and notice an event in the life of Peter and his discussion with Jesus in Luke chapter 5. Luke 5, beginning at verse 1, it came about that while the multitudes were pressing around him and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Genezareth and saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake.

But the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And he got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. He sat down and began teaching the multitudes from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered and said, Master, we have worked hard all night and caught nothing. But at your bidding I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and the nets began to break, and they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them.

And they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. The experienced fishermen in this occasion humored the carpenter. They had been fishing all night, and they had caught nothing. And can’t you imagine them? They’re exhausted and they’re cleaning their nets. They’re ready to go in and call it a day. And Jesus said, Why don’t you try over here, Peter?

And he explained at first, we’ve tried that already, but you’re the master. And so he let down his nets, and they caught more fish than they’d probably ever seen before. So many that the nets are breaking and the boats are sinking, that call their partners over. And Peter stopped worrying about the fish and the boats and the nets.

Either Jesus was able to see through the shallow into the deep. Remember, he said, put out into the deep water. So Jesus somehow could see all the way into the deep water and knew there were fish there. That’s the first possibility. Second is Jesus had called the fish from the other part of the lake and had them come to where the nets were. Or third possibility, he just created them on the spot. Whatever it was, Peter knew. This is of the Lord. And what did he do? He did what every single one of us would do were Jesus to walk in the door this morning. He fell at his feet and confessed. I’m a failure. You know, we don’t do that with famous people. We call them by their first name as if we’re long lost friends.

Can I get your autograph? Will you sign this? I loved you in your last movie. Peter fell at his feet. Depart. I’m a sinful man. But Jesus gave him life. Look what the Lord said to Peter verse 10 do not fear. From now on, you will be catching men. From now on, there is the life after failure. Jesus did not say, Well, Peter, you’re not all that bad. I mean, that was just minor stuff. No, he didn’t do that. He said, Yes, I know, but don’t fear, Peter. From now on, I have use for you. You’re going to be catching men. Here you caught fish. But now you’re going to catch men with the gospel of Christ. You’re going to save them from the nets of destruction and despair.

You’re going to cause them to have eternal life. I have purpose and use for you, Peter. From now on. It may be this morning that you’ve not been what you ought to be in the kingdom of God. You hadn’t been the husband or the wife you ought to be, or the father or the mother, or the child, or the example, or the servant, or whatever that may be. The question is, what are you going to do from now on? You’re going to wallow in your self-pity and failure. Are you going to allow the Lord to use you from now on? Failure does not mean he’s finished with you.

Preaching the gospel in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost and snatched 3,000 souls alive and gave them life after failure.

3. Failure Does Not Have to Define You

God gives that, even after epic fails. And number three, and finally, failure does not have to define you. Failure does not have to be your defining characteristic. When you look at the chapter headings in 1 Kings and 1 Samuel, and you go through the life of David, you see a lot of high points in his life and successes that David had. Here are several of them that are given in the New American Standard Version. David anointed, David kills Goliath, the house of David strengthened, David’s David king over all Israel, David’s prayer, David’s triumphs. And then you get to 2 Samuel 11. David’s great sin. And it was.

And God restored to him what he wanted most, the joy of thy salvation. And so in the successive kings of Judah who were righteous, said they walked in the ways of their father David. Those who were failures, they didn’t walk in the ways of David. But then in Acts chapter 13, when Paul was preaching and giving a history of the nation of Israel. Here’s how he described David. Not by his failure, but what he did after. For Paul said in Acts 13 and verse 36, he served the purposes of God in his own generation. He served the purposes of God in his own generation. How do you want to be remembered? Not that you were a perfect person, but that you served God’s purposes. And yes, that meant there were times that you fell down, but you didn’t stay down.

Conclusion

You got back up after failure. Because God wasn’t finished with you yet. You continued to serve him and his plans and purposes for your life. God gives us that. Even after epic failure. Don’t think for a moment that failure means he’s finished with you. The cross itself is a testimony of God’s power to give life from what seemed like a hopeless case. It was not Jesus who failed. It was the devil. And through the cross, God gives hope. He gives us second chances. He gives us the ability to rise from failure and to continue to be useful for him. And he gives us the assurance of a home he’s prepared where there is no longer any mourning or crying or pain or death. Failure is a part of life, even the Christian’s life.

But it does not have to be fatal. Thank God he gives life after failure. Would you bow with me?

For second chances. Defeat us, Father, when we sin, and give us hope of renewal, being restored to the joy of your salvation, made possible by the death and the blood of Jesus Christ. For we offer our prayer in his name. Amen.