[0:00] Praise the Lord. Well, greetings from cloudy, sometimes sunny, mostly cloudy, Estes Park, where we were living! We were living in a van down by the river for a couple of weeks.
[0:18] ! The river was nice and rain was nice under the canopy. I always bring a canopy.
[0:33] My thanks to Mark and to Zach for taking the sacred desk in the weeks that I was gone, and good to be back with you.
[0:47] And take out your Bibles and turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22. We are looking at a passage in chapter 22 of Luke, verses 21 to 34.
[1:05] And I've called this the sinfulness of sin. That's an interesting phrase, isn't it? Luke 22, we want to read the text, then we'll ask the Lord to come and take the truth and pierce our hearts with it.
[1:28] And then we'll dig into it. So if you have that, Luke 22, if you're able to stand as I read from Luke 22, beginning of verse 21.
[1:43] No, I'm going to begin at verse 14, actually, just so we have the context. Jesus is in the upper room at the Last Supper with his disciples when he makes some stunning announcements.
[1:55] Luke 22, verse 14, and when the hour came, he, Jesus, reclined at table and the apostles with him.
[2:06] And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
[2:20] And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, take this and divide this. And he said, I will not drink it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.
[2:35] And he took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you.
[2:48] Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
[3:06] But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the son of man goes as it has been determined.
[3:18] But woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.
[3:31] And a dispute arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them.
[3:47] And those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest.
[4:02] And the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater? The one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table?
[4:15] But I am among you as the one who serves. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials. And I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom.
[4:30] That you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. And sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Simon, Simon, behold.
[4:43] Satan has demanded to have you. That he might sift you like wheat.
[4:56] But I have prayed for you. That your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, you strengthen your brothers.
[5:07] Peter said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day.
[5:22] Until you deny me three times. Until you deny three times that you know me. So it reads. Let us pray. Father, help us in these moments to consider these words that Jesus announces to us.
[5:39] These startling words about two of his own apostles who will, one, betray him and another, deny him. Let us consider, Father, the sinfulness of sin.
[5:55] How even among those closest to Jesus, there was sin. There was failure. And may it both encourage us and strengthen us.
[6:10] May we see sin for what it is. May we see your truth for what it is. And may we always keep before us Jesus. Who holds us fast and is ever faithful.
[6:27] This we ask in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. I want to begin from a book that I got many, many years ago.
[6:40] It's called The Enemy Within. Straight talk about the power and defeat of sin. And the writer begins this book with this story.
[6:55] He says, all I wanted to do was surprise my wife. Since we had moved into our new house almost a year ago, the refrigerator door handle had been on the wrong side.
[7:07] I had put off moving it because of my clumsiness with mechanical things. But on this Thursday afternoon, while my wife was at work, I was set to redeem myself and right the wrong.
[7:21] I was halfway through the job. I had the refrigerator and freezer doors off. And wanted to get them back on soon so nothing would spoil.
[7:31] So, I was at the pivotal step of swapping the hinges from the right side of the refrigerator to the left. When I realized that each hinge was fastened by two Torx screws.
[7:50] Two lousy Torx screws. There is only one tool in the universe that can safely remove a Torx screw.
[8:04] And that is a Torx socket. I did not have a Torx socket. Do you have a Torx socket?
[8:14] You do if you have a Torx socket.
[8:44] In mid-fit, I had an out-of-body experience. I saw my contorted red face screaming at my charming boys and knew at once I was doing something evil.
[9:01] So, I stopped and asked their forgiveness, right? Wrong. Something had control of me. It was as if an alien had invaded my body and was forcing me to do its bidding.
[9:17] It was long after they fled from my wrath before I recovered my sanity and my conscience and humbled myself before them in groveling apologies.
[9:28] I spent the next several days feeling like a whipped puppy. Was I really that wicked?
[9:41] How could I hurt my children? Had I done irreparable harm? Would they forgive me?
[9:52] Would God forgive me? Anything like that ever happen to you? The sinfulness of sin.
[10:07] Sometimes it shocks us like that. That that is in us. Even after we've been believers and following Christ and have been forgiven and forgiven others and...
[10:19] Yet that comes out. Where does that come from? What is the sinfulness of sin? How deep, how entrenched is our sinfulness?
[10:36] Well, I believe we see the sinfulness of sin plainly in Jesus' closest followers at the Last Supper, no less.
[10:53] Judas, who appallingly betrays Jesus. Jesus, Peter, who shockingly will deny him.
[11:11] And all of them scandalously reveal pride, jealousy, rivalry in arguing about which of them is the greatest among them.
[11:24] All this at the table of the Lord. If Jesus' chosen leaders fall and fail, what does that say about us?
[11:43] Bottom line, though all disciples fall in sin, Jesus is ever faithful to save.
[12:02] We're shown here the sinfulness of sin and the context is a sacredness of the table. As I read from verse 14 through 20, Jesus is in that Last Supper.
[12:16] He is revealing to them something that is one of the most significant truths ever revealed. In the Passover meal that already has all of its meaning from the Exodus and from God's deliverance of Israel from slavery and all of those themes, Jesus transforms that meal into a new meal.
[12:41] That the body, that the bread is a picture of his body now. That that manna is not just a picture of how they had to leave Egypt quickly, but now the bread is a picture of his body.
[12:56] That we eat that bread and we partake of him who gave his body in our place. Right? The bread is a picture of the substitute we need for our own sinfulness.
[13:08] And then he takes the cup and he said the cup, which was the cup of redemption, remembering the blood poured out of the lamb in Egypt.
[13:21] And when the blood was poured out, they put it over the doorposts and they were able to then escape the angel of death and then quickly leave Egypt.
[13:32] Right? That was the blood that set them free. Now Jesus says that cup filled with wine, the picture of blood is now his blood.
[13:46] And he says it's more than that. It's a new covenant. This cup is the new covenant. That forgives.
[13:57] The old covenant, remember the law, condemns, reveals our sin. And the new covenant forgives, washes us clean. What a coincidence we're doing the Lord's table today.
[14:13] So it's at this sacred table, in these moments of that great revelation, that significant thing that Jesus asks us to remember to do regularly. It's at this sacred table, in this significant moment, that Jesus now makes two stunning revelations.
[14:35] About two of his closest companions, whom he had called apostles. Judas. Judas. Verse 21, he says, behold, the hand of him who betrays me is on this very table.
[14:55] Judas is right there. He had just partaken of the meal. He had just ate the bread and drank the wine, pretending to be one of them.
[15:06] And yet, he is a betrayer. And then we see at the end of this passage, in verse 31, he says, behold again, behold, Simon, Simon.
[15:17] Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. What does that mean? Verse 34, that Peter would deny Christ. That he would deny three times that he knows Jesus.
[15:29] Peter, of all people, loyal, faithful. No one would question that Peter loved Jesus. No one would question his constancy, his commitment.
[15:50] Yet Jesus says, you will betray me. He can't even think of that. Two stunning revelations. Scandal among the apostles. These are not followers on the periphery.
[16:04] These are front and center guys who have been with Jesus for three and one half years. They have heard everything that he has to say. They have seen everything that he has done.
[16:15] They have been on the storm where he calms the sea. They have seen him raise Lazarus from the dead, four days dead. They have seen it all.
[16:26] And yet, one will betray him. And one will deny him not once, not twice, but three times.
[16:36] And if you compare the gospel of Mark, it may have been as many as six times. Three times before a rooster crowed and three more times before he crowed a second time.
[16:52] Doesn't matter. That may have been Peter. Peter, remember, the gospel of Mark was written on the basis of Peter's influence. And so Peter may have put that little tidbit in there to humble himself even more.
[17:07] Regardless, let's look at these two things. There's two things that are revealed to us about this. First revelation is this. In revealing that there's a betrayer, we get this truth.
[17:24] That among those who follow Christ, some will ultimately desert the faith. Among those following Jesus, some will ultimately desert him and desert the faith.
[17:45] So behold, Judas, we have in verse 21. He's not named in verse 21. He was named earlier in the chapter, verse 3, that then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the number of the 12.
[18:02] He went away and conferred with the chief priests how he might betray them to him. And they were glad and agreed to give him money. So Judas, for money, betrayed Jesus.
[18:15] Money was more important than Jesus. And in the gospel of John, we know that Judas had a money problem. John reveals to us that Judas was often stealing from the money.
[18:30] And he was the holder of the money. Isn't that interesting that Jesus would let him hold the money and continually pilfer from it? It shows you how much Jesus cared about money.
[18:46] Here's Judas betraying Jesus. Jesus refers to it in verse 21 as the hand. The hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.
[18:56] In other words, the hand that will betray me is the same hand that's dipping into the meal, that he's eating the meal, that is pretending to be my friend, pretending to be my associate, pretending to be a faithful follower, a pretender all alone.
[19:16] An unbeliever all alone. Now maybe he believed in the idea, but he did not believe in Jesus. He's a traitor.
[19:29] He's an enemy. He's a spy. He's a turncoat. He's a deserter. Jesus himself called him the son of perdition or the son of destruction, the one who will destroy himself, the son who walks on the road of destruction.
[19:49] And as I said, the gospel of John gives us insight into who Judas was more than any other gospel, that he was pilfering, that he was a covener of money.
[20:01] Jesus says in verse 22, there's a reason for all of this, for the son of man, his title for himself, for the son of man goes as it has been determined.
[20:15] So the betrayer is not doing something that God had not entered into plan A. Jesus is going to his death regardless of a betrayer.
[20:29] A betrayer just makes it easier for the other guys. But it is determined. It has been determined. It is God's plan from the beginning that Jesus die.
[20:42] This was the only way he can save us. But woe. The other side of that is, but woe, warning, alas, to the man by whom he's betrayed, to that man.
[20:58] Woe. We will see later what happens to Judas. Luke tells us in three parts. Verse one, early chapter 22, he's working with the enemies.
[21:12] He's working with the scribes and the chief priests, getting money from them to do this. Then we see Jesus announcing it. Later we will see the actual betrayal as Judas leads this horde out to a place that only the disciples knew about.
[21:30] A place which Gospel of John identifies as Gethsemane. Not the garden of Gethsemane, but the Gethsemane.
[21:41] The place where they slept at night. It was an underground cave where the oil press was. Gethsemane meaning oil press. That's where they stayed. They stayed underground.
[21:53] You can visit that place in Israel. I've been there. But Judas, as an insider, knew that's the place where they stayed at night. So woe to that man.
[22:08] Now, Jesus announces this. How does everybody react? Verse 23, they, the other disciples, began to question one another. Which of them could it be who's going to do this?
[22:20] So they begin to discuss this. And the other Gospels have the disciples replying, Lord, is it I? They don't even know about themselves.
[22:31] Could I possibly do it? Is it I? And Luke presents it more like they're accusing the other. I think it's you. And notice verse 24. This questioning about the betrayer turns into a debate about who's the greatest.
[22:50] Well, you must be the betrayer because I'm much more faithful. You can imagine how this discussion among the apostles devolved.
[23:04] Again, this is happening at the sacred meal. What we see is something in all the apostles as they begin to argue about which of them is the greatest.
[23:21] What it reveals to us is that in each of those men's heart was pride and jealousy and rivalry and judgment.
[23:32] I'm better than you. I'm better than you. I remember when you didn't get up when Jesus wanted to move camp and whatever, whatever.
[23:47] I don't know what they argued about, but they were arguing. Can you imagine that? Now, this is just hours away from Jesus's arrest and then his crucifixion on the next morning.
[24:02] And the 12 that the church depends on are arguing. How could Jesus pick these guys?
[24:20] How could he pick guys so petty? I mean, does he pick petty people? Well, look around.
[24:30] No, no, no. Look up here. Yeah. That's all he had to pick from.
[24:45] Even our best people, right? David. What did David become? What did Solomon become? What did Joseph become?
[24:56] Joseph wasn't the holy. No, no, no. No, he wanted to torture his brothers for what they had done to him.
[25:08] No. What about, oh, Daniel. Daniel's good, isn't he? Read his prayer in Daniel 9. Calls himself a wicked man. No, that's all of us, folks.
[25:21] The sinfulness of sin is pervasive. Even when we come to faith in Christ, it's still there. It's still there.
[25:34] And it shocks us sometimes, the way it comes out. Brother, I appreciate your testimony, James, today. Growing.
[25:45] And then what happens? You're attacked in a different way. Right? You're challenged in a different way. Satan's sifting. We haven't got to there yet.
[25:58] Let's go. So here's the remarkable thing, I think. So verse 24, Luke tells us they're arguing about who's the greatest. What does Jesus do? Verse 25. Here's Jesus, okay?
[26:10] Listen to Jesus here. He said to them, oh, knock it off, guys. Nope. He said to them, you wicked men.
[26:23] No. What does he say to them? Notice how gently he seeks to redirect their thinking. Gently. He says to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them.
[26:40] That's the way of the world. And those in authority over them are called benefactors. You know, the people who get, who, they write on their tomb, you know, oh, he gave so much.
[26:51] He gave so much for the country of Rome. He did so much. Well, great for him. They're called benefactors because they get the glory.
[27:02] They're called benefactors because they want the glory. They don't do it because they're good people. They do it because they selfishly want praise from other people.
[27:16] You hear about millionaires, billionaires who give away millions to good causes, right? Good for them. So, it's not exactly as if that's hurting them.
[27:31] It's not exactly as if they're sacrificing. Gee, good for them. Jesus points out the little widow who gives her last two pennies, right?
[27:45] That stands out to him. Not what the people, the rich people give. So what? Benefactors.
[27:58] So, he says, what does he say? Okay, that's the way the world does it. Verse 27. Nope, sorry. Verse 26. But not so with you. Don't be like that. You're not the world.
[28:10] Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest. Right? Who wants to be the youngest? Who wants to be the one that has all the leftover chores? Who wants to be the one that has to muck out the stalls?
[28:21] Because it's fallen to them now and the others are, right? Let the greater be the younger. That's what he means. Let the one who's the leader be the one who serves. Because what is normal?
[28:34] Verse 27. Who's the greater? The one who reclines a table or the one who serves? Well, in the normal world, it's the one who reclines a table. But I, I'm not like the normal world.
[28:45] I, Jesus said, am among you as the one who serves. I am serving you. And he's the one that deserves to be served by others.
[28:59] If anybody. So, he redirects their thinking. Don't think as the values of the world. What do you value?
[29:09] Do you value servanthood? Do you really value servanthood? See, if we're following Christ, we want to be like Christ. And so, we want to be servants. The question is, do we really value that?
[29:23] Do we see the value of it? Do we believe that? Or do we just say that? Now, he goes on. And again, notice, he's going to encourage them.
[29:35] Verse 28. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials. Now, that's a remarkable statement in that context. Because we've just seen that there's a betrayer among the apostles.
[29:47] We've just seen that the rest of them are arguing in their pride and jealousy and rivalry about who's the greatest. So, they're all stumbling.
[29:57] They're all showing sinfulness of sin in them. And then Jesus says, but you've stayed with me through my trials. In spite of all, in other words, in spite of all your failure, I still see you as faithful.
[30:12] Do you see what he's saying here? I can pick on your pettiness, but I'm concentrating on your faithfulness.
[30:23] You see, in the long run, though you have weaknesses, you're faithful. You still stuck by me. Yeah, he grumbled in the morning, but he stuck by me.
[30:35] You see it? See what Jesus is saying? He's saying there's faithfulness. We pick ourselves apart, don't we? Oh, I'm not that faithful.
[30:48] Well, are you here? Are you still seeking him? Do you fall? Yeah. Do you get back up?
[31:01] Yeah. Despite their failures, he sees their pattern of faithfulness. And then he says, I'm going to reward you.
[31:12] Verse 29, I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom. I got big plans for you guys that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. Talking about the future, when it's all done and you will sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
[31:28] You will have a place of honor. In other words, because of your faithfulness, even though you have pettiness, even though you have sinfulness, you are overall faithful. And your overall faithfulness will bring you reward.
[31:42] I think we need to see our sin and our growth in Jesus' eyes. Okay?
[31:54] Because we can see our sin and our sin will say, and then Satan will pile it on. Will he not? I mean, he'll shoot those fiery darts when we're feeling guilty.
[32:06] And we'll shoot down even our faithfulness. We'll dismiss it as if it's nothing. Jesus doesn't dismiss it. That's what I want you to see. He doesn't dismiss the faithfulness.
[32:19] You are those who have been with me through my trials. And consider what they've been through with Jesus. Jesus has been attacked. He's been slandered. He's been misrepresented.
[32:32] He's going to be unjustly murdered. They stick with him. Do you stick with Jesus when he's mocked in our culture?
[32:49] When he's dismissed? When he's belittled? When his name is used in vain as a curse word? Do you stick with him still?
[33:01] Huh? Are you happy to stick with him? In his trials? He's still undergoing trials. He's still undergoing trials. Jesus calls us to embrace his mindset.
[33:17] To value his thinking. And he looks for and rewards. This is interesting. He rewards imperfect devotion.
[33:29] He rewards flawed constancy. He rewards fallible loyalty. Because that's what these guys are. Remember what Paul said in Philippians 2.
[33:42] He said, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped, or to be held onto.
[33:58] But he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of man and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
[34:12] That's the ultimate example for us. Jesus, who was, who is God already, who was God from eternity past, who had equality with the Father, did not regard that as something to be held onto, but rather submitted himself to humble himself, empty himself, to take the form of a slave, to live life in humble form of a man, right?
[34:39] And then to become obedient to the point of death. There's no greater example. And because of that, therefore God has highly exalted him.
[34:50] He's rewarded for his faithfulness. He's highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, that's the, by the way, the name that's above every other name, that simple name, Jesus, Yah, Yeshua, Savior, at the simple name, Jesus.
[35:16] Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father. All of Christ's loyal followers, when tested, failed.
[35:32] They showed the sinfulness of their own sin. And the reason is because all true disciples of Jesus are predisposed to failure.
[35:44] That's in our DNA. We're predisposed to failure. We're prone to sin. As we sing in the great hymn, right, we're prone to leave the God we love.
[35:54] So, second revelation, not only was, among those who follow Christ, some will ultimately desert the faith.
[36:08] And so we see that. We see people who leave the faith, right? We see people who were once followers, we thought were believers, and now are nowhere to be seen.
[36:20] They're not following anymore. They have deserted. And I've said this before. I think COVID was one of the ways God purged his church.
[36:35] Because people got used to not coming, and now they stay not coming. Because it's easier. I'll tune in when, you know, it's convenient.
[36:49] Whatever, that's fine. But among those, I believe there are some, I'm not saying all those that don't come anymore aren't true believers, but I think quite a few are not believers.
[37:05] Because I think they're revealed to be what they are. Second revelation we see in verse 31 to 34 is Jesus talks to Peter now and warns him.
[37:20] Here's the other thing we learned, that even the most loyal Christians are prone to stumble badly. Hear that. Even the most loyal Christians, even the Peters, the most loyal, the most faithful, the most constant, even the most loving Christians are prone to stumble badly.
[37:46] And we see that in Peter. Behold, Peter. Remember what behold means? It's a call to your attention. Simon, Simon, behold.
[37:58] Simon, Simon, pay attention right now. Because something I'm going to tell you is extremely important. Satan has demanded permission.
[38:14] Notice he has to get permission. Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. Pay attention to that, Peter.
[38:25] That sounds a little intimidating, doesn't it? Satan himself is interested in you. Well, remember who Peter is and remember who Peter will be.
[38:38] Satan himself has demanded. So Jesus is warning Peter. There's an attack coming. And it's an interesting, he says he's demanded to sift you like wheat.
[38:51] To sift is, it's the way they separate the wheat from the chaff. They put the stuff in the sifter and they shake it violently. And the grain falls out and the chaff, I don't know, I'm not a farmer, I don't know what I'm doing.
[39:10] It's a picture of a violent shaking. Remember, Peter himself said, you know, beware of the devil, right? He seeks like a roaring lion to devour you.
[39:26] Right? Like a roaring lion to devour you. He's no timid foe. He is a destroyer. If you think spiritual warfare is not a real thing or if you think spiritual warfare is no big deal, you are out of touch with reality.
[39:46] Satan would love for you to think it's no big deal. He would love for you to think that he's timid because then he's got you. Just as he had Peter who thought nothing of this, bring him on.
[40:04] Peter's so self-confident, bring him on. I will never fail Jesus. And what's interesting is you compare these two guys.
[40:18] You have Judas, the betrayer. You have Peter, the denier. Both were influenced by Satan. Right? We're told that Satan entered Judas.
[40:32] And I don't know that he had to ask permission for that one because Judas wasn't Christ. But for Peter, he had to ask permission for Peter to sift him.
[40:44] He couldn't enter him because Peter's a believer. And he's one of Christ. But he had to get permission to sift him. Where we think back to Job.
[40:54] Remember Job? Remember Job? Back in those days, Satan used to come before the throne of God and give a report. You know, what have you been doing? I've been walking to and fro.
[41:05] And remember who starts the conversation about Job, right? It wasn't Satan. It was God. God says to Satan, by the way, have you seen my servant Job?
[41:18] Oh, yeah, I've seen you. You got him protected. He's, you know, all happy and righteous because everything goes well for him. And then God says, okay, you can go this far.
[41:33] You can do this. And Job will still be faithful. Chapter one, all kinds of horrible things happen to Job. Right? Family. Everything.
[41:45] He's wiped out. I mean, family. All he's got left is his wife. In chapter two, he comes up and, you know, same thing. Have you seen my servant Job?
[41:57] He hasn't denied me. Well, yeah, but you, you know, you protect his health. Okay, take his health. Don't take his life, but you can take his health. And Job's still.
[42:10] Now, the rest of the book of Job, he's got a few problems. But he did not deny the Lord. But the point I'm making is that Satan has to, Satan is not omnipotent.
[42:24] He's not omniscient. He is restricted in his power. He's restricted in his knowledge. He doesn't know your thoughts like God knows your thoughts.
[42:37] He knows your, he can watch your actions. But he's under the authority. I love the next verse.
[42:54] So verse 31, Jesus tells Peter, you're under attack, but, I love these words, but I've prayed for you.
[43:08] I've already been praying for you, Peter. I knew this was coming. I know this was coming. I mean, Jesus is in regular communion. We know with the Father, he's praying a lot, especially as this day comes.
[43:21] He's praying, and undoubtedly, the Father revealed to him that Peter would be attacked. But I prayed for you. And isn't it significant how Jesus prays for Peter?
[43:32] He did not pray for Peter that Peter would be able to resist Satan. He did not pray for Peter that Peter would not fall because Peter fell. Notice what Jesus prayed for Peter.
[43:48] He prayed for Peter that what? Your faith may not fail because that's what matters. That your faith won't fail.
[44:02] That your faith won't fail. And I believe that's how he prays for us. That our faith won't fail. Not that we don't fail.
[44:13] We still fail, don't we? But that our faith won't fail. And I think that's really, really important because then what Jesus says is, and when you have turned again, so Jesus knows Peter will turn back.
[44:31] He will repent. After he fails and denies Jesus, he will turn back. He will repent. He will feel bitterness. He will weep bitterly for this and he will turn back.
[44:44] Okay? We know that. And Jesus says, this is what I want you to do. In other words, he's implying to Peter that though he's gonna fail, he will be forgiven and forgiveness is already ready for him.
[44:56] When you've turned again, I want you to get back to work. I want you to strengthen your brothers. Now that's also significant because when Peter has failed and turns and now begins to strengthen his brothers, do you think Peter will be a little different about how he might do that?
[45:20] Because now he's been humbled. Now he's been broken. Now that confidence has been beaten down a little bit and he'll really be able to strengthen his brothers because he'll come from a place of weakness.
[45:41] Come from a place of weakness to strengthen them. to tell them, dudes, do not depend on yourself.
[45:52] Don't trust yourself. Trust Jesus. Right? I think that's... Now he's better equipped to strengthen and serve others.
[46:07] Do you know that our failures can sanctify us? Do you know I think that Jesus wanted Peter to fail? Not his faith to fail, but I think Jesus wanted Peter to fail.
[46:19] Why? Because he needed to be broken. He's way too confident in himself. He's way too self-confident, way too trusting in himself.
[46:34] Because what does he say next? Verse 33. He says, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. I'm not worried about Satan.
[46:46] Why are you praying for me? I'm good. I'm ready to go. In the other Gospels, it tells us where he says, hey, others may fail you, but I will not fail you.
[46:59] Now, I love Peter. I just love Peter because he's real. He's honest. He puts his foot in his mouth a lot. Right? He gets... He falls and fails, but he loves Jesus.
[47:13] And we don't doubt that he's absolutely committed to him. And when he says in verse 33, I'm ready to go both to prison and to death, I think he followed through on that because when they come to arrest him in the garden, who's the first one to pull a sword?
[47:31] Who's the first one to strike blood? Who's the first one ready to die for Jesus? Jesus. Now, there might be 600 Roman soldiers there, but I'll take them out one at a time.
[47:45] He didn't have a little dagger. He had a machaira, remember? And he's got Simon the zealot backing him up with the other machaira. Machaira. We got Jesus behind him.
[47:58] We're good. Yeah, Peter was... Peter was... He's ready.
[48:10] He boasted in his absolute loyalty to Jesus, his unwavering commitment to Jesus. He is very self-confident. Yet Jesus knows that he will fail, that he needs to fail, that he needs to break his self-confidence.
[48:32] Jesus says to him, finally, verse 34, right? I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny me, deny three times that you know me.
[48:44] And we'll see that at the end of the chapter. I want you to notice that the secret of our perseverance is not our resolve, but that Christ prays for us.
[48:57] The secret of our staying, the secret of our enduring, the secret of our overcoming, the secret of our getting broken and getting back up is not our resolve.
[49:11] It's not our commitment. It's not our ability. But it's the fact that Jesus prays for us. Look at Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7 says, the former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.
[49:28] But he, Jesus, Jesus holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever. Consequently, watch this, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to him, draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.
[49:53] That's what Jesus is doing now. He's up at his, he's on his throne, right? One of the things he's doing is ruling and he's putting enemies one by one under his feet. Our king is on his throne.
[50:06] He's in control of this world. But secondly, the Hebrew writer tells us that he always lives to make intercession for them, for us, as we draw near.
[50:19] As we draw near, he prays for us. For it was fitting, indeed, fitting that we should have such a high priest, one who is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.
[50:36] He has no need, like the other high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did offer himself once for all when he offered up himself.
[50:52] So what do we see? That even the most loyal Christians are prone to stumble badly. Let me turn it on you, on us.
[51:06] Where's your trust? Where's your trust? Is your trust in yourself? Do you think you're okay? Do you rely on your own strength?
[51:17] If you trust in yourself, if you believe in yourself, I mean, that's the world's constant message, isn't it? You gotta believe in yourself. You gotta believe in yourself.
[51:30] Well, that isn't gonna get me anywhere. If you believe in yourself, if you trust yourself, if you rely on yourself, you will fall.
[51:45] You will stumble every time. You might be able to be constant in some things because you're type A or whatever. You're constant.
[51:55] You're faithful. It's all well and good. But when it comes to the sinfulness of sin, that will come out in your life. And do you know that about yourself?
[52:07] Have you learned to distrust yourself? Do you see the sinfulness of sin in yourself? If you do, Jesus has an answer.
[52:19] And Jesus loves you. And Jesus wants you to see your sinfulness of sin so that you can come to him, so you can draw near to him.
[52:31] One of the things I say when people ask, how you doing?
[52:47] You know, it's common to say, hanging in there, right? I like the hanging on to him who hung in there. I know Dan always likes to say, how you doing?
[53:01] Bless me on all measure. You know, that's a faith statement. I'm more of a feeler and so I tend to be more, less faith statement.
[53:14] I tend to say, hanging in, hanging on to the one hung in there. In other words, I'm not doing that great. I'm not, or I'll say fair to Midland, right? And I'll say fair to Midland, which means, I don't know, somewhere, and they're not great, not super bad.
[53:30] Then if I'm worse, then I'll just say, hanging on to the one who's hung in there because that's my only hope. That's my only hope because if I got to believe in myself and rally myself and buckle my belt and tighten my shoes, I'm done.
[53:49] And I'm done doing that because I've done that. I was a promise keeper except that I wasn't a promise keeper. I really wanted to be a promise keeper.
[54:03] But I was a promise breaker. And it was too hard to be a promise keeper. And only one promise keeper. Only one.
[54:15] And he keeps his promise every single time. He keeps his promise every single time. And this promise of this text in Hebrews 7 says that those who draw near to him, he's able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him because he always lives to make intercession for them.
[54:40] Draw near to him. You don't know how to pray for yourself, pray to Jesus and he'll pray for you. And then there's God the Holy Spirit who also, you know, takes up when we don't even know how to make a word, right?
[54:55] He can do the, I can say, he knows what that means. He interprets for me. I mean, my goodness. Why do we not go to God when we're hurting?
[55:07] Why do we put it off? He offers so much help. Okay. Last statement.
[55:18] Though all disciples fall and sin, Jesus is faithful to save. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for Jesus revealing that even among his innermost companions there is great failure.
[55:37] Thank you, Lord, that Jesus is open about our sinfulness. that he exposes it because we need it exposed. He doesn't hide it. He tells us the way it is so that we can draw near to him.
[55:55] We don't have the ability to fix ourselves. And you know that, Father. Though that's our tendency, we want to fix it ourselves. But we're tremendous failures.
[56:08] And so help us, Lord, to recognize that. And to look to you to walk in the light as you were in the light so that the light can expose what needs to be exposed.
[56:21] We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. OK.