Introduction: A few weeks ago I preached a sermon entitled “The Agony of Defeat.” In that message I made the point that we have all given in to temptation and sinned against the Lord. When that happens the Devil begins to attack and calls you a no good for nothing rotten sinner that will never amount to anything.
In the spiritual realm there are two types of Sins. There are sins of commission, which are those things that we know we shouldn’t do, but do anyway. But there are also sins of Omission, which are things that we know we should do but for one reason or another we don’t. Such as reading the Bible, praying, sharing our faith, or serving the Lord.
But we are not the only ones who struggle with sin. The Apostle Paul also struggled with it. In Romans 7:14-15 he said, “I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
Then in verses 18-19 of the same chapter he says, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.”
Even the disciples who were closest to Jesus, like Peter, James and John, weren’t perfect. There were times when Jesus chastised them for their lack of faith. If you recall a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that Jesus asked them to ‘keep watch and to pray’ while they were in the Garden of Gethsemane. But they didn’t do it, instead they went to sleep. When He came back and discovered that they were asleep He was disappointed in them, and ask them again to ‘watch and pray’ with Him so they wouldn’t fall into temptation. He also warned them saying, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” This of course was not only true in their lives but in our lives as well.
Just a few minutes later the soldiers came and arrested Jesus and His disciples scattered into the night. But according to the Bible, Peter and John followed at a distance and were there in the courtyard of the High Priest observing the ‘mockery of a trial’ that was going on. I want to show you a short video clip from the Movie the Passion of the Christ that dramatically portrays this scene.
Show Video
In the video the actor does a good job of showing the guilt and anguish that overwhelmed Peter after denying the Lord three times.
Peter was a strong man, but even he wasn’t strong enough to stand up for Christ at that particular time and under those particular circumstances. He became one of the main leaders in the Early church, and would eventually be crucified upside down because of His faith in Jesus Christ, but on the night Jesus was arrested Peter didn’t feel like a leader, he felt like a failure.
We know more about Peter than any of the other disciples. He is mentioned by name 200 times in the New Testament. He is the central character in the first 12 chapters of the book of Acts.
We know that Peter was one of Jesus’ first Disciples. We also know that his brother Andrew is the one who introduced him to Jesus. We know that Peter was an uneducated Fisherman from Galilee who left his nets lying on the seashore to become one of the Lord’s Disciples.
Whether he took on the roll or whether it was thrust upon him by the other disciples we aren’t sure, but he became the leader and spokesman for the Disciples. He was the first of the 12 to confess his sinfulness to the Lord. And of course He was also the first to recognize and proclaim that Jesus was in fact the Son of the Living God.
But despite his love and commitment to the Lord the fact still remains that Peter denied the Lord three times in a very short period of time.
Illustration: During a Pastor’s Conference, a pastor was asked to give a testimony. Yet what he had to say surprised many of those who heard him speak. He walked up to the platform and said, “I am a lay pastor of a small, not-growing church. I am not ordained. I am not seminary trained. I was asked to leave both Bible colleges I attended. I am divorced and remarried. On any given day I am capable of being a jerk with my wife and family. I am terminally insecure, which causes me to compensate with bouts of arrogance.
At times people irritate me, and I hide from them. I am impulsive, which causes me to say things I shouldn’t and make promises I cannot keep. I am inconsistent.
My walk with Christ is a stuttering, stumbling, bumbling attempt to follow Him. At times His presence is so real I can’t stop the tears, and then, without warning, I can’t find Him. Some days my faith is strong, impenetrable, and immovable—and some days my faith is weak, pathetic, helpless, knocked about like a paper cup floating on the ocean in the middle of a hurricane.
I have been a Christian for 45 years. I am familiar with the vocabulary of faith, and I am often asked to give advice about matters of faith. But I am still a mess. I am light-years away from being able to say with Paul, “Copy me.” I am 56 years old and still struggling—a flawed, clumsy, unstable follower of Jesus. A bona fide failure!”
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever let somebody down? Perhaps it was your spouse, or one of your children?
Maybe you promised your boss that you would have that assignment done on time and you weren’t able to do it.
Or maybe you promised your best friend that you would never let them down. But you did.
To disappoint someone you love hurts, but to disappoint the Son of the Living God, now that’s painful. That’s why Peter was so distraught, when He heard the cock crow and saw Jesus staring at him. He knew he had done what He promised the Lord that He would never do. He must have felt terrible. He must have felt unworthy to be a Disciple of Christ.
Then something amazing happened. Mary Magdalene and some of the other women went to the tomb on the first day of the week to anoint the body with spices and when they arrived they discovered an empty tomb, and an angel told them that Jesus was alive. Peter and John ran to the tomb and found everything the way that Mary had told them. John believed that Jesus had risen from the Dead, Peter on the other hand still wasn’t sure to make of all of it. But if he had any doubts they were laid to rest when Jesus appeared to him and the other disciples in the upper room later that night. I’m sure Peter must have been thrilled that Jesus was alive, but perhaps it also added to his guilt and his feelings of unworthiness.
In baseball terminology, Peter was in a slump, and he wasn’t feeling very good about himself or his performance. Perhaps that’s why he decided to go back to the Sea of Galilee and go fishing. After all, that’s what He had done before becoming a disciple of Christ. It was how he had made his living, and in reality, it was all he knew how to do.
Several of the other disciples, including James and John and Thomas and Nathanael went with him, and they fished all night long, but didn’t catch any fish, which must have discouraged Peter even more. About daylight they noticed a man standing on the seashore and he called out to them and asked them if they had caught any fish. They told him “NO” and he advised them to throw their nets out again on the right side of the boat and they would find plenty of fish. They did, and there were so many fish that they had trouble getting them all into the boat. When Peter realized that it was the Lord the Bible tells us he jumped into the water and swam to the shore. This was the third time that Jesus had appeared to his disciples. They had breakfast together there beside the Sea of Galilee, and then Jesus had a private conversation with Peter. Jesus knew what Peter was going through and how he felt about himself. But Jesus also saw something in Peter that Peter didn’t even realize himself. Jesus knew that Peter had the potential to be a great leader and accomplish many things for the Kingdom of God. But of course Jesus also knew that in his present state of mind Peter wasn’t going to be any good to anyone. So He pulled Peter to the side and began to talk with him. Allow me to read this section of Scripture from the 21st chapter of John with you this morning.
“After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord, “ Peter replied, ‘You know I love you.” Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
Jesus repeated the question. “Simon son of John, do you love me?’ “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.
Once more He asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.”
John 21:15-17 (NLT)
Jesus went on to tell Peter that He was going to live a long life and that even in his death that He would glorify God. This was the Lord’s way of reinstating Peter to his role as a leader among the Apostles, and reminding him that He had called Peter to be a ‘fisher of men,’ and not a fisherman. Peter had denied the Lord three times, so the Lord gave him three times to reaffirm his love and commitment to Him. It must have worked because from that day on Peter served the Lord with everything He had.
It was Peter who preached the sermon on the Day of Pentecost where 3000 people were saved and added to the Church. It was Peter who healed the man who had been born lame. It was Peter who boldly stood before the Sanhedrin, the same group of people who had convicted Jesus of Blasphemy and refused to stop preaching in His name and said, “"Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." Acts 4:19-20 (NIV)
According to Church Tradition, Peter took the gospel message to Corinth and later to Rome, where he was crucified by the Roman Emperor Nero. Peter, who felt unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord ask to be crucified upside down.
Okay, so what if anything can we learn from the Apostle Peter’s life. I personally believe there are several things we can all learn from the Apostle Peter.
1. When Jesus asked Him to be one of His Disciples, He left everything including, His job, His family, His hopes and dreams. Peter left them all behind to follow Jesus.
Jesus expects the same from us. In Luke 14:33 Jesus said, “any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
2. Jesus doesn’t care about what you have done, or what you are today, when He calls you, He is interested in what you will become in Him.
Peter was an uneducated fisherman who had a tendency to be very impulsive and hot-headed, yet Jesus saw something in Peter that most people didn’t see.
He knew Peter was willing to answer the call and allow God to use Him in ways He never dreamed possible. If God can use Peter, He can use anybody, and that includes you and me.
The Next lesson I think we can all learn from Peter is not to…
3. Overestimate our Spiritual strength.
Peter thought He was stronger than he really was. He told the Lord that He was willing to go to prison or even die before denying Him. But when it came right down to it, He not only denied him, but He denied Him 3 times the same night.
Another example of Peter’s overconfidence in His spiritual strength was in the Garden of Gethsamane, when Jesus specifically asked him to watch and pray so He would not yield to temptation. Peter was so confident in himself and so sure that He was prepared for anything that He saw not need to pray.
We need to learn from His mistake as well as the mistakes of other Biblical characters. David never thought He would commit adultery, but He did. Solomon never dreamed he would get involved with idolatry, but He did.
We need to take a good hard, honest look at our relationship with the Lord, because I dare say most of us, like Peter are not near as “strong” spiritually as we think we are. I like the way the Apostle Paul says it in the Message Paraphrase.
In 1 Corinthians 10:12 he says, ‘Don’t be so naïve and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.”
The next lesson we can learn from Peter’s life is this…
4. No matter what you have done in the past, the Lord is not only ready to forgive you, but is also ready to restore you and use you for His glory.
When we mess up, when we fail to take a stand for the Lord, when we fail to share our faith when He gives us the opportunity, we have a tendency to do what Peter did. We have a tendency to think that we aren’t worthy to be one of His disciples. And in reality, we aren’t. But because of His great love for us, if we will simply confess our sins to Him, he will restore our relationship with Him and use us in ways we never thought possible.
Invitation: In a just a few weeks our Spring Revival will begin. With that in mind I think it is important that we take a good, honest look at ourselves and our Spiritual condition, because more than likely, we aren’t as healthy as we might think.
In order for God to bless this church, this community, and this nation we as individuals must renew our relationship to the Lord, as well as our commitment to doing what He has called us to do.
We must be willing to spend time with Him daily, cultivating our relationship with Him, and allowing Him to equip us and strengthen us for the task He has given us. Then and only then will God be able to use us for His Glory the way He used Peter and the other Apostles.
