Introduction
When I was in high school I was on the swim team. As the years went by I became reasonably successful. In fact somewhere I have a small bag filled with medals I won during my swimming career. But if I looked at those medals today I’d be hard pressed to tell you anything about the swim meets where I won them. I don’t remember anything about the victories but I remember vividly the failures.
Take, for example, the time I was on a medley relay team in the CIF finals. CIF is the equivalent to the state championships here in Nevada. In a medley relay the first person swims backstroke, the second swims breaststroke, then butterfly followed by freestyle. I swam freestyle so it was my job to anchor the relay. The CIF finals were held at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, CA. There were hundreds of people present. Maybe thousands. The noise from the crowd was deafening. It was the biggest moment in my life up to that point. My heart was almost pounding through my chest.
When I got up on the blocks our relay team was trailing the leaders by a yard. Jim Lauderback was swimming butterfly. As he drove into the wall I let loose with every ounce of strength in my 16-year old body. To be honest I don’t remember a thing about how I swam except when I hit the wall I had won. Almost miraculously I had caught and passed the leader. The crowd went delirious. I looked up and there was Jim Lauderback leaning over the edge of the pool with tears streaming down his cheeks. “Steve you won! We did it! We won!” Jim kept screaming over and over. I was beside myself and I reached up to the edge of the pool and pulled Jim into the water in a fit of ecstasy. We were hugging and crying. We had won the CIF finals!
A few seconds later, one of the officials came over with a very serious look on his face. He told us that it was illegal to have two swimmers in the water at the same time during a relay. As a result, we were disqualified. It took a few seconds for that to register in my brain. I was stunned. I had just won the race of my life. I was the hero. I was the anchorman who brought home the bacon. A CIF champion. But now I was a goat. A knucklehead that got his team disqualified in a fit of emotion. Because of me, we didn’t win. We lost. I wasn’t the hero. I had failed.
When most of us look back on our lives we tend to remember the failures more than the successes. For example, I’ve spoken with countless people who’ve been happily married for years, but somehow it comes out that they were once married to someone else. Their first marriage failed. And the divorce left a scar that hung with them like a dark cloud. Maybe failure happened to you in a job. You were fired. Let go. Maybe it was a poor financial decision. You lost money big-time. I don’t know what you would list as your top five failures, but I know that we all have them. And so did the Apostle Peter.
As we leaf through the pages of Scripture we discover that Peter was always vocal and always out in front. He was exceptionally proud of his loyalty to Jesus. And so Jesus’ words stung deeply when the Lord told Peter that he would deny him. “Not me!” Peter insisted. “I’m your man! Even if everyone else falls away, I never will!” But Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” Confusion and fear swept over Peter. Perhaps his voice trembled as Peter replied, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”
That’s where we pick up the story in Luke 22:54-62. (Read) Every time I read this passage I can’t help but linger on verse 61. I’ve tried to imagine the look in Jesus’ eyes as he gazed across the courtyard. I’m sure that Peter would never forget the Lord’s penetrating eyes. The Lord had been right…again. Peter had failed Jesus when the Lord needed him most. Verse 62 says that Peter went outside and wept bitterly. The realization of his personal failure was overwhelming. Peter probably cried until there were no more tears left.
I wonder if you have ever gotten to that point? Have you ever been so disgusted with yourself, so horrified by your behavior that you felt like throwing up? That’s what happened to Peter. He failed. No excuses. No finger pointing. He was the man and he blew it. Plain and simple.
I suspect that between Friday when Jesus was crucified and Sunday when he rose from the grave was the loneliest time in Peter’s life. I can very much imagine that Peter may have blamed himself for the crucifixion. After all, he didn’t even try to help. He stood by and did nothing at all. I’m sure Peter ached from head to toe. Between Friday and Sunday, I imagine Peter didn’t sleep very much. The long night hours were probably spent tossing and turning kicking himself for failing so miserably.
Now scroll ahead just a few weeks. We read about this in Acts 2. The day of Pentecost has come. Jews from all over the world had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate this great annual festival. Then, suddenly and inexplicably, the Holy Spirit comes upon the 120 disciples gathered in the upper room. Jerusalem is teeming with pilgrims and news about the outpouring travels throughout the city like electricity. People are perplexed and puzzled. What had happened? What could this mean? But this time, instead of backing down and slithering into the woodwork, Peter is bold and courageous. The same Peter who not long before was a coward and a failure now stands up before thousands and delivers the first gospel message. His thunderous proclamation of the Good News leads three thousand people to accept Christ and be baptized.
We learn from this that Peter’s failure was obviously not the last chapter in his life. It was an important chapter, but it was not the last chapter. And, today, I want to draw four principles from Peter’s experience to help us when failure hits our home. The first is this: the next time you fail, I want you to remember that….
1. God will not abandon you.
Peter may have felt terribly alone after he denied Jesus. But there was never even one moment during that time when the Lord was not with him. God tells us in Hebrews 13:5, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” I love the chorus we sang earlier about God never letting us go. Isn’t that a comforting thought? Many times when people have done something wrong or when they’ve failed I’ve seen them begin thinking that God has turned his back on them. They begin to feel isolated and cut off from God.
This can happen in different ways….
• A Christian man knows better, but he gets involved in an affair with another woman. Afterwards, he’s heartsick. Of all people, he should have known better. And he wonders in his heart if God has cut him off.
• Another young man struggles with alcohol. Though he doesn’t want to admit it, he’s an alcoholic. He knows better, but he can’t get things under control. The more he cries out to God, the worse the problem becomes. He begins thinking God has shut the door on him. These feelings are compounded by his shame that leads him to conclude that he doesn’t deserve any help from God because of his secret sin. And he ends up feeling very isolated from the Lord.
• Then there’s the woman who had an abortion years ago. No matter how many times she asks God to forgive her, she can’t get it out of her mind. Prayer becomes too painful so she stops doing it. A canyon develops between her and God. God feels a million miles away.
Well, the first thing we learn from Peter’s experience is that when we fail, God will NOT abandon us. God is the relentless hound of heaven. He continues to pursue us no matter what we may have done. The same Peter who failed Jesus in his time of greatest need would later write…
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you….” (1 Peter 1:3&4)
Please don’t miss the three key words. If you have received Christ into your life, you have an inheritance that can never PERISH, SPOIL or FADE. Do you see? God will not abandon his children! A second principle we learn from Peter’s experience is that when we fail…
2. God wants to restore us.
God wants to pick us back up. If we’ve fallen off the horse, he wants us to get back on again. The story of Peter’s restoration begins the morning of the resurrection. We read about this in the gospel of Mark chapter 16. The angel at Jesus’ tomb sent a message to the disciples: “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
Did you notice? The angel said “Tell his disciples and Peter...” Don’t miss who is singled out. “...And Peter…” Those two words would have meant the world to the one who had denied Jesus. Do you see? Despite Peter’s failure, the Lord was still concerned about him.
Peter’s restoration continued later on a beach along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. We read about this in John 21. With the other disciples present, Jesus reaffirms Peter’s call to ministry three times. Three times Peter had denied Jesus and three times Jesus reaffirms Peter’s leadership in front of the other disciples.
This is the principle I want us to see: not if, but when we fail, God wants to restore us. This is crucial to grasp. If we’re God’s children, if we’ve been adopted into his forever family by embracing Jesus Christ, then failure does not have to be final. God always leaves the door open for the restoration of his people. I love the parable Jesus tells in Luke 15 about the lost sheep. The shepherd leaves his 99 other sheep to search after the lost one. God’s heart always pursues the one that goes astray. How cool is that?
One of the most graphic examples of God’s restoring heart is found in 1 Kings 21. The scripture says “there was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil.” In other words, of all the rotten people who ever lived, Ahab was the worst. But in 1 Kings 21:27 we read that Ahab came to his sense and repented. It says, “He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.” And, as a result, God was merciful…even on the worst of the worst, Ahab. That, my friends, is nothing short of stunning. The truth is when we fail, God wants to restore us.
But two things are required to walk through the doorway of restoration. Those two things are repentance and willingness. Why repentance, you may ask? Well, when we fail, often it’s because we’ve done something wrong. And we when we’ve done something wrong, we need to repent. This means recognizing that we’ve messed up; admitting we were wrong; being remorseful and then heading in the opposite direction. In the Bible we read about the prodigal son who made some disastrous decisions. He failed miserably. And the road back to his father began “when he came to his senses.” In other words, the road to restoration began when he realized that he’d blown it. That means he repented and he went back home humble and broken.
One thing that sometimes keeps people from genuine repentance is blaming others. I don’t believe true repentance ever happens until we stop blaming others to justify what we did. I see this all the time. For example, a husband blames his wife’s inattention to justify being unfaithful. The husband may be sorry, he may regret the consequences of what he did, but that’s not repentance. Until he accept 100% of the responsibly himself and stops blaming anyone else, it’s not genuine repentance.
Another example I see happens with young people. They make foolish decisions. Perhaps they make choices that negatively affect their lives. They do things that are clearly wrong. And they don’t like the painful consequences. They may even feel sorry for their behavior. But as long as they blame their parents, or their situation growing up, or how tough they may have had it, there won’t be genuine repentance. Why? Repentance—biblical repentance—the kind that God responds to, never has even an ounce of self-justification in it.
David demonstrates this when he repented from his adultery with Bathsheba. David didn’t justify himself by blaming Bathsheba for bathing on her roof-top in plain sight. David didn’t justify himself by blaming his dad or his brothers for treating him like dirt when they made him take care of the sheep while his brothers did more exciting things. Nor did David justify himself by blaming his low emotional state that caused him to stay in Jerusalem while his men went off to war. When David repented it was true biblical repentance. He offered no excuses. He didn’t blame anyone. He assumed full responsibility for his action. In Psalm 51:4 David says to God, “Against you, and you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”
Thus, two things are necessary to be restored by God: genuine repentance and willingness. Peter was not only repentant but he was also willing to be restored. He allowed God to restore him. I mention this because I’ve met people who felt their failures were so terrible they wouldn’t allow God to restore them. And they end up living in a self-imposed prison punishing themselves far more than God wants. Remember that when we fail, God wants to restore. But we have to allow God to restore us and then we have to let God put the past behind us.
So we learn from Peter’s failure that (1) When we fail God will not abandon us. (2) God wants to restore us. But to be restored requires genuine repentance and a willingness to let God do the restoring. But there’s a third principle we can learn from Peter’s experience. When we fail…
3. God can teach us.
When we first meet Peter on the pages of Scripture he’s a proud self-made man. He’s mister macho. It was Peter who walked on the water. It was Peter who made the Great Confession that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the Living God. And it was Peter who took out his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant.
Peter’s pride was his undoing. And God knew that Peter would give up his pride only after he walked through a dark valley of brokenness. Pride and self-sufficiency will cut off the power of God. Through his failure God wanted to teach some of the most important lessons Peter would ever learn. When Peter stood up to speak on the day of Pentecost, he was changed man. His pride had been broken. He stood up as a humble servant who was filled with the Holy Spirit because his selfish ego had been crushed out of him.
My point is this: when we fail, God can teach us. In fact, God often wants to use our failures to teach some of the most important lessons we’ll ever learn. That’s exactly what Romans 8:28&29 means. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son…”
Know this, child of God: God’s plan is that you and me would be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. God intends for our character to take on the character of Jesus. He wants us to act like Jesus; to respond like Jesus; to think like Jesus; to love like Jesus; to be holy like Jesus. And he will use our failures as some of the most important chapters in the textbook he’s writing with our lives.
As you look back on your failures, ask yourself what can you learn? What did God want to teach you? At all costs, resist the temptation to point fingers and blame others. That will never lead to a productive outcome. Instead of blaming others, grow from the experience by learning the lessons that God wants to teach.
Now there’s one more terrific lesson we can learn from Peter’s experience. When we fail….
4. God can still use you.
One of things I enjoy about the Bible is its honesty. Virtually every major character in the Bible has at least one flaw mentioned. Moses struggled with anger. Joshua didn’t inquire of God and made a hasty leadership decision. Samuel raised children who didn’t follow the Lord. The Apostle John was called one of the sons of thunder because of his explosive personality. With the exception of Jesus, almost everyone mentioned in the Bible has some kind of major failure woven into their lives.
And yet God still used them. Peter was no exception. The man who so infamously denied the Lord went on to become a pillar in the early church. Peter’s name prominently appears in the opening chapters of the book of Acts. He wrote two letters that are preserved in the New Testament. And the gospel of Mark is based on Peter’s personal testimony. Do you see? Peter’s failure didn’t exclude him from being used by God. That’s amazing news! Friends, even though you may have failed in the past, or even though you may fail in the future, God never tosses you out; he can still use you.
On the opening day of the 1954 baseball season, the Milwaukee Braves visited the Cincinnati Reds. Two rookies began their major league careers with that game. The Reds won 9-8 as Jim Greengrass hit four doubles in his first major league game. It was a sensational debut for a rookie in the major leagues!
In contrast, the rookie starting in left field for the Braves went 0 for 5. Not a very auspicious start for a man who would go on to hit more home runs than any other player in major league history. Henry Aaron failed to get hit in the opening game of his rookie season. But he succeeded, wonderfully, in his career because he went back out the next day and kept swinging the bat.
The same is true in the spiritual realm. Friend, when you fail God can still use you. He used the Apostle Peter. And he can use you if you don’t give up. But you have to keep swinging the bat. So, friend, stay in the game. With God on our side, failure never has to be the final word.
