This recording is from Willow Creek Church in Wintersprings, Florida, where Dr. Pete Owenson is our senior pastor. Today's sermon is titled Opportunity Nocking. It's taken from Psalm 119 verses 9 to 11. Now here's Pete with today's message. Our Father, what a privilege it is to come into your presence today and to worship. To look at you, to look at the God who is and who always has been, the only true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we come before you as descendants of your people. We come before you today and carry on worship that they carried on hundreds, thousands of years ago for you are the God who spoke and it was done, you're the Creator. You've been the provider all the way down through history and you are the Redeemer, Jesus. The only Savior, the only one who can free us from our sins, can take away the shame, can give guidance to our lives and in fact lead us to true life. It is your people at the end of this year and as we look ahead to the new year, we are so grateful that we are your children. We have been blessed and you are the God of blessings, you are the God of kindness and mercy to us. Lord, each one of us has so much to thank you for. But as we come before you today, we also recognize that you are the Holy God and that we are not always holy, that we have sinned and Lord, we confess our sins to you today, at the beginning of this week, as we begin a new year, we confess our sins before you and are so grateful that Jesus paid for them on the cross at all, the decrees that were leveled against us or could be leveled against us, have been nailed to the cross and that they are gone and that were your children, daughters and sons whom you love and have a plan for for this coming year. Lord, we put our lives in your hands and we pray that your words would continue to strike into our heart that Holy Spirit, you would take them and that you would teach us, you would transform us, giving us more and more life as we understand them, feed us with your word in our hearts. Help us as husbands and wives, as mothers, as fathers, as grandparents, as members of the church to let the word into our heart that we could let it out to others. Fill us, make us rich with your word and then lead us in living lives that enjoy you all year. Father, you know each one in this room and you know how some are coming to the end of this year and they are so grateful it is almost over. There is a lot of broken hearts, Lord. You know them, you know the tears every one of them is stored up in a bottle that you keep, you know our hearts. And so Lord with our brokenness and with our failings and with our dreams we come before you and ask that you would just take over, take charge, lead us in the coming year. Lord may we as individuals may we as a church enjoy you and bring the light to the community and now as we look into your word this morning even we pray that you would teach us that you would use one who is finite and limited to be able to communicate your infinite truth that you would open up your word to us today as we pray these things in the strong name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. December 31st, the day before some of the most important bull games, for some of you true life will be there tomorrow as you fully in sconce yourself in your favorite chair, couch and watch the games that will be at, it's going to be a good day and all of you are in agreement with me. I know that the most important game of the model take place tomorrow, the Rose Bowl. Thank you for agreeing with me in advance on that. Even though some of you have not prayed for the right team to be in the national playoffs, I forgive you, I want you to know and some of you could care less and wish I just get on with my sermon and I understand that. But it's appropriate, before all these games begin, that we hear from one of the greats of all times, one of the great coaches, that great theologian and coach bear Bryant of Alabama. In a pre-game speech, before a game in 1974, if you do the math, that's about 32 years ago, he said to his players, he said, most of you will live another 50 years or more. I hope it's 70, but if it's 50, that's still a good life. And what happens today, you'll have to live with the rest of the way. You can't get it back if you don't win. It's 60 minutes and over. The losers are the ones who say, oh, I wish I could play it again. You can't play it again. Well, you're not really going to have to play 60 minutes, none of you. The longest play in a game is six and a half seconds. The shortest play is less than two seconds. That's barely a week of the eye. You'll average five seconds of play, five seconds of total effort going all out, giving 100%. You ought to be able to hold your hand in a fire that long. Sounds like a coach, doesn't it? Good. He goes on and on, laying on motivation and guilt. In a wonderful manner, I might add. And then he says, in any big game, there are five or six or seven key plays that will decide the game. If you put out for five seconds on every play, you'll get your share of those key plays. You never know when they'll come. So you have to go all out every time. Man, that's a great speech. It's great. You know, it's one of the best motivational speeches I've ever heard for sports. I mean, he lays on the motivation, the opportunity, opportunities, knocking for these guys, some of these players. This is going to be their highlight. Play in a bold game. They'll talk about the rest of their life. Opportunity is knocking for them and he says, you've got to go for it. He lays on the guilt. You've got five seconds of game and if that five seconds of play average, and if you don't give 100 percent for those five seconds, you'll miss your opportunity and you can't play it again. That is a great motivational speech for game, not for a pastor, to give his congregation. Because we don't have five second plays where we've got to be on our game. We've got to be on our game all the time that we're awake, right? If we want to stay in the game, we've got to be on our game all the time. That's a lot of guilt. I mean, that's tough. Opportunity was knocking for them. Opportunity is knocking for us too. How do we stay on our game? All the time while you're awake. And by the way, in the first service, they were tired. I have things in my pocket that I throw at people who fall asleep during church. So we've got to stay awake. The opportunity is knocking for you guys are an incredible church. I've been given a list of an article I'm going to write. I don't have all the stats in yet, but over 200 you gave gifts to the dove tree gifts for Christmas. We've helped so many families in our church with Christmas who needed it. We've reached our building goal, amazing by God's grace and your generosity on top of that. Christmas Eve, $9,000 came into our deacon's fund. You guys are going to give away. I know churches that are way bigger in ours and you give better than they do. We've gone to Mexico. You sponsored a lot of students to go on mission trips. Grits and grace serving food for people who need it up in Sanford, providing meals for the sick and hospitalized. We've fed construction workers. You want to see people eat? You come to those. It's incredible. Biscuits of joy to new mothers. You've supported a men of work, are walking tall guys, missions, deacons, divorce care, Stevens ministry. It goes on and on and on. I don't even have all the statistics. I don't even know all that you've done. People think that when you graduate from seminary and get ordained, you get the gift of omniscience. And they expect that you know all that goes on. It doesn't happen. All I know is that you're an incredible congregation. And it is a privilege to be your pastor. And opportunity is knocking for us as we go into the new year. We have a lot of wonderful people in this community who need their wonderful. They're talented. They're educated. They love their families. They're missing Jesus. I hope you think of them as people out there that really need their wonderful, but they need Jesus. And we have all of this opportunity. The question I have, as I look at around at this church, is how in the world do I stay on my game all the time and not mess it up? I think about that a lot. How do we stay on it? The songwriter, whoever wrote song 119, and we don't know who it was, by the way, might have been David, Spurgeon thought it was David, might have been some other writer. We don't know who wrote it. It's the longest song in the Bible, Psalm 119, 150 verses something like, you memorize it? You definitely get three free sins. And let me know. I want to put you up here. You're preaching the next week. If you memorize that old song. But he was possessed with the question, how do I stay on my game? How do I stay in the game while I'm awake? How do I stay faithful? How do I stay enjoying God? That's what Psalm 119 is all about. And so as we end this year, I want us to take a look at a Psalm three verses. That's it. I'll have you out of here before you know it. Three verses that will enable us to look back, look ahead, and gain a goal and objective for how we can stay in the game the whole time. And here it is. These three verses of Hebrew poetry that have stood the test of time for over 3,000 years. And I'm going to say before I read it, I probably won't tell you anything new today. I'm not planning on giving you any new truth. Okay? By the way, when you go home and turn on the news, you're going to hear the year in review. You're not going to get any new news today. It's going to be year in review, right? I agree with me. That's all I ask is that you do everything I ask you to do. You're not going to get any new news on the news. It's just going to be the year in review. I want to give you not new news, but old truth that can shape us for a new year. Psalm 119 through 11, how can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word, I seek you with all my heart. You not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you three verses. You can memorize those very easily. But it is a surprising daily goal. That's the first thing I want you to note is that this is a surprising daily goal as we go into the new year, the pursuit of purity. How can a young man keep his way pure and some of you are saying it doesn't apply to me. It applies to young men. No. Well, Paul said to Timothy, flee youthful lusts and there are a lot of youthful lusts that young men deal with it, but the new living translation puts it this way. How can a young person stay pure and you say, I'm not a young person. But this writer is not a young person himself. He's been around the block. And he knows how life works. And so he's speaking to one who's done life to show us all how to do life. Purity is something that he's concerned about. It's a priority. How can a young man keep, how can a person stay pure? Okay, what is it? What is purity? Well, purity is this. Purity is thinking, feeling and acting as God would think, feeling and act, right? Purity is thinking, feeling and acting as God would think, feeling and act. It's godliness. Purity is being God, being like God, it's being perfect. Jesus said, you should be perfect because my Heavenly Father is perfect now, doesn't. That feel like a heavy weight. But that's purity. Purity is Christ's likeness and purity is living, is it perfection for those of us who are living in this world, no. But it's pursuing it. It's pursuing a life. Did you catch it in the songs that we sang this morning? Purity is pursuing life as God would have us to live it, not in pure like the world. And by the way, Jesus died to make his pure. First, Philippians 1, 10 says we've been called so that we would be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. Philippians 4, 8, Paul said, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, think on these things. So purity is not only an Old Testament value, it's a New Testament value. And the weight is getting heavier and heavier on your shoulders as it is on my... Purity is a goal. It's a great goal. It's an important goal. It's a biblical goal for our lives. I hope you see that it's from the New Testament as well as from the Old Testament as well. By the way, students, how you build your life is important. What you think now, the moral foundation that you lay into your life right now does matter. It's absolutely crucial. He's telling young people the foundation that you lay right now will affect the way you live down the road. So lay the right foundation. It really matters. The decisions our students make young in life. Parents, I know we all try to help our kids do that, but those decisions that you make in college and young and young life really do matter. But having said that, will you violate purity? Will you sin? Yes, you will. It's so important, even when you're young to remember that Jesus died for all of our sins, past, present, and future, and that when we sin, we can get back on that right path toward purity. We can all the time. All the time. I told you I'm not going to tell you anything new today. I've shared these with you before. Great truths that little children have learned. Number one, no matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats. They were probably Baptists instead of Presbyterians. And it can work, if you're a Presbyterian. Number two, when your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair. That is a very important truth. Number three, if your sister hits you, don't hit her back, they always catch the second person. That is an undeniable truth. Undeniable. Number four, never ask your three-year-old brother to hold a tomato. Number five, you can't trust dogs to watch your food. Number six, don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair. Number seven, never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time. Number eight, you can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. Number nine, don't wear polka dot underwear under white shorts. Yeah, number 10, the best place to be when you're sad is grandma's lap, I like that. Kids have learned a lot and they have a lot to teach us, but one thing they've got to learn while they're young is that when they mess it up, it's not necessarily fatal. Pursue God's way, but if you sin, if you're impure, if you violate God's standard, that's why Jesus came. He died and rose again for the dead so that we could start over, and it's never too late to start over. Even though purity in life is our goal. Now, the Psalm writer, isn't this a surprising goal, purity, the daily pursuit of purity, if it's a surprising goal. If you were to ask a politician today, what's the number one thing we Americans need to pursue? They'd say something other than purity. Hollywood, go to the actor's guild, hey, what do you guys think is the number one thing, purity? I think not. I mean, the Hebrews, whatever you think of Jews, they shaped the world, God gave them the law. It's words like this that shaped the world, transformed the world. They gave us truth that it's absolutely undeniable and absolutely powerful. They were thinking things, most of the world has never even thought, how can I keep my way pure before the God of the universe? Why in the world would he want to have that as a goal? Why would this Psalm writer say, how can I keep my way pure? Because, now let me ask you, there's only two options here. It's either because he wanted to be accepted by God, or because he already was. He was. The Psalm writer says, how can I keep my way pure because he'd found life? He'd found God. God had found him. You ever wonder why you became a Christian? It was because God found you. It was because God stirred up your life and turned you to him. He brought you to him. And you found life, forgiveness, complete forgiveness. The shame is gone and Jesus, the past, can be renewed. Even though he sets us on a path for purity, the Psalm writer is not saying, I want to be pure because I then can be accepted, if I'm pure enough, he has been accepted, and on the basis of acceptance, he's found that the only way to purity is the way that he could find life. One of our worship team members came into the back room this morning as we got started with a coffee cup, filled with coffee on it, it said, life. A lot of us could agree with that. We don't have life until we have coffee. The Psalm writer began to find life when God found him, changed his life. Now, my mentor Steve Brown has said, he's drilled us into my head and he said this many, many times. He says, obsession with purity is the greatest cause for sin in the body of Christ. You say you haven't been listening to your mentor. No, I agree. Obsession with purity is the greatest cause for sin in the body of Christ. Why? Because when we are obsessed with becoming pure, it's that we're coming from the place of unacceptance. We are obsessed with being pure because we know that unless we're pure enough, God won't accept us. And therefore we become very self-righteous and we start walking around the church and I'm better than you. I'm better than you, not as good as you. But we become angry and mean, we become competitive, we become, when you're coming from the place of unacceptance and you're trying to be accepted, purity is a means to salvation. There's a difference between obsession and desire, holy desire. And the songwriter desires to be holy because he's found life there. That's what he's found. Life is short. It was just 20 years ago we pulled into this place with two little kids. That was yesterday. Life is so short. It goes so quick. And the songwriter is saying life is so short that I want to have life and so I'm going to pursue it with him. So he gives us a surprising daily goal, the pursuit of purity because there is life. Secondly, I want you to note that he gives us a unique daily emphasis. The focus on God's word, how can a young man keep his way pure? Here's the how. By keeping it according to your word and then he prays. He says, I seek you with all my heart, do not. Do you feel the passion? Do not let me stray from your commandments. We've heard of the truths that kids have learned. Now the truths that adults have learned. Number one, raising teenagers is like nailing jello to a tree. True that, huh? Man. It's an art. A God endowed art. It's not a science. And you'll mess up if you think raising your kids is a science. Three points and they do it and they're going to, no. Number two, wrinkles don't hurt. Yeah. Number three, families are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts. That's true. Adults have learned that. Number four, today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut held its ground. A lot of times, growth is just hanging in there with Jesus, sustained. Yeah. Number five, laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside. Middle age, adults have learned is when you choose your cereal for fiber, not for the toy. You know who you are. He gives us really, he gives us a unique daily emphasis for our life. The world is not asking the question, how can a young man, how can anybody be pure? And they don't have the answer to that even if they were asking it. The Bible says we ought to have that as a focus and this is how by keeping it according to your word. Involves three things, real quick. It does involve study. It involves allowing God's word. We believe something absolutely unique, guys. Christians actually believe the Bible is not a compilation of myths. We believe it was divinely mediated through prophets and apostles and that with the word of God is the supernatural power of God to be different. That's why Paul could say to Timothy, all scriptures inspired of God, it's breathed out by God and it's profitable for teaching us how to live, for correction when we get off, for bringing his back, for training in righteousness at the man and woman of God, maybe adequate equipment for everything. Good. Opportunity is knocking. It's the word of God. And so, as we study it, that's what makes you a better husband, a better wife, a better person, a better friend. It's what transforms your soul, it's life. I don't listen to talk radio as much as I used to. Steven I were talking about this, just before we started taping the other day. I don't know what brought it up. He said it first. I said, me too. I said, why aren't you listening to talk radio as much? He says, it makes me mad. I said, me too. Because unless you take my view, it's wrong. Right? Right. Thank you. Agree with your pastor. I'm only going to say that five times today. And so, when I listen to these guys, it makes me so mad. They're not right. They're wrong. And so, I said, I got to stop listening to these guys because every time I get out of my car, whether it's home or it's church, somebody asks me a question, I say, what? I just mad all the time. So, you know, it's a much greater desire of mine to be pure than to be right. And not because I need to be accepted by God, but because I am already. This life, how do I do that by keeping it according to His Word? I tell you, I've told you this many times, I wake up a neurotic. I need Jesus in the morning. And so do you. It's the only way we can lead to purity. And then notice His passion, I seek you with all my heart. He wants it. He wants it because He's found life. And He knows that getting more life is more life, more life. He wants more life. So, in order to have that daily focus, there is some study that we carve out into the word of God, but there's a passionate desire for it and then there's a prayer. I seek you with all my heart. Do not let me stray from your commands. That's a good prayer. Lord God, I want to do what you want me to do. I want life with you. Just don't let me stray. You pray that? He did. It's a great way to live. It's a rising daily goal, a unique daily emphasis, and an impressive life objective. Thy word, I have hidden my heart that I might not sin against you. That's an impressive life objective. Some of you might say, yeah, but it's in the negative. Thy word of my treasured or hidden my heart that I might not sin against you. But that was the objective that he would not sin. Why? Because it all has to do with the enjoyment of God. He didn't want to sin because he knew that if he did sin, he wouldn't enjoy God. Be getting toxins rather than life into his life. Great truths about growing old kids, adults. There's something for all of us. Great truth about growing old, number one, growing old as mandatory. Growing up is optional. That's right. Number two, forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get. Number three, when you fall down, you wonder what else you can do when you're down there. Number four, you're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster. Number five, it's frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you the questions. Number six, time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician. Number seven, wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone. That's true. Sometimes age comes alone. And the sunrider, as a mature, manned walk with God for a long period of time, says, says this, thy word, I have treasured, I've hidden my heart, that I might not sin against you. Simply because I know that when I sin against you, it hurts our relationship and I lose the joy. You see, if you're obsessed for purity, it comes from a place of unacceptance. You don't feel accepted. But if you have a desire for purity, you're regenerate. You know Jesus. You know what, I'm not good, but I want to be like Jesus. Sometimes the only point I know that proves I'm a Christian is that I want to be better than I am. And if I didn't want to be better than I am, I wouldn't be saved. You want that? Well, that's why he says treasured the word in your heart. You see sin and unhappiness are connected. When I do something to hurt a friend or hurt my family in any way, what happens? The relationship, there's distance, and I hate that. Because when I mess up and when I heard in my key relationships, the joy of those relationships is absolutely gone. Now I haven't sinned in any of those key relationships, and quite some time it's a vague memory.
I don't want to sin against them because I want to enjoy them. And I want the life that comes from that relationship. The son-writer is saying the same thing. Now when we sin and we will, I'm not going to remind you of anything that you haven't heard before, 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you're ending 2006 with some sins you haven't confessed, confess them. And let's go on and then treasure the word in your heart. Real treasure is God's word kept inside, meditated on, percolated upon. I've got a treasure box about that big, about that wide, about that tall, and I put in this treasure box, I've done it for a few years, all this old stuff that you wouldn't like, but it has to do with stuff from my youth and my family so that one day when I have grandkids and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with them, and I'll need some help from something. And I'm not looking for grandkids right away, but the treasure box is something I'm going to bring out into the floor. I'm going to open it up. I'm going to take out all that stuff, my stepdad's spectacles, I'm going to tell him about my stepdad, and how he gave me a love for the word of God and those little shark teeth and I'll be reminded of the time we went to the beach and found all those North Florida, that's the trip we took and I'll tell my grandkids about that and give them more of the family. Here's all kinds of stuff, weird stuff, hand prints and plaster, a pair, it's like taped together, you know, treasure is cool, but it's no good unless you take that and look at it from time to time. You'll come and grab that box, go through it sometimes. When he says the word is to be treasured and hid, it's not to be hid and never looked at. It's to be taken out from time to time and looked at from different angles and say, oh, that's good. The word of God is treasure. That as we memorize it, as we hide it in our hearts, as we think about it, we bring it out. I bring it out when I'm talking or I'm listening, I'm trying not to get mad or I'm trying to ask for forgiveness, I let the word come up and it's treasured that keeps me from sinning and because I know that sinning takes my life away, it takes my joy away. You know what your number one responsibility as a Christian is in the coming year, you ready? First John 3, 2, how great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God and that is what we are. Your number one responsibility as a Christian this year and you say you've been talking about purity, it's not to be pure. You pursue purity if you want life, but the way you get life is to understand God's love for you. That's how you get it. See how great is the New Testament writers wrote so that you and I as Christians would remember how great the love of God is for us. He can't love you any more than he does already in Jesus Christ. You get more pure, you're going to get more life in the sense of enjoyment of it as you walk with the Father, but he's not going to love you anymore and he already loves you. John 4, 16 through 19, Jesus said, and so we know and rely on the love God has for us. So we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love, whoever lives in love, lives in God. Your number one responsibility this year is to let the gospel sink in and to know that it's not about performance, but it's about a God who didn't have to love you, but does. Ephesians 3, 14 through 19, Paul's praying for them. I pray, he said, out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, I pray that you've been rooted and established in love, may be able to grasp together with the saints how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the measure of the fullness of God. Your number one responsibility is to let God love you this year as you listen to the gospel. And then as you do that, your heart will simply long for purity. You'll give you more life through it. And you'll be able to read this, memorize these three verses in Psalm 119. But the world will think you're nuts if that's your stated goal of being pure, in your relationship with your wife, your friends, your church, you've persupurity in business, I think you're nuts. You see that commercial about the guy that's buying something in a fast food restaurant. It's been on all through the holiday season that they're just churning out the people because everybody comes in with their credit cards, right? See that? And everybody's given a credit card and this one loser takes cash out of his pocket, gives him cash. And the whole operation comes to a grinding halt. Foods flying people are mad because you idiot. You use cash, you know, studies have shown that if you use cash, you spend less money. The credit limit in America is incredible.
Well, that's our world. They're going to think you're nuts if you're pursuing purity, they're going to think you're nuts if the focus of your life is allowing the gospel just sink into your heart. But while there it is. See us, Lewis said, it's the Christian's duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can be. And no one is happier than when they know God's love for them. John Piper said, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. I'm satisfied when people love me, aren't you? Well, we started out with football, we got in with football. Former Dallas Cowboy coach Jimmy Johnson was speaking to his players before the 1983 Superbowl game. Did they win it? The Cowboys? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Yes, they did. But he told his players, he said, he put a two by four down in front of him while they're in the locker room and he said, if you guys, if I put that down in front of you and ask you to walk across that, you'll walk across it and you won't fall off, right? Because your focus is not on falling and hurting yourself. But if I put that two by four between two 10 story buildings and ask you to walk across it, what's going to happen? You're going down. Because your focus is on falling. Some writer would say to us, because of Jesus, don't worry about falling. Your focus should be on his love. And if you allow the love of God to sink into your heart, you will pursue it, purity. Because love is the most powerful draw toward goodness you will find. You take it to heart. Let's pray. Now, if you don't know Jesus, I just want to give you that opportunity to start a new year. Maybe you've been thinking about doing this for a long time. Now you know it's not about being good enough. You know, it's about Jesus being good enough. And you're ready to start a new year with a relationship with a God who loves you beyond your wildest imagination. Confess your sins to him. Pray something like this. I'm going to stop playing games now, God. I can't be good enough, but I believe here today that Jesus was good enough for me on the cross. And today I accept him as my Savior. I accept that he was good enough for me. Come into my life, be my Savior, be my Lord, and now lead me into a life, a real life. I desire your way because it is the way of life. Father, we all come to you now at the beginning of a new year and ask that simply you would show us your great love, that you would reach into our hearts in a deep way so that we would enjoy you and pursue you this year. Be with these people who I love, but who you love even more. And as they seek you, Lord, fulfill every desire for goodness and godliness in their hearts. And we commit this all to you as we pray and the strong name of our Savior Jesus. Willow Creek Church is associated with the Presbyterian Church in America. Our website is www.willowcreekchurch.org and our phone number is 407-699-82-11.