“A Fresh Start” Conclusion

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 920 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: Oh praise God! Have you got a past today? You want a fresh start? Yeah. I do too. I don’t know, there’re so many accounts here. You could go right on through. Turn to Luke 7, I think there’s one …that we know very well. This begins in verse 36.

Well actually, let’s go back a little bit. I’d forgotten about some of this. Jesus is talking about John the Baptist. In verse 29 it says, “All the people, even the tax collectors….” (NIV). Here you’ve got tax collectors again, “All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words…” talking about John the Baptist, “…acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John.” There was a work of God through John to get people’s hearts ready to receive Jesus when He came.

“But…” there’s a contrast, “But the Pharisees and experts in the law….” That’s interesting. I wonder how many theologians today that spend their whole life delving into the scriptures and trying to decipher it all haven’t got a clue. They’re experts. They can tell you all about the Greek and the Hebrew and the Aramaic and everything about the culture and the history, and they can dissect every word, every phrase, and they’ve got it all…their minds are grappling with stuff. I’ve met people like this, and they don’t have a spiritual clue.

I tell you, I’d rather be like a child and say, Lord, I don’t know. You’re gonna have to show me. I’m pretty simple here. I need you to show me real Truth. And yes, it’ll be anchored in this Word, but I need spiritual enlightenment if I’m to understand anything.

And here’s the common people able to sense and know God’s presence and God’s working through Jesus and the rest of the religious crowd, they’re such experts…don’t have a clue. There’s a lesson in that. “But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves…” Oh, God had a plan, didn’t He? But they were…they just marked themselves right outside it. “…Because they had not been baptized by John.” They had rejected John and their hearts were still in the state of not being ready.

He says, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.” He’s just saying you’re…you know, one child calling to another wanting everybody to be in step, wanting everybody to conform, wanting everybody to be like them, and nobody has an idea what’s going on.

“For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, He has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But wisdom is proved right by all her children.” I tell you, you wonder at the reaction of some people. It doesn’t matter what you do, it’s wrong, if their hearts are wrong. You’ve got a set of eyes that cannot see things as they are. I pray that God will remove the blinders from hearts, and open people to see, in spite of our weakness, in spite of everything to see the work…the love of God reaching out through His Word, through the good news of the Gospel.

( congregational amens ).

Reaching out with a message of hope and love and forgiveness. And so he goes right into this account. “Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him….” So Jesus wasn’t afraid to go eat with the Pharisee. “…So he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.” Which was the way they ate in those days.

“When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town…” Now this is something everybody knows about. She “…had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”

I mean this woman is going all out. Her response to Jesus is so overwhelming, nothing is too good, no…I mean to humiliate herself in a sense, to bow at his feet, to go into a Pharisee’s house…she knows how they’re going to receive her. But she is so intent, she senses the desperation of her own need. She senses a hope and a love from this man that she has never encountered in all the religion she’d ever known. Oh, she encountered the love of God in His Son, and she knew what she was. But yet she ran to the source, the very thing that exposed her sin the most, she ran to it because in that was the love and acceptance of God.

Well, what did the Pharisees say about this? Actually they didn’t say anything out loud. “When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet…” If. He’s got his own yardstick, doesn’t he? I wonder how many religious people got their own ruler. They can hold out and they can tell you whether you’re right or wrong based on their fixed conception of things. Oh God help us.

“…If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner.” Boy, there’s a lot in that. If He were a prophet, he would know. But also, their conception of a prophet was somebody that wouldn’t have anything to do with such a person…pull their skirts up about. Stand by yourself, I am holier than thou. God help us. There’s not one of us here who can look down on anyone. We are sinners in need of a Savior. Thank God we have one in Jesus.

( congregational amens ).

“Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to tell you. Tell me, teacher, he said.” Now of course this is all going on…it says he said it to himself. He didn’t say this out loud, but Jesus knew what was going on. “Tell me, teacher, he said. Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii…” Well…well one was a small amount and one was a large amount. “…And the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back…” It must have been sort of like today.

( laughter ).

Economic times were not good and so here they are, neither of them had the money to pay him back. So what did he do? “…So he canceled the debts of both.” That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

( congregational response ).

Anyway, “Now which of them will love him more?”…is the question. He’s posing this sort of philosophical question to the guy. One’s been forgiven a lot. One’s been forgiven a little. Which one’s gonna love the creditor more? Well the obvious answer, “Simon replied, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled. You have judged correctly, Jesus said.

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman?” Now He’s gonna make that man look at that woman. He would not have deigned to even look. That was somehow a defilement, somehow her cooties were gonna get on him.

( laughter ).

( congregational inaudible ).

I don’t know. It’s just something not nice. That’s what it was when I was young, so I’ve dated myself.

( laughter ).

When I was young…somebody…oh you gave me your cooties or something like that.

( laughter ).

Well, I don’t know what it is now, but everybody’s got the same…the same thing happens in every generation. They come up with their own lingo for the same idea. But anyway this man was going to be defiled just even looking…but anyway he did. “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven….”

( congregational praise ).

Oh what a glorious hope that the Lord was able to give her right on the spot.

( congregational amens ).

Lady, God loves you. You’re forgiven. You have a fresh start. This moment you are cleansed of all this stuff that you’ve been carrying, the guilt of your past, it’s gone. Praise God! Your sins, many sins, have been forgiven. Many have been forgiven. “…For she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little. Then Jesus said to her, Your sins are forgiven. The other guests began to say among themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins? Jesus said to the woman…” He didn’t pay attention to all that. He said, “…Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

( congregational amens ).

She did what she knew. She came to the one where she sensed the love and the forgiveness. She bowed at his feet. She poured it all out. She was not hiding anything. She wasn’t intending to go on with her life. She said, God, help me. I am a sinful woman. I have a past and everybody knows it. What can I do? What hope do I have? The religion of her day gave her no hope.

Boy, I’ll tell you, the problem with religion is it’s all about us and what we do. That’s the spirit behind religion. It’s a self-righteousness. If you’re self-righteous and you delude yourself that you have made yourself righteous or more righteous than somebody else, what are you gonna do? You’re gonna look down on them. You‘re gonna set yourself apart from them and lift yourself up. In fact you’re gonna be pushing somebody else down to lift yourself up.

You know we’re like crabs in a bucket. I don’t know this to be a fact but I have been told that if you put a single crab in a bucket, he’ll promptly escape. But you put two crabs in a bucket and they won’t, and the reason is as soon as the one crab starts to get out the other one will pull him back. So you have several…a bunch of crabs in a bucket, nobody gets out. Everybody is always pulling the other one down, trying to life themselves up. God help us to quit pretending, to come to God openly with all that we are and all that we aren’t and say, oh Lord, help me.

( congregational amens ).

Help me God. I need help this day. You can go on and on and on with accounts that have this same theme and you will see the love of God on the one hand, you will see the reaction of religious, self-righteous people. What about the…you know Luke 15…the prodigal son. I mean everybody knows that story. I don’t have to spend a lot of time, but this is a guy that took his father’s inheritance. His heart was in the world. His heart was lusting after the pleasures of the world and that’s all he wanted to do, and his father said go. He went.

And oh I’ll tell you, as long as he had money he had friends. He had the big time. I mean they were ready to come around and he was able with his money that he’d gotten to pay for the good time. Well what do you know, one day it ran out, didn’t it? And he got in a desperate place. And there was a famine. Wonder who sent that famine?

( congregational response ).

Yeah. I tell you God knows how to reach everyone of His and to bring them down to a place where we just…all we can do is humble ourselves and say God, I messed up. Be merciful to me, Help me. That’s all God’s looking for. That’s all He’s looking for. He’s not looking for you to clean yourself up and be something you’re not. He’s looking for us just to come and say, I need to be saved. I need your mercy. I need a miracle in my life. I need you, Lord. It’s not just I need something. I need you! That’s what God gives us.

But oh, one day…he’d hired himself out to feed pigs. I mean the worst occupation a young Jewish boy could possible have come by. And he was so hungry he wanted to eat what the pigs were eating. It says, when he came to his senses. I tell you, it’s sad sometimes how what God has to do to bring us to our senses. I say us…everyone of us has been in places and perhaps will face situations where God has to bring us to our senses. He has to do something drastic sometimes. I thank God that He does. God is so merciful for us hardheaded sinners, we’re gonna go our own way come hell or high water sometimes.

I mean even Christians, we get stubborn, we go the wrong way, we just cling to our own ways, and we resist what God’s wanting to do in our lives. And we just need…God has to do something to bring us down and say, look I know what you are. What do we do? What does the song say? Let’s go to Jesus and show him our heart, show him our pain, show him our scars. And what do we see? Love in His eyes. Oh, praise God!

So anyway you all know the story of how he…he just finally conceived a plan, I mean he was not high and mighty in his own eyes anymore, so I just I know that I can’t go back. I’ve cut my bridges. I’ve burned my bridges behind me, ain’t no way I can go home and face them. But I know they’ve got plenty so maybe he will just take me on as a servant. At least I’ll have something to eat.

What a low place this man came to. But oh, isn’t the love of God revealed in what happened? His father was not just turning his back, and despising him, and looking down on him because of what he’d done. There was a longing, there was…I mean how is it that the father saw him afar off?

( congregational response ).

He was looking. He went out in the morning, maybe this is the day my son will come home. That was the attitude of his heart. It was one of love. Son, you’ve wasted everything, but I love you. I can deal with the stuff, but I want your heart. And so he welcomed him. The son went through his spiel, Father, I’m not worthy to be called your son, just make me a slave.

The father didn’t pay a bit of attention to him. He said, “Quick! Bring the best robe…” verse 22, “…put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate.”

And the older brother came in and said, praise God, my brother’s home. Isn’t this wonderful? Didn’t do that, did he? Oh God deliver us from being big brothers like this one. The older son, when he heard all the commotion, he was mad. He was angry, refused to go in. I mean he didn’t just go in and pout, he wouldn’t even go in. This was a guy who was really upset with his father.

Oh, what a human reaction contrasted with the divine reaction revealed in the heart of that father. Oh, I’m so glad ‘cause there’s so many times I feel like that son. I feel like I need someone who just loves me, who is not gonna hold my past against me, but who can give me a hope and can change me, and can give me that fresh start I need.

( congregational amens ).

Oh thank God, I need it every day. Of course, who can forget Saul and all that he went through. I mean this was a man who was giving everything he had for what he believed in. What he believed in drove him to persecute and kill Christians, because they were followers of a false prophet named Jesus who deserved what he got when they killed Him. He believed that with every fiber of his being and that’s what he acted on. He didn’t just sit there and say, I wish somebody would do something, He did something. He was complicit in the murder of perhaps many…doesn’t enumerate them all but with what he says you can tell that was the case.

And so one day, he’s traveling along on his murderous mission when the very Son of God makes Himself known, and he falls in a heap, blinded by the light of this One. Suddenly it dawns on his soul that the very one that I have been so full of hatred for is the Son of God. What will He do with me? I mean Saul was…all of his fight was gone, all of his self esteem, all of his religious past was just in tatters around him.

And yet in that very hour of his darkness, the Son of God came with love and with mercy. Do you wonder why he could go forth with such passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ? He said, it’s a true saying worthy of all acceptance. That’s not the exact wording…let me see if I can find it. It’s in 2nd Timothy, I think. Praise God!

Well maybe it’s 1st Timothy but anyway you can…1st Timothy 1:15. “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.” A trustworthy saying…you can put your trust in this, you can bank on what I’m about to tell you, Paul is saying. If you don’t believe anything else, I want you to believe this. It’s trustworthy. You can put your confidence in what I’m about to say. “…That deserves full acceptance.”

Do we accept what he is saying here fully? I pray God will help us and reveal it to us, because you can’t just persuade someone’s mind or work up their emotions, God has to reveal this Truth. “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” And he doesn’t stop there. He says, “…Of whom I am the worst.” That’s how Paul saw himself. I’m the worst sinner that ever inhabited this planet. I killed the very people who were the servants of God. What could be worse than that? That was his…that’s how he saw himself.

But he sees the wisdom and the mercy of God, the purpose of God in saving somebody like him. He says, “But for that very reason…” because I’m the worst. God saved me because I’m the worst, he’s saying, “…I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.”

( congregational praise ).

I tell you that’s almost enough to encourage you, isn’t it?

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! You know I don’t know who’s here and what your situation is…I don’t know who may hear this. I mean somebody may hear this that’s in prison somewhere. You’ve really got a past. And it’s something that’s dogged you, and you’ve fought it, and worried about it. You just see yourself as here and everybody else is there, or you know there’s a billion and one reactions to that kind of thing. But I want to tell you that Jesus Christ came for you, for people exactly like you.

( congregational amens ).

That’s who He’s focused on. He can’t help the self-righteous folks. He can’t do a thing for them. Until we become what we truly are as sinners in the sight of God, God can’t help you. But oh for every one that will come and lay…they’re just open and say, here’s what I am Lord, I confess it. But I want to be saved and delivered. There is mercy. That’s what the Gospel…message of the Gospel is all about.

( congregational amens ).

Oh, praise God! I don’t know who may hear this. You know some of our tapes do go out to places where people will hear this. By the grace of God, I want you to know God loves you.

( congregational amens ).

And some of us may not be behind those bars…we probably deserve it, some of us, but that doesn’t matter. There is no difference, not in God’s eyes. Everyone here…there’s not a person here who would like your past, maybe even going…starting from yesterday to be plastered up here for everybody to see. Oh we come in here and put on our game face, but we are sinners, folks. We need everyday to lay hold of the hope. God wants to loose us from our sins.

There’s a scripture I think in Revelation where it speaks of…it’s a phrase of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ who has loosed us from our sins. I mean there’s an untying of a burden. I remember the imagery that John Bunyan used in Pilgrim’s Progress when the traveler, Christian, I guess was his name…when he came to the cross, he came to a hill…it was a rocky hill, and he had to get down and climb up, and at the top there was a cross. And up to that point he’d been carrying this huge burden on his back. It was fastened to him with ropes. He couldn’t get rid of it. That was the whole point of his journey. He’d become conscious of his burden and it represented his sin. But oh as he crawled up that hill and looked and beheld the cross something happened. Those burdens, those ropes came loose and the burden tumbled and just went off, just rolled off out of sight. I need the cross every day.

( congregational amens ).

I need to come before Him and bow and just worship Him, and say Lord, cleanse me. Oh God, I need you. I need…this morning I need a fresh start. I need to be able to cut loose the past. You know I heard Deanna the other night was talking…recently was talking about repeating a phrase. I don’t know where it came from. But she said that we don’t need to go fishing in the sea of God’s forgetfulness. How often do we do that? We need to be able to bring things to God and believe His Word. The devil will do everything in his power to lie to us a thousand ways, to get us to keep carrying the past forward with us when the Lord wants us to be free. I need to be free this morning, don’t you?

( congregational amens ).

I can look back and the more I go, the more I see that God still needs to do, but there’s a journey. You know a journey is something that takes time. It’s not just something that you do in a few minutes or even in a span of a day. You know you travel some and then you get up and then you have to make what? A fresh start.

But what happens when you start accumulating all of the short-comings of the past. Man that gets into some rough traveling. What would a runner do in a race if he was constantly thinking about what he should have done back there? You know you think of something like the…well, let’s take the Tour de France or something where they run, they go for so many hundreds, thousands of miles, I suppose. And it’s days and days…what is it a three-week race?

You know you’ve got to block out the past, you’ve got to think in terms of what I need to do right now. Here’s where I’m at, the past is done. I can’t do anything about that. I’m not going to sit here and wallow in regret. I’m not gonna wallow in whatever’s happened in the past, I need to be able to let that go and say Lord, I need your help today. Help me to go forward today. Help me to go forward and even if I don’t do it perfectly, help me tomorrow morning to be able to get up and make another fresh start, and be able to leave that, be able to come to the Lord and believe what He says that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just…” He’s righteous. “…To forgive us our sins.” (KJV).

( congregational amens ).

And not just that but, “…To cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I need to be cleansed. I need His help every single day. I can see things in my life that I need to be focused on right now, that God’s just…and I’ll bet you there’s things in your life too, that have dogged you and God is wanting us to gain some victories. But I tell you what, we need to go forward without carrying our past with us.

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