“I Have Fallen BUT I Refuse to Stay Down!” Lk 22: 60, 62 & Mth 27: 5
Did you know that EVERY one of the disciples of Jesus fell down?
Jesus told them, on the night He shared the “Last Supper” with them in;
[Mat 26:31 NIV] “…"This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:" 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”
They ALL messed up but our Scripture, for today, focuses only on two. READ
The issue is not that you fall or how hard you fall but that you get back up. Peter/Judas. [Peter repented….Judas simply regretted]
Judas was around Jesus but never WITH Jesus…[John 6:70-71 NKJV] “70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, [the son] of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.”
It wasn’t how Judas died that condemned him but that he never knew Jesus…
The issue is not that you come to church but that you come to Jesus.
Can I tell you a secret? We ALL fall from time to time…but sadly, there are many today who never get up again. They remember how it used to be. They remember how they used to go to church. They remember how they used to live their life, but somewhere along the way they fell and refused get back up.
Did you know that peer pressure or lack of desire is not what keeps most from surrendering to or serving God?
One of the biggest tricks Satan uses to keep you from starting or maintaining a relationship with Jesus is nothing more than guilt. It was guilt that took Judas to the hanging tree…
Is it possible to move forward while looking behind at where you’ve been and what has happened…back there?
If you look backward and walk forward what do you think might happen?
The problem for so many of us is we are looking backward in our relationship with Jesus, instead of forward. We tend to focus on the stuff that tripped us up and knocked us down. We focus on what we did that caused us to lose hope and feel abandoned.
Many will bring a failed relationship from the past with them when they come to Jesus…
They bring that father/mother that you never please or that abandoned you.
They bring that husband/wife who kept reminding you that you were as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
Maybe the God you see is that possessive boyfriend/girlfriend who rules over you with an iron fist…
When we bring these into our relationship with Jesus, we will never be able to move forward.
Paul said in, [Phl 3:13-14 NIV] “13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
You may have fallen, but I have good news today: You can get up! And you CAN move forward.
Don’t let Satan keep you from surrendering to or living for Christ because he keeps bringing up your past.
The past can’t be changed. Remember that God cares more about where you’re going than where you’ve been.
The present is right now. And your future is tomorrow…
Listen, Just come to Jesus and admit that you’ve messed up…you’ve sinned against Him. Would you like to know what he will say? “I know, I was watching.” Then He’ll reach out His hand of love, mercy and grace and say, “Now let’s get you up from there because we’ve got stuff to do.”
You’re not a failure because you fall…A failure is the one who refuses to get back up.
God loves you just like you are BUT He loves you too much to leave you like you are!
This morning I want to show you 3 things Jesus will do, if we will refuse to stay down.
1. Jesus wipes the slate clean. Some are saved in word only. “Pastor what do you mean by that?” Those are the people who make the most noise about being saved and are ready at the drop of a hat to fight anyone who says different. They are always spouting off about how saved they are. BUT true salvation is by the blood of Jesus and when you come under the blood you get washed clean and you don’t need to run around bragging about how saved you are…people can see how saved you are [Or not]. When Jesus wipes you slate clean you can ask, “Jesus, do You remember when I did…” He will say, “No I don’t.”
[2Co 5:17 NKJV] “Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
What does this mean?
I think of the Monarch butterfly when I think of the transformation that takes place when we come to Jesus. The Monarch butterfly is absolutely beautiful but it didn’t start out that way. That beautiful butterfly starts out as an ugly old caterpillar who lives on the milkweed plant. I’ve never tasted one to find out, but I understand that the milky substance from the plant is toxic, which is why the caterpillar is colored the way it is.
One day that caterpillar gets tired of life of toxicity and decides it wants something different. That caterpillar begins to spin a cocoon around itself and inside that cocoon new life begins where old life stopped. Soon that cocoon starts to wiggle and break open. Out crawls this UGLY creature, all wet and nasty…kind of looking like an alien creature. This tells me that even after I except Jesus there is much work to be done, if I’m to be the person He made me to be.
Some “Christians” are like the addict who denies their addiction. They don’t want to let go of who/what they were to become the person God made.
Other will be like that creature that emerged from the cocoon and start unrolling their wings and drying them off and soon they look completely different from that old caterpillar. Once the butterfly is ready it takes off soaring in the sky, enjoying this new life and no longer desiring the poison from that plant but thriving on the sweet nectar from the flowers.
How does 2Cor. 5: 17 happen?
Well according to [1Jo 1:9 NKJV] “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…”
BUT there are two things you & I must do if we are to have a clean slate.
a. We must be willing to take responsibility for our own sin.
Stop blaming the devil or someone else for the fact that you fell down.
I must be willing to admit that it was my decision to do what I did!
b. We must be willing to Change Direction…
If you are not willing to let go of the past, you will never move to the future. Stop being who you were, going to the places you once went, consuming the trash and the poison from the world and enjoy the sweet nectar of God’s great love.
These two things are the only way the addict can get clean. And those who call on the Name of Lord must be willing to accept these two things as reality, if we are to soar high with our Savior and Lord.
2. Jesus gives us a new direction.
[Pro 3:5-6 NKJV] “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
Your Bible is your map…Read it…study it. Be careful to obey what is written in it…AND watch God do something unbelievable in and through you…[2Ti 3:16 NIV] “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,”
What bothers some is that God’s ways, most often, don’t fit human logic.
BUT listen to what God says in [Isa 55:8-9 NKJV] “ 8 "For My thoughts [are] not your thoughts, Nor [are] your ways My ways," says the LORD. 9 "For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
The question is, however, “Do I trust God’s direction or my best judgment?”
We will buy expensive GPS, plug it in and obey its every command but when God says “Turn here” we say “Why? Suzanne and I were in the mountains staying a friend’s cabin that literally had a one lane dirt road going up the mountain to it. Suddenly our GPS said, “Turn left here” If we had turned we would have gone off the side of a cliff and fallen to our death. Now you could look across the valley and see the cabin from where we were but I had missed the road to get there and so had the GPS.
Your GPS needs to be upgraded from time to time in order to keep up with the changes that take place in our world, or it will get you lost. God, on the other hand, has never missed a turn or forgotten the way; and He will never need to have an upgrade done on His memory bank. We must be willing to stay on the path He sets before us, knowing that sometimes it won’t be easy.
[Psalm 119:9-11 NIV] “9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.”
How can we do this? By following what the Psalmist says in verse 11. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
3. Jesus gives us the power to get moving and keep moving.
[Phl 1:6 NKJV] “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete [it] until the day of Jesus Christ;”
[Eph 1:17-20 NIV] “17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the SAME as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,”
Jesus said in; [Acts 1:8 NIV] “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and [Because of this great power] you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”
There is POWER in the Name of Jesus…There is HEALING in the Name of Jesus… There is HOPE in His mighty Name…There is STRENGTH in the Name of Jesus… There is COURAGE in His Name.
BUT let me tell you what you will not find in His Name. You WILL NOT find FAILURE in the Name of Jesus. Nor will you find QUIT in His mighty Name…And You will never find FEAR in the Name of Jesus!
[2Ti 1:7 NKJV] “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
Don’t get your messages crossed up…God did not give you that spirit of fear that keeps you from moving forward…That comes from the devil because he wants to keep you afraid of becoming the person God wants you to be!
Many will blame God by saying, He is keeping them humble by keeping them on their knees.
I want you to understand that when God puts you on your knees it is NEVER keep you down but to get you on your feet…
Because the tomb is empty, the enemy is defeated. BUT we must not get our signals crossed!
During the Battle of Waterloo, a man stood on top of a cathedral in London, holding flags in his hands. The whole city of London was anxious to know if the Duke of Wellington could defeat Napoleon. The man stood on that cathedral watching for signals from the battlefield, relaying news from the battlefield.
Soon he received a report and began waving his flags but there as thick fog covering the land that day. When the people of London looked up they could barely see through the fog, so the message they saw was, "Wellington defeated."
They could not believe it. Their hearts sank. But then there was a break in the fog and they saw the rest of the message which said, "Wellington defeated Napoleon."
And ALL of England rejoiced.
On the day Jesus died on the cross and was buried in that tomb, the signals got crossed up and the message heard by the disciples was, "Jesus defeated."
But 3 days later, the fog cleared, and the WHOLE message was clearly seen. "Jesus defeated Satan."
And you may have fallen, but the victory that God has purchased for you, at Calvary means that you don’t have to stay down!
Because of the blood stains on that old cross of yesterday, there’ll be no stains on the pages of your tomorrows.
Because of the empty tomb, you can bury the old you and rise up a NEW creation in Christ Jesus!
Maybe you’ve failed…BUT who hasn’t? Just don’t stay that way! Come to Jesus and be saved today…
Here’s what you do.
Pick up the broken pieces, and bring them to Jesus and lay them at His feet and He will put you back together, and make your life complete.
Maybe you need to get saved. Then do it!
Maybe you are saved but need to rededicate your life to Jesus. Then do it!
Maybe you need to get back into church. You’re here today and unless Jesus returns, we’ll be right here next Sunday so just BE HERE. We are here at 10am Sunday mornings for Sunday school/Bible study.
Several gather each Sunday evening at 5pm for Bible study.
Is God calling you to make a decision right now? Then do it…Don’t wait… INVITATION
