July 29, 2018 NOTES NOT EDITED
Pt4, WWJ(U)D?: Regret
Rev. 21:4, et. al.
SIS: Every decision we make in life is either building a godly legacy or constructing a prison of regret.
Rev. 21:4, et. al.
SIS: Every decision we make in life is either building a godly legacy or constructing a prison of regret.
From the moment we reach the age of accountability, every decision we make is either creating a legacy in life or a prison for life. Sarah Winchester tragically proves this principle. When her husband died, William Wirt Winchester, in 1881, Sarah inherited just over $20 million dollars. That is equivalent to about $520 million today, or roughly giving her the equivalent income of $25,000 per day. The great wealth came from the manufacture and sale of Winchester rifles and ammunition. Winchester rifles were a key ingredient in taming the west and putting many Native Americans and others in the ground. All this death associated with her fortune had a profound effect on Sarah. Sources say that Sarah Winchester came to believe her family and fortune were haunted by ghosts, and that only by moving West and continuously building them a house with non-stop construction for 38 years could she appease these spirits (Wikipedia). The result of her grief and shame now stands at 525 South Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, California. The Winchester Mystery House is now a historic landmark and a popular tourist attraction. It is full of architectural oddities including the building of trap doors, secret passages, a skylight in the floor, spider web windows all with 13 panels, and staircases that led to nowhere. There are also doors that open to blank walls, and a dangerous door on the second floor that opens out into nothing—save for an alarming drop to the yard far below. It is said to be constructed as a labyrinth to confuse the ghosts. There is a special “Blue Room” into which Sarah would retire from midnight to about 2:00 am every night, supposedly to commune with her shadowy guests. Sarah Winchester was tormented by regret and her home was not a castle, but a prison. Regret brings bondage. Every decision we make in life is either building one’s legacy or building a prison for one’s life.
Jesus
wants to “undo” the regret
in your life that may be imprisoning your spirit behind bars of discouragement,
and even despair. We need to first
understand the Types of Regret we
can face, and then Tips on How to
Minimize Regret. Nothing short of heaven
can completely eliminate feelings of regret.
In fact, I believe the Bible teaches that the first order of business
when we step across the threshold of God’s Kingdom gates will be “wiping away the tears of regret,
transforming them into tears of eternal joy.” Rev.
21:1-4 says:
21 1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. 2 I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.
It is always helpful to define terms that are used commonly, but not always precisely. The Oxford Dictionary defines regret as, “to feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over (something that one has done or failed to do).
21 1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. 2 I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.
It is always helpful to define terms that are used commonly, but not always precisely. The Oxford Dictionary defines regret as, “to feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over (something that one has done or failed to do).
The Biblical words (Hebrew, Greek)
are quite similar. Regret This word
appears throughout the Bible, the first
time in reference to God, Himself (Gen. 6:6, CSB, ESV). The Hebrew
word has the idea of “changing how one feels
about an action.” The NIV follows this line translating it, “The Lord was grieved.”
The KJV uses
the word, “repented,” but this can be confusing. Repentance implies wrong-doing, and God can
do no wrong. In Greek, the same root form can be used with the idea of feeling bad
about an action, or with a modification of the form, it can mean, acting upon
that feeling and “changing one’s mind and behavior.” Paul uses the word translate, “I do regret”
(2Cor. 7:8, μεταμέλομαι metamelomai), and then a different form of the root in verse 9 for,
“grieved to repentance” (μετάνοια metanoia). Repentance, then, is more
than an acknowledgement of wrong, or feeling bad, but it is a change of heart
and mind. Repentance is the antidote for
regret. You will notice the “meta”
root (not to be confused for “meta prefix” meaning beyond. The verbal root for both “meta” words
refers to a “change or reversal” of some type. Let’s examine four I. TYPES of Regret in the
Bible. They are Immediate, Delayed,
Eternal, and Extinguished.
1. IMMEDIATE Regret (Jn 18:25-27)
1. IMMEDIATE Regret (Jn 18:25-27)
25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said to him, “You aren’t one of His disciples too, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not!” 26 One of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with Him in the garden?” 27 Peter then denied it again. Immediately a rooster crowed.
2.
DELAYED Regret (Eccl. 1:12-14; 12:1)
1 12 I,
the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I
applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under
heaven. God has given people this
miserable task to keep them occupied. 14 I
have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything
to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
……………………………………………..
12 1Remember
also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no
pleasure in them”
Of all the men that have ever lived, Solomon was one who could say, “I’v been there, done that, and have the T-Shirt to prove it!” Yet, the ringing refrain of his life as recorded in Ecclesiastes is,
Of all the men that have ever lived, Solomon was one who could say, “I’v been there, done that, and have the T-Shirt to prove it!” Yet, the ringing refrain of his life as recorded in Ecclesiastes is,
“Meaningless,
meaningless. Everything is meaningless.”
Now, as an old man whose barns were full, whose fame spread far and why, and whose wisdom has never been matched, looks back on life with great regret.
3. ETERNAL Regret (Lk. 16:22-25)
Now, as an old man whose barns were full, whose fame spread far and why, and whose wisdom has never been matched, looks back on life with great regret.
3. ETERNAL Regret (Lk. 16:22-25)
The rich man also died
and was buried. 23 And being in torment in Hades,
he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side. 24 ‘Father
Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on
me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
because I am in agony in this flame!’ 25 “ ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life
you received your good things, just as
Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
What the best preaching in the world was not able to do in a person’s life;
what the best organized church programs
were not able to do in a person’s life;
and what all the praying of
godly parents and others has not been able to do, hell WILL do! Hell will
absolutely convince people of the reality of God’s holiness and the absolute
truth of His Word—but it will be “too late!”
The grand-daddy of all regret is the regret of those who die and go to hell!
4. EXTINGUISHED Regret (Rev. 21:4)
4 He will wipe away every
tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will
exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.
Regret is a result of sin. The Bible declares, “All have sinned” (Rom.
3:23). As long as the fires of sin rage
in our Old Nature, we cannot avoid regret.
Only the grace of God called out through genuine repentance can
extinguish the fires of regret.
Repentance is a hard thing, but forgiveness is glorious. When we repent-turn away from our sin—then God forgives us. We have His word on that and He cannot, will not, lie. Psalm 139 tells us:
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Hebrews 8:12 adds, For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
Repentance is a hard thing, but forgiveness is glorious. When we repent-turn away from our sin—then God forgives us. We have His word on that and He cannot, will not, lie. Psalm 139 tells us:
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Hebrews 8:12 adds, For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
Forgiveness keeps our focus on the
blessings ahead of us, not the failures behind us. What goes “under the blood” must go “out of
the mind.” We must not run the Christian
race looking backwards.
On
May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister
became the first man in history to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Within 2
months, John Landy eclipsed the record by 1.4 seconds. On August 7, 1954, the
two met together for a historic race. As they moved into the last lap, Landy
held the lead. It looked as if he would win, but as he neared the finish he was
haunted by the question, “Where is Bannister?” As he turned to look, Bannister
took the lead. Landy later told a Time magazine reporter, “If I hadn’t looked
back, I would have won!”
One of the most descriptive
pictures of the Christian life in the Bible is of an athlete competing in a
race. 1Corinthians 9:24-27
tells us that discipline is the key to winning. In Hebrews 12:1-2, we are encouraged to lay aside anything that might
hinder our spiritual advancement and to stay focused on Christ. And in Philippians 3:12-13, the apostle
Paul said, “I press on,…forgetting those things which are
behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.”
Regret only shows you what is in
the rear-view mirror, not the
glorious adventure you see looking through the windshield.
As we enter into eternity with Jesus, all regret will be extinguished in that glorious moment as we pass through Heaven’s foyer into the Grand Sanctuary. While we cannot eliminate regret altogether in this life, we certainly CAN minimize it. Here are four
II. TIPS For Minimizing the Effects of Regret.
As we enter into eternity with Jesus, all regret will be extinguished in that glorious moment as we pass through Heaven’s foyer into the Grand Sanctuary. While we cannot eliminate regret altogether in this life, we certainly CAN minimize it. Here are four
II. TIPS For Minimizing the Effects of Regret.
1. Value Sanctification More than Security
Why did Peter deny Jesus? He was afraid to be locked up? Why was he afraid to be locked up? Because, he was not PRAYED UP! We don’t hear talk much these days about “sanctification.” It’s not a “hip” word. It’s “old fashioned.” It is also one of the most prominent and significant doctrines in the Bible.
Sanctification simply means “to become holy.” I like to use the word, “holification” to help clarify the meaning. In the Book of Leviticus (repeated again in Peter) we read: “Be holy as I am Holy” (Lev. 11:44; 1Pet. 1:16).
We are often negligent in the pursuit of holiness. The Bible tells of a time when Peter (and the others) failed in their devotion of the Lord. It was Thursday night. The next day Jesus would be crucified. As we can only imagine He was “overwhelmed to the point of death” (Mk. 14:34). He retreated to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray with the disciples. He retreated just out of sight of the disciples. The Word tells us:
Mat. 26 40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Even after three years of travelling with Jesus, Peter and the other disciples had failed to build a strong enough Christian constitution to be able to “pray as they should have prayed.” The lack of prayer and the pursuit of sanctification caused Peter to “fail.” In the face of danger, he sought security over sanctification. That failure brought deep regret the moment that rooster crowed the second time.
Just as surgeons and nurses must be scrubbed clean to prevent infection and even death, our souls must be scrubbed clean through the sanctifying practices of Christian discipline. Every failure in the life of a believer comes from insufficient sanctification. The lack of sanctification allows the infection of sin to spread causing the fever of regret to rise to such a peak as to nearly destroy our lives altogether.
2. Value RELATIONSHIPS More than RICHES (Lk16:20-21)
Why did Peter deny Jesus? He was afraid to be locked up? Why was he afraid to be locked up? Because, he was not PRAYED UP! We don’t hear talk much these days about “sanctification.” It’s not a “hip” word. It’s “old fashioned.” It is also one of the most prominent and significant doctrines in the Bible.
Sanctification simply means “to become holy.” I like to use the word, “holification” to help clarify the meaning. In the Book of Leviticus (repeated again in Peter) we read: “Be holy as I am Holy” (Lev. 11:44; 1Pet. 1:16).
We are often negligent in the pursuit of holiness. The Bible tells of a time when Peter (and the others) failed in their devotion of the Lord. It was Thursday night. The next day Jesus would be crucified. As we can only imagine He was “overwhelmed to the point of death” (Mk. 14:34). He retreated to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray with the disciples. He retreated just out of sight of the disciples. The Word tells us:
Mat. 26 40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Even after three years of travelling with Jesus, Peter and the other disciples had failed to build a strong enough Christian constitution to be able to “pray as they should have prayed.” The lack of prayer and the pursuit of sanctification caused Peter to “fail.” In the face of danger, he sought security over sanctification. That failure brought deep regret the moment that rooster crowed the second time.
Just as surgeons and nurses must be scrubbed clean to prevent infection and even death, our souls must be scrubbed clean through the sanctifying practices of Christian discipline. Every failure in the life of a believer comes from insufficient sanctification. The lack of sanctification allows the infection of sin to spread causing the fever of regret to rise to such a peak as to nearly destroy our lives altogether.
2. Value RELATIONSHIPS More than RICHES (Lk16:20-21)
20 But a poor man named
Lazarus, covered with sores, was left at his gate. 21 He longed to be filled
with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and
lick his sores.
How many times had the Rich Man
stepped over Lazarus on his way to some important meeting or festive
party. I wonder what the Rich Man could
have learned about Lazarus, and more
importantly, from Lazarus if he had
just taken the time to get to know him. We
never know who we might miss if we walk past and over people on our way to our
busy lives. The Bible says, “Some have entertained angels unaware” (Heb. 13:2). There is a natural
assumption in cultures that Rich people are good and Poor people are bad. The Rich Man’s wealth had blinded him to the
person laying at his gate. He became a financial
bigot.
I’ve told you before, I read a lot
of obituaries. I find great comfort
when my name doesn’t appear in that section of the paper. It motivates me to use my time wisely. I just read an obituary about a person in my
hometown in W.Va. who died recently. I
didn’t know her, but I saw a line in her obituary I’ve seen often, “She died peacefully at her home, surrounded by her family.” Years ago, Harold Kushner, a devoted Rabbi,
pointed out, “No one ever said on their deathbed ‘I wish I’d spent more time at the
office.’ ”
Remember our discussion of Solomon. He had it all: fame and fortune. But, he found that all he had was “meaningless.” Family and friends are the real treasures of life. I often remind myself, “The saddest person alive is someone who has everything money can buy, and none of the things it can’t.” Money can’t buy the love of others.
3. Value Your LEGACY More than Your LUXURIES
This really says the same thing as what I just said about riches and relationships, but with a slightly different twist. While relationships are MOST important, our life’s work, or legacy, is also important. God created everything and everyone with a purpose.
I don’t think God every created
anyone to simply “sit in the lap of
luxury.” This is a dangerous area to
preach about. Many people in the Bible
were blessed by God with enormous wealth.
Abraham for example. Like many
men in the Bible, Abraham was insanely wealthy.
The Bible says (Gen. 13:1-2),
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
Something very significant happens
over the course of Abram’s interaction with God. This wealthy, desert chief, gets a name
change. In Gen. 17:5 we read: Your name will no
longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father
of many nations.
Abram means, “Exalted Father.” God changes his name to Abraham, and says that he will now be, “The Father of many nations.” The focus seems to move from Abram’s luxurious lifestyle as a Beduin sheik to his spiritual legacy as the “Father of the Faithful.”
I think this is a very significant lesson for all of us. We need to ask ourselves, “what is the legacy we are leaving behind?” Is it only our fame that will fade, or our fortune that will be spent by others? What is our legacy?
One of my favorite country singers is Randy Travis. My favorite song of his speaks to what it means to leave a “legacy” behind. I’d like to take a break for a moment to play that song. [MUSIC VIDEO]
Did you catch the phrase that anchors that song, “It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you // but what you leave behind you when you’re gone.”
Abram means, “Exalted Father.” God changes his name to Abraham, and says that he will now be, “The Father of many nations.” The focus seems to move from Abram’s luxurious lifestyle as a Beduin sheik to his spiritual legacy as the “Father of the Faithful.”
I think this is a very significant lesson for all of us. We need to ask ourselves, “what is the legacy we are leaving behind?” Is it only our fame that will fade, or our fortune that will be spent by others? What is our legacy?
One of my favorite country singers is Randy Travis. My favorite song of his speaks to what it means to leave a “legacy” behind. I’d like to take a break for a moment to play that song. [MUSIC VIDEO]
Did you catch the phrase that anchors that song, “It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you // but what you leave behind you when you’re gone.”
4. Value ETERNITY More than ANYTHING!
Rev. 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Having our tears wiped away in
eternity is all that really matters.
Everything else is like the chaff that wind blows away at harvest
time. This is why Jesus asked, “36 For what does it benefit a man to gain
the whole world yet lose his life
[that is, soul, eternal life]? (Mk. 8:36)
Multiple millions of people today
are willing to sacrifice eternal bliss
for momentary gratification. I read this
week about an African tribe many
years ago that had an odd custom. Every
seven years they would elect a new king.
Then, they killed the old king.
For seven years one member of the tribe enjoyed the highest honor and
most luxurious lifestyle that the primitive tribe could offer. During his seven years, the king’s authority
was absolute—even the power of life and death.
The king enjoyed seven years of living in unbelievable luxury, knowing
the end of his reign was death. The
incredible aspect of this story is:
there were never a shortage of applicants even with the knowledge it was
only for seven years. Someone was always willing to forfeit long life for
short-term luxury.
This is the case for multitudes, today. So often people willingly forfeit eternal bliss for momentary pleasures. This leads to all types of regret: immediate, delayed, and most horribly, eternal.
Jesus wants to “Undo” the regret in our lives. All we need to do is “repent” and turn away from sin and turn toward Christ. The antidote for regret is “reflection leading to repentance.” Repentance unlocks the door of the prison of regret. The Psalmist reminds us:
This is the case for multitudes, today. So often people willingly forfeit eternal bliss for momentary pleasures. This leads to all types of regret: immediate, delayed, and most horribly, eternal.
Jesus wants to “Undo” the regret in our lives. All we need to do is “repent” and turn away from sin and turn toward Christ. The antidote for regret is “reflection leading to repentance.” Repentance unlocks the door of the prison of regret. The Psalmist reminds us:
139:23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. 24 See
if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.
Every
decision we make in life is either building a godly legacy or constructing a
prison of regret.
