I do invite you to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 16, Excuse me,
chapter 14, beginning in verse 66.
Just place your hand there. We're not going to read just
yet. Mark 1466.
Before we read this passage, I want to briefly address, well,
maybe weighing heavy on some hearts this afternoon.
Some of you may have heard the recent news of a prominent
American evangelical preacher who recently admitted to an
inappropriate relationship with a woman who is not his wife.
And it is always gut wrenching to learn of a well respected
minister who sins in a manner that disqualifies them from
ministry. And the heartbreak goes beyond
the fact that such people cannot serve in a certain capacity,
doesn't it? We have to keep in mind the
testimony of the Gospel, the spouses, the children, the local
church, fellow ministers, close friends, and the broader
Christian community that is impacted by such a fall.
And this should lead us to pray not only for those who sin
grievously as leaders, but also for those who are feeling the
effects of that sin. And as I was exploring some
articles and engaging with some individuals about this incident,
you know, you just want to know as many details as possible, not
to satisfy curiosity, but just so that there are more answers
than questions, I stumbled upon another fallen pastor's comments
about the situation. Now, I've heard of this
individual when I first became a believer.
And I remember, though I didn't follow his ministry, hearing
about how he succumbed to sexual immorality around the time when
his church was experiencing explosive growth and his
influence was broadening out nationally.
It was a sad, it was a sad thing to hear.
But he was reflecting upon the aftermath of his own fallen in
his comments, and especially with the recent news that
shocked thousands. He had said something that I
believe is helpful for us to hear.
And it'll be very sobering. He said the following.
You are capable of falling in a way that seems unthinkable to
you right now. Meditate on that.
You and I are capable, not destined, but capable of falling
in a way that is unthinkable to you right now.
That sat with me for a few days, and it didn't take very long for
a variety of biblical examples and illustrations to surface and
confirm a very powerful statement.
And I know I asked you to turn with me to Mark 14, but for a
moment, let's go to 1st Kings because I want to just show you
what you may think is a predictable example, but it's
nonetheless instructive for us. In First Kings 11, verse four, I
want you to see specific detail noting Solomon's fall, his
greatest fall. In First Kings 11, verse 4.
It says here, for when Solomon was old, his wives turned away
his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to
the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
I want you to notice the first few words of this verse.
For when Solomon was old, Solomon was old when he
experienced his greatest downfall.
And we often assume that it is only the young who are ensnared
by lust. That is not the case.
What this reminds us is that all temptation, including sexual
temptation, arises in every season of life.
And this also tells us that age does not promise wisdom.
Experience in life does not guarantee prudence or
discretion. It should, but it's not
automatic For when Solomon was old, and this is no less true
for those who have accomplished great things for God like
Solomon did. There is a tendency for those
who have glorified the Lord in remarkable ways to let their
guard down after some time and to not be convinced, as they
once were, of their dependence on the Lord to sustain them,
empower them, guide them, shield them.
For some reason, a strange deception persuades servants of
God, especially after great feats of obedience.
So I want to let you know that victories and testimonies of the
past do not prepare you for temptations that await tomorrow.
There is only one thing, at least a main thing, that will
equip you to be ready for unforeseen allurements and
enticements the days ahead. One thing, one thing.
Daily devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want you to look back at this verse with me first.
Kings 11/4, The word heart appears not once, not twice,
three times. Look at it again from when
Solomon was old. His wife's turned away his heart
after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord
his God, as was the heart of David, his father.
Do you think that's coincidence? That's not coincidence, that's
strategic. What is the Holy Spirit trying
to convey? That downfalls begin in the
heart? Before there is any external
humiliation, there is unchallenged internal
deterioration. Before there is any public
scandal, Know this for certain. There is always significant
private neglect. So as long as we know how to
guard our hearts, we will know Christ's honoring character for
the long haul. We will.
Longevity is possible. It's possible to be old and be
vibrant and holy and consistent. And I don't bring all this up
because it brings me pleasure. And I'm not bringing this up to
you because I feel like venting. I bring this up to you because I
want you to recognize God's Providence with me.
Because in our study of Mark, we have now arrived to a text that
examines the lowest point of another disciple's life, and
that is Peter the Apostle. What we're going to read in a
moment here is Peter, in a sense, doing something that he
thought he would never do, falling in an unthinkable way.
So let's read from Mark 1466 down to the end of this chapter
together before we zoom in. And as Peter was below in the
courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came.
And seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and
said, You also were with the Nazarene Jesus.
But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what
you mean. And he went out into the
gateway, and the rooster crowed, and the servant girl saw him,
and began again to say to the bystanders, This man is one of
them. But again he denied it.
And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter,
certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.
But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do
not know this man of whom you speak.
And immediately the rooster crowed a second time, and Peter
remembered how Jesus had said to him before.
The rooster crows twice. You will deny me three times.
And he broke down and wept. There's so many things, so many
ways of approaching this text. But there's a clear theme, is
there not temptation? And even with that theme, there
are so many points to draw out from Peter's example.
But for the sake of time, I'm going to talk about 3 things I
want to look with you at 3 Truths about Temptation from
Peter's denial. Our brother prayed so
beautifully, but I want us to pray again before we come to
this text. We do trust You, Lord Jesus,
that You have something to say to us through Your Word.
So by Your Spirit, guide us every step of the way.
Lord, empower our hearts, our minds, empower this voice so
that Your word would not just be explained the way it should, but
delivered in a way that glorifies You and benefits Your
people. We look to You trusting that we
will leave here refreshed, equipped, ready to endure and
bring glory to Your name in Jesus name, Amen. 3 truths about
temptation drawn from Peter's denial and the first one is
found in the 1st 2 verses of our main text.
Temptation is ever present. Temptation is ever present.
The the impression that we get from Peter's posture before
these waves of temptation ambushed him is that he was
unsuspecting. Look again here what Mark tells
us, it tells us that Peter in verse 66 was below in the
courtyard, one of the servants, girl, the high priest came and
seeing Peter warming himself. So he's cold and significantly
he's physically cold, not realizing that spiritually he's
also cold, but he's warming himself.
And Matthew actually tells us what is preoccupying Peter from
within. So you don't have to turn there,
but let me read this to you from Matthew 26, verse 58.
And Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard
of the high priest. And going inside, he sat with
the guards to see the end. The end of what?
The end of the matter of Christ. So Peter has a mixture of things
going on. He's afraid, He's actually
petrified, but he also is curious, and he wants to know
what's going to happen to his master.
And so he's really here busy trying to blend in so that
nobody identifies him as a disciple, but also wanting to
see what's going to happen to the rabbi, my rabbi, my Lord the
Christ. And as he is doing this, this is
the portrait that we have of him.
A Peter seems to look innocent, but actually this is concerning
not only because he planted himself in a very compromising
crowd, but also because he heard something Jesus told them about
this very night. And it's strange how he is
acting this way in light of what he was told by Jesus.
Go back to Mark 14, verse 30. Earlier that evening, Jesus
predicted something, says here, Mark 1430.
And Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you this very night before
the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times, pause.
I want you to put yourself in Peter's shoes now, and I want
you to imagine Jesus Christ looking at you in the eye and
telling you this night, before this night is over, you're going
to deny me three times. Jesus never lies.
He never exaggerates. He's always right.
How would you respond to that declaration?
What would you do throughout that evening?
How would you posture yourself? The obvious answer, you're going
to pray. You're going to pray a lot that
Peter pray. He failed to pray.
And more than just pray. I'm sure you would be on high
alert, extremely cautious, deeply discerning.
And the impression that we get of Peter is that he's none of
those things. He's cold, he's anxious, he's
scared, he's curious, but he is not mindful of what Jesus warned
him about. And though the warning is unique
to Peter, it carries universal application.
Temptation is ever present. Temptation is not courteous,
it's not considerate, it's not compassionate.
It doesn't. It doesn't concern and take any
regard of your surroundings, it doesn't care about your
circumstances, It's not sensitive to your feelings.
Temptation intrudes on your thoughts even amidst other
distractions, and it certainly does not care about your
spiritual condition. It's invasive, it's rude, it's
surprising. Hey, some of you, as I'm
preaching right now, may be tempted in one way or another.
It's very possible Peter was many things, but he was not
aware of his vulnerability. And many of you know that I am
personally passionate about the doctrine of the fear of the
Lord. And the reason for that is
because, one, I made an impact on my life, but because there's
also so many instructions regarding it and rewards
attached to it. And if you're a person here who
believes that the fear of the Lord is relevant, which it is
for you and I as Christians, then this verse that I'm going
to bring to you, I believe is one of the most important
understandings of the fear of the Lord, at least in
experiencing it for all that it has to offer.
Turn with me to Proverbs 23 and look at what the Holy Spirit
says in verse 17. The Spirit says, let not your
heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord. 3 very
important words all the day. Do you know what this teaches
me? It's possible to walk in the
fear of the Lord sometimes. It's possible to be inconsistent
in how you perceive God. So what does the Holy Spirit
say? Fear the Lord.
OK, good. No, no, no.
Fear the Lord all the day. What does that look like
practically? Here's what it looks like
practically. It looks like you being aware of
God and being in awe of God beyond a 2 hour service on a
Sunday. So when you're home alone, be
aware of God and be in awe of God.
When you go out with your friends to the heart of the
city, be aware of God. Be in awe of God.
When you go to work and you know that you're going to be
surrounded by godless people, be aware of God.
Be in awe of God when you're in your living room with your
family looking for something to kind of watch together.
Be aware of God. Be in awe of God.
When you're on your phone and you have a specific kind of
screen that doesn't allow others to see what you're texting or
browsing, be aware of God. Be an of God.
When you're texting somebody, be aware of God.
Be an of God. Fear the Lord all the day.
And there are many blessings that will flow from that frame
of mind if you so choose to adopt it.
And one of them is mentioned in the very next verse.
Look at it. Surely there is a future and
your hope will not be cut off. Do you want a bright future?
Who doesn't? Who doesn't want a bright
future? There's something very wrong if
you don't want a bright future. Well, if you want a bright
future, then you must choose to fear the Lord all the day, every
day. And if temptation is ever
present, then may our awareness and awe of God be the same
again. I mentioned how there's so many
points about temptation that we can draw out from this.
One of them that I didn't include is how temptation is
persistent. But let me mention it here.
Do you see the pattern? Do you see that how after Peter
denied Christ the first time, temptation was not satisfied?
Came again. And it came again.
And notice what happens to Peter's denials.
They get more intense by the time you come to the third
denial. He what verse 71, he began to
invoke a curse on himself and to swear.
And we kind of have our a preconceived notion of how Peter
denied Jesus. But notice how he denies him in
verse 71. I do not know this man of whom
you speak. Not only does he say I'm not
associated with him, he's like, I don't even know who's Jesus,
who Jesus of Nazareth. I don't know who you're talking
about. So temptation is, listen,
temptation is not a sin. What you do with temptation
determines if it's a sin or if it's a victory.
But temptation is persistent and it's not satisfied and you just
slipping here and there. Temptation wants you dead.
It wants to kill your testimony. It wants to kill your marriage.
It wants to kill your relationship with your children.
It wants to kill your finances. It wants to kill your body.
It wants to absolutely crush you to find powder.
So the antidote, at least one of them to guarding your heart from
surprising temptations that just spring up in your mind all of a
sudden and there's nothing even around you that would stimulate
such thoughts or ideas, is to walk in the fear of the Lord,
which can be simply summarized as an awareness of God all but
just more than that, in awe of God, Temptation is ever present.
The second thing we learned from this in verse 68 is that
temptation is conquerable. Look at verse 68.
But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what
you mean. And he went out into the
gateway, and the rooster crowed. Now listen, temptation may catch
you off guard. It may be unsuspecting, but
there are things that we can do to minimize its frequency and
its intensity. And we learned last week that
how when Peter chose to follow Jesus, he did so in a very
tricky manner. He did so at a distance, which
led him to stand with guards and those who opposed Christ and not
just stand. What did he end up doing?
He sat with them. He got comfortable with them.
And so as much as this was not the best place for him to be, we
concluded that you have to also remember He chose to be there.
You're familiar with the flesh enough to understand that in
order to overcome temptation, you have to avoid compromising
conversations, seducing situations, any opportunity for
the flesh to flare up. We have been given the
responsibility to be very aware of what we are doing, cautiously
or even accidentally that might position us to be weak.
Peter was not in the right place yet.
We also know that despite your efforts to try to exterminate
any external influences, it does not completely delete the
possibility of temptation harassing you.
Stick a man on an island with no computer, no iPhones, no people,
he'll still no temptation. Why?
Because this flesh, this is heart.
And that may make you feel hopeless, but it shouldn't.
It shouldn't because there is a promise that God has given us.
And I rate this promise as probably one of the greatest in
all of Scripture. This is one of those that I I
would encourage you to actually memorize.
It's not a difficult verse, but does it really help?
Is it useful to wield as you are facing temptation of any kind?
It's what Paul said in First Corinthians 10/13.
And he says so gloriously, no temptation has overtaken you.
That is not common to man. God is faithful and He will not
let you be tempted beyond your own ability, but with the
temptation He will what provide a way of escape that you may be
able to endure it. I'm tempted to just memorize
that with you right now and call it a day today.
Look at this verse again. You understand its implications.
No temptation has overtaken. That is not common to man 1st,
no matter how extreme or unique your situation may be, we are
not allowed to ever excuse ourselves to give into it as
though nobody else ever experienced it.
No matter again, how personal. Maybe it's not unique.
Others have also experienced something similar.
But with that also, God promises each of us to never allow
temptation to become unbearable. Think about that.
There is not one temptation that can overtake you, and you come
out of it saying, I had no choice, not one.
No matter the nature of it, no matter how fierce it is, there
is not one single temptation. No matter how powerfully binding
it is, no matter how much we have given into into it, the
nature of the allurement and in God's grace promises us that it
might be, it might be intense, but it never overcomes.
There's not a single temptation that any of us cannot overcome.
That shouldn't make you sad. That should make you happy.
If you're not happy yet, this will make you happy.
With every temptation, big or small, God always provides an
exit. Not what He says, but with the
temptation, He will also provide the way of escape.
That way of escape may look different in every case, but one
thing is for certain, He makes a way for us to be able to resist
it. So there's no excuses.
So now we're humbled, but we're also excited.
Why? Because He He promises that in
His goodness, there's not one temptation that will swallow
you. Now you're able to resist it.
Why? Because He provides a path out.
I bring this up to you to not just remind you a promise, but
to actually show you how. In the verse that we read in
Mark 14, the Lord provided Peter a way out.
Go back to Mark 1468. Maybe you missed it.
But he denied it, saying I neither know nor understand what
you mean. And he went out into the gateway
and the rooster crowed. Now do you remember what Jesus
told Peter about the rooster crowing?
How many times with the rooster crowed before Peter denied him?
Three times? Twice.
Mark tells us though, as we just read, that the rooster crowed
once after Peter initially denied Jesus.
The rooster was going to crow a second time and Jesus
fulfillment is going to be realized.
But we see here that the rooster crowed once and I am fully
convinced that it was a gracious alarm for Peter to escape while
he could. It was supposed to awaken his
conscience. It was supposed to remind him
early on. It was supposed to trigger him
and cause him to remember what Christ had told him.
All if only Peter heard the first crow.
And in the same way that the Lord uses a crow to awaken
Peter, at least attempt He implements many things to get
our attention before we enter or we continue in sin.
Can I tell you one of the ways He does it?
You're experiencing it right now.
God's warnings listen. They can be through Roosters and
they can be through preachers. They don't guarantee that a
person would escape though. Do you know why?
Because the Bible told us that He will provide the way of
escape. Doesn't say He'll force you into
it. God provided it in His
Providence. With that rooster crowing once,
Peter wasn't listening. Are you listening?
God's warnings and His grace
come our way often to try to get us to run, to cancel, to change
before it gets worse, or before you even begin that dreadful
journey. I don't even think this is the
only way that God provided Peter a way of escape.
Turn with me to John. Let's see how John includes a
detail that no other gospel account provides in John 1815.
This is actually really interesting detail of this story
story. It says in John 1815, Simon
Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple.
Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with
Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.
But Peter stood outside at the door.
So the other disciple who was known to the high priest went
out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door
and brought Peter in. There are no random inclusions
in the Bible, no random details. And So what some make of this
text is that they essentially applaud Peter.
Yes, fearful, but he was able to muster up the courage to at
least follow Jesus. Yeah, at a distance, but he was
still following Jesus. And he comes to this point now
where him and what most believe to be John.
They arrive at the courtyard. John, we're not told how has
this relationship with the high priest.
And so he has a relationship with the servants of the high
priest. So he was given, he was given
access. He was given a pass.
He walks in and he realizes quickly, oh, Peter, Peter
doesn't have the same access that I do.
So he goes to the servant girl at the door and convinces her
for him to get entrance. And why do they applaud Peter?
Because you find Peter here standing outside waiting at the
door. He, yes, he's fearful, but he he
still wants to find out what's happening to Christ.
And he was persistent even with obstacles.
Others would differ, others see it differently, and the reason
why is because what awaited Peter on the other side of that
door was not in his favor, especially because he was not
equipped spiritually to enter into such environment.
What happened right after Peter walked through that door?
Look at the next verse, John 1817.
The servant girl at the door said to Peter, You also are not
one of this man's disciples, are you?
He said I am not. It makes you wonder.
You might disagree. That's OK, if Peter not being
able to enter the door at first was a providential grace, one
that should have encouraged him to reconsider his choice and to
walk away from a dangerous scenario.
And sometimes one of the ways in which God provides a way of
escape is to redirect us providentially.
Delays, detours, dead ends, some sort of obstacle that would give
you the chance to pause and reflect.
Asking yourself, is what I'm about to do a court in
accordance to God's word? Is my conscience really clear on
this matter? I wish I can give you real life
scenarios because there are so many real life scenarios and
you've probably seen them and you've probably sat across a
table with others and as they explain their scenario, their
situation, you both identify how even God in his invisible hand
has made it a little bit difficult for that person before
they made a tragic mistake. And what do they do?
Like Peter, they chose not to listen.
They chose to ignore it. The Lord is merciful even as
we're being drawn from temptation to cause you to, to
stop in one way or another. And to think, am I about to do
something that I'm going to regret?
Temptation is conquerable. That's, that's good.
That's a good thing. That's a wonderful thing.
Let me give you the final point about temptation.
In our study today, we learned that temptation is ever present.
Temptation is conquerable. Lastly, temptation must lead us
to Christ. Let's read the rest of these
verses from 69. And the servant girl saw him and
began to say to the bystanders, This man is one of them.
But again he denied it. And after a little while the
bystanders again said to Peter, Certainly you are one of them,
for you are a Galilean. But he began to invoke a curse
on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you
speak. And immediately the rooster
crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to
him before. The rooster crows twice, you
will deny me three times. And he broke down and wept in
the moment of temptation. You and I must remember Jesus.
You must recall God's promises. You have to believe that He
never sets you up to fail, but has provided every means
possible to prevail. And one of the things that has
helped me in this area, and I share it with you and hopefully
it'll help you early on in my Christian walk.
By the grace of God, he's helped me to see rejection of any kind
of temptation as an act of worship.
That has helped me tremendously. So that whatever the enticement
may be, it might be a selfish opportunity or a cheap
sensation. I look at that temptation as it
enters my mind, as it begins to pull on my senses.
And I say, Lord, I'm choosing to say no to this temptation
because I love you more than this.
And if I'm called the living sacrifice, then here I am as a
living sacrifice. I love you more than what this
will do for me, what this will make me feel like, what this
will do for my future. See it as an act of worship.
See your no as a fragrance before the throne.
And that's why the greatest secret to overcoming
illegitimate loves is to possess a stronger love for a greater
God. That's the greatest secret.
Not saying that if you succumb to temptation that you don't
love God. In fact, that's the point that I
want to bring up. What if you fail to resist
temptation? What if you ignore the way of
escape and give in? The charge is no different.
Remember Christ? Look at what happens to Peter
again, verse 72. And Peter remembered how Jesus
had said to him. Peter remembered when he
fulfilled the prediction of a severe sin.
It is good that we call the words of Christ, but it's also
good that it brought him to sorrow.
Don't feel bad for Peter as he's crying his eyes out.
Sin leads to agony, sin leads to pain, sin leads to shame, sin
leads to regret. And that is all good as long as
it leads you to repentance. You know where we should feel
bad for Peter is if he denied Christ and it didn't disturb
him. But you know what would have
been better for Peter is if he remembered more than just
Christ's warning. Look how specific the Bible is.
What did Peter remember? You remember when Jesus told him
before the rooster crows twice, You will deny me three times.
But that's not all that Jesus said.
That's not all that Jesus told him.
Jesus added certain things. So let me remind you in Luke 22,
we're wrapping this up very soon.
Luke 22, verse 31. I want you to see it with your
own eyes. A promise if you would.
Luke 2231 Simon Simon. Behold, Satan demanded to have
you, that he might sift you like wheat.
But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.
So the Lord didn't just reveal Peter's massive failure.
He also spoke of the possibility of Him to turn back and be
restored. Do you see that?
And when you have turned again, and if you have given it to
temptation, you must remember the same.
He waits for you to turn back. Luke also adds another detail to
the story. Yes, it was the second time the
rooster crowing that alarmed him and brought him to that warning
earlier that night. But look, look down at Luke 22.
Look at verse 61. If you're there, something else
happens. And the Lord turned and looked
at Peter. Peter, remember the saying of
the Lord, how he had said to him before the rooster crows today
you will deny me three times. So what did Peter experience?
He experienced something with his ears, but he also
experienced something with his eyes.
I don't know what the scene looked like exactly, but I'm
sure it was tense. I'm sure it was somewhat loud.
I'm sure it was busy. But in the midst of all that, as
Jesus is on trial, as they're organizing themselves, Peter is
there having a separate conversation.
He denies Jesus three times. The rooster crows, and at some
point he looks over Jesus, turns, and with laser beam
focus, plants them on Peter. Peter sees it, and it crushes
him. I remember when this verse was
first opened to me and I sat back and I thought to myself,
what did Peter see in those eyes?
What did it mean that Jesus turned?
And what are we to make of that? Well, I think one thing that
we're supposed to take from that is that Jesus was aware.
Jesus was aware of Peter's temptation and Jesus was aware
of Peter giving into that temptation.
That's no different for us, that when we are wrestling with
temptation and when we are living in sin, Jesus sees it.
He sees it. Nobody else may see it.
Jesus sees it. But it's more than just Jesus
being aware. I believe when you look at the
context, you realize that what Peter saw in those eyes was
something that melted him because there was compassion
oozing out of those eyes saying, how did you come to that
conclusion? Well, keep in mind that Jesus is
about to do what he came to do. In the world and for the world,
die, for humanity, sin, this is it.
We're reaching the climax of that, right?
He's about to be nailed to a tree, buried, and he's about to
conquer the grave through his resurrection.
Nothing can interfere or interrupt that.
Peter sees Jesus, he's so overcome by a mixture of
feelings and he takes off and he weeps.
And you don't see Peter and Jesus sharing any interaction
until the resurrection. And I've been sharing what I'm
about to share with you. I've been sharing this on more
than one occasion lately and I hope it helps you.
Revisiting it over and over for me has definitely helped me.
So again, the last interaction that we have between Peter and
Jesus before Jesus goes into that tomb and defeats death, is
this. What's the next time that these
two interact? It's in Luke.
Go to Luke 24 as we conclude and look at verse 13, Luke 2413.
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus,
about 7 miles from Jerusalem. We know the story very well.
This is when Jesus comes to those two and He gives them the
greatest Old Testament Bible study that we'll never know
about, and he restores their faith and he opens their eyes to
realize that he is indeed alive. But it's those few words that
move me. The first three, that very day.
What very day? Well, the context tells us that
it was the very day of his resurrection.
So on the first day of his resurrection where he appeared
in a span of 40 days, explaining the things of the Kingdom of God
to his disciples on the first day he appears, yes, to these
two, but not just to these two. After these two opened their
eyes at least were granted that miracle.
Luke 2433, something happens and they rose that same hour and
returned to Jerusalem and they found the 11 and those who are
with them gathered together saying the Lord has risen indeed
and has appeared to Simon. So it wasn't just the Bible
study through the Old Testament that's concealed to us.
Somehow these two experienced Christ on the first day of Jesus
resurrection. We're informed that Jesus also
met with Simon, who's Simon Peter.
What do you think Jesus did when he appeared to Simon?
Do you think he scolded him? Do you think he slapped him
behind the head? What do you think he did?
Well, when you consider Jesus interacting with Peter in John
21, where that is Peter's public restoration, you know what
Christ's heart was? It was to restore him.
It was to reassure him. It was to comfort him.
It was to heal him with his love.
You know what I find so amazing? We're told that he appeared to
Simon on that very day, but we're told nothing about it.
It was intimate. It was private.
This is the heart of Christ. On the first day of his
resurrection, He made it a priority to restore Peter.
That's his heart. You know how we might forgive
people and restore people? We might, if we were in Jesus
shoes, wait till the end of the 40 days.
Let Peter simmer in that guilt a little bit longer.
Jesus doesn't do that. Shortly after that stone was
rolled away from the tomb, he saw it as a joyful duty to find
Peter at the right time and to have a one-on-one conversation
with him. Do you believe that about Jesus
when you fall into temptation that he's waiting to wash your
feet? He is.
Even if you're a pastor that has done wonderful things for the
Lord over decades and have failed majorly, Jesus waits.
He doesn't want a minute to go by before you come, broken and
shambles Even so that He can restore you.
Jesus waits regardless of the nature of your sin.
How embarrassing, no matter what kind of relationships you
shattered through it. I'm not here to give you some
practical counseling advice of what to do from a human to human
standpoint when it comes to sin. I'm here to just focus on Jesus
Christ and your walk with Him. Jesus Christ is eager to heal
you and restore you. Temptation is ever present, so
may our awareness of God and our all of Him be the same.
Temptation is conquerable. I refuse to give into the
popular opinion that we're just all going to struggle for the
rest of our lives. So live in sin and just wait
till you get to heaven. Will we be tempted?
Absolutely. Can we know victory over sin?
Yes, that's the gospel. I'm in that camp.
Why am I in that camp? Because that's what the Bible
says. So what we're not going to talk
about week after week is, oh, you're in sin, it's OK.
Just live and said no, it's not OK.
God's not happy with that. And he provided the means and
the spiritual blessings and riches for us to know victory,
to be able to say no to temptation.
Sinless perfectionism, also an error.
You got a crowd of people who believe every time you sin, you
lose your salvation. What kind of salvation is that?
No, no, I'm trying to tell you that you can know joy and
victory. You can know things that have
once clutched you and kept you in bondage, and Christ can
actually set you feet free. It's not theoretical.
This is reality. It can happen.
So no matter what the bondage is, I don't care how many years,
I don't care how generational it is.
Christ can redeem you, He can set you free.
That's the power of the gospel. Thankful there's Amens here.
Praise God if you say there's some people that look at you
like you're an alien. Lastly, temptation must lead us
to Christ. While you're in it, while you
feel like it's rising up to your neck, you, you remember Jesus.
You, you cry out to him. And as I heard from a faithful
professor in seminary, learn to take your temptation and make it
into a conversation with God. And even as you fall, remember
Jesus. He's waiting for you.
Maybe you're in sin right now as I'm talking.
If you're overcome with shame and embarrassment to the degree
that you don't want to show yourself to church or before the
Lord, you're not hearing this message right.
You're supposed to be drawn to Him.
He is just as eager to wash you as He did when He initially
bathed you in His salvation. Do you believe that?
Oh, I hope you do. Let's pray.
Lord, we know that there are so many other things that could be
said. Perhaps there are still
questions in people's minds. But Lord, we trust that what was
shared has accomplished the goal of realizing that temptation is
something that we all wrestle with.
But you've given us answers to be stronger with it, to be
joyful about it, because you have given us what we need to to
be victorious. And Lord, in your grace, you've
even reserved joy in our failure, not to live in that
failure, but to know that there is hope.
There's hope for broken marriages here.
There's hope for a way we're children who have disgraced more
than just their family name, but the name of Christ.
There's hope for those who are addicted.
There's hope in you. Thank you, Lord, that you don't
give up on us. And Lord, though there are
consequences to sin, people lose ministries, maybe even respect.
Your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our
thoughts. You're much more compassionate
and forgiving than we are. Help us believe that.
So Lord, like Peter, we sit here and we melt in your mercy.
And Lord, if this message served as a rooster crow, as a
providential nudge for anybody who might be enduring something,
may they heed and may they answer.
Lord, we trust you today. We trust that this was what You
wanted to say on this Lord's Day, and we give you thanks for
it. May we leave here with our
hearts more convinced of your love, more convinced that you
have prepared us for a journey that can no true victory.
Your word was spoken, it was received.
But Lord, the power for these things to be made real can only
come from You. So we ask that you would do that
because only you can. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Let's stand.