Have you ever been guilty of the kind of overconfidence that actually blinds you to your own weakness?
I know I have.
You know, it's the kind of self-assurance that will lead you to reject sincere counsel
from someone who can spot your deficiencies, but you're unwilling to acknowledge.
You ever been there?
I have more often probably than I would be willing to admit.
Julie and I have been watching this show.
It's produced by the History Channel.
It's called Alone.
Anybody seen that?
Seen Alone?
Here's basically the premise of the show.
They take 10 survival experts.
They go to a remote area.
I think most recently where we've been watching, they've been in British Columbia up in Canada.
Canada, and they drop these 10 contestants off by themselves in the remotest possible places
with very few supplies.
In fact, they're only allowed to take 10 things with them.
Some of them are guaranteed, and they have to video themselves in the process of doing this thing.
And here's the point.
Go as long as you can.
And the one who stays out there the longest without giving in wins half a million dollars, I think, is the prize.
Now, the most anyone has ever done is 100 days.
The shortest anyone has ever done is just a few hours.
Like within the first day, they've already tapped out.
It's really interesting to watch them do this.
Because inevitably, in every season, there is a handful of contestants, and they all have a tremendous amount of skill.
There is no doubting that.
But there's always a handful of contestants that in the beginning are so confident in themselves
that it's almost as if they don't expect this to really be as hard as it's been for others.
They blind themselves to their own weaknesses.
They convince themselves that the dynamic of being absolutely alone is not going to faze them.
Or that they can handle the big grizzly bears in the wild better than most people.
They're not afraid.
Or whatever it is.
And they have just this air about them, this overconfidence, this pride, that blinds them to their weaknesses.
And inevitably, the people who go into the show like that, they don't make it very long.
They may make it two or three weeks into it.
But ultimately, they fall off.
And they do it embarrassingly, making lots of excuses along the way.
Because the things that they said they would be confident in doing at the very beginning
are actually the things that they were the weakest in, that they failed in, in the process.
So the ones who do the best on the show are not the ones who deny their weaknesses.
They're actually the ones who acknowledge what weaknesses they have.
They see these are the things that I anticipate are going to be a problem for me.
And they acknowledge them.
And then they do their best to persevere despite those weaknesses.
Okay?
There's a little bit of that happening here in this section of verses that we just read.
It exposes a self-assurance in the disciples that quite dramatically sets up their inevitable failure.
And the focus here is on Jesus' announcement that all of them will soon forsake him.
And rather than receive the Lord's words and accept them and pray for strength and for grace in temptation,
instead of doing that, they automatically, overconfidently dismiss the entire idea.
Now, can you imagine?
Jesus, the one whom you have professed at this point, is the Messiah.
He's the one that's going to rule the world.
You've seen what he can do.
You've heard his teaching.
You've seen him foretell things and immediately fulfill them.
You've seen everything that he can do.
Now he comes to you and he says, you're going to fail me.
You're going to fail me.
Can you imagine your first response being, you're wrong?
That's exactly what their response is.
They look at the Lord Jesus and essentially say, no, you're wrong.
How could I ever fail you?
How could I ever forsake you or fall away?
There's a spiritual pride.
Ultimately, it led them to deny the truth of the Bible.
They reject Jesus's words, their Lord.
And then in the process of all of that, they miss a really amazing promise.
And in this way, they are the prototypical followers of Jesus.
There's a lot about them that we can both relate to and that we can learn from.
And what we find happening in the end is that the Son of Man goes as it has been written of him.
And so do his disciples.
And so there's three headings that I think will help guide us along.
These headings are not original to me.
I think they're original to Alistair Begg.
They may not even be original to him, to be honest.
But why improve on something that's adequate, okay?
There's the three headings I'll give you.
A prediction, a promise, and a protest.
Let's look at the prediction in verse 26.
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
And Jesus said to them, you will all fall away.
So the narrative picks up here after this monumental Passover meal.
Jesus has instituted the Lord's Supper.
It's late at night now.
Remember, the supper would have gone up until midnight, perhaps.
So this is the middle of the night.
Eleven disciples are with Jesus at this moment.
John tells us that Jesus had already dismissed Judas in the middle of the meal.
Well, he has gone to do what it is that he had planned to do.
So it's just Jesus and the eleven remaining disciples now.
In the middle of the night, they're headed to the Mount of Olives.
And it's hard to know exactly when this conversation takes place.
When you lay all four Gospels beside each other and try to examine this particular event,
it's kind of hard to determine whether Jesus has this conversation at the conclusion of the meal in the upper room,
or is he saying these things as they are walking to the Mount of Olives on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane.
But either way, we find Jesus making really another astonishing revelation.
During the meal, he says, one of you will betray me.
Now he's going to say, all of you will forsake me.
But what is it that Jesus actually means?
When he says, all of you are going to fall away, you will all fall away.
What does he mean by that?
And I think there's an important distinction that we need to make here
between Judas' betrayal and the falling away of the other disciples.
And here's really the significance of what Judas did.
Judas' betrayal was a willful act of rebellion against the person and work of Jesus.
Do you understand that?
Judas' betrayal is a willful act of rebellion against who Jesus said he was
and what he claimed to be and what he came to do.
So at some point along the way, Judas has come to the conclusion that Jesus is not the Messiah.
He is not who he says he is.
Therefore, he cannot do what he claims to be able to do.
And he consciously rejects Jesus in unbelief and instead pursues otherworldly things.
And in his particular circumstance, it seems to have been wealth was really his distraction.
And he betrays the Lord for 30 pieces of silver.
That's not the same as what Jesus is now saying these other disciples will do.
In fact, the language that Jesus used in the Greek tense here is actually in a future passive tense.
Suggesting that the falling away would be a fearful lapse in faith rather than an egregious act of rebellion.
So theirs would be a failure in commitment to Christ rather than a willful rejection of Christ.
Do you see the distinction there?
Maybe sometimes we would wonder, well, what really makes Judas any different than the rest of the disciples?
And that's really the distinction.
Judas is saying Jesus is not who he says he is.
He cannot do what he claims to be able to do or what we need for him to do.
Therefore, he betrays Jesus.
That's not what the others are doing.
They're having a fearful lapse of faith in a moment when they are severely tested in faith.
Severely tested in their commitment to the Lord.
James Edwards says this.
I found this so helpful this week.
Jesus warns the disciples to guard against the kind of sinfulness of which most of us are most guilty.
Sins of weakness and irresoluteness rather than sins of intention.
We do not plan on sinning, but neither do we hold the fort when we ought to.
This is an area that we can certainly relate to these disciples, isn't it?
A true disciple of Christ will never reject Jesus and his gospel in the way that Judas did.
A true disciple would never do that.
Neither is it likely that many of our sins will be conscious acts of rebellion against God's moral law.
1 John chapter 3 makes that clear.
That those who know Christ do not make a practice of sinning.
That's not to say we never make a conscious act.
It's to say that that's not the characteristic of our life.
Especially as it relates to the person and work of Christ.
Our failures generally are related to a lack of resolute faith in God's plan and commitment to God's purposes.
Jesus.
So think about it in the context of what's going on with these disciples.
Eventually, when Jesus is arrested, the disciples flee.
Not because they doubt who Jesus is.
But because they fear what will happen to them if they remain firmly and unashamedly committed to him.
So when the soldiers, along with Judas and the servants of the high priest,
when they come to get Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and ultimately all of the disciples run away,
they're not doing that because they've suddenly decided Jesus isn't the Messiah,
and Jesus can't forgive my sin, and Jesus isn't going to rule the world.
That's not why they're running.
They're running because in that moment, not a conscious act of rebellion,
but an irresolute lapse in faith.
They're saying, I'm worried for my life.
I'm fearful for my life.
I'm in this moment choosing to save my life rather than to stand by the side of my Savior.
Do you see the difference?
How often are the sins that we commit not necessarily sins of commission,
where we have a moral evil that we willingly choose in rejection of God's law.
That's not typically the sins that we falter in.
Our sins are typically sins of omission,
where God has said, believe me, trust me, follow me, obey me,
and instead of moving forward in faith despite the circumstances around us,
we falter in our faith,
and we choose rather our own path than the path that the Lord has decided,
or instead of trusting the Lord, we rely on other means,
and we neglect prayer, and we neglect other things in our lives.
In the same way as these disciples,
we often fear what will happen to us
if we unashamedly remain committed to Christ.
What will happen to me if I remain unashamedly committed to Christ in my home?
What will I do when my kids really don't like the decisions that I'm making
because they're based on what God wants for us
and not exactly what they want to do or what they want for their life?
Will I remain resolutely steadfast, committed as a disciple of Christ in leading my home?
What will I do in those moments when, in the context of my work,
I am presented with an ethical decision on whether or not I'm going to stand up for what's right
because God said it's right,
or will I falter into the background,
hopefully no one paying much attention to the decision that I make?
What about in relation to our communities?
What about this issue that ultimately will fall to perhaps the hands of the voters
in regards to the right to life for the unborn?
Will we remain resolutely committed to the truth of God?
Will we remain faithful in commitment to Him
even when the cost is steep?
Do you remember what Jesus said was a part of His call to discipleship in chapter 8?
Whoever will save his life will lose it.
But whoever will lose his life for my sake and the gospel will find it.
For what good is it if you gain the whole world, but you lose your soul?
Well, this is consistent teaching.
Now the disciples are actually being faced with a decision.
Really, they're going to have to determine.
They're going to have to show,
am I serious about following Christ?
And they all failed.
Just like there are many times where we all fail as well.
Verse 27,
Jesus says,
Notice that Jesus' statement is not based on His frustration with them.
This is not an assumption on His part that because they had failed before,
they're undoubtedly going to fail again.
He speaks of their failure rather as a fulfilling of Scripture.
As a reality that's based on the truth of God's Word,
not on His expectation that they're just terrible men,
therefore they probably are going to forsake me in this moment.
He names and quotes Zechariah 13, 7.
So He points them directly to the prophecy of the Old Testament that says,
I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.
So Jesus' purpose here is not to reveal their future to them,
but to assert that even their abandonment was a part of God's plan
to provide salvation for sinners.
Do you see that?
You say, why is He even mentioning this to them?
Like how many other times have they failed along the way
and He didn't bother to tell them beforehand?
Why now is Jesus bothering to tell them beforehand
why that they're going to fail?
And the answer to that is to point them back to Him.
He quotes Zechariah and He says,
this is what the Scripture says.
The shepherd's going to be stricken
and then the sheep are going to scatter.
That's you.
He wasn't saying that so that they would just know
what their future is
or so that they could really feel really, really guilty,
even more guilty perhaps because they say that they're not.
That's not why Jesus is saying this.
He's saying this so they will look back to Him and say,
no, He really is Messiah.
He really is the Savior.
He even said what I would do
was the fulfillment of the Scripture.
This wasn't about them.
This was about Him.
Was God pleased by their falling away?
Of course not.
Was God pleased to use it
to display His love and grace through Jesus?
Yes, absolutely He was.
And He was so pleased to use it
that He proclaimed through Zechariah
hundreds of years before
that it's exactly what would happen.
But they push against the Scripture here.
I don't think they do it,
but they're not recognizing that's what they're doing,
but that's what they do.
And they say, no, we would never do that.
You know, there's another dynamic of this
in the Scripture that speaks to us.
Zechariah wasn't writing about you and me.
He was writing about those 11 disciples.
That's what Jesus said.
But do you know that the Bible also says
that each of us have sin,
and each of us will continue in sin,
not in the bondage of it in regards to judgment,
but we will struggle with the presence of sin in our lives
until the day that we reach heaven,
and all sin is then banished,
and we are made new in the resurrection.
The Scripture says that.
Why does it tell us that?
Is it just to remind us over and over how bad we are?
No.
It's to remind us over and over how good He is,
that He is the only one
that could perfectly fulfill this law.
He is the only one that we could possibly look to for salvation.
He is the only one that we could possibly go to for forgiveness,
and He provides it to us in abundance.
This wasn't about them.
This was about Jesus.
It's another reminder.
All of the Bible,
all of history,
tells the story of God's redemption of His people,
namely through the crucifixion
and resurrection of His perfect Son,
Jesus.
Notice who's striking the shepherd.
God is.
I will strike the shepherd,
God says.
It was always His plan to do this.
Is that not Jesus' purpose
in drawing their minds to it again?
It wasn't about them.
It's about Him.
Isaiah 53
was the will of the Lord to crush Him.
He has put Him to grief.
If you're doing your Romans readings
ahead of Lakeside Connect next week,
you will have read Romans chapter 8
when Paul says,
what shall we say to these things?
If God is for us,
who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son,
but gave Him up for us all.
It was His plan.
That's the point.
It was the plan of God for Jesus to die for our sins.
It always was.
And as a part of that process,
His disciples would fearfully,
but temporarily,
scatter.
His revelation to them
was meant to show them once again
the reality of who He was
and what He had come to do.
Well, that's the prediction.
Let's look next at the promise.
Would you look with me at verse 28?
After I am raised up,
I will go before you to Galilee.
Of all of these verses,
this is the most significant one.
After I am raised up,
I will go before you to Galilee.
This is the most significant statement
that Jesus makes here,
and it's the statement
that they all missed.
Every one of them missed it.
So intent on defending themselves.
They've made a statement about them
rather than about Him.
And so intent on defending themselves,
they didn't comprehend the magnitude of this.
And it's this dynamic of the disciples
that makes this verse almost invisible
even to us as the readers.
Here's what I mean.
When I read through this section of verses
a while ago,
how many of you were impacted
by the significance of verse 28?
I will rise again,
and I will go before you to Galilee.
If you're like me,
you didn't even notice it.
Because on one hand,
you've got this unbelievable revelation
that all of His closest disciples
are gonna forsake Him.
And we sit back and we think,
how could they even do that?
After everything that they've said and seen,
after everything they've heard,
how could they possibly leave Him?
And we forget that we do the same thing.
We do the same thing.
But we look at this,
and we see the drama of it,
and we think, wow.
And then we see how Peter
is so emphatically going against Jesus again
in this moment.
And we get so distracted by these other things
that even we miss
this short little statement in verse 28
that brings us all the hope in the world.
And they completely missed it.
It's another way that we can relate to these men.
Have you ever been so overwhelmed
by the reality of your circumstance
that you failed to recognize
the promises of God
meant to get you through that circumstance?
Isn't that one of our massive failures?
It's not always that we doubt God.
It's that we don't listen to Him
when He gives us reasons not to doubt.
When He gives us hope
and promises and assurance,
and we just let it go by unnoticed.
It's no wonder that so many of us
can tend to wallow in defeat and discouragement.
If we would but take our eyes off of our circumstance
and fix them on Jesus and His promises,
we would undoubtedly live with joy
amid the heartaches and the failures.
And look at the promise itself.
It's twofold.
First, He promises He would rise from the dead.
Now, this has been their problem up to this point, hasn't it?
Every time Jesus mentions His suffering
and His death to the disciples in Mark's gospel,
every time,
He also mentions His resurrection,
and every time,
they completely miss it.
Do you know why?
Because they're so focused on what they didn't like
about Jesus' death
that they totally missed the promise of His life,
of His resurrection.
Is that not exactly how we live?
So caught up in the circumstances
that God brings us in,
so frustrated that He would allow us to deal with this,
or so frustrated that things aren't going the way
that we want them to go.
That's where the disciples were with Jesus on that.
They didn't want Jesus to have to do that.
They wanted to skip that part.
They just wanted to get to the new heavens
and the new earth.
And how often do we go through life?
This is not how I planned.
This is not what I wanted.
I don't know why God is doing this.
And in the process of that,
we completely miss the promises that He gives
to carry us through those moments
in His goodness and in His grace.
And here He's telling them,
yes, I'm going to die,
but I'm going to raise.
I'm going to raise.
I'm going to come back to life.
I'm not going to stay dead.
And they totally miss it.
The second part,
first part's resurrection.
Second part is restoration.
Restoration.
That's just so helpful.
Not only would Jesus rise from the dead,
but He would fellowship with them
in spite of their failure.
Do you see the significance in this promise?
He never tells Judas,
go do what you're going to do quickly.
And when it's finished,
I'm going to meet you in Jerusalem
and we're going to work it out.
He never says that to Judas
because Judas' failure was different than these men.
But what is it that He tells them?
You're all going to fall away.
Every one of you are going to fail me.
But I'm going to rise up
and I'm going to meet you.
Go to Galilee.
I'm going to be there.
We're going to fellowship again.
We're going to be together again.
This is a promise of restoration.
Now can you imagine
had these men just listened to the promise?
They could have in that moment recognized,
yes, I do have weakness.
Yes, I probably will fail Him.
He said it is so.
But He's going to meet me after.
And He's going to be with me after.
And He's going to forgive me after.
Now listen,
how many times will you go through your Christian life
and fail the Lord in the same way that these men did?
Sometimes in ways that no one will see.
Maybe internal ways in your own mind
and in your own heart.
Maybe sometimes in dramatic ways that everybody sees
and it's just utterly embarrassing
or whatever it may be.
If you belong to Christ,
He will always meet you.
He will always forgive you.
He will always restore you.
Do you realize
that's the gospel as it moves on from our conversion?
That the same Jesus that enters into our brokenness to save us
remains with us in that brokenness
to sanctify us
and to continue in that forgiveness
and to continue in that grace
and in that love.
If they would have only listened.
Are you hearing Jesus here?
He will meet you.
He will restore you.
The disciples never did grasp this.
Not until after Jesus rose from the dead.
But would you flip over just a,
maybe it's just a page in your Bible to chapter 16.
Just a spoiler alert here.
Jesus does rise from the dead.
And I want you to see what happens at the tomb.
Verse number six.
This is the angel that has appeared to
Mary and the other women at the tomb.
And he said to them,
Do not be alarmed.
You seek Jesus of Nazareth,
who was crucified.
He has risen.
He's not here.
See the place where they laid him.
And then look what the angel says.
But go tell his disciples and Peter.
I think that's significant.
Peter speaks up in a dramatic way here.
The angel speaks up to Peter
in a dramatic way at the tomb.
Go and tell the disciples and Peter
that he is going before you to Galilee.
And look at the last phrase.
You'll see him just as he told you.
This was Jesus' promise.
And on the moment,
the morning of his resurrection,
he fulfills the promise.
He did rise from the dead.
And then he sends words to the disciples.
Go to Galilee.
I'm going to see you there.
And we're going to talk about this there.
And we're going to get through it together there.
Do you see what Jesus is doing now?
Back in chapter 14.
He wasn't mad at them.
He's not picking up a fight with them.
His words here,
even his words of revelation of their failure,
are there to assure them.
It's to show them that his abandonment
was necessary to fulfill the scripture.
And knowing their inevitable distress
because of that,
here's these amazing promises
of resurrection and restoration.
Let me say one more thing
and we're going to move on.
Jesus is not a brow-beating,
iron-fisted Lord.
He is a compassionate,
caring,
sympathetic,
assuring Lord.
Matthew 11.
Come to me, he says.
All who labor and are heavy laden,
I will give you rest.
Take my yoke.
Learn from me.
I'm gentle and lowly in heart.
And you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.
Jesus isn't giving them a hard time.
He's giving them hope.
He's assuring them.
But they missed it.
Don't miss it.
Thirdly and finally,
we see a protest.
Verse 29,
Peter said to him,
even though they all fall away,
I will not.
It's not a surprise to us
that Peter is the one to speak up, is it?
He's always the one to speak up.
But in case we're tempted
to come down so hard on him,
let's acknowledge why he's saying this.
He's saying this first
because he loves Jesus.
And he's committed to Jesus.
He's not trying to mask something here.
This is coming from a place
where he doesn't want to think about
betraying the Lord
or falling away from the Lord.
He wants to remain committed to the Lord.
That's where this is sourced first.
And remember,
Jesus had just told them
that someone among them
was going to betray him.
And Peter,
the loyalist,
is surely disgusted by that notion.
He's probably
hypersensitive
to any kind of thought of betrayal
or forsaking
that any of them would have.
His earnest desire,
truly believe,
his earnest desire
is to love
and to be faithful to
and to please Jesus.
But Peter was also foolishly arrogant here
because he rebukes Jesus
again.
He did it in chapter 8 too.
He rebukes Jesus.
And then he takes it
even further than that.
And he diminishes
the love that others had
for Jesus.
Do you see that?
In his words,
there is a hint of expectation
that the other 10
might indeed forsake the Lord.
But an act for him
would just be impossible
to think of.
He's too committed
to the Lord.
Jesus,
though they all do that,
I would never
do that.
boy,
it sounds a lot like us,
doesn't it?
You know,
for a group of people
that follow a Lord
who is so forgiving
and gracious
and merciful
and kind,
we can be a group,
speaking as Christians
as a whole,
we can be a group
that is just
unbelievably judgmental.
And we look to others
and assume their sin.
Or we would highlight
their sin.
I would never
go that far.
I would never
do that thing.
I would never
fall in that way.
And we would
castigate others
while trying to
pump ourselves up
before others.
Don't we do that?
Is that what Peter
is doing here?
Lord,
they'll all do it.
I won't do it.
Which,
by the way,
this is an attitude
that Peter,
that Jesus corrected
in Peter later.
Do you remember
the story in John 21?
This is while
they finally get
to Galilee.
Jesus has risen.
They are fishing
and they fish all night
and they catch nothing
and Jesus is on the shore.
They don't realize
that it's him,
but he's on the shore
and he says,
have you tried
the other side
of the boat?
I was fishing
a couple weeks ago
when we were on vacation
on Emerald Isle.
We were doing
red drum fishing
and that morning
was just super slow
and Andy and I
were texting
and he had asked me
if we caught anything.
We hadn't caught anything.
He said,
you tried the other
side of the boat.
You know,
we could have done that
and it wouldn't have
made a difference.
So can you imagine
they're on the boat.
They've been out there
all night.
They're tired
and Jesus says,
they don't know
it's Jesus,
but he says,
throw it on the other
side of the boat
and they throw it
on the other side
of the boat
and they bring in
the catch of their lives
and they bring it in
and there's Jesus
and he's already got
breakfast ready for them
and you remember
how it goes.
There's the pile of fish
on the beach
or perhaps in the boat
wherever it was
and then the disciples
are there quietly.
They're all ashamed
over what they've done.
Every one of them are.
They don't know
how to react.
They don't know
how to respond to Jesus
and here's Jesus.
He's cooking for them
and he's showing
such love to them
and remember what he asked Peter.
Peter or Simon,
son of Jonah,
do you love me
more than these?
Now I've heard people say
that this had to have
been a notion
towards the fish
that he had just caught
as if Peter had quit
on Jesus altogether
and had gone back
to a former life
and maybe there's
some truth in that
but I don't think
Jesus is looking over
at the fish
and saying,
Peter,
do you love me
more than you love fishing?
He already knows
that Peter has demonstrated
that plenty of times before.
No,
here's what,
he's referring back
to Peter's statement here.
He's looking at the rest
of the disciples
and he's saying,
Peter,
do you really love me
more than them?
Because that's what you said.
Do you love me
more than them?
Do you see the arrogance
that Jesus corrects
firmly,
lovingly?
He corrects it
in Peter there.
We're guilty
of that same arrogance.
Look at verse 30.
How is it that Jesus responds?
Jesus said,
truly I tell you,
Peter,
this very night
before the rooster crows twice,
you will deny me
three times.
In other words,
Peter,
it's not that you're
going to fall away,
you're going to outright
deny me
on three different occasions.
Tonight,
everybody else
is just going to run away.
You're actually going
to tell people
you don't know me.
You're going to invoke
a curse on yourself
in the process
of doing that to others.
That's how far
you're going to go,
Peter.
Peter,
look at verse 31.
But he said emphatically,
if I must die
with you,
I will not deny you.
And they all said
the same.
Declares his loyalty
to Jesus
even to death.
And it's not that
Peter didn't mean it.
I think he did.
He truly believed
he was willing
to follow Christ
to the point of death.
The problem
wasn't in his passion.
The problem
was in his pride.
He knew better
than to doubt
Jesus' words.
But in his pride,
he sinned greatly
against the Lord.
And don't miss the fact
that the rest of them
affirmed it.
Yeah, Jesus,
we agree with Peter.
We would never do that.
We will follow you
to the death.
And within a couple of hours,
every single one of them
have fallen away.
The truth is
that each one of us
is capable
of committing
the most egregious sins.
we have to avoid
the pride
that fools us
into thinking
we are safer
than others.
Because we're really not.
Remember what Solomon
said in Proverbs 16?
Pride goes before
destruction
and a haughty spirit
before a fall.
Remember Paul's words
in 1 Corinthians 10,
12.
This was in the context
of discipline
and restoring
other believers
in the process
of their sin.
He says,
therefore let anyone
who thinks that he stands
take heed
lest he fall.
In other words,
you're just as capable
of the same sins
as Israel was
in the Old Testament,
Paul says.
And you're just as capable
of committing the sins
that others in the church
have committed as well.
Don't think too much
of yourself.
you'll surely fall.
But it brings up
an important question.
What should Peter
have done?
Should he have just
listened to the Lord
and then just
allowed himself
carelessly to sin?
Well, that doesn't seem
like it would be right.
Of course not.
It's neither right
to deny our capacity
to sin
nor is it right
to give ourselves
over to it.
I don't want to get
too far ahead.
We're going to get there
next week.
But Jesus actually
answers this
in the very next section.
Look at verse 38.
Watch and pray
that you may not
enter into temptation.
The spirit indeed
is willing
but the flesh
is weak.
Do you know
what's going on
with Peter?
He has a willing spirit
but he's not
recognizing the weakness
of his flesh.
You know what our only
course of action is?
Our only course of action
is to acknowledge
the reality
of our sinfulness
and continue in prayer
for God's grace
and God's strength
to avoid sin
and his mercy
when we don't
avoid sin.
That's our only
course of action.
The word tells us
we will sin.
So stay faithful
to prayer.
Engage in prayer
for God's help
for God's grace
and then for God's
mercy.
Because we all know
that we will sin
though we don't know
the when and how
but we can't give
into it.
Now I'll close this way.
Sinclair Ferguson said
the marvel of all of this
is that Jesus
did not love Peter
any less.
He didn't love Peter
any less.
Isn't that amazing?
Because if somebody
does me the way
that Peter does Jesus
I'm not going to
love them at all.
And here's Jesus
the perfect one
who is forsaken
by the one
who claims that he
would go all the way
to the cross with him
and then not only
does he not
does he continue
to love him
but he loves him
just the same.
He loves him
just the same.
He's so full of love.
He's so abundant
in patience.
He won't tolerate
our sin
but neither will he
refuse to forgive us
when we seek his mercy.
Remember 1 John 2.
My little children
John writes
I am writing
these things to you
so that you will not sin
but if anyone
does sin
we have an advocate
with the Father
Jesus Christ
the righteous.
He's the propitiation
for our sins
and not for ours only
but the sins
of the whole world
and by this
we know that
we have come
to know him
if we keep
his commandments.
In other words
strive to do right
realize you're
going to mess up
but strive to do right
and when you do sin
remember Jesus
is a loving
forgiving Savior.
You do not fall
out of love with him.
He continues
to love you
and he will meet you.
He will meet you
in Galilee.
It reminds me
of that song
we sing so often
he'll not let
my soul be lost
his promises
shall last
bought by him
at such a cost
he will hold
me fast.
So what do we do
with this?
Well perhaps
perhaps what you need
to do this morning
is just solidify
your resolve.
Remain
steadfastly faithful
and committed
to the Lord
and his ways.
Maybe you need
to get your eyes
adjusted.
Adjusted in the sense
where I'm not going
to make every circumstance
in life about me.
I'm not just going
to focus on
what's happening
to me.
I'm going to fix
my eyes on Jesus
and his promises.
I'm not going to deny
the reality of hardship
but I'm going to let
Jesus carry me
through the hardship.
Look to his promises.
Maybe you have
some pride
like me
that you need
to abandon.
Not think so much
of yourself
and be vigilant.
Sober
for your adversary
the devil
walks about
like a roaring lion
seeking whom
he may devour.
Do you know
who wrote that?
Peter.
You know why
Peter wrote that?
Because Jesus
told him
in the context
of this conversation
Luke tells us this
Satan has demanded
to sift you
as wheat Peter
but I prayed for you
and after you
are returned
I want you to
strengthen all
the other men.
Peter missed it.
He didn't listen
to Jesus' words
and he failed.
But what Jesus
said was true.
He did pray for him
as he prays for us.
He forgave him.
Peter was used
tremendously
in the lives
of those other men.
And later on
in his life
he pens a letter
to other Christians
who are struggling
and he says
be sober.
Be vigilant.
The devil
is after you.
So stay faithful.
Don't think too much
of yourself.
That's what I did.
Can you imagine
Mark
taking this gospel
to the people
in Rome
who had requested
for it apparently.
He was a companion
of Peter
and he's writing
for the most part
Peter's account
of all of these things
and then
maybe as he hands
this over
maybe perhaps
as he reads it
to the church
in Rome
or wherever he may
have been
at that particular
moment
when he gets
to a passage
like this
he remembers
the fact
that it was
also John Mark
who in the midst
of ministry
got scared.
He didn't have
the resolute
faithfulness
that he should have
had
and he leaves
Paul and Barnabas
and he goes
back home
to mom
but then Peter
comes to Mark
and he takes him
as a mentor
and then it's Mark
who God uses
to produce this gospel
for us today.
Do you see the reminders
of all of this?
We all fail.
We're going to fail
but Jesus is loving
and he's faithful
and he's forgiving
and he's kind.
He's kind.