July 3, 2025 • 35 mins
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Ever wonder why our best intentions so often crumble in the face of temptation? The story of Peter's denial offers profound insights into this universal struggle.
Nestled within Mark 14's account of Jesus' final hours, we discover a potent warning about human weakness. As Jesus and his disciples leave the Last Supper heading toward Gethsemane, he delivers a sobering prediction: "All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night." While everyone protests, Peter's response reveals particular confidence: "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be."
Jesus' response cuts to the heart of our human condition: "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." This simple statement illuminates why we repeatedly fail despite our genuine desires to stand firm. We gain extraordinary insight from Jesus' revelation that Satan specifically asked to "sift Peter like wheat" – a vivid reminder that spiritual attacks are often strategically targeted at our vulnerabilities.
The passage offers three practical weapons against spiritual defeat: never trust your flesh, remain vigilant against temptation, and maintain constant prayer connection with God. Jesus beautifully illustrates God's desire for this closeness by likening himself to a mother hen gathering her chicks beneath her wings – always available, always protective.
What makes this account truly transformative is the aftermath. Peter's bitter tears of repentance weren't the end of his story. In a powerful post-resurrection encounter, Jesus deliberately restores Peter through a threefold affirmation of love that mirrors his threefold denial. The greatest encouragement? God not only forgives our failures but often transforms them into our most effective ministry opportunities.
Have you experienced spiritual failure? Take heart. The God who knew every denial Peter would make still loved him completely and had magnificent plans for his life. The same is true for you.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right.
Well, we'll be in Mark, chapter14.
Mark, chapter 14, is wherewe'll be today.
(00:24):
Verse 27 is where we'll betoday.
Verse 27 is where we'll take upMark, chapter 14, verse 27.
And by now you're definitelyaware that it is the night
before the cross, and for us,time has slowed way down.
(00:49):
We're just focusing in on thedetails, but it's Thursday night
, the week of the cross.
In the Jewish reckoning ofthings, the day has already
started.
They're at sunset on Thursday.
Friday is already upon them,the day that Jesus would go to
the cross.
And let's jump right in as wecontinue on Verse 27.
(01:20):
This is following the LastSupper.
We see there in verse 26 thatthey sang a hymn and they went
out to the Mount of Olivesacross the way there from the
city of Jerusalem, verse 27,.
Then Jesus said to them all ofyou will be made to stumble
because of me this night, For itis written, I will strike the
(01:43):
shepherd and the sheep will bescattered, but after I have
raised, I will go before you toGalilee.
Peter said to him even if allare made to stumble yet I will
not be.
Jesus said to him.
Assuredly, I say to you thattoday, even this night before
(02:04):
the rooster crows twice, youwill deny me three times.
But he spoke more vehemently IfI have to die with you, I will
not deny you.
Then they came, verse 32.
Then they came to a place whichwas named Gethsemane and he
(02:25):
said to his disciples sit herewhile I pray.
And he took Peter, james andJohn with him and began to be
troubled and deeply distressedand he said to them my soul is
exceedingly sorrowful, even todeath.
Stay here and watch.
And he went a little furtherand fell on the ground and
prayed that if it were possible,the hour might pass from him.
(02:47):
And he said Abba, that's daddy,father, all things are possible
for you.
Take this cup away from meNevertheless, not what I will,
but what you will.
And he came and found themsleeping and said to Peter Simon
, are you sleeping?
Could you not watch one hour?
(03:08):
Watch and pray, lest you enterinto temptation.
The spirit, indeed, is willing,but the flesh is weak.
Again he went away and prayedand spoke the same words.
And when he returned he foundthem asleep again, for their
eyes were heavy.
They did not know what toanswer him.
And he came a third time andsaid to them are you still
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sleeping and resting.
It's enough, the hour has come.
Behold, the son of man is beingbetrayed into the hands of
sinners.
Rise, let us be going.
See, my betrayer is at hand.
So a large reading this morning.
So a large reading this morning.
We'll really cover only part ofit.
(03:50):
But here it is.
The night before the cross,jesus is leaving the Last Supper
and he goes across the way to agarden.
Gethsemane means olive press orplace of pressing oil.
And on the way there, notice,jesus predicts uses a quote here
(04:13):
from Zechariah, chapter 13,there in verse 27.
I will strike the shepherd andthe sheep will be scattered.
He tells them know this, beforethe night's over, all of you
will be made to stumble.
And they're letting them knowI'm going to be alone in all
(04:34):
this.
You guys are going to run away.
And they would, just minutesfrom then, they would all leave
Jesus.
Now you know the story.
They would all leave Jesus.
Now you know the story, peter.
Upon hearing this, he says inverse 29, peter said to him even
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if all of these and we get fromthat that he motions over
toward the other disciples, evenif all these other jokers here
they stumble, I will not stumble.
And Jesus tells them flat outin verse 30, surely, I say to
you that today, even this night,before the rooster crows twice,
you will deny me three times.
So a couple of things to noticehere.
(05:20):
Jesus predicts that they're allgoing to fail him.
They're all going to stumble.
He uses a quote here fromZechariah 13, verse 7.
Notice, there it says I willstrike the shepherd and the
sheep will be scattered.
A couple of things to noticethe I will.
(05:41):
That's not how it reads in theoriginal passage there in
Zechariah 13.
It just says strike theshepherd and the sheep will be
scattered.
But Jesus here puts in I willstrike the shepherd.
Interesting, he gives it alittle color there.
And the I will seems to be thefather speaking here.
(06:02):
The father will strike theshepherd.
Jesus will be smitten, will bestruck there at the cross and at
his trial.
But it was the father's doing.
This kind of reminds us ofIsaiah 53, where we read this
Surely, he has borne our griefs,carried our sorrows, yet we
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esteemed him.
Stricken, smitten by God andafflicted.
He was wounded for ourtransgressions.
He was bruised for ouriniquities.
The chastisement for our peacewas upon him.
By his stripes.
We were healed.
All.
We, like sheep, have goneastray.
We have turned everyone to hisown way, and the Lord has laid
on him the iniquity of us all.
And the Lord has laid on himthe iniquity of us all.
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It's interesting, as you readthat and you consider Jesus,
that he was smitten by theFather there on the cross.
Now we're the ones that did it.
It was our sin that he waspaying for, but it was the will
of the Father to smite Jesus onthe cross.
It was that love that he laiddown his life for us.
(07:05):
Good for us to remember there,struck by the will of the Father
, even and the sheep would bescattered.
Now Peter hears this and againJesus' word to them that you'll
all be made to stumble.
He says not me, and that's whatwe'll focus on today is Peter's
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downfall, because he's the onedecided to stand up and say he
would never do it.
And yet Jesus points him outspecifically.
You will, but think about thisfor a second.
Jesus knew they would all leavehim.
Jesus knew that Peter woulddeny that he even knew him, and
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yet God still loves us.
This is again.
We see the eternal nature ofGod here.
God knows everything.
Does he know what's going tohappen?
Yes, but in eternity.
It's as if it already hashappened.
That's a weird time space kindof thing.
But realize that there was nochanging this.
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It was destined to happen.
It already had in some wayshappened.
We failed God all the time andGod knew it.
God knew how we'd fail him andyet he still loves us.
Yet he still loves us.
Jeremiah 31.3 says this.
God says to his people Israelyes, I have loved you with an
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everlasting love.
That's amazing to know that,knowing everything we would be
and everything we would do, godstill loved us while we were
still sinners, but knowing thatwe would be great sinners, god
still loves us.
No good reason.
If you knew somebody was goingto let you down, would you love
them?
Would you treat them kindly?
I don't know, but God does.
He knew Peter would bewishy-washy and yet still he
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loved him.
You can't let God down.
Sometimes we think, oh, I letGod down.
You can't, because he's notsurprised.
He already knows all thesethings.
Peter's going to fall and that'sthe lesson we see here.
Well, let's spend some timelooking at Peter's failure here
for a minute.
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Let's look at the process, thepreparation for the fall we kind
of see in verse 29,.
Jesus said he was going to doit.
But in verse 29, it's Peter'sboasting.
He says even if all are made tostumble, yet I will not be.
And again, you really have topicture Peter pointing off to
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the side as he says this.
He's not afraid to do it right,even if all of these guys you
see them all there's James andJohn, these guys are
lightweights Even if they allfail, I will never be made to
stumble.
He has quite the confidencehere, right, he's pretty cocky
there.
In Matthew 16, after Peter, bythe Holy Spirit, says you're the
(10:08):
Christ, the Son of the livingGod, jesus gives him a new
nickname.
It's Petros rock, or a chip offthe old block, so to speak.
That's a little rock, right,and Peter's kind of flying high
on this.
Still, you know, I'm the rock.
I would never be made tostumble.
(10:29):
I'm Peter, I'm rocky, I'm therock and I will never let you
down.
That's a good, you know.
It's nice to be confident insome ways, but this was the
beginning of his downfall.
Now notice verse 31,.
Just to be fair to the rest ofthe guys, peter says more
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vehemently there even if I haveto die with you, I will not deny
you.
And they all said likewise.
So all the rest of thedisciples say the same thing.
So we can't let them off thehook.
They say the same thing we'renot going to leave you thing.
So we can't let them off thehook.
They say the same thing we'renot going to leave you, we would
never leave you.
It was their intention.
Now, great confidence, and yetit was their downfall.
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Notice there in the second halfof our account here today, they
go to a place called Gethsemane.
It's olive press, it's a groveof olive trees across from the
temple Still today there, someancient trees, and this seemed
to be a common place for Jesusand his disciples to go.
(11:40):
We really get the idea thatthey're really kind of camping
out there for the Passover, andJudas in fact knows this is
exactly where they're going tobe.
So this is a common place forthem to be.
And Jesus is there praying.
Now we see this and we'll lookat it probably closer next week.
But Jesus is praying, peter isconfident, and yet we see
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through this whole process.
As Jesus is praying, hisdisciples are sleeping, they're
dozing off.
We can't blame them.
It's the middle of the night,they're dozing off.
But notice verse 38.
Jesus points this out, actuallyverse 37.
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He came again to them and foundthem sleeping and said to Peter
Simon.
Now, simon, in saying Simon,jesus is going back to his
formal name, not his nickname,peter Pete Rocky, but his given
name, simon.
That might have been a littlebit of a tinge of pain in
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Peter's heart Mom Peter, notSimon.
And Jesus says Simon there inverse 37, are you sleeping?
Could you not watch one hour?
You're sleeping.
So we see his downfall herethat when he should have been up
praying and watching, we'llfind Peter sleeping.
(13:13):
I get it, I like to sleep, butJesus says you ought to have
been watching and you ought tohave been praying, lest you
enter into temptation.
Now notice verse 38.
The spirit, indeed, is willing,but the flesh is weak.
(13:34):
Jesus takes a little time hereto teach Peter Spirit's willing,
you're ready, but the flesh isweak.
Now check it out.
This is a principle the fleshis weak, our flesh is weak.
Now you could simplify ournature between spirit and flesh.
(13:54):
We're spiritual creatures tohave a relationship with God,
but we're made of flesh.
We all have it.
I can't say the word fleshwithout grabbing my arm right,
because it's on us and the fleshis weak.
We can desire to do the rightthings, but our flesh will
always bring us down.
(14:15):
The flesh is always weak.
Peter is determined to stand inhis flesh and Jesus tells him
that's great, but your flesh isweak.
We see this all the time, right,how weak our flesh is when
we're trying to eat just alittle better.
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This is the one that hits methe most.
Right that I'm willing to admitto, right, um, you're willing,
you're wanting to eat a littlebetter and you pass by dairy
queen, right, it's always dairyqueen and they offer now these.
I don't know if you knew this.
They offer these mini blizzardscan't hurt.
How bad can a little dixie cupof blizzard be?
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You know, and so you know itcalls you in and it draws you in
.
You know, like a moth to thefire.
You're like must go to DairyQueen.
Just a little blizzard, a miniblizzard, and you order it and
they turn it upside down.
You're not really impressed.
You wonder why they do that,but but you know, there it is.
Your flesh gets the best of youand you're eating your s'mores
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blizzard.
It's not a sin, but it's notwhat you wanted.
It's not what you wanted to be.
It's not what you wanted to do.
It's your flesh that did it.
The flesh made you get thatblizzard and of course it comes
down to heavier passions in ourlife.
Comes down to heavier passionsin our life, passions for sin
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and lust and pride, and allthese things Our flesh draws us
in.
Because we understand this andit's worth writing down at least
in your head the flesh is weak,our flesh is so weak and our
flesh will absolutely destroy us.
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So what do we do?
And this comes down Now listen,this comes down to the.
What do we do?
What do we do with our flesh?
There's a lot of things we readin the Bible we can do with our
flesh, but number one is don'ttrust it.
Right, peter was trusting hisflesh, but you don't trust it.
Right, peter was trusting hisflesh, but you can't trust it.
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Philippians 3, 3, paul says weought to put no confidence in
the flesh.
You can put confidence in yourcar from time to time if things
are running the way they'resupposed to, but Paul says don't
put any confidence in yourflesh.
Your flesh will let you down.
Romans 13, verse 14, he saysput on the Lord, jesus Christ,
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and make no provision for theflesh.
So number one if we're going todeal with this flesh and the
flesh is what really ultimatelytook Peter down If we're going
to deal with the flesh, we don'twant to trust it, don't trust
it at all.
Put no confidence, no provisionin the flesh.
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Don't think you're going to beable to just handle it Right now
.
Jesus, in Matthew 5, 29, givessome pretty heavy prescriptions
for sin, dealing with lustspecifically.
Now picture this.
Jesus says if your right eyecauses you to sin your flesh,
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your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, right, right,
it's a great sound effect forthat.
Pluck it out, right, right,it's a great sound effect for
that.
Pluck it out.
Now.
What is Jesus saying there?
That you really ought to justrip that eyeball out?
No, never bend the will of Godto rip your eyeball out Now.
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The devil might tell you to dosomething crazy like that
mutilate the flesh, you know,but God would not tell you to
specifically literally pull outyour eye.
But what Jesus is saying is yougot to be aggressive with the
flesh.
Make no provision for the flesh.
In a way, cut off your abilityto give into the flesh.
I've known those who strugglewith drunkenness that you know.
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I used to drive home a certainway past the liquor store, but
it calls out to me like DairyQueen calls out to me, you know,
and so I go a different way.
Right, drastic measure.
Maybe it's struggling with lustand someone discontinued their
Internet or their cable service.
They've cut it off.
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I don't want to have thatability to give into the flesh
as much as it depends on me.
Now, that's all some good stuffthat maybe you want to take
into your life.
It's a relationship that'sdragging you down.
Maybe you need to cut thatrelationship off.
That's pretty aggressive stuff,like pulling out an eyeball,
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but it's worth it.
Now, what else, though, we seehere, specifically in Mark 14.
So this is right here, indealing with the flesh, verse 38
, jesus says watch and pray.
Way to deal with the flesh iswe need to watch and we need to
pray.
A way to deal with the flesh iswe need to watch and we need to
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pray, watching, don't let yourguard down.
Let's turn.
Let's turn to Luke, chapter 22.
Another account of this.
We'll turn to a couple ofaccounts of this same passage
today, but Luke 22, verse 31,gives us a little different
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perspective on what's going onduring this time.
So the Lord said, simon, simon,indeed, satan has asked for you
that he may sift you as wheat,but I have prayed for you that
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your faith should not fail and,when you've returned to me,
strengthen your brethren.
So we get the picture here.
It's along these same lines.
It's Peter's denial and Jesustells Peter the background of
the situation.
He says, simon, satan haswanted to sift you like wheat.
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Now I think we get from thisthis realization Satan has asked
for you to sift you like wheat.
Now I think that's weird forSatan to ask.
I mean, what does that evenmean?
Satan comes to God and says youknow what I really want, what
Pete is just to sift him likewheat.
You know, and you're like, whatdoes that even mean?
It's creepy, but it'sterrifying, because there Satan
(21:02):
tells Jesus I have it out forPeter, I really want to tempt
him, I really want to bring himdown.
Peter would use the example inhis letter that Satan, the
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example in his letter that Satan, your adversary, goes about
like a roaring lion.
I think that's a little betterthan sifting like wheat.
Is this idea that Satan goesabout like a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour.
So we're looking at wildkingdom there, right, the old
nature shows, where, you know,they start zeroing in on one of
those gazelle or whatever, Idon't know what it is.
Gazelle, is that right?
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And and and then there's thecheetah on the other side, you
know, and they're telling thisstory and that gazelle is going
to get it.
I'm pretty sure about that.
You know, and you see this,this predator you know, coming
in to get this poor littleanimal, and Jesus says that's it
, pete.
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Satan wants to destroy you.
So watch, right.
If you were that animal, you'dwanna watch, you'd wanna be
aware.
It's good advice in the battle.
If we live in a battle andSatan is the enemy and wants to
destroy us, be on guard, bewatching, be aware of what's
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going on.
That's important for us, thatwe realize that this world, this
life, is a battle that Satandoes want to destroy us.
We can't be overly confident inthe flesh.
We have to be looking to God,and that really is the third
thing here.
Notice in verse 38, back in Mark14, watch and pray.
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Simple Watch, be on guard andpray.
Prayer is our connection to God.
You don't have to get overlyspiritual about it.
It's talking to God, it's ourreliance on him.
So check it out.
If we're sheep and he's theshepherd, praying is like
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getting as close to the shepherdas you possibly can.
You know those pictures ofJesus as a good shepherd, where
he's got the sheep on hisshoulder and he's just holding
them in.
That's exactly where you wantto be in life, right?
You want to be right next tothe shepherd.
You want to be right next toGod.
Now check it out.
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We find out that God's desire isto be close to us.
In Matthew 23, verse 37, justlisten to this.
Jesus has gone off on thereligious leaders in Matthew 23,
verse 37, and he speaks to thecity of Jerusalem and he says
Jerusalem, jerusalem, how oftenI've wanted to bring you in,
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like a mother hen brings herchicks in, but you are not
willing.
And so check it out.
We see the heart of God isalways to bring us in Picture,
as a mother hen does her chicks,as she brings them in for
safety.
God wants that, so you candefault on this.
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It's always God's desire to beclose to us.
Man, any time of day, no matterwhat you're going through middle
of the night, god wants to beclose to you.
He wants to bring you in, andprayer is really the way that we
come close to God.
We say, god, I see that this iswhat you want for me to be
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close to you.
I want to be close to you too.
And, god, I want what you want.
I need your wisdom, I need yourunderstanding and insight, I
need your protection in my life.
I just need you.
And so, in prayer, we comeclose to God, and and so that's
what prayer.
Does your kingdom come?
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Your will be done.
So here, just a few things tonotice in this Pete's downfall.
One is he put some confidencein the flesh.
We shouldn't put confidence inthe flesh.
Our flesh will always let usdown.
He wasn't watching.
Jesus warns him you need towatch and you need to pray,
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because the enemy is wanting todestroy you.
Pete, watch and pray, close,purposeful direction towards God
, as close to the good shepherdas you possibly can be.
Now the rest of the story.
We know the rest of the story.
The rest of the story is thatit happened just the way God
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said it would happen.
Everyone was scattered, jesuswas left alone.
Peter, great intentions, I'llnever let you down, jesus.
And he denies that he evenknows Jesus, the downfall
happens, and we'll see that whenwe get to verse 66 another time
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.
But notice what happens next.
We're told in Luke, chapter 22,.
Picture this when Peter finallydenies that he even knows Jesus
, three times the rooster crows,just the way Jesus said.
(26:29):
And Luke 22 says that at thatmoment Peter looked up and I
don't know if Jesus was beingmoved from one place to another
or what, but Jesus and Peterlocked eyes.
It seems like a crazy detail,but it's definitely effective,
isn't it?
As Peter just realizes, I didit.
(26:51):
I did the very thing I didn'twant to do.
I denied that I even knew him.
The rooster crowed, just likeJesus said.
And Peter looks up and there'sthis just world of conviction,
as it says that Peter weptbitterly.
This big fisherman just getsdown and starts crying because
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he know he sins.
It's conviction.
Now, that's a hard place to bewhen God looks at the sin in our
life, because we all have sin,we all mess up, we all do the
wrong thing, we do so manythings that we never thought
we'd see ourself doing.
(27:34):
And then God convicts us.
He looks at us and he saysthere you are.
Now.
I don't think it's necessarilylike I told you, so kind of look
, but it's this realization.
I'm sorry, and that can be ourresponse and conviction is
you're right, you were right.
Confession, that's what it is.
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Repentance, god, I don't wantto go that way anymore.
Then this remorse that comesdown to it, but all of that
stuff goes on and we don't knowexactly what was going on in
Peter's heart, but we can assumea lot of it was that and we see
ourselves there.
The last place I want to turn tois John, chapter 21, because if
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we leave Peter hanging likethis, it's just too hard, it's
too much to deal with John 21,you might see in your Bible it
says Jesus restores Peter.
But the story there is verypicturesque, right, it's after
the cross, it's after theresurrection.
(28:41):
The disciples have had thesekind of random encounters with
the risen Jesus and here in John21, they're out fishing.
It's been a little while sincethey've seen Jesus and they're
out fishing and they've fishedall night.
And you know the story.
They haven't caught a singlething and Jesus appears kind of
(29:02):
incognito, it seems on the shoreand he tells them kids,
children.
Imagine what that does for agroup of fishermen who haven't
caught anything all night.
When the guy on the shorelinesays hey, children, you catch
anything yet Don't ever ask aperson who's fishing, did you
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catch anything yet?
Right, because it's not goingto be pretty.
And they say no, and Jesus,still unknown to them, says well
, cast your net on the otherside.
Cast your net on the other side.
I mean we're like what athree-foot difference.
There's not much differencethere.
But they do it and they pull in.
(29:45):
You know the story this hugeload of fish that's breaking the
nets and Peter all at once saysit's the Lord and he jumps out
of the boat and swims to theshoreline there and Jesus has a
fire and some fish cooking onthe fire.
(30:05):
He has breakfast.
Notice verse 15.
So when they had eatenbreakfast, jesus said to Simon
Peter Simon, son of Jonah, doyou love me more than these?
He said to him yes, lord, youknow that I love you.
He said to him yes, lord, youknow that I love you.
(30:26):
He said to him feed my lambs.
He said to him again a secondtime Simon, son of Jonah, do you
love me?
He said to him yes, lord, youknow I love you.
He said to him tend my sheep.
He said to him a third timeSimon, son of Jonah, do you love
me?
Peter was grieved because hesaid to him the third time see
(30:47):
the parallel third time, deniedthree times, asked three times
do you love me?
Said to him Lord, you know allthings, you know that I love you
.
Jesus said to him feed my sheep.
And so it's real pointed here,right as Peter's standing with
Jesus, jesus says Simon, youlove me more than these guys.
(31:11):
Maybe that's what he's saying,maybe he was pointing the fish,
but I think maybe he waspointing to the other disciples
hey, these guys gonna let medown.
You gonna let me down.
You love me more than theseguys.
And Peter says you know, I loveyou.
And Jesus says a lot in that hegives them a kind of commission
that we could study this for along time Feed my lambs, tend my
(31:34):
sheep, feed my sheep.
But I think it's really pointingto what Peter would do.
He would go on to take care ofpeople.
He would be a shepherd.
Well, he's a sheep, but he'salso a shepherd under the good
shepherd.
He would take care of people.
He would say in his lettersshepherd, the flock of God that
is among you.
And here I think Jesus ispushing him on and saying all in
(31:59):
one do you love me three times,like you denied me three times?
Do you love me three times?
You denied me three times.
Do you love me three times?
I have work for you to do andthat is important for us to
remember that God has a purpose.
Even though we let him down,god has a purpose.
Now you look at this.
Nobody understood the attack ofthe devil like Peter understood
(32:23):
the attack of the devil.
Nobody understood watching andpraying like Peter understood
watching and praying because ofwhat he went through.
And it's interesting that God somany times uses the very way
that we fail to help someoneelse.
He takes the worst part of ourlife and he says now you help
someone, you feed someone, tendthe sheep, take care of other
(32:46):
people.
But it's wonderful to see thatnot only does God offer us
forgiveness right John says ifwe confess our sins, he's
faithful.
And just to forgive us our sinsit's what he wants.
If we say, god, you're right, Iwas wrong he wants to forgive
us and cleanse us from allunrighteousness.
Think about how wonderful thatidea is that God in Christ could
(33:10):
cleanse us from allunrighteousness, and it's not
just even the idea of scrubbingoff the dirt until there's no
more dirt, it's like a freshsheet of paper.
He makes it new as far as oursin.
He just makes our lives new,makes us clean and fresh and new
.
And then God says I do havesomething for you to do.
(33:35):
It's to help other people.
It's to love other people.
It's to tell them the truth.
It's to come next to someonewho's discouraged because
they've been beat up by sin andsay look, I know what it's like,
I've been there before.
God offers forgiveness and afresh start.
(33:55):
And Peter is a warning for usnot to put confidence in our
lousy flesh this week.
Don't, not even for a second.
Don't put confidence in yourflesh.
You got to be watching on guard, aware of the enemy who goes
about like a roaring lion.
You want to pray, spend timegetting as close to God as you
(34:16):
can in every area of your life.
God, what do you want, god?
I need your help.
God, show me.
But then realize that God wantsto use you.
He doesn't need to.
We're not even great vessels,right.
But Paul says God uses thefoolish things of the world to
confound the wise.
He says we're like jars of clay.
(34:36):
That it's not us, it's what'sinside of us.
It's what God has to givethrough us.
So that's the encouragement forus this week Watch, pray and
serve, love others.
God, thank you for this example.
We look at Peter, someone thatyou used in radical ways and yet
he was not perfect in any kindof sense, god.
(34:59):
He messed up quite a bit, and Iappreciate that.
Because I've messed up quite abit, I sin and I let you down,
but, god, you offer forgivenessand a fresh start.
God, you offer and have for usa good calling for this week.
God, help us to walk in allthese things as we give our
(35:24):
weeks and our lives to you.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
All right.
Well, we'll be in Mark, chapter14.
Mark, chapter 14, is wherewe'll be today.
(00:24):
Verse 27 is where we'll betoday.
Verse 27 is where we'll take upMark, chapter 14, verse 27.
And by now you're definitelyaware that it is the night
before the cross, and for us,time has slowed way down.
(00:49):
We're just focusing in on thedetails, but it's Thursday night
, the week of the cross.
In the Jewish reckoning ofthings, the day has already
started.
They're at sunset on Thursday.
Friday is already upon them,the day that Jesus would go to
the cross.
And let's jump right in as wecontinue on Verse 27.
(01:20):
This is following the LastSupper.
We see there in verse 26 thatthey sang a hymn and they went
out to the Mount of Olivesacross the way there from the
city of Jerusalem, verse 27,.
Then Jesus said to them all ofyou will be made to stumble
because of me this night, For itis written, I will strike the
(01:43):
shepherd and the sheep will bescattered, but after I have
raised, I will go before you toGalilee.
Peter said to him even if allare made to stumble yet I will
not be.
Jesus said to him.
Assuredly, I say to you thattoday, even this night before
(02:04):
the rooster crows twice, youwill deny me three times.
But he spoke more vehemently IfI have to die with you, I will
not deny you.
Then they came, verse 32.
Then they came to a place whichwas named Gethsemane and he
(02:25):
said to his disciples sit herewhile I pray.
And he took Peter, james andJohn with him and began to be
troubled and deeply distressedand he said to them my soul is
exceedingly sorrowful, even todeath.
Stay here and watch.
And he went a little furtherand fell on the ground and
prayed that if it were possible,the hour might pass from him.
(02:47):
And he said Abba, that's daddy,father, all things are possible
for you.
Take this cup away from meNevertheless, not what I will,
but what you will.
And he came and found themsleeping and said to Peter Simon
, are you sleeping?
Could you not watch one hour?
(03:08):
Watch and pray, lest you enterinto temptation.
The spirit, indeed, is willing,but the flesh is weak.
Again he went away and prayedand spoke the same words.
And when he returned he foundthem asleep again, for their
eyes were heavy.
They did not know what toanswer him.
And he came a third time andsaid to them are you still
(03:28):
sleeping and resting.
It's enough, the hour has come.
Behold, the son of man is beingbetrayed into the hands of
sinners.
Rise, let us be going.
See, my betrayer is at hand.
So a large reading this morning.
So a large reading this morning.
We'll really cover only part ofit.
(03:50):
But here it is.
The night before the cross,jesus is leaving the Last Supper
and he goes across the way to agarden.
Gethsemane means olive press orplace of pressing oil.
And on the way there, notice,jesus predicts uses a quote here
(04:13):
from Zechariah, chapter 13,there in verse 27.
I will strike the shepherd andthe sheep will be scattered.
He tells them know this, beforethe night's over, all of you
will be made to stumble.
And they're letting them knowI'm going to be alone in all
(04:34):
this.
You guys are going to run away.
And they would, just minutesfrom then, they would all leave
Jesus.
Now you know the story.
They would all leave Jesus.
Now you know the story, peter.
Upon hearing this, he says inverse 29, peter said to him even
(04:57):
if all of these and we get fromthat that he motions over
toward the other disciples, evenif all these other jokers here
they stumble, I will not stumble.
And Jesus tells them flat outin verse 30, surely, I say to
you that today, even this night,before the rooster crows twice,
you will deny me three times.
So a couple of things to noticehere.
(05:20):
Jesus predicts that they're allgoing to fail him.
They're all going to stumble.
He uses a quote here fromZechariah 13, verse 7.
Notice, there it says I willstrike the shepherd and the
sheep will be scattered.
A couple of things to noticethe I will.
(05:41):
That's not how it reads in theoriginal passage there in
Zechariah 13.
It just says strike theshepherd and the sheep will be
scattered.
But Jesus here puts in I willstrike the shepherd.
Interesting, he gives it alittle color there.
And the I will seems to be thefather speaking here.
(06:02):
The father will strike theshepherd.
Jesus will be smitten, will bestruck there at the cross and at
his trial.
But it was the father's doing.
This kind of reminds us ofIsaiah 53, where we read this
Surely, he has borne our griefs,carried our sorrows, yet we
(06:23):
esteemed him.
Stricken, smitten by God andafflicted.
He was wounded for ourtransgressions.
He was bruised for ouriniquities.
The chastisement for our peacewas upon him.
By his stripes.
We were healed.
All.
We, like sheep, have goneastray.
We have turned everyone to hisown way, and the Lord has laid
on him the iniquity of us all.
And the Lord has laid on himthe iniquity of us all.
(06:44):
It's interesting, as you readthat and you consider Jesus,
that he was smitten by theFather there on the cross.
Now we're the ones that did it.
It was our sin that he waspaying for, but it was the will
of the Father to smite Jesus onthe cross.
It was that love that he laiddown his life for us.
(07:05):
Good for us to remember there,struck by the will of the Father
, even and the sheep would bescattered.
Now Peter hears this and againJesus' word to them that you'll
all be made to stumble.
He says not me, and that's whatwe'll focus on today is Peter's
(07:25):
downfall, because he's the onedecided to stand up and say he
would never do it.
And yet Jesus points him outspecifically.
You will, but think about thisfor a second.
Jesus knew they would all leavehim.
Jesus knew that Peter woulddeny that he even knew him, and
(07:45):
yet God still loves us.
This is again.
We see the eternal nature ofGod here.
God knows everything.
Does he know what's going tohappen?
Yes, but in eternity.
It's as if it already hashappened.
That's a weird time space kindof thing.
But realize that there was nochanging this.
(08:07):
It was destined to happen.
It already had in some wayshappened.
We failed God all the time andGod knew it.
God knew how we'd fail him andyet he still loves us.
Yet he still loves us.
Jeremiah 31.3 says this.
God says to his people Israelyes, I have loved you with an
(08:36):
everlasting love.
That's amazing to know that,knowing everything we would be
and everything we would do, godstill loved us while we were
still sinners, but knowing thatwe would be great sinners, god
still loves us.
No good reason.
If you knew somebody was goingto let you down, would you love
them?
Would you treat them kindly?
I don't know, but God does.
He knew Peter would bewishy-washy and yet still he
(09:02):
loved him.
You can't let God down.
Sometimes we think, oh, I letGod down.
You can't, because he's notsurprised.
He already knows all thesethings.
Peter's going to fall and that'sthe lesson we see here.
Well, let's spend some timelooking at Peter's failure here
for a minute.
(09:23):
Let's look at the process, thepreparation for the fall we kind
of see in verse 29,.
Jesus said he was going to doit.
But in verse 29, it's Peter'sboasting.
He says even if all are made tostumble, yet I will not be.
And again, you really have topicture Peter pointing off to
(09:43):
the side as he says this.
He's not afraid to do it right,even if all of these guys you
see them all there's James andJohn, these guys are
lightweights Even if they allfail, I will never be made to
stumble.
He has quite the confidencehere, right, he's pretty cocky
there.
In Matthew 16, after Peter, bythe Holy Spirit, says you're the
(10:08):
Christ, the Son of the livingGod, jesus gives him a new
nickname.
It's Petros rock, or a chip offthe old block, so to speak.
That's a little rock, right,and Peter's kind of flying high
on this.
Still, you know, I'm the rock.
I would never be made tostumble.
(10:29):
I'm Peter, I'm rocky, I'm therock and I will never let you
down.
That's a good, you know.
It's nice to be confident insome ways, but this was the
beginning of his downfall.
Now notice verse 31,.
Just to be fair to the rest ofthe guys, peter says more
(10:51):
vehemently there even if I haveto die with you, I will not deny
you.
And they all said likewise.
So all the rest of thedisciples say the same thing.
So we can't let them off thehook.
They say the same thing we'renot going to leave you thing.
So we can't let them off thehook.
They say the same thing we'renot going to leave you, we would
never leave you.
It was their intention.
Now, great confidence, and yetit was their downfall.
(11:19):
Notice there in the second halfof our account here today, they
go to a place called Gethsemane.
It's olive press, it's a groveof olive trees across from the
temple Still today there, someancient trees, and this seemed
to be a common place for Jesusand his disciples to go.
(11:40):
We really get the idea thatthey're really kind of camping
out there for the Passover, andJudas in fact knows this is
exactly where they're going tobe.
So this is a common place forthem to be.
And Jesus is there praying.
Now we see this and we'll lookat it probably closer next week.
But Jesus is praying, peter isconfident, and yet we see
(12:05):
through this whole process.
As Jesus is praying, hisdisciples are sleeping, they're
dozing off.
We can't blame them.
It's the middle of the night,they're dozing off.
But notice verse 38.
Jesus points this out, actuallyverse 37.
(12:27):
He came again to them and foundthem sleeping and said to Peter
Simon.
Now, simon, in saying Simon,jesus is going back to his
formal name, not his nickname,peter Pete Rocky, but his given
name, simon.
That might have been a littlebit of a tinge of pain in
(12:50):
Peter's heart Mom Peter, notSimon.
And Jesus says Simon there inverse 37, are you sleeping?
Could you not watch one hour?
You're sleeping.
So we see his downfall herethat when he should have been up
praying and watching, we'llfind Peter sleeping.
(13:13):
I get it, I like to sleep, butJesus says you ought to have
been watching and you ought tohave been praying, lest you
enter into temptation.
Now notice verse 38.
The spirit, indeed, is willing,but the flesh is weak.
(13:34):
Jesus takes a little time hereto teach Peter Spirit's willing,
you're ready, but the flesh isweak.
Now check it out.
This is a principle the fleshis weak, our flesh is weak.
Now you could simplify ournature between spirit and flesh.
(13:54):
We're spiritual creatures tohave a relationship with God,
but we're made of flesh.
We all have it.
I can't say the word fleshwithout grabbing my arm right,
because it's on us and the fleshis weak.
We can desire to do the rightthings, but our flesh will
always bring us down.
(14:15):
The flesh is always weak.
Peter is determined to stand inhis flesh and Jesus tells him
that's great, but your flesh isweak.
We see this all the time, right,how weak our flesh is when
we're trying to eat just alittle better.
(14:35):
This is the one that hits methe most.
Right that I'm willing to admitto, right, um, you're willing,
you're wanting to eat a littlebetter and you pass by dairy
queen, right, it's always dairyqueen and they offer now these.
I don't know if you knew this.
They offer these mini blizzardscan't hurt.
How bad can a little dixie cupof blizzard be?
(14:56):
You know, and so you know itcalls you in and it draws you in
.
You know, like a moth to thefire.
You're like must go to DairyQueen.
Just a little blizzard, a miniblizzard, and you order it and
they turn it upside down.
You're not really impressed.
You wonder why they do that,but but you know, there it is.
Your flesh gets the best of youand you're eating your s'mores
(15:19):
blizzard.
It's not a sin, but it's notwhat you wanted.
It's not what you wanted to be.
It's not what you wanted to do.
It's your flesh that did it.
The flesh made you get thatblizzard and of course it comes
down to heavier passions in ourlife.
Comes down to heavier passionsin our life, passions for sin
(15:40):
and lust and pride, and allthese things Our flesh draws us
in.
Because we understand this andit's worth writing down at least
in your head the flesh is weak,our flesh is so weak and our
flesh will absolutely destroy us.
(16:01):
So what do we do?
And this comes down Now listen,this comes down to the.
What do we do?
What do we do with our flesh?
There's a lot of things we readin the Bible we can do with our
flesh, but number one is don'ttrust it.
Right, peter was trusting hisflesh, but you don't trust it.
Right, peter was trusting hisflesh, but you can't trust it.
(16:22):
Philippians 3, 3, paul says weought to put no confidence in
the flesh.
You can put confidence in yourcar from time to time if things
are running the way they'resupposed to, but Paul says don't
put any confidence in yourflesh.
Your flesh will let you down.
Romans 13, verse 14, he saysput on the Lord, jesus Christ,
(16:46):
and make no provision for theflesh.
So number one if we're going todeal with this flesh and the
flesh is what really ultimatelytook Peter down If we're going
to deal with the flesh, we don'twant to trust it, don't trust
it at all.
Put no confidence, no provisionin the flesh.
(17:07):
Don't think you're going to beable to just handle it Right now
.
Jesus, in Matthew 5, 29, givessome pretty heavy prescriptions
for sin, dealing with lustspecifically.
Now picture this.
Jesus says if your right eyecauses you to sin your flesh,
(17:30):
your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, right, right,
it's a great sound effect forthat.
Pluck it out, right, right,it's a great sound effect for
that.
Pluck it out.
Now.
What is Jesus saying there?
That you really ought to justrip that eyeball out?
No, never bend the will of Godto rip your eyeball out Now.
(17:55):
The devil might tell you to dosomething crazy like that
mutilate the flesh, you know,but God would not tell you to
specifically literally pull outyour eye.
But what Jesus is saying is yougot to be aggressive with the
flesh.
Make no provision for the flesh.
In a way, cut off your abilityto give into the flesh.
I've known those who strugglewith drunkenness that you know.
(18:20):
I used to drive home a certainway past the liquor store, but
it calls out to me like DairyQueen calls out to me, you know,
and so I go a different way.
Right, drastic measure.
Maybe it's struggling with lustand someone discontinued their
Internet or their cable service.
They've cut it off.
(18:40):
I don't want to have thatability to give into the flesh
as much as it depends on me.
Now, that's all some good stuffthat maybe you want to take
into your life.
It's a relationship that'sdragging you down.
Maybe you need to cut thatrelationship off.
That's pretty aggressive stuff,like pulling out an eyeball,
(19:01):
but it's worth it.
Now, what else, though, we seehere, specifically in Mark 14.
So this is right here, indealing with the flesh, verse 38
, jesus says watch and pray.
Way to deal with the flesh iswe need to watch and we need to
pray.
A way to deal with the flesh iswe need to watch and we need to
(19:21):
pray, watching, don't let yourguard down.
Let's turn.
Let's turn to Luke, chapter 22.
Another account of this.
We'll turn to a couple ofaccounts of this same passage
today, but Luke 22, verse 31,gives us a little different
(19:50):
perspective on what's going onduring this time.
So the Lord said, simon, simon,indeed, satan has asked for you
that he may sift you as wheat,but I have prayed for you that
(20:14):
your faith should not fail and,when you've returned to me,
strengthen your brethren.
So we get the picture here.
It's along these same lines.
It's Peter's denial and Jesustells Peter the background of
the situation.
He says, simon, satan haswanted to sift you like wheat.
(20:37):
Now I think we get from thisthis realization Satan has asked
for you to sift you like wheat.
Now I think that's weird forSatan to ask.
I mean, what does that evenmean?
Satan comes to God and says youknow what I really want, what
Pete is just to sift him likewheat.
You know, and you're like, whatdoes that even mean?
It's creepy, but it'sterrifying, because there Satan
(21:02):
tells Jesus I have it out forPeter, I really want to tempt
him, I really want to bring himdown.
Peter would use the example inhis letter that Satan, the
(21:22):
example in his letter that Satan, your adversary, goes about
like a roaring lion.
I think that's a little betterthan sifting like wheat.
Is this idea that Satan goesabout like a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour.
So we're looking at wildkingdom there, right, the old
nature shows, where, you know,they start zeroing in on one of
those gazelle or whatever, Idon't know what it is.
Gazelle, is that right?
(21:44):
And and and then there's thecheetah on the other side, you
know, and they're telling thisstory and that gazelle is going
to get it.
I'm pretty sure about that.
You know, and you see this,this predator you know, coming
in to get this poor littleanimal, and Jesus says that's it
, pete.
(22:04):
Satan wants to destroy you.
So watch, right.
If you were that animal, you'dwanna watch, you'd wanna be
aware.
It's good advice in the battle.
If we live in a battle andSatan is the enemy and wants to
destroy us, be on guard, bewatching, be aware of what's
(22:25):
going on.
That's important for us, thatwe realize that this world, this
life, is a battle that Satandoes want to destroy us.
We can't be overly confident inthe flesh.
We have to be looking to God,and that really is the third
thing here.
Notice in verse 38, back in Mark14, watch and pray.
(22:48):
Simple Watch, be on guard andpray.
Prayer is our connection to God.
You don't have to get overlyspiritual about it.
It's talking to God, it's ourreliance on him.
So check it out.
If we're sheep and he's theshepherd, praying is like
(23:11):
getting as close to the shepherdas you possibly can.
You know those pictures ofJesus as a good shepherd, where
he's got the sheep on hisshoulder and he's just holding
them in.
That's exactly where you wantto be in life, right?
You want to be right next tothe shepherd.
You want to be right next toGod.
Now check it out.
(23:34):
We find out that God's desire isto be close to us.
In Matthew 23, verse 37, justlisten to this.
Jesus has gone off on thereligious leaders in Matthew 23,
verse 37, and he speaks to thecity of Jerusalem and he says
Jerusalem, jerusalem, how oftenI've wanted to bring you in,
(23:59):
like a mother hen brings herchicks in, but you are not
willing.
And so check it out.
We see the heart of God isalways to bring us in Picture,
as a mother hen does her chicks,as she brings them in for
safety.
God wants that, so you candefault on this.
(24:23):
It's always God's desire to beclose to us.
Man, any time of day, no matterwhat you're going through middle
of the night, god wants to beclose to you.
He wants to bring you in, andprayer is really the way that we
come close to God.
We say, god, I see that this iswhat you want for me to be
(24:44):
close to you.
I want to be close to you too.
And, god, I want what you want.
I need your wisdom, I need yourunderstanding and insight, I
need your protection in my life.
I just need you.
And so, in prayer, we comeclose to God, and and so that's
what prayer.
Does your kingdom come?
(25:06):
Your will be done.
So here, just a few things tonotice in this Pete's downfall.
One is he put some confidencein the flesh.
We shouldn't put confidence inthe flesh.
Our flesh will always let usdown.
He wasn't watching.
Jesus warns him you need towatch and you need to pray,
(25:27):
because the enemy is wanting todestroy you.
Pete, watch and pray, close,purposeful direction towards God
, as close to the good shepherdas you possibly can be.
Now the rest of the story.
We know the rest of the story.
The rest of the story is thatit happened just the way God
(25:48):
said it would happen.
Everyone was scattered, jesuswas left alone.
Peter, great intentions, I'llnever let you down, jesus.
And he denies that he evenknows Jesus, the downfall
happens, and we'll see that whenwe get to verse 66 another time
(26:09):
.
But notice what happens next.
We're told in Luke, chapter 22,.
Picture this when Peter finallydenies that he even knows Jesus
, three times the rooster crows,just the way Jesus said.
(26:29):
And Luke 22 says that at thatmoment Peter looked up and I
don't know if Jesus was beingmoved from one place to another
or what, but Jesus and Peterlocked eyes.
It seems like a crazy detail,but it's definitely effective,
isn't it?
As Peter just realizes, I didit.
(26:51):
I did the very thing I didn'twant to do.
I denied that I even knew him.
The rooster crowed, just likeJesus said.
And Peter looks up and there'sthis just world of conviction,
as it says that Peter weptbitterly.
This big fisherman just getsdown and starts crying because
(27:14):
he know he sins.
It's conviction.
Now, that's a hard place to bewhen God looks at the sin in our
life, because we all have sin,we all mess up, we all do the
wrong thing, we do so manythings that we never thought
we'd see ourself doing.
(27:34):
And then God convicts us.
He looks at us and he saysthere you are.
Now.
I don't think it's necessarilylike I told you, so kind of look
, but it's this realization.
I'm sorry, and that can be ourresponse and conviction is
you're right, you were right.
Confession, that's what it is.
(27:56):
Repentance, god, I don't wantto go that way anymore.
Then this remorse that comesdown to it, but all of that
stuff goes on and we don't knowexactly what was going on in
Peter's heart, but we can assumea lot of it was that and we see
ourselves there.
The last place I want to turn tois John, chapter 21, because if
(28:19):
we leave Peter hanging likethis, it's just too hard, it's
too much to deal with John 21,you might see in your Bible it
says Jesus restores Peter.
But the story there is verypicturesque, right, it's after
the cross, it's after theresurrection.
(28:41):
The disciples have had thesekind of random encounters with
the risen Jesus and here in John21, they're out fishing.
It's been a little while sincethey've seen Jesus and they're
out fishing and they've fishedall night.
And you know the story.
They haven't caught a singlething and Jesus appears kind of
(29:02):
incognito, it seems on the shoreand he tells them kids,
children.
Imagine what that does for agroup of fishermen who haven't
caught anything all night.
When the guy on the shorelinesays hey, children, you catch
anything yet Don't ever ask aperson who's fishing, did you
(29:24):
catch anything yet?
Right, because it's not goingto be pretty.
And they say no, and Jesus,still unknown to them, says well
, cast your net on the otherside.
Cast your net on the other side.
I mean we're like what athree-foot difference.
There's not much differencethere.
But they do it and they pull in.
(29:45):
You know the story this hugeload of fish that's breaking the
nets and Peter all at once saysit's the Lord and he jumps out
of the boat and swims to theshoreline there and Jesus has a
fire and some fish cooking onthe fire.
(30:05):
He has breakfast.
Notice verse 15.
So when they had eatenbreakfast, jesus said to Simon
Peter Simon, son of Jonah, doyou love me more than these?
He said to him yes, lord, youknow that I love you.
He said to him yes, lord, youknow that I love you.
(30:26):
He said to him feed my lambs.
He said to him again a secondtime Simon, son of Jonah, do you
love me?
He said to him yes, lord, youknow I love you.
He said to him tend my sheep.
He said to him a third timeSimon, son of Jonah, do you love
me?
Peter was grieved because hesaid to him the third time see
(30:47):
the parallel third time, deniedthree times, asked three times
do you love me?
Said to him Lord, you know allthings, you know that I love you
.
Jesus said to him feed my sheep.
And so it's real pointed here,right as Peter's standing with
Jesus, jesus says Simon, youlove me more than these guys.
(31:11):
Maybe that's what he's saying,maybe he was pointing the fish,
but I think maybe he waspointing to the other disciples
hey, these guys gonna let medown.
You gonna let me down.
You love me more than theseguys.
And Peter says you know, I loveyou.
And Jesus says a lot in that hegives them a kind of commission
that we could study this for along time Feed my lambs, tend my
(31:34):
sheep, feed my sheep.
But I think it's really pointingto what Peter would do.
He would go on to take care ofpeople.
He would be a shepherd.
Well, he's a sheep, but he'salso a shepherd under the good
shepherd.
He would take care of people.
He would say in his lettersshepherd, the flock of God that
is among you.
And here I think Jesus ispushing him on and saying all in
(31:59):
one do you love me three times,like you denied me three times?
Do you love me three times?
You denied me three times.
Do you love me three times?
I have work for you to do andthat is important for us to
remember that God has a purpose.
Even though we let him down,god has a purpose.
Now you look at this.
Nobody understood the attack ofthe devil like Peter understood
(32:23):
the attack of the devil.
Nobody understood watching andpraying like Peter understood
watching and praying because ofwhat he went through.
And it's interesting that God somany times uses the very way
that we fail to help someoneelse.
He takes the worst part of ourlife and he says now you help
someone, you feed someone, tendthe sheep, take care of other
(32:46):
people.
But it's wonderful to see thatnot only does God offer us
forgiveness right John says ifwe confess our sins, he's
faithful.
And just to forgive us our sinsit's what he wants.
If we say, god, you're right, Iwas wrong he wants to forgive
us and cleanse us from allunrighteousness.
Think about how wonderful thatidea is that God in Christ could
(33:10):
cleanse us from allunrighteousness, and it's not
just even the idea of scrubbingoff the dirt until there's no
more dirt, it's like a freshsheet of paper.
He makes it new as far as oursin.
He just makes our lives new,makes us clean and fresh and new
.
And then God says I do havesomething for you to do.
(33:35):
It's to help other people.
It's to love other people.
It's to tell them the truth.
It's to come next to someonewho's discouraged because
they've been beat up by sin andsay look, I know what it's like,
I've been there before.
God offers forgiveness and afresh start.
(33:55):
And Peter is a warning for usnot to put confidence in our
lousy flesh this week.
Don't, not even for a second.
Don't put confidence in yourflesh.
You got to be watching on guard, aware of the enemy who goes
about like a roaring lion.
You want to pray, spend timegetting as close to God as you
(34:16):
can in every area of your life.
God, what do you want, god?
I need your help.
God, show me.
But then realize that God wantsto use you.
He doesn't need to.
We're not even great vessels,right.
But Paul says God uses thefoolish things of the world to
confound the wise.
He says we're like jars of clay.
(34:36):
That it's not us, it's what'sinside of us.
It's what God has to givethrough us.
So that's the encouragement forus this week Watch, pray and
serve, love others.
God, thank you for this example.
We look at Peter, someone thatyou used in radical ways and yet
he was not perfect in any kindof sense, god.
(34:59):
He messed up quite a bit, and Iappreciate that.
Because I've messed up quite abit, I sin and I let you down,
but, god, you offer forgivenessand a fresh start.
God, you offer and have for usa good calling for this week.
God, help us to walk in allthese things as we give our
(35:24):
weeks and our lives to you.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
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