Second Chances At Service - A look at Moses, Jonah, Samson, and Peter

Last week we looked at how God gives second chances for a close walk with Him. We took a look at the life of Jacob. Jacob promised that if God would take care of him where he was going, (and God did), and if God would make it so that he would come to his father’s house in peace. Then shall the LORD by my God. All that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Jacob goes on his way, and God takes care of Jacob and after 20 years is bringing Jacob home in peace. God took care of the if’s in Jacob’s promise. All Jacob has to do is finish walking a few miles and come home in peace. But what does Jacob do. He changes direction and goes to Succoth.

Gen 33:17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

This is not a side trip. Jacob is digging in to stay. He builds a house. By his actions Jacob is saying, I am not finishing the trip.  Trouble comes and God gives Jacob another chance to walk close to Him. Even after all that Jacob has done wrong.

Gen 35:1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

God still has his arms open. God is still saying Jacob come and walk with me. God still wants a close relationship with Jacob. God is giving Jacob a second chance. And this time Jacob takes it. Even at Jacob’s age, even after all the mistakes that he made. He still made a new start. Even after all the times that Jacob blew it. God still gave him a second chance.

What we see in the life of Jacob is a second chance to have a close relationship with God. We see a man who was given another chance to walk with God. When we backslide a little or a lot, God is still wanting us to come back. We have a God who gives second chances to walk close to Him.

This week I want to look at second chances for service.

A Look At Moses

• Exo 2:11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
• Exo 2:12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that [there was] no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
• Exo 2:13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
• Exo 2:14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
• Exo 2:15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

The New Testament sheds some light on the thought process of Moses during this event.

• Act 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
• Act 7:24 And seeing one [of them] suffer wrong, he defended [him], and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
• Act 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
• Act 7:26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
• Act 7:27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
• Act 7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
• Act 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

Verse 25 lets us know that Moses knew that God would use him to deliver them. For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

On some level Moses understood that God would use him to deliver his people. The problem was that Moses tried to deliver them his way. The way he thought God should do it. Moses ran ahead of God. Moses had an understanding that God would use him to deliver his people, but Moses did not wait on God. He did not wait for instructions. God did not tell Moses to go kill that Egyptian. Moses was trying to serve God in his own strength and using his own plan.

This is not the proper way to serve God. And there are consequences. Moses had to run for his life and spend 40 years in the wilderness. But even though Moses messed up, God offers Moses a second chance.

• Exo 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
• Exo 3:11 And Moses said unto God, Who [am] I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? Before Moses thought he could deliever them with his own plan, not now. Moses has learned that he is not all that and a bag of chips. Moses has humbled himself.
• Exo 3:12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this [shall be] a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

You know what happened. God greatly used Moses not only to deliver his people from Egypt but to also lead them for 40 years, and God used Moses to write the first 5 books of the Bible. Moses tried to serve using his own plan and failed. But God gave Moses a second chance and used him greatly.

Jonah

• Jon 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
• Jon 1:2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
• Jon 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

God wanted Jonah to go preach one of the greatest revivals in all of history. But Jonah told God no. Jonah ran and caught a ship and was heading away from where God wanted Jonah to serve Him. Trouble came, Jonah got thrown out of the boat into the sea and swallowed by a whale. After Jonah gets an attitude adjustment. After Jonah humbles himself. God deals with Jonah again.

• Jon 3:1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
• Jon 3:2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

Instead of being finished with Jonah, God tells Jonah to do the same thing. God gives Jonah a second chance to serve Him.

• Jon 3:3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
• Jon 3:4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

This time Jonah takes the second chance that God offered him and preaches an 8 word sermon.

• Jon 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
• Jon 3:6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered [him] with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
• Jon 3:7 And he caused [it] to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
• Jon 3:8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that [is] in their hands.
• Jon 3:9 Who can tell [if] God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
• Jon 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did [it] not.

God gave Jonah a second chance to serve Him and an entire city repented.

Samson also messed up his service to God.

• Jdg 16:15 And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart [is] not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength [lieth].
• Jdg 16:16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, [so] that his soul was vexed unto death;
• Jdg 16:17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I [have been] a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any [other] man.

She then cuts Samson’s hair and calls the enemy.

• Jdg 16:20 And she said, The Philistines [be] upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.
• Jdg 16:21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

Samson messed up and there are consequences.  He looses his power, his sight, and his freedom. Samson did not put God’s work above his fleshly desires. Here for a woman and in another place Samson ate honey from a dead animal. Samson was supposed to be a Nazarite and one of the rules was that you were not to even touch a dead animal. Samson put his fleshly desire for honey above God’s rules for a Nazarite.

• Jdg 16:25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.
• Jdg 16:26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.
• Jdg 16:27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines [were] there; and [there were] upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.
• Jdg 16:28 And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

Samson prays and asks God for a second chance. And God gives it to him.

• Jdg 16:29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.
• Jdg 16:30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with [all his] might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that [were] therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than [they] which he slew in his life.

Samson did more to deliver Israel in his second chance than he did before.

A Look at Peter.

• Mat 26:33 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all [men] shall be offended because of thee, [yet] will I never be offended.
• Mat 26:34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
• Mat 26:35 Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

Here we go again. Peter has the wrong attitude. Peter is thinking a little to highly of himself.

• Mar 14:53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.
• Mar 14:54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
• Mar 14:66 And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest:
• Mar 14:67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.
• Mar 14:68 But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.
• Mar 14:69 And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is [one] of them.
• Mar 14:70 And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art [one] of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth [thereto].
• Mar 14:71 But he began to curse and to swear, [saying], I know not this man of whom ye speak.
• Mar 14:72 And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.

This event is also recorded in Matthew.

Mat 26:70 But he denied before [them] all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. Peter did not deny Jesus to just one or two people. He denied Jesus in front of many.

And Peter denied Jesus in no uncertain terms. Mat 26:74 Then began he to curse and to swear, [saying], I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.

And the book of Luke adds a very interesting detail.

• Luk 22:60 And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
• Luk 22:61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
• Luk 22:62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

As Peter was so strongly denying Jesus, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. Can you imagine being Peter and in the process of denying Jesus and then He looks at you. No wonder Peter remembered that Jesus said, you will deny me thrice. No wonder Peter went out and wept.

Peter then quits.

Joh 21:3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.

Peter went back to his old job. Jesus then comes to Peter and offers him a second chance.

Joh 21:17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Peter takes the second chance to serve Christ. And this same Peter who denied Christ goes out and preaches at the feast of Pentecost.

• Act 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
• Act 2:37 Now when they heard [this], they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men [and] brethren, what shall we do?
• Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
• Act 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call.
• Act 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
• Act 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added [unto them] about three thousand souls.

A man who denied Christ is given a second chance to do something for Christ and 3,000 get saved and then baptized.

• Act 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, [being] the ninth [hour].
• Act 3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
• Act 3:3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
• Act 3:4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
• Act 3:5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
• Act 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

After healing this man Peter preaches to the crowd.

Act 4:4 Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

Another 5,000 get saved. Peter preached two sermons and 8,000 people got saved. Peter did more with his second chance for service.

Moses tried to deliver Israel his way on his time and failed. Moses had a change in his attitude, God gave him a second chance and used him greatly.

Samson put pleasing his flesh above what God wanted. Samson prayed to be used again and God gave him a second chance. Samson did more with his second chance.

Jonah only wanted to preach where he wanted. Jonah did not want to preach in Ninavah. He ran from God’s will. After Jonah had an attitude adjustment, God gave him a second chance. Jonah went and preached a great revival. Jonah did more with his second chance.

Peter thought too much of himself. He thought he was strong enough, brave enough, and bold enough to never deny Christ. Peter went out and denied Christ three times. After the third time Jesus looked upon Peter and Peter remembered and went out and wept. Peter then went back to his old job. He quit.

Peter gets a heart adjustment. Jesus gives Peter a second chance. Peter take it and goes out and in two sermons 8,000 people get saved. Peter did more with his second chance.

If you used to serve God, but you have messed up somehow, that does not mean that God cannot use you again.

In each one of these cases we looked at this morning. They did more with their second chance. God used them more after they messed up. These men all learned from their failures. They humbled themselves before God. And went back to work and did great things for God.

Do not let past mess ups and past failures stop you from serving God.

God does give second chances to serve Him.

Another application that I see in all this is that every great servant of God has mess ups. Some how or some way. Sooner or later they make a mistake. Look at king David or Solomon or Abraham, Moses, Jonah, or Peter. The same is true for preachers today. You will never find a perfect preacher who is perfect all the time.

If God gives His men second chances to serve, shouldn’t we. Too many people don’t. All too many people will leave a church over some small thing. Over some preference they have or over some small mistake the pastor made.

I know that there are certain things that will disqualify a man from being a pastor. I am not talking about those things. But if he just makes a mistake or maybe he makes a decision that is not the best. God can still use him. And maybe like the men we looked at this morning maybe God will even use him in a greater way.

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