There are several events that have shaped the course of my life. Some have been quite dramatic. And because of the nature of the drama surrounding those events, they remain vividly etched in my memory.
My wedding day, although over twenty five years ago, remains a fresh memory on the landscape of my mind.
The adoption of our son, Kevin. I have a friend whose parents tell him they cannot remember the circumstances surrounding his adoption. There are graphic remembrances of everything leading up to and including the day we went to get Kevin.
My ordination.
Being called as pastor to my first church.
All of these events drastically changed the course of my life and because the circumstances surrounding them are so spectacular, they remain intensely vivid.
There are other events that have also changed the course of my life ... but due to the fact that they were less dramatic, while still important, they do not come up with such clarity.
Our Scripture passage for tonight is one of those events that seems to be overshadowed by the dramatic events unfolding around them. In the twenty-second chapter of Luke we have events that have greatly impacted the Christian faith for 2,000 years.
The institution of the Lord’s Supper; our Lord praying with such intensity in the Garden of Gethsemane that He sweat great drops of blood;
Judas’ betrayal of Jesus; Peter’s denial of Christ;
All of these events have had a great impact on our faith. It is easy to understand that our Scripture passage would be somewhat obscured by these great happenings. But there is a tremendous lesson for us in these two verses in Luke 22:31-32.
Please open your Bibles and follow along as I read.
Jesus betrayer had departed. Jesus was with this handful of men to whom He would ultimately entrust the future of Christianity. They had been hand-picked.
They had been with Jesus for three years, learning at the greatest seminary ever known to man.
They watched as He had performed one miracle after another. They were there when He walked on water.
They saw Him turn water into wine, magnificent wine.
They marveled as He raised Lazarus from the dead. They were on the hillside that day when He took a small boy’s lunch, and fed a multitude. And yet, they were still lacking in their preparation ... their seminary under the tutelage of Dr. Jesus.
He was about to be crucified and He wanted to warn them of the terrible trial that awaited them.
As He looked at these men, He knew their strengths ... their God-given gifts, He knew their potential ... each and every one of them. But, He also knew their weaknesses, their vulnerabilities.
And He wanted them to know that in spite of their potential, they were going to fail, and fail miserably.
Satan Wants to Sift You Like Wheat
Look at verse 31. Although Jesus comments were spoken to Peter, His message was to all the disciples. The "you" in verse 31 is plural. His message was simple, Satan desires to destroy your faith.
He told them, "Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat."
I find it interesting that Satan had to obtain permission to manipulate these men. That same idea is expressed in the book of Job. Satan wanted to prove that Job was not the man that God said he was, so he asked permission to try to destroy Job’s faith. Job was devastated by disaster after disaster and it came about by divine permission. The disciples were about to be "sifted like wheat" and it was going to happen with God’s knowledge and permission.
Jesus used the picture of a farmer separating the grain from the chaff to describe what the days ahead would be like for the disciples. Sifting grain is the last step in cleaning the trash out of the wheat before it can be used for food. One writer said, "Violent shaking in a sieve makes this process a fitting description of the agitation that tries one’s faith almost to the point of destroying it."
Although, Jesus’ remarks were for all the disciples,
He addressed Peter. He knew Peter’s weaknesses. Peter thought he was invincible against Satan’s attack.
After all, he was the one who had walked on the water like Jesus. He was the one who had been on the mountaintop and saw Jesus glorified along with Elijah and Moses. He was part of the inner circle of three to whom Jesus devoted additional time.
But Peter was on the brink of disaster and the very thing that Peter thought was his strong point, was the place that Satan had planned to attack. Satan was about to sift him like wheat.
Patty and I married July 10, 1971. We have always had a great relationship. We have always tried to be courteous to each other and we have the kind of relationship where we communicate and respond in love.
We seldom argue. I have been amazed over the years at how some people treat their spouses. If there is one area in our lives that we could always count on, it was in the area of our relationship.
Several years ago, we were the directors of the
Newly-Wed Sunday School class at our church. We had been to one of Kevin’s soccer games and out of the blue, we got into an argument. Not a nice argument, but a real ugly kind of argument. After we got home, we were still mad. The phone rang and it was one of the guys in our Sunday School class. He was not a Christian, but through the fellowships we had, he started coming to church with his wife. The reason he was calling was because he wanted someone to tell him about how to be saved. Up to that point in my life, I had never led anyone to Christ. He asked when I could come over. The only time I had was right then. Patty overheard the conversation and asked, "Do you think we ought to pray before you go?" I said, "Sure, but let me tell you something (and the fight was on again)!!!"
I stormed out of the house slamming the door and all the way to Harold’s house I was fuming and muttering to myself, (you know how you get). I was just about to ring the doorbell when I realized I was boiling mad.
I stopped and said, "Lord, I can’t do this. You are going to have to take over."
Now I didn’t have a smooth way of presenting the gospel. I had a "Soul-Winners New Testament." I read the first point, turned to the Scripture, read it, "Do you believe that?"
And that is how I witnessed to Harold. After we finished, I asked if he would like to pray to receive Christ, and to my utter amazement, he said, "Yes."
As I was leaving it dawned on me what had been happening. When I got home, and after I apologized I told Patty, "Satan didn’t want me to go to Harold’s house."
He was trying to sift me like wheat and he used the one area that I thought was beyond his reach . . . my relationship with my wife. He wanted to divert my attention away from God’s will for me that night.
He knew that if I did what God wanted me to do and was available for God to use me to lead someone to Christ, that God would begin to lead me to understand His calling on my life.
Satan desires to sift you like wheat. He doesn’t want you to become men and women devoted, obedient to the will of God. He wants to destroy your faith. He knows that if he can attack you at your strong points, and cause you to fail, you might think, "If he can destroy me at my strongest point, what chance do I have." Maybe you will be willing to give up.
The Apostle Paul learned that and wrote, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12).
Satan’s motives are to try to destroy your faith and he will use everything in his arsenal of weapons.
Later Peter would write, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Pet. 6:8). Satan doesn’t want you to do God’s will.
Satan desires to sift you like wheat.
Jesus Continually Intercedes for Us
In verse 32 we learn that Jesus continually intercedes for us. Of all the disciples, Jesus prayed specifically for Peter. The "you" is singular this time. We must not think that Jesus did not pray for all the disciples. But, he singled out Peter because He knew that Peter was especially vulnerable.
The other disciples were going to run the coward’s trail just like Peter. But in Peter’s case, he had boldly boasted in the face of opposition. Jesus knew that the one who thought himself to be invincible was the one who would fail most miserably. He knew that after a failure of that magnitude, Peter would be tempted to give up. He might believe that if Satan could attack him at his strongest point and win, what was the use of even trying. Peter was going to deny Christ. Jesus knew that he would need special help.
Has it crossed your mind that Jesus did not pray that Peter would be spared his ordeal? That is what we usually do. We are continually praying that the Lord would spare us from our terrible circumstances.
Go to any local church on Wednesday night and listen to the prayers offered for the sick. We spend more time trying to pray the saints out of heaven than we do praying the sinners out of hell.
Jesus didn’t ask that Peter be dismissed from the terrible sifting that Satan had planned for him.
He prayed that Peter’s faith would remain firm.
Jesus knows better than we do what our needs are.
He is continually interceding for us. He knew that Peter would need abundant, stalwart, overcoming faith in order to accomplish God’s will for his life. So Jesus prayed for him.
A few years ago I was in revival in Albuquerque, NM.
I had not anticipated that I would be able to get home by Sunday, so I had someone else scheduled to preach. But when I left Albuquerque that Saturday morning, I was so anxious to get home that I drove straight through.
Needless to say, Sunday morning, I was exhausted so I slept in. But I caught Adrian Rogers Sunday Morning telecast. (Long time pastor of Bellvue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn.) Dr. Rogers told the story about Dr. Ed Solomon who pastored a church in Florida. One Sunday morning Dr. Solomon went to his pulpit in his home church and said, "God never let me go to the school I wanted to go to."
Rogers said that he had attended a good school in Florida. Solomon continued, "God never let me have the wife I wanted." His wife was in the congregation.
Had the man lost his mind? "God never let me have the church I wanted." I thought that man must have been suicidal. I wondered where he pastored after that.
"God never let me have the family I wanted."
"God never let me have the home I wanted."
On and on he went. Finally, he said, "That’s ight.
God never gave me anything I ever wanted.
He always gave me better than I asked for."
Jesus continually intercedes for us. He knows what we need better than we do. He knows the temptations that we face. Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin."
Jesus conquered sin. He overcame it on the cross. He knows that Satan is powerful ... but limited by God.
Each of us has a measure of faith, but the day may come when we will be completely surprised by the attack of Satan. The areas we feel are the strongest are the areas that Satan often uses to destroy our faith. He knows that if he can defeat us where we feel we are strongest, then we might be tempted to give up. Our only hope is to rely on the resources that God provides and one of those resources is the knowledge that Jesus is continually interceding on our behalf.
After You Have Turned ... Strengthen Others
Jesus offered some practical advice to Peter in the last half of verse 32. He told him, "...after you have turned, you must strengthen others."
Jesus was certain Peter’s faith would be restored.
He told Peter that he must use the knowledge he gained from his experience in service to others.
Because Peter knew what it was to have his faith stretched to the limits, he would be able to encourage others who would face losing their faith through their failures. What a waste it would have been if Peter had survived the sifting and then done nothing to help others.
Jesus knew that Satan was not through sifting people.
Others would come after Peter who would have their faith shaken. He would be able to help them survive,
he had the knowledge to help.
Two ladies were talking one day.
"Have you finished your first aid course."
"I sure have, and it was really helpful."
"Have you had a chance to use anything that you learned?"
"As a matter of fact I have. Just the other day I was walking down the street when a man stepped in front of a car and got hit. He flew into the air and landed in the middle of the street. I tell you it was horrible. There was blood everywhere. It was gruesome."
"And with your knowledge of first aid you knew just what to do?"
"I sure did. I walked right over to the curb, sat down, put my head between my knees to keep from fainting."
Knowledge isn’t much good if you don’t use it to help others. Peter learned that. After he denied Christ, he went out and wept bitterly. He knew what it was to fail.
He could have given up. But if you read the book of Acts you find that Peter the coward became Peter the fearless. He was the one who preached at Pentecost and thousands were converted.
He was the one who stood before the Sadducees and said, "Let there be no doubt about whom I serve.
Don’t leave this place with any doubt in your mind.
I serve a risen Savior. His name is Jesus Christ."
There is little resemblance to the Peter of Acts and the Peter who denied Christ. I am glad that Peter failed. I am glad that his actions are recorded for posterity in the Bible. Because almost 2,000 years later a middle-aged man would be dealing with the issue of whether or not he should accept God’s call to ministry. He dealt with issues of his own failures, his own sins.
He tried to tell God that there was no way that God could use someone who had failed so miserably as a Christian. But, God showed him Peter. And He showed him that if He could use Peter, then He could use a middle-aged man who blew it.
And when you have turned, strengthen your brothers.
Two thousand years later, Peter is still helping his brothers and sisters to go on in spite of their failures.
Now let me ask you something.
Have you been sifted lately?
Has Satan tried to destroy your faith?
If he hasn’t, then maybe it is time for you to evaluate what you are doing for the cause of Christ.
One thing I learned ... Satan never bothered me when I wasn’t trying to accomplish something for God.
He doesn’t have to sift anyone who isn’t striving with all their might to change the world around them.
Isn’t it time you stepped out of your comfort zone and tried to do something that is beyond your capabilities? Maybe you’re here this evening and you have been sifted. Maybe you have been involved in sin that you never dreamed would happen to you. Perhaps Satan has turned your life upside down. You can allow Satan to win. You can quit.
Or you can turn it over to God and allow Him to heal you, to forgive your sin and restore you to the joy of your salvation.
You may be a little less cocky.
You may be somewhat humbled.
You will learn that where you are weak, He is strong.
And ultimately, you might find that you have been "sifted....but saved."
