November 6, 2023 • 37 mins
This is the first in the Mitchell Monday's Series. The Late Pastor Wayman Mitchell is the founder of our fellowship and his Son Gregg Mitchell is our current head Pastor based out of Prescott, AZ.
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Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located in
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beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship Ministries
with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, discipleship
and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church and other sermons
from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your host for this
podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing to you and
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bring you closer to God. Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast. I am
the pastor here in Salmon Arm. My name is David Bickford. Today I have something new and it is
Mitchell Mondays. This is going to be a collection of sermons from our founding pastor, the late
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Wayman Mitchell and our current head pastor, his son, Greg Mitchell based out of Prescott, Arizona.
These are powerful messages from our fellowship leaders and I hope that these messages add to
your week. God bless....legal problems and he was able to shape these men into a powerful force for
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God. It is a very exciting story to read. Many of them are listed as mighty men, outstanding feats
of victory. And the reason that he was able to do this was he had a heart of a shepherd.
He had a heart of a shepherd and he is known as the shepherd of Israel.
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And he was able to challenge those men that they could become greater than themselves. Now in the
text we are going to read, I am going to read a few verses out of Luke 22 and then I am going to
skip quickly over to John 21 and read three verses out of there. There is a story of a man named
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Peter and it is a very instructive story. It is a man who is a failure. He fails terribly.
And as he fails terribly we are going to read the restoration of that man and get tremendous
insight in some spiritual dynamics that are a great encouragement to all of us to help us to be able
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to salvage people because that is really what church is all about. Can you say amen? This is
not a place where people are on display. This place is a hospital emergency room, a spiritual
hospital emergency room. This is about in Fendershop. Holy Spirit dragging wrecks off of
the highway of life in. And this is what the gospel of Jesus Christ promises to do and we are
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going to have a character study this morning on salvaging people because really the issue in life
is not what happens in life, it is how you process life. You have heard me say that many, many times.
And it is how you handle the failures that are in your life. Is there anybody in this building that
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from some point or another you will have a failure in your life? But it is how you handle that.
And how you begin to approach that and how you as a person whom God has restored, how you handle
people so that they can be restored. Luke 22 verse 31, famous story of Peter. You will
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immediately identify this story. The Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you
that he may sift your wheat, but I prayed for you that your face should not fail.
And when you are converted or when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. Those
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words are key to understanding the text that we are going to have. But he said to him,
Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Then Jesus said, I tell you, Peter,
the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny me three times that you know me.
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You know the story. He does deny the Lord. But over in John chapter 21, we find a sequel to this.
It is going to be greatly encouragement. So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon,
Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? And he said, I love you more than these.
Do you love me more than these? And he said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
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And he said to him, feed my lambs. And he said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah,
do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep.
He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And Peter was grieved
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because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know
all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Most assuredly,
I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished. But when
you're old, you'll stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you
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do not wish. Salvaging people is what we want to consider for a few minutes from this passage of
scripture. And I want to focus with you, first of all, on the danger of overconfidence. It's a
very common problem, especially as Christianity becomes kind of familiar to people as they've
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lived for God for a little while and they've seen God work, they've seen prayer answered. And
you're not very careful. You can become prideful because you have a knowledge of God and you have
a relationship with God. You can become harsh. You can become legalistic for other people. And
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possibly sometimes this is because it's a consequence of privilege. Peter, James, and
John, as you remember, they had the inside track. Several things that Jesus did where he took only
Peter, James, and John with him. And we'd have to speculate, which is quite possible, but
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that this had produced some pride in Peter because they're insiders and they have to understand that
Satan will exploit every single dimension of life that he can. In the book of Proverbs, chapter 16,
verse 18 says pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Now here in this
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text, something is very, very clear. And that is this overconfidence that Peter had. Jesus has been
saying to them, they're moving towards a time when he's going to be taken, he's going to be killed,
and they don't fully grasp all this is all about. But Peter in the text says, I'm never going to
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deny you. Lord, I don't care if everybody denies you. I'll be the last man standing. And I want
you to know that I'm never going to, I'll go to prison, I'll go to death with you. And before 24
hours has passed, Peter in the crush and oppressive event has denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times.
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And the scripture speaks very clearly and brings this out. Luke 22, verse 33. But he said to him,
Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Now this is spiritual pride.
In the book of first Corinthians chapter 10, verses 12 and 13, the Bible admonishes us and says,
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therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has taken you,
but except such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted
above what you're able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be
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able to bear. So here we have this scenario. Now this is set in the context of the disciples.
They've been having an argument on the way. They've been arguing with one another who's
going to be the greatest. One said, I'm going to have a greater ministry than the whole bunch.
And so this is quite common. In Mark nine, 33 and 34, we bring this out, said that then he came to
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Capernaum and when he was in the house, he asked him, what was it that you disputed among yourselves
on the road? But they kept silent from the road. They disputed among themselves who would be the
greatest. And undoubtedly Peter had entered that arena because he's one of them. And so they're
comparing themselves among themselves, which the Bible says is not wise. This is a common problem,
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is overconfidence or pride. The Bible tells us about a Pharisee and a publican who go in to pray.
And the publican is not even considered to be worth any kind of spiritual weight at all. But the
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Pharisee, these are people who prided themselves on their spirituality. And as he's there, he's
praying and as he's praying, he said, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other men. I fast twice in
the week. I give tithes of all that I present. I'm not like this man over here. And Jesus makes an
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interesting comment. He says the Pharisee prayed with himself and that is real insight because
God wasn't hearing his prayer. And Jesus says this man went down receiving nothing from God
and the publican, meanwhile, no feeling of entitlement at all, won't even lift his eyes
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up to God, beats on his chest and says, God, be merciful to me a sinner. And Jesus said that man
went down righteous, justified with God, but the Pharisee went up receiving nothing. And so here we
have this business of overconfidence. The mistake that we make in life is that with our own ability
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we can do a work for God. This happens is quite common, a little bit of experience, a little bit
of success. We witness and if we're not very careful, we get begin to think that with some
slick story that we're going to tell, some argument that we're going to give, we're going to
convince people that they're lost. Young men preach in the in the 180 and they've got some
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80 and they've got some smooth store that they've got that they think absolutely going to grab
everybody's attention. And if you're not very careful, you begin to feel that you're slick
maneuvering your good business of speaking and ingenious illustrations is going to win the day.
But unless God builds a house, they labor in vain that build it. Can you say amen? Overconfidence is
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a common problem. We have in this story in the Bible of a man named Ahimaaz. He's in the battle
where Absalom had rebelled and Absalom was defeated and they need to carry news to David,
how the battle went. And they have a delegated man to do it. But Ahimaaz wanted to be the one
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that brought the news and he takes off and outruns the man that's delegated. But alas,
when he comes to David, he doesn't have the message that David's looking for. And when David
asked him a question, he doesn't have the answer. And he says, stand aside. And his pride caused him
to move in his own strength and his own wisdom. And rather than win the day, he's embarrassed
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because overconfidence in the Christian life is very, very dangerous. And we see Peter,
a terrible failure. So let's think for a moment about the power of grace as we read these two
texts together are so notable. And there's a notable truth here. And that is that the devil
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will beat you to death over your sin and your failure. Can you say amen? He'll never acknowledge
any of your forgiveness. He'll never acknowledge any of your repenting and getting right with God.
But he will beat you to death with your sin, with your failure. Here's Peter. This is a horrible
failure. Peter's a human being and the devil is the accuser of the brethren. You can be sure
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that he is present in every circumstance of life. And though he does not exercise his option at the
moment, he'll simply put it on a shelf for a strategic moment and wait because he is the accuser
of the brethren. And he takes good note of every single failure of life. In the book of James,
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chapter one says, blessed is the man that endures temptation. For when he's been approved,
he'll receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
And let no one say when he's tempted, I'm tempted by God. Excuse me. For God cannot be tempted
by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his
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own desires and entice. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin,
when it is full grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
So here we have this business of life. All of us live in an arena where we are constantly seeing
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human flaw, human frailty. We have to deal with this within our own heart, within our own family,
within our own associates. And you've probably heard me, I often am ministering to pastors
and in some kinds of sessions. And I constantly am using the phrase that you can either in handling
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problem be a butcher or surgeon. Both of them cut meat. One leaves a living human being,
the other has a display case. I tell them that because in dealing with human frailties and human
personality, it is vastly different on how you approach and how you come out. And we're going to
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see this in the text before us. And you need to understand as a believer, not everyone who fails
has to die. Mark that down somewhere. I'm constantly astonished at my son Greg. He is
God's grace to him in his life. And he's able to deal with a problem and not wind up with a corpse.
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I mean, it's marvelous. I see a lot of things that you folk don't see, but I marvel at this boy,
is that God has given him, he's able to deal with the problem and the person's alive when he gets
through with it. That is indeed a skill and a glorious grace of God. And here we have a
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glorious dimension because it's grace. This is a profound illustration that we have.
Here's a man that's failed. We read his words, I don't care if they all, I'll go to death,
I'll go to prison. Less than 24 hours later, a little girl said, hey, you're a gal. No, no,
not me. And so they keep accusing him. And he finally curses, you know, and that shows that
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he's not a believer of Jesus when he curses. And he's a Christian. He's a Christian. He's a
Christian. He curses. And at least that's my opinion. So. And so here he is. He fails miserably.
But it's interesting that the messenger says to the disciples, you go tell my disciples and Peter
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that I'm going to meet them. Who I told you at Galilee, Mark 16 and verse seven. Now, this deep
insight here, because it's very important that you understand that in the scripture, you go tell the
disciples and Peter, because the dynamics that are involved, Peter would have felt it's all over.
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He would have felt here he has, he's had this opportunity to bear testimony. He's bragged
that he's got the stuff and he remissably fails. And as he's going out, he glances at the Lord Jesus
and the Lord Jesus looks at him and Peter sees that here is the one that he told everybody can
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depart. They'll all not. And he feels it's all over. But it's very interesting in the grace of God
that those words are written. You go tell my disciples and Peter, Mark 16 and verse seven,
because he would have felt that there's no hope. He's over the edge. It's too late for me. But as
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we look this texture moment, Jesus draws out from Peter, a realization of his love for him.
Peter's love for Jesus. He spots like spotlights. Here they are now. They're on the shore of Galilee.
They've been fishing. Jesus comes and and he says, come and dine. There's bread and fish on the
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fire. Peter jumps into the into the sea first and gets there first. And so Jesus now is going to
restore a precious soul. How do you restore a precious soul? There's the air they're gathered.
The eleven disciples are there, ten and and and Peter, and they're there. Peter says,
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Peter and they're there. Jesus looks at Peter and says to says to Peter, Peter, do you love me?
Now, think about that for a moment. I don't know how many of you have been around anybody
or you've had anybody fail you or anybody that you've had to deal with in a restoration. And
and think of the dynamics there now. So you've got them face to face. Now,
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why did you do that? Well, you know, it says you knew that you told me that you were going to
die for me and you'd even go to the prayer. So what happened? I don't know. You know how
miserable failure are. You know, you know what everybody is thinking about that, don't you?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know all the dynamics or let's line up. Let's have a belt line.
You know, let's line up and everybody take the belt out and beat them as they go by.
Or let's let's let's stand them up and say, let's say 400 times, I'm sorry that I denied you. I'm
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sorry that I denied you. I'm sorry. Are you still with me? So how does he deal with this now?
Peter, do you love me? Yes, you know that I love you. Then feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me?
Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Then feed my lambs. Peter, do you love me? Yes, you know that
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I love you. Then feed my sheep. He's agitated now, but catch the dynamics of this now rather
than spotlighting his failure. Peter knows his failure. All the disciples know his failure.
The Lord Jesus knows his failure, but rather than focus on that, he wants to draw out from Peter
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his love for him. And as he does that, love is able to conquer failure. Now think about this for
a moment as we move through this and look at the text and look at the Bible. It's a very
important text. It's a very important text. The Bible says that Jesus is the one who led the
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children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses is the one who points out his rod. The river turns red,
frogs are everywhere, lice. Finally, the angel kills all the firstborn of Egypt,
over the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his armies follow after. The sea swallows them up.
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Now here's Moses, and Moses wants now a revelation of God. And he says to the Lord,
Lord, I want you to show me your glory. I want to see, I want to get a little insight. Listen to
Exodus 34 verse 6, and what does God say? And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord,
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the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and in truth.
Now Moses has just seen God pour judgment upon Egypt. He's just seen him in his wrath,
judged that, and now he's wanting some insight. And as he gets this, the Lord speaks to him and
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says, yes, I do judge sin. Yes, I am able. I have power. Yes, but what I want you to see about me,
Moses, is I'm merciful and gracious and long-suffering and abounding in goodness
and in truth. In other words, I want you to see a revelation of my grace. This is what was at work
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by the Sea of Galilee in these three drawing out. How many times did Peter deny the Lord? Three
times. How many times did he ask him, do you love me? Three times. And when finished, then he says
to him, I called you to be a shepherd to the people of God, and I want you to do that,
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and he restores him. And Paul at one time in extreme difficulties, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9,
my grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So what we have here this morning is
grace triumphing over human weakness. We have grace triumphing over human failure. It does not
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mean there's not a price to pay for sin, consequences in the failures of life. We're
not ignoring any of that. We're talking about salvaging people. Can you say amen? See, what
God's about is salvaging people. And what a church ought to be is salvaging people. This does not
mean that you do not have to judge sin. Doesn't mean that you don't have to deal with people and
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some of their nasty personalities. But it means that God triumphs over human failure to accomplish
a purpose that is greater than the immediate. Listen to this revelation in John chapter 1,
verse 14 and 16 and 17. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld its glory.
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The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, verse 16, and of his
fullness we have all received and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and
truth came through Jesus Christ. One of the most enduring hymns ever written is a hymn that we sing
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quite frequently, Amazing Grace. It was written by John Newton. John Newton is a very interesting
study. He at one time in his life, according to his own confession, he said, I went to Africa
to sin to my heart's content. He became a slave trader. He began to transport people into the new
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world to sell them into slavery. He took advantage of the women slaves that he has as they were
transporting them. He was a twisted man. He at one time became a slave to an African queen. And
his story is one of the twistings of human personality, the wickedness that human personality
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can be. But one time in a storm, when he felt he was going to die, he opened his heart to God,
prayed, and God gave him a glorious transformation. And he wrote a song called Amazing Grace. I want
to take time to read you the verses of that song. We don't sing this much anymore. We sing the, you
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know, the, we get all the, but this one has profound meaning. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. Twas
grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear,
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how precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils,
and snares, I've already come. Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.
When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing
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God's praise than when we first begun. Now those words were penned by a man who knew grace not just
as a doctrine, but he knew the failure, he knew the pain and the bondages of sin, and having been
delivered out of that, he put to music the beautiful stanzas of that song that is one of
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the most enduring and popular hymns that were ever written because it came out of a heart
that was changed by grace. So we're talking about salvaging people this morning, so I want to talk
to you about the key to effectiveness. When we read that text back in Luke 22, Jesus said to Peter,
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Satan has desired to have you, to sift you sweet, but I prayed for you that your faith does not fail.
Now there's a two-edged sword that comes with that. One of these is Peter's faith,
but then he goes on to say when you are converted, you strengthen your brethren,
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and so the other edge of that is don't lose faith or have faith in people. So let's think about that
for a moment because we must not lose our faith in God's ability to redeem people.
Here's a failure. His name is Peter. He's properly restored to effectiveness, and we must never lose
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faith and hope that God can restore a human being. There are three eternal verities spoken of in the
Bible, faith, hope, and love, and the Bible says these three things are eternal, gifts of healing,
gifts of knowledge, spiritual graces. These are all wonderful. They all function, but these three
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things are eternal. They don't pass in the process of time. These are eternal verities,
and one of these is faith, another is hope, and another is love, and all of these working together
works a powerful dimension in the restoring of people, and what we have here is a shepherd's heart.
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Look at Peter for a moment. Three times, feed my sheep. One time, feed my lambs. Now, look at this
for a moment, now Peter can deal with others out of a converted heart. Or in other words, out of
his own experiences now, he's experienced the grace of God. He's looked failure full in the face
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and brought to realization of his own weaknesses, his own ability to sin, his own ability to fail
God, and being restored out of that now, he can begin to deal with others, and the scripture says
out of his own experience, he is able to help and strengthen his brethren. You must this morning,
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as you're sitting here, believe that God can restore or God can save imperfect people. Two
edged sword, one, Peter don't lose your faith in me, but don't lose your faith that God can restore
people because that's the other end of it. When you're finished, when you're converted, then you
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strengthen your brethren. It's this man, as I conclude, who stands on the day of Pentecost,
isn't it interesting? It's Peter who stands. This is the man, this is the man who failed. This is the
man who has the reputation, the only one of the eleven that has this horrible failure. He's the
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only one that stands and out of a genuine love for people and concern for them, he preaches and
three thousand people step forward and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A short time later,
the scripture records that five thousand more respond. Or in other words, what I'm saying is
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his effectiveness is out of a restored heart and James four verse six says, but he gives more grace.
Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. This is what touches
the deepest need in a human heart, as someone who can understand, someone who can have faith in what
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God can do for a human being. Listen to Psalm forty two, seven and eight. Deep calls unto deep
at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will
command his loving kindness in the daytime and in the night his song shall be with me. A prayer to
the God of my life. A prayer to the God of my life. Ringing in my ears, I probably isn't under
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a day or a week goes by that I don't hear the words of a man that called me on the phone,
a man who's left his ministry, left his calling, left his place with God and in the anguish of his
soul, pastor, I just want to do something for God. What anguish? Who knows the depths of despair? Who
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knows the pain of a human personality that has that longing, having left the thing that God has
given to them and now in deep remorse, wanting it back. Here's the fulfillment. Let's look at Peter
for a moment of Matthew sixteen. Matthew sixteen, it says, Jesus comes to Peter, asks, who are you
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say that I am? He says, you're the Christ, the Son, the living God. And then he makes a statement
that you're Peter, you're a little rock, but he says that you are going to become a rock.
Now that's not as the Catholic Church says, I'm going to build a church on that,
but it's what Jesus Christ was able to accomplish in him and he's able to accomplish upon that
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when he said you are a rock, he said to him, this is your destiny. This is a man that God was able
to salvage through his grace and through his love. The Bible says we're sin abounds.
Grace also does much more abound. Romans five, verse one, therefore, having been justified by
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faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we've access by
faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
There's a quote that I want to conclude with you. This is a man and this man's name is Thomas
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Chalmers. He's a preacher in England. Listen to this quote. I cannot be record, he says,
the effect of an actual though undesigned experiment, which I prosecuted for upwards of 12
years among you. For the first eight years of that time, I could expatiate only on the meanness of
dishonesty, on the villainy of falsehood, on the despicable arts of calumny, in a word upon all those
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deformities of character which awaken the natural indignation of the human heart against the pests
and disturbers of human society. But the interesting fact is that during the whole of that period,
I never once heard of any reformation being wrought amongst my people. All the vehemence
with which I urge the virtues and the proprieties of social life had not the weight of a feather
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on the moral habits of my parishioners. It was not until the free offer of forgiveness
to the blood of Christ was urged upon the acceptance of my hearers that I ever heard
of any of those subordinate reformations which I made the ultimate object of my earlier
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ministrations. Now, what a tremendous testimony and statement, because this bears testimony to our
text that we have. Here's a man, this man is not much different than you and I, his name is Peter,
filled with self-confidence, confident that he could outperform, he could outlast, he could out
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serve all others, not aware of his own weakness, not aware of his own heart, miserably failed,
and having no entitlement to anything from God, worst sin he could ever do publicly.
In this last hour of Jesus' trial, denies him, but there in a process of time, the Lord Jesus Christ
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meets him on the shore of Galilee and in a simple exhibition of tenderness and love, wanting to draw
out of him something that really was there, which could overcome his frailty, overcome his weakness,
overcome his weakness, overcome his failure, and bring forgiveness to him, says to him, Peter, do you love me?
Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located in
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beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship Ministries
with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, discipleship
and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church and other sermons
from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your host for this
podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing to you and
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bring you closer to God. Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast. I am
the pastor here in Salmon Arm. My name is David Bickford. Today I have something new and it is
Mitchell Mondays. This is going to be a collection of sermons from our founding pastor, the late
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Wayman Mitchell and our current head pastor, his son, Greg Mitchell based out of Prescott, Arizona.
These are powerful messages from our fellowship leaders and I hope that these messages add to
your week. God bless....legal problems and he was able to shape these men into a powerful force for
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God. It is a very exciting story to read. Many of them are listed as mighty men, outstanding feats
of victory. And the reason that he was able to do this was he had a heart of a shepherd.
He had a heart of a shepherd and he is known as the shepherd of Israel.
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And he was able to challenge those men that they could become greater than themselves. Now in the
text we are going to read, I am going to read a few verses out of Luke 22 and then I am going to
skip quickly over to John 21 and read three verses out of there. There is a story of a man named
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Peter and it is a very instructive story. It is a man who is a failure. He fails terribly.
And as he fails terribly we are going to read the restoration of that man and get tremendous
insight in some spiritual dynamics that are a great encouragement to all of us to help us to be able
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to salvage people because that is really what church is all about. Can you say amen? This is
not a place where people are on display. This place is a hospital emergency room, a spiritual
hospital emergency room. This is about in Fendershop. Holy Spirit dragging wrecks off of
the highway of life in. And this is what the gospel of Jesus Christ promises to do and we are
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going to have a character study this morning on salvaging people because really the issue in life
is not what happens in life, it is how you process life. You have heard me say that many, many times.
And it is how you handle the failures that are in your life. Is there anybody in this building that
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from some point or another you will have a failure in your life? But it is how you handle that.
And how you begin to approach that and how you as a person whom God has restored, how you handle
people so that they can be restored. Luke 22 verse 31, famous story of Peter. You will
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immediately identify this story. The Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you
that he may sift your wheat, but I prayed for you that your face should not fail.
And when you are converted or when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. Those
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words are key to understanding the text that we are going to have. But he said to him,
Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Then Jesus said, I tell you, Peter,
the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny me three times that you know me.
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You know the story. He does deny the Lord. But over in John chapter 21, we find a sequel to this.
It is going to be greatly encouragement. So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon,
Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? And he said, I love you more than these.
Do you love me more than these? And he said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
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And he said to him, feed my lambs. And he said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah,
do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep.
He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And Peter was grieved
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because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know
all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Most assuredly,
I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished. But when
you're old, you'll stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you
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do not wish. Salvaging people is what we want to consider for a few minutes from this passage of
scripture. And I want to focus with you, first of all, on the danger of overconfidence. It's a
very common problem, especially as Christianity becomes kind of familiar to people as they've
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lived for God for a little while and they've seen God work, they've seen prayer answered. And
you're not very careful. You can become prideful because you have a knowledge of God and you have
a relationship with God. You can become harsh. You can become legalistic for other people. And
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possibly sometimes this is because it's a consequence of privilege. Peter, James, and
John, as you remember, they had the inside track. Several things that Jesus did where he took only
Peter, James, and John with him. And we'd have to speculate, which is quite possible, but
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that this had produced some pride in Peter because they're insiders and they have to understand that
Satan will exploit every single dimension of life that he can. In the book of Proverbs, chapter 16,
verse 18 says pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Now here in this
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text, something is very, very clear. And that is this overconfidence that Peter had. Jesus has been
saying to them, they're moving towards a time when he's going to be taken, he's going to be killed,
and they don't fully grasp all this is all about. But Peter in the text says, I'm never going to
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deny you. Lord, I don't care if everybody denies you. I'll be the last man standing. And I want
you to know that I'm never going to, I'll go to prison, I'll go to death with you. And before 24
hours has passed, Peter in the crush and oppressive event has denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times.
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And the scripture speaks very clearly and brings this out. Luke 22, verse 33. But he said to him,
Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Now this is spiritual pride.
In the book of first Corinthians chapter 10, verses 12 and 13, the Bible admonishes us and says,
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therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has taken you,
but except such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted
above what you're able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be
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able to bear. So here we have this scenario. Now this is set in the context of the disciples.
They've been having an argument on the way. They've been arguing with one another who's
going to be the greatest. One said, I'm going to have a greater ministry than the whole bunch.
And so this is quite common. In Mark nine, 33 and 34, we bring this out, said that then he came to
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Capernaum and when he was in the house, he asked him, what was it that you disputed among yourselves
on the road? But they kept silent from the road. They disputed among themselves who would be the
greatest. And undoubtedly Peter had entered that arena because he's one of them. And so they're
comparing themselves among themselves, which the Bible says is not wise. This is a common problem,
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is overconfidence or pride. The Bible tells us about a Pharisee and a publican who go in to pray.
And the publican is not even considered to be worth any kind of spiritual weight at all. But the
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Pharisee, these are people who prided themselves on their spirituality. And as he's there, he's
praying and as he's praying, he said, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other men. I fast twice in
the week. I give tithes of all that I present. I'm not like this man over here. And Jesus makes an
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interesting comment. He says the Pharisee prayed with himself and that is real insight because
God wasn't hearing his prayer. And Jesus says this man went down receiving nothing from God
and the publican, meanwhile, no feeling of entitlement at all, won't even lift his eyes
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up to God, beats on his chest and says, God, be merciful to me a sinner. And Jesus said that man
went down righteous, justified with God, but the Pharisee went up receiving nothing. And so here we
have this business of overconfidence. The mistake that we make in life is that with our own ability
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we can do a work for God. This happens is quite common, a little bit of experience, a little bit
of success. We witness and if we're not very careful, we get begin to think that with some
slick story that we're going to tell, some argument that we're going to give, we're going to
convince people that they're lost. Young men preach in the in the 180 and they've got some
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80 and they've got some smooth store that they've got that they think absolutely going to grab
everybody's attention. And if you're not very careful, you begin to feel that you're slick
maneuvering your good business of speaking and ingenious illustrations is going to win the day.
But unless God builds a house, they labor in vain that build it. Can you say amen? Overconfidence is
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a common problem. We have in this story in the Bible of a man named Ahimaaz. He's in the battle
where Absalom had rebelled and Absalom was defeated and they need to carry news to David,
how the battle went. And they have a delegated man to do it. But Ahimaaz wanted to be the one
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that brought the news and he takes off and outruns the man that's delegated. But alas,
when he comes to David, he doesn't have the message that David's looking for. And when David
asked him a question, he doesn't have the answer. And he says, stand aside. And his pride caused him
to move in his own strength and his own wisdom. And rather than win the day, he's embarrassed
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because overconfidence in the Christian life is very, very dangerous. And we see Peter,
a terrible failure. So let's think for a moment about the power of grace as we read these two
texts together are so notable. And there's a notable truth here. And that is that the devil
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will beat you to death over your sin and your failure. Can you say amen? He'll never acknowledge
any of your forgiveness. He'll never acknowledge any of your repenting and getting right with God.
But he will beat you to death with your sin, with your failure. Here's Peter. This is a horrible
failure. Peter's a human being and the devil is the accuser of the brethren. You can be sure
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that he is present in every circumstance of life. And though he does not exercise his option at the
moment, he'll simply put it on a shelf for a strategic moment and wait because he is the accuser
of the brethren. And he takes good note of every single failure of life. In the book of James,
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chapter one says, blessed is the man that endures temptation. For when he's been approved,
he'll receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
And let no one say when he's tempted, I'm tempted by God. Excuse me. For God cannot be tempted
by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his
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own desires and entice. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin,
when it is full grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
So here we have this business of life. All of us live in an arena where we are constantly seeing
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human flaw, human frailty. We have to deal with this within our own heart, within our own family,
within our own associates. And you've probably heard me, I often am ministering to pastors
and in some kinds of sessions. And I constantly am using the phrase that you can either in handling
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problem be a butcher or surgeon. Both of them cut meat. One leaves a living human being,
the other has a display case. I tell them that because in dealing with human frailties and human
personality, it is vastly different on how you approach and how you come out. And we're going to
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see this in the text before us. And you need to understand as a believer, not everyone who fails
has to die. Mark that down somewhere. I'm constantly astonished at my son Greg. He is
God's grace to him in his life. And he's able to deal with a problem and not wind up with a corpse.
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I mean, it's marvelous. I see a lot of things that you folk don't see, but I marvel at this boy,
is that God has given him, he's able to deal with the problem and the person's alive when he gets
through with it. That is indeed a skill and a glorious grace of God. And here we have a
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glorious dimension because it's grace. This is a profound illustration that we have.
Here's a man that's failed. We read his words, I don't care if they all, I'll go to death,
I'll go to prison. Less than 24 hours later, a little girl said, hey, you're a gal. No, no,
not me. And so they keep accusing him. And he finally curses, you know, and that shows that
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he's not a believer of Jesus when he curses. And he's a Christian. He's a Christian. He's a
Christian. He curses. And at least that's my opinion. So. And so here he is. He fails miserably.
But it's interesting that the messenger says to the disciples, you go tell my disciples and Peter
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that I'm going to meet them. Who I told you at Galilee, Mark 16 and verse seven. Now, this deep
insight here, because it's very important that you understand that in the scripture, you go tell the
disciples and Peter, because the dynamics that are involved, Peter would have felt it's all over.
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He would have felt here he has, he's had this opportunity to bear testimony. He's bragged
that he's got the stuff and he remissably fails. And as he's going out, he glances at the Lord Jesus
and the Lord Jesus looks at him and Peter sees that here is the one that he told everybody can
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depart. They'll all not. And he feels it's all over. But it's very interesting in the grace of God
that those words are written. You go tell my disciples and Peter, Mark 16 and verse seven,
because he would have felt that there's no hope. He's over the edge. It's too late for me. But as
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we look this texture moment, Jesus draws out from Peter, a realization of his love for him.
Peter's love for Jesus. He spots like spotlights. Here they are now. They're on the shore of Galilee.
They've been fishing. Jesus comes and and he says, come and dine. There's bread and fish on the
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fire. Peter jumps into the into the sea first and gets there first. And so Jesus now is going to
restore a precious soul. How do you restore a precious soul? There's the air they're gathered.
The eleven disciples are there, ten and and and Peter, and they're there. Peter says,
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Peter and they're there. Jesus looks at Peter and says to says to Peter, Peter, do you love me?
Now, think about that for a moment. I don't know how many of you have been around anybody
or you've had anybody fail you or anybody that you've had to deal with in a restoration. And
and think of the dynamics there now. So you've got them face to face. Now,
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why did you do that? Well, you know, it says you knew that you told me that you were going to
die for me and you'd even go to the prayer. So what happened? I don't know. You know how
miserable failure are. You know, you know what everybody is thinking about that, don't you?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know all the dynamics or let's line up. Let's have a belt line.
You know, let's line up and everybody take the belt out and beat them as they go by.
Or let's let's let's stand them up and say, let's say 400 times, I'm sorry that I denied you. I'm
(20:06):
sorry that I denied you. I'm sorry. Are you still with me? So how does he deal with this now?
Peter, do you love me? Yes, you know that I love you. Then feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me?
Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Then feed my lambs. Peter, do you love me? Yes, you know that
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I love you. Then feed my sheep. He's agitated now, but catch the dynamics of this now rather
than spotlighting his failure. Peter knows his failure. All the disciples know his failure.
The Lord Jesus knows his failure, but rather than focus on that, he wants to draw out from Peter
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his love for him. And as he does that, love is able to conquer failure. Now think about this for
a moment as we move through this and look at the text and look at the Bible. It's a very
important text. It's a very important text. The Bible says that Jesus is the one who led the
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children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses is the one who points out his rod. The river turns red,
frogs are everywhere, lice. Finally, the angel kills all the firstborn of Egypt,
over the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his armies follow after. The sea swallows them up.
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Now here's Moses, and Moses wants now a revelation of God. And he says to the Lord,
Lord, I want you to show me your glory. I want to see, I want to get a little insight. Listen to
Exodus 34 verse 6, and what does God say? And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord,
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the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and in truth.
Now Moses has just seen God pour judgment upon Egypt. He's just seen him in his wrath,
judged that, and now he's wanting some insight. And as he gets this, the Lord speaks to him and
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says, yes, I do judge sin. Yes, I am able. I have power. Yes, but what I want you to see about me,
Moses, is I'm merciful and gracious and long-suffering and abounding in goodness
and in truth. In other words, I want you to see a revelation of my grace. This is what was at work
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by the Sea of Galilee in these three drawing out. How many times did Peter deny the Lord? Three
times. How many times did he ask him, do you love me? Three times. And when finished, then he says
to him, I called you to be a shepherd to the people of God, and I want you to do that,
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and he restores him. And Paul at one time in extreme difficulties, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9,
my grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So what we have here this morning is
grace triumphing over human weakness. We have grace triumphing over human failure. It does not
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mean there's not a price to pay for sin, consequences in the failures of life. We're
not ignoring any of that. We're talking about salvaging people. Can you say amen? See, what
God's about is salvaging people. And what a church ought to be is salvaging people. This does not
mean that you do not have to judge sin. Doesn't mean that you don't have to deal with people and
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some of their nasty personalities. But it means that God triumphs over human failure to accomplish
a purpose that is greater than the immediate. Listen to this revelation in John chapter 1,
verse 14 and 16 and 17. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld its glory.
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The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, verse 16, and of his
fullness we have all received and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and
truth came through Jesus Christ. One of the most enduring hymns ever written is a hymn that we sing
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quite frequently, Amazing Grace. It was written by John Newton. John Newton is a very interesting
study. He at one time in his life, according to his own confession, he said, I went to Africa
to sin to my heart's content. He became a slave trader. He began to transport people into the new
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world to sell them into slavery. He took advantage of the women slaves that he has as they were
transporting them. He was a twisted man. He at one time became a slave to an African queen. And
his story is one of the twistings of human personality, the wickedness that human personality
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can be. But one time in a storm, when he felt he was going to die, he opened his heart to God,
prayed, and God gave him a glorious transformation. And he wrote a song called Amazing Grace. I want
to take time to read you the verses of that song. We don't sing this much anymore. We sing the, you
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know, the, we get all the, but this one has profound meaning. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. Twas
grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear,
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how precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils,
and snares, I've already come. Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.
When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing
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God's praise than when we first begun. Now those words were penned by a man who knew grace not just
as a doctrine, but he knew the failure, he knew the pain and the bondages of sin, and having been
delivered out of that, he put to music the beautiful stanzas of that song that is one of
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the most enduring and popular hymns that were ever written because it came out of a heart
that was changed by grace. So we're talking about salvaging people this morning, so I want to talk
to you about the key to effectiveness. When we read that text back in Luke 22, Jesus said to Peter,
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Satan has desired to have you, to sift you sweet, but I prayed for you that your faith does not fail.
Now there's a two-edged sword that comes with that. One of these is Peter's faith,
but then he goes on to say when you are converted, you strengthen your brethren,
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and so the other edge of that is don't lose faith or have faith in people. So let's think about that
for a moment because we must not lose our faith in God's ability to redeem people.
Here's a failure. His name is Peter. He's properly restored to effectiveness, and we must never lose
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faith and hope that God can restore a human being. There are three eternal verities spoken of in the
Bible, faith, hope, and love, and the Bible says these three things are eternal, gifts of healing,
gifts of knowledge, spiritual graces. These are all wonderful. They all function, but these three
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things are eternal. They don't pass in the process of time. These are eternal verities,
and one of these is faith, another is hope, and another is love, and all of these working together
works a powerful dimension in the restoring of people, and what we have here is a shepherd's heart.
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Look at Peter for a moment. Three times, feed my sheep. One time, feed my lambs. Now, look at this
for a moment, now Peter can deal with others out of a converted heart. Or in other words, out of
his own experiences now, he's experienced the grace of God. He's looked failure full in the face
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and brought to realization of his own weaknesses, his own ability to sin, his own ability to fail
God, and being restored out of that now, he can begin to deal with others, and the scripture says
out of his own experience, he is able to help and strengthen his brethren. You must this morning,
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as you're sitting here, believe that God can restore or God can save imperfect people. Two
edged sword, one, Peter don't lose your faith in me, but don't lose your faith that God can restore
people because that's the other end of it. When you're finished, when you're converted, then you
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strengthen your brethren. It's this man, as I conclude, who stands on the day of Pentecost,
isn't it interesting? It's Peter who stands. This is the man, this is the man who failed. This is the
man who has the reputation, the only one of the eleven that has this horrible failure. He's the
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only one that stands and out of a genuine love for people and concern for them, he preaches and
three thousand people step forward and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A short time later,
the scripture records that five thousand more respond. Or in other words, what I'm saying is
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his effectiveness is out of a restored heart and James four verse six says, but he gives more grace.
Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. This is what touches
the deepest need in a human heart, as someone who can understand, someone who can have faith in what
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God can do for a human being. Listen to Psalm forty two, seven and eight. Deep calls unto deep
at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will
command his loving kindness in the daytime and in the night his song shall be with me. A prayer to
the God of my life. A prayer to the God of my life. Ringing in my ears, I probably isn't under
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a day or a week goes by that I don't hear the words of a man that called me on the phone,
a man who's left his ministry, left his calling, left his place with God and in the anguish of his
soul, pastor, I just want to do something for God. What anguish? Who knows the depths of despair? Who
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knows the pain of a human personality that has that longing, having left the thing that God has
given to them and now in deep remorse, wanting it back. Here's the fulfillment. Let's look at Peter
for a moment of Matthew sixteen. Matthew sixteen, it says, Jesus comes to Peter, asks, who are you
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say that I am? He says, you're the Christ, the Son, the living God. And then he makes a statement
that you're Peter, you're a little rock, but he says that you are going to become a rock.
Now that's not as the Catholic Church says, I'm going to build a church on that,
but it's what Jesus Christ was able to accomplish in him and he's able to accomplish upon that
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when he said you are a rock, he said to him, this is your destiny. This is a man that God was able
to salvage through his grace and through his love. The Bible says we're sin abounds.
Grace also does much more abound. Romans five, verse one, therefore, having been justified by
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faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we've access by
faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
There's a quote that I want to conclude with you. This is a man and this man's name is Thomas
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Chalmers. He's a preacher in England. Listen to this quote. I cannot be record, he says,
the effect of an actual though undesigned experiment, which I prosecuted for upwards of 12
years among you. For the first eight years of that time, I could expatiate only on the meanness of
dishonesty, on the villainy of falsehood, on the despicable arts of calumny, in a word upon all those
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deformities of character which awaken the natural indignation of the human heart against the pests
and disturbers of human society. But the interesting fact is that during the whole of that period,
I never once heard of any reformation being wrought amongst my people. All the vehemence
with which I urge the virtues and the proprieties of social life had not the weight of a feather
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on the moral habits of my parishioners. It was not until the free offer of forgiveness
to the blood of Christ was urged upon the acceptance of my hearers that I ever heard
of any of those subordinate reformations which I made the ultimate object of my earlier
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ministrations. Now, what a tremendous testimony and statement, because this bears testimony to our
text that we have. Here's a man, this man is not much different than you and I, his name is Peter,
filled with self-confidence, confident that he could outperform, he could outlast, he could out
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serve all others, not aware of his own weakness, not aware of his own heart, miserably failed,
and having no entitlement to anything from God, worst sin he could ever do publicly.
In this last hour of Jesus' trial, denies him, but there in a process of time, the Lord Jesus Christ
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meets him on the shore of Galilee and in a simple exhibition of tenderness and love, wanting to draw
out of him something that really was there, which could overcome his frailty, overcome his weakness,
overcome his weakness, overcome his failure, and bring forgiveness to him, says to him, Peter, do you love me?
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