September 7, 2025
Is It Too Late To Say I'm Sorry?
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
Have you ever noticed a rotten fruit in your life that you can’t seem to change no matter what?
1 Peter 1:3-4a NIV
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
1 Peter 1:4b-5 NIV
This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
Every follower of Jesus has a promised inheritance that is coming when Jesus returns. We are protected by faith until that day comes.
1 Peter 1:13 NIV
Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
As followers of Christ, we can live like Jesus in this life because we are absolutely confident that this life is not all there is.
1 Peter 1:17 NIV
Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.
1 Peter 1:18-19 NIV
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
1 Peter 1:22-23 NIV
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
John 14:23-24 NIV
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”
John 15:9 NIV
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”
John 15:10 NIV
“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”
John 15:11 NIV
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Obedience to Jesus and His teachings is what fulfills our Joy and makes it complete!
“Taking inventory must be concrete. Lew Smedes wrote, “You drown in the bilge of your own condemnation for lack of specificity. . . Precisely what is it that you need forgiveness for? For being unfaithful to your spouse last year? Good, you can work on that. For being an evil sort of person? No, that is too much; you cannot swallow yourself whole.” - John Ortberg, Steps: A Guide to Transforming Your Life When Willpower Isn't Enough
1 John 1:8 NIV
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:9-10 NIV
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Q: Who must I confess to?
A: To God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
“Bland confession is like taking a shower with your clothes on: you avoid the embarrassment of nakedness, but it’s hard to get clean. Often in church groups the only sins that get confessed are vague and respectable—almost virtues: “God, forgive me for being impatient and working too hard.” Or we confess that we are sinners, but we do not confess our sins. Where the practice of confession is superficial, the experience of grace will be superficial.” - John Ortberg, Steps: A Guide to Transforming Your Life When Willpower Isn't Enough
James 5:16 NIV
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Matthew 18:21
“Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Matthew 18:22 NIV
“I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
Jesus expects us to produce through us the same fruit he produced for us.
Matthew 18:32-25 NIV
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Therefore, biblical forgiveness may be described as a decision to make four promises:
1. “I will not dwell on this incident.”
2. “I will not bring up this incident again and use it against you.”
3. “I will not talk to others about this incident.”
4. “I will not let this incident stand between us or hinder our personal relationship.”
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardships as the pathway to peace, taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting that he will make all things right if I surrender to his will— that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with him forever. – The Serenity Prayer