When We’ve Gone the Wrong Way

1. Illustration

1) In the January 1st, 1929 Rose Bowl, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets faced the Golden Bears of California. A little through the second quarter, just 30 yards from the end zone, a player picked up a fumble and started running – the wrong way. He ran 60 yards before he was turned around by one of his teammates. He was then unceremoniously tackled at the 1 yard line by the opposing team. The team decided to punt instead of risking a play so close to their own end zone. The punt was blocked and the opposing team scored. The name of the man who had made that fateful run was Roy Riegels.

2) At half time, Roy walked into the locker room. Sat down separate from the other players, put his head into his hands, and began to cry. The coach didn’t know what to say. Three minutes before it was time to start play, the coach said, “Men the same team that played the first half will start the second.” Riegels didn’t get up. The coach walked over to him and said, “Roy, didn’t you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second.” Riegels responded, “Coach, I can’t do it to save my life. I’ve ruined you, I’ve ruined the University of California, I’ve ruined myself. I couldn’t face that crowd in the stadium to save my life.” The coach simply said, “Roy, get up and go on back; the game is only half over.”

2. Read: Proverbs 24:16 – “For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again….”

3. About the Text:

1) Failure is a certainty in this life.

2) After Riegels wrong-way run, he was dubbed wrong-way Roy.

3) What do we do when we’ve gone the wrong way?

4. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. Failure is a reminder that we aren’t God.

1) Maybe that seems like an obvious thing to say, but is it?

2) Pride causes us to think that what we do is unassailable, but only God is unassailable.

3) God does not view things from the same perspective we do. “For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).

4) “Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished” (Proverbs 16:5).

5) Failure reminds us that we are finite.

2. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

3. “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).

4. “‘But he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’ For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends” (2 Corinthians 10:17-18).

1. God’s power today is in the gospel (Romans 1:16-17), not in man’s ambitions.

2. “For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you” (2 Corinthians 13:4).

3. “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

4. “If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity” (2 Corinthians 11:30).

5. “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

1. Failure is a great teacher. “We don’t learn very much from the games that we win” (Tom Landry).

2. “He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.” (Proverbs 15:32).

3. Why did Paul have that thorn in the flesh? “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure” (2 Corinthians 12:7).

4. Psalm 141:5 “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities” (Psalm 141:5).

1. Past failures have a way of haunting us, but we do not have to focus on them.

2. “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.'” (Luke 9:62).

3. “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him” (Hebrews 10:38).

4. “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

1. How we handle failure is a great way to show Christ to others.

2. “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him” (Matthew 3:13-16).

3. “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16).

4. “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

1. Postscript

1) Roy Riegel’s team ended up losing the Rose Bowl by one point. If not for his infamous run they would have won by one point. But that wasn’t the end of Roy’s story. Roy served in the U.S. Army Air Corp during the Second World War. He afterwards became a high school football teacher. He then became the coach of a college team. In 1991, he was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.

2) In 1957 a young man named Jan Bandriga did the same thing Roy did in 1929. Roy wrote him a letter. He said, “For many years I’ve had to go along and laugh whenever my wrong-way run was brought up, even though I’ve grown tired listening and reading about it. But it certainly wasn’t the most serious thing in the world. I regretted doing it, even as you do, but you’ll get over it.”

2. Invitation – Are you going the wrong way?

1) It’s not too late to turn around.

2) Failure doesn’t have to be Forever.

3) Respond to God’s invitation.