Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Overcome Sin and Regret | My Favorite Verses | Mark 16.6-7

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Tim Minna Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. My name is Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. We are currently exploring some of our favorite Bible verses and how they've changed our lives. Also, if you want to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at TMBT podcast. You can also check out our hashtag, hashtag, Ask TMBT, where you can ask us anything, and we'd love to connect with you. Are you plagued by memories of things that you've done wrong, sins that you committed, people that you hurt, words that you said that did damage that you really wish you could do over and not say? At random times, thoughts like that, they come to my mind. They plague me. And I wish that I could write them off and never have to deal with them again. But for some reason, I think. I.

Starting point is 00:01:01 can't. I don't know if it's a guilty conscience or exactly how you would explain it, but I know that for some people, it can be debilitating. A couple years ago, Bill Buckner died. That name might not sound familiar to you, but if you know baseball, you probably remember Bill Buckner. For 22 years, he played in the major leagues. He was a pretty good player. He won the National League batting champion in 1980. He was an All-Star in 1981. But he was defined by one mistake. In the fall of 1986, he was on the Boston Red Sox. They hadn't won a World Series in decades. Red Sox had a three-two series lead over the New York Mets, but in the top half of the 10th inning, that's right, extra innings of Game 6 of the World Series, the Mets player, Mookie Wilson, hit a slow

Starting point is 00:01:59 roller to Buckner, who was playing first base. It went right between his legs out into the outfield. The Mets scored on that play. They won game six. They won the next night, game seven, and they went on to win the World Series. Buckner's air at a clutch moment, well, it put him at the top of sports goats, you know, people who really blew it. After his playing days, he had to move away from Boston. He moved to Idaho just to get away from the explosive rage of those around him. For a long time, Boston sports fans made Buckner miserable. They blamed him for their World Series drought. He was the guy that everyone loved to hate. And Bill Buckner carried that mistake with him. In one sense, he knew that there was nothing that he could do about it. All athletes

Starting point is 00:02:54 make mistakes, but in another sense, he could never quite shake it. Well, the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 and 2007. And so there was this kind of movement to say, hey, maybe it's time to move past the Bill Buckner episode. Maybe it's time to stop hating on this guy. So in 2008, they asked him, the Red Sox asked him to return to Finway Park to throw out the first pitch of the home opener. And when Bill Buckner walked to the mound to throw out that ceremonial first pitch to start the season, he received a standing ovation that lasted two minutes. It brought tears to his eyes. I didn't know it at the time, but Bill Buckner was a Christian. And reflecting back on that day when the Boston Red Sox fans publicly forgave him, he said this, I'm a person of faith.

Starting point is 00:03:46 It's life and everybody has to deal with something. You're talking about cancers and those things that are much more important than baseball. But spiritually, that helped me. I've had a lot of people call me and thank me for giving them directions to make it through. He was referring to the fact that people had called him over the years to say, how do you get through it when you've made a big mistake, when you've really blown it, and there's nothing you can do to fix it?

Starting point is 00:04:13 I think that's a question we all have to wrestle with to some degree. How do you handle it when you've sinned and hurt someone? You know, I think the way most of us handle it is we just try to move on and we rely on our forgetfulness that eventually we will forget about it. Eventually, we will get over it. But what if you can't forget? There was a woman named Jill Price who was diagnosed with super autobiographical memory. And what that means for her is that since she was 14, she's able to remember every detail of her life. Now, she's been tested at the University of California at Berkeley to really test and see if this is, in fact, a real diagnosis, a real condition. And it is. It's very, very rare. But Jill Price has an

Starting point is 00:05:04 incredible memory. Now, you might think that's awesome. And it is in some ways, but it's also really painful because she can remember every mistake, every sin, every hurtful comment that she made. So we get through things by moving on. and kind of forgetting about them, she can't ever forget about stuff like that. So how do you deal with a conscience that won't let you forget your own sin? Well, here's how you deal with it. You run to Jesus. You run to Jesus because he offers hope to sinners.

Starting point is 00:05:43 So this sets up one of my favorite Bible verses. It might sound like a weird verse to be a favorite verse, I think you'll understand why. Mark 166, don't be alarmed, he said. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who is crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him? But go tell the disciples and Peter, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. Now this is an angel speaking, and it's after the resurrection of Jesus, and he's telling the women who came to the tomb that Jesus isn't there, that he has arisen from the dead,

Starting point is 00:06:26 and he gives them instructions to go tell the disciples in Peter that Jesus is going ahead into Galilee, and that's where they are to meet up with them. What stands out in those verses is that Peter is mentioned twice, once because he's one of the group of disciples, and the second time he's referred to by name. go tell his disciples and Peter. My wife and I have four kids.

Starting point is 00:06:53 The oldest is named Nathan. So imagine if my wife said to me, hey, go call the kids and Nathan for dinner. It sounds kind of odd, but that's exactly what's happening in Mark 16. When the angel says, go tell his disciples and Peter, he's obviously trying to make some point about Peter.

Starting point is 00:07:14 But what's the point? Peter was one of the very first disciples, and in a lot of ways he was the leader of the 12. Because he was a part of Jesus' inner circle, he'd seen a lot of miracles. He'd witnessed a few miracles that some of the other disciples hadn't seen. For example, Peter was there when Jesus was transfigured and revealed in all his glory. Peter was there when Jesus brought a young girl back to life. Peter, along with others, saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. And because of all he'd heard Jesus teach, and because of all that he'd seen Jesus do,

Starting point is 00:07:49 Peter was the first disciple to declare that Jesus was the son of God. The trajectory of Peter's spiritual life? Well, it was up and to the right. That is until the day that Jesus was crucified. Because that day may have been the worst day of Peter's life. After Jesus had been arrested and drug away by the Roman soldiers, Peter showed up the place that Jesus was being interrogated. Outside the door, a slave girl asked Peter if he was one of the disciples who'd follow Jesus.

Starting point is 00:08:19 He denied it. In fact, three different times that night, Peter denied that he even knew who Jesus was. When Peter had a chance to stand up for Jesus, he lied and bailed on him. Peter felt like such a loser, like such a failure, like such a sinner, that he ran off to be by himself and he just cried over his own sin and his own weakness and his own failure. when Jesus had needed Peter the most, Peter'd failed him. That was the last time that Peter would see Jesus before he was let off to be crucified. And I'm sure that in some ways, he felt like he had betrayed Jesus. In some ways, he felt just like Judas. So what's so amazing about the verses in Mark 16 is that when Peter was at his lowest,

Starting point is 00:09:07 Jesus reached out to him by name. Speaking of Jesus, the angel said, he is risen, he is not here. Go tell his disciples and Peter. Isn't that great? Go tell the disciples, especially the guy who thinks he's really blown it. And go tell the disciples, especially the one who committed a great sin. Go tell him, tell Peter that Jesus is alive and wants to restore his relationship with him. And with those words, he infused a kind of hope into Peter's life, hearing that Jesus was alive, hearing that Jesus had defeated death, that he really was the resurrection in the life, it gave Peter hope, hope beyond his screw-ups, hope beyond his failure,

Starting point is 00:09:55 hope beyond his sin. I think Jesus is saying to me and to you, look, I see your sin, but I died for it, and I want to forgive you. Don't let your sin keep you from me. Let you. Let your sin drive you toward me bring your sin to me i want to forgive you jesus said to the religious authorities i tell you the truth the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of god ahead of you well why why would the tax collectors and the prostitutes enter the kingdom of god ahead of the righteous religious authorities well C.S. Lewis thought about that verse, and he wrote this, prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God.

Starting point is 00:10:52 The proud, the avaricious, which just means greedy, the self-righteous are in that danger. Do you see what C.S. Lewis is saying is that those who know the weight of their sin, those who feel the burden of their sin, well, they, want to turn to God. It's the proud and those who are confident in their own goodness who are in danger of not turning to Jesus. Knowing the weight of your sin, feeling the burden of your sin, that is a gift from God because that drives you to Jesus. But then you need to leave it there. Know that Jesus died for your sin. Leave your sin at the cross. It's the failure. the losers, those who know they've really blown it that are the quickest to trust in Jesus.

Starting point is 00:11:48 Jesus forgives sinners. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast with. Texting an episode to a friend or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Overcome Sin and Regret | My Favorite Verses | Mark 16.6-7

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