Luke 4:12 ”…He has sent me to preach deliverance to the captives…”

I felt a little apprehensive as I walked through the prison door. This was not a normal pastoral visit for me. For one thing, I was thousands of miles from home. San Fernando in the Philippines to be exact. Secondly, the slate board on the wall listed the inmates for that day. It began with murderers, then worked its way down a litany of felons, rapists, child-molesters, thieves, etc. This prison was one of the grimmest I’d ever visited. No colour TVs or degree courses here. The conditions were absolutely shocking. 

Christine Perillo, the Director of the Philippines Outreach Centre, who took me there, assured me that all would be well. She had been doing it for years. I did not go there with a message of condemnation. They already were condemned. Some with a death sentence. No, my message was one of grace and mercy. They had lost their right to freedom, deservedly so. But if there is one thing the Bible teaches, it is that God is the God of a second chance. God doesn’t throw us on the scrap heap of life. The vessel that was marred in the hand of the potter was remade into another vessel. It may be a difficult concept for us to grasp, but God’s grace and mercy is bigger than we could ever imagine. Actually, grace is when God gives us what we don’t deserve, and mercy is when doesn’t give to us what we do deserve. You may be a prisoner today. Not necessarily behind literal bars, but a prisoner non the less. Perhaps a prisoner of your past. Or a prisoner of your current circumstances. You may feel trapped and condemned, with you future looking bleak. But God is the God of a second chance. 

Read the stories of Abraham, who lied about his wife to save his own life. David, who committed adultery, and conspired to get an innocent man killed. Jacob, who cheated his brother out of his inheritance. Noah, who got drunk. Lot, who ran with the wrong crowd. Yet, a merciful God gave them all a second chance. Perhaps the most memorable parable Jesus ever told, was the tale of the Prodigal Son, whom Charles Dickens called, ‘The best short story ever written,’ is all about the mercy and grace of a loving father. A father who graciously and lovingly gave his wayward son a second chance. The thief on the cross got a second chance. In fact, it was his last chance. He was genuinely sorry for his crimes and his sin against God. So, Christ forgave him and promised him eternal life with him in glory. Unfortunately, the other thief was totally unrepentant and missed his last chance and only opportunity to receive Christ as his Lord and Saviour. As J.C.Ryle said:  “One thief was saved that no sinner might despair, but only one, that no sinner might presume.” 

Jesus said in Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

- Pastor David Goudy