It's a privilege to be able to open the Word of God with you this evening. If you have a Bible with you, I'd ask that you open your Bible to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. And in a moment, we'll read verses 36 to 40. The year was 1985, and things were not going well. The company he had founded initially found success, but now things were stagnant. He could not get along with the people he had hired to make his company successful. Finally, the board of directors fired him. He said, what had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. He spent the next 10 years trying his hand at other things. He learned some lessons, and 12 years after he was pushed out at the company that he had founded, He returned and remade it into the most profitable company in the world. As you may have guessed by now, the man was Steve Jobs, and the company was Apple Incorporated. You may know them as the maker of the iPhone, the iPad, and other iDevices. Now, this illustration is not so much an endorsement of Steve Jobs and all that he stood for, but a reminder that even such a successful, powerful, and wealthy man failed. and needed a second chance. The passage of scripture tonight, I want to look at the God of second chances. Now we'll see it through a man. His name is Barnabas. But I want to see the God who gave Barnabas the ability to give second chances. If you would stand with me, we'll read Acts chapter 15. I'll read aloud. You can follow along silently. And then we'll pray and we'll be seated. Acts chapter 15, I'll read verse 36 down to 40. And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought it not good to take him with them, who departed from them, from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder, one from the other. And so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus. And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches." Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word that, Lord, it is not just a book of history, a book of accounts of people and their lives, but it is your true and living word that speaks to us today. And so we ask that tonight you would speak to us through your word. I yield to you as the preacher and ask that you would speak through me only what you would desire to say. And Lord, may our hearts be receptive to what you would have us do. For it's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. We find Barnabas in the Book of Acts. Now we could go and do a study of all the verses where he is mentioned, but for the sake of time, we're not going to do that tonight. Or, Pastor, was it an hour and 15 minutes? Or maybe this thing was 15 minutes. Okay, so we're just going to look briefly at the life of Barnabas, and you'll have to forgive me, you can write down some of these references. and look at them on your own time. But I love the life of Barnabas. He really sticks out to me, especially for this aspect of a man who gave second chances. We first meet Barnabas in Acts chapter 4 and verse 36. You don't have to turn there if you don't like. I'll just point it out to you briefly. Verse 36, it says, And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. The first time we find Barnabas, we find him doing a very commendable thing. He's giving to help meet the needs of the poor that were gathered there at Jerusalem. These are believers, and they were sharing their belongings together. So we find Barnabas is a very exemplary man. But it's interesting what he is called. He's called the Son of Consolation. And it didn't just mean that his dad was encouraging. This is another way of saying that Barnabas was an encouraging man. I like to think of it as they called him the encourager. There's that guy, the encourager, Barnabas. That was what he was known as. So we find him there as the encourager. He shows up again. in Acts chapter 9 this becomes very important as now he's introducing a man who becomes very important in the life of the church you know the story Acts chapter 9 Saul who later becomes Paul is converted and the church is very afraid of him he'd been murdering Christians he'd been getting them in big trouble and so no one wants to have anything to do with this man who now says that he's a believer but if you look in chapter 9 verse 27 It says, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, how that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. we find Barnabas sticking up for Paul. Apparently he had seen him at Damascus. We don't know if he had known Paul previously, there's people who speculate on that, but for whatever reason, Barnabas takes a chance. He steps out there and says, wait folks, I've seen this guy, he's the real deal, he really is a follower of Christ, let's receive him as a brother. Now Barnabas was taking a little bit of risk here. Barnabas was willing to give Paul a second chance. The Christians had already formed their opinion of him. But Barnabas says, wait, let's reconsider. Let's think about this. This is the risk of second chances. When you give someone a second chance, there's always a risk. Barnabas was willing to risk his reputation, possibly even his life, to let in this man who had been known as a murderer of Christians, now to receive him as a brother into their fellowship. You see, all of us know the pain of being hurt by someone. We know what it is like to go through that and decide, I don't want to go through that again. In fact, I'm going to get smarter. I'm going to shut myself off from that person because I don't want them to hurt me again. This is a very natural and human tendency to say, I want to avoid pain. And that's normal. But it's not the response that Christ would have us to have. We see the example of Christ. The Bible tells us, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Isaiah tells us, He is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. We reject Him, and yet Christ while we were sinners died for us. So we find in Christ not rejecting, not covering himself, not protecting himself from hurt, but willingly opening himself up to those who might hurt him, who did indeed hurt him. So there's definite risk in giving second chances. Second chances are messy. Once again, it opens you up to being hurt a second time. We'd much rather go by someone's track record And it makes sense to. People have track records for a reason. It's good to notice someone's track record. But let's face it. We serve a track record changing God. It's worth repeating. We serve a track record changing God. Do we still believe 1 Corinthians 5.17? That if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Do we still believe that? If we don't have the hope of God changing people, what hope do we have? So there's risk and second chances. Secondly, there are repercussions of second chances. Barnabas had some repercussions from his willingness to give second chances. We find him again as we trace his history. We're going to skip over some of his history. He goes to Antioch, and there he helps in the church, and he ministers to the folks there. And then he goes and he takes Paul, and they go on a missionary journey together. And they take along with them a young man named Mark, or John Mark. And he's going along with them in Acts 13. Acts 13 verses 13 and 14. Again, I'll just briefly read these. He says, Now Paul and his company loosed from Phaphos. They came into Perga and Pamphylia. And John, departed from them, returned to Jerusalem. No explanation. We're not really sure what happened, but John or John Mark is traveling with them, and he leaves. He may have given an explanation, but apparently, as we find out later, it wasn't a satisfactory explanation. Some people have conjectured maybe he was afraid. Maybe the traveling by foot was too rough. Maybe he missed home. Maybe the persecution had scared him. Whatever the case, we find John Mark quitting and leaving. And so, The next time Paul's getting ready to take a missionary journey. That's our text tonight. We find now Acts chapter 15. Paul's ready to go out again. And he says in verse 36, he invites Barnabas to come with him again. In verse 37, we see that Barnabas was determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. Verse 38, but Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them, from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. Barnabas says, hey, let's take him again. Paul says, no. I remember what he did. He's not ready. He's not mature. He's not going to be a help to us if he's just going to leave again. And yet Barnabas sees a reason to attempt to restore this young man. He sees a reason to give him a second chance. And verse 39 says, the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder, one from another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed on to Cyprus. And Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. Now, we can talk about Paul and Barnabas' disagreement, who is right, who is wrong. But the point we want to see tonight is that Barnabas was willing to suffer the repercussions of giving this young man a second chance. You see, he was traveling with Paul. Barnabas is traveling with Paul. They're seeing people saved, churches planted. God is at work. This is an explosive growth of the church like they never imagined. And Paul says, let's go again. And Barnabas is willing to split from Paul in order to attempt to restore this young man. This has repercussions. Barnabas saw in John Mark something that made him think he deserved a second chance. He saw the value of giving a second chance. Now, just briefly, let me offer a few qualifications. In life, there are consequences. There really aren't do-overs. You can't just say, sorry, officer, I forgot what the speed limit is and expect to get off without any consequence. There are certain offenses from which you cannot just free someone. But what you can do is give them an opportunity to go the opposite way of what they've been going. You can give them hope by giving them the opportunity to make different choices than they've made. This doesn't mean you have to enable someone to continue in their addiction or allow someone to rob you blind or someone to beat you. This doesn't mean that you just have to become a willing victim no matter what, but it does mean at least the willingness to open yourself to the chance that you might have to suffer in order to give someone a second chance. This means that you're willing to suffer loss for the good of someone else. Barnabas had to know that his credibility is on the line. Barnabas had to know that he's missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime. After this, we don't find him anymore in the book of Acts. He disappears. He goes and does his own work, but it's not recorded in Acts. He passes up the chance to travel with Paul, the greatest missionary, in order to help this young man, who maybe he'll quit again. What if John Mark decides again, I've had it, and leaves, and then Barnabas would have lost the chance to travel with Paul for seemingly no reason at all? What a waste. But he's willing to take that chance. We also must realize that second chances can be costly. But when it comes to helping a person whose soul has infinite value, it is a risk worth taking. Because God is merciful in extending second chances to us, we can extend second chances to others as well. It's like the parable of the unforgiving servant. One was forgiven much, and then he went around and grabbed the other fellow who owed him little. His problem, his sin, was that he had been forgiven, and he wasn't willing to forgive his fellow. So second chances may be costly. It may cost you to give these second chances. Apparently, it took John Mark some time to reestablish his reputation, and that was understandable. He had to build a new track record. It also cost Barnabas, as we've already seen. But Barnabas was willing to face it, because he valued seeing people restored. Finally and quickly, the result of second chances. This is the tricky part. If we had a guaranteed result, it'd be a lot easier to give out second chances. If we knew who would and who wouldn't benefit from it, if we knew, OK, let that person have a second chance, but not them, because they're going to squander it. But see, we're not told that. It requires stepping out and extending forgiveness, an opportunity not knowing the outcome. So, what happens to John Mark? As many of you may know, it appears that John Mark did make good on his second chance. In 2 Timothy 4.11, Paul says he wants Mark to come to him, for he was useful or profitable to him for the ministry. Apparently, he was restored to usefulness in God's service. We learn from 1 Peter 5.13 that Mark was serving with Peter as well. Imagine what a mentor Peter could be for him. Peter who had failed, who had let down Christ and was given a second chance. And Mark now gets to serve with him. And as best as we know, Mark is the one who wrote our second gospel. That God used this young man who was restored. Barnabas is an illustration of grace. A picture of second chances. tells us that restoration is possible. You see, God is in the restoration business. He takes sinners who aren't worth anything on their own, and in Christ, takes away their sin, gives them a perfect and righteous standing before God, and works through the Holy Spirit to make them perfect, spotless. Maybe there's someone tonight in your life who needs a second chance. You may not think you can forgive them, but God has forgiven you, and he's also forgiven them. He wants you to forgive and to give second chances as He does. Or maybe tonight you're the one who needs a second chance. Maybe you've let down those who you look up to the most. And maybe they won't. The wonderful news is God gives second chances even if people don't. Be a channel of God's mercy and forgiveness. Offer a second chance. Be kind one to another. tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." Let's pray. Father, thank you for this brief look tonight at the life of Barnabas, a man who channeled your grace by giving second chances, Lord, to those who didn't even deserve it. Lord, help us to be vessels of your forgiveness. Lord, not blindly offering second chances, but because we have trust in you and your ability to restore people, that we would give you the chance as we give others a chance. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.