OPEN: Nearly 30 years ago on October 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman squared off in the boxing ring in Zaire. Ali had dubbed it “The Rumble in the Jungle.”
Foreman was heavily favored, and was considered to be the hardest puncher in heavyweight history. Foreman was fairly confident he could finish off this upstart braggart. And when he entered the ring, he intended to do all in his power to squash him.
Ali, however, did something in that fight that no other fighter had ever tried before. In a technique he called the “rope-a-dope” Mohammed Ali held up his arms against his face and leaned back against the ropes allowing Foreman to punch away at him for eight rounds. The strongest boxer (in the history of the sport) beat on Ali until he could punch no more.
When the right moment came, Ali bounced off the ropes and knocked out Foreman… sending him into retirement.
APPLY: George Foreman believed in himself. He was a confident boxer who delivered the hardest, most powerful blows of any pugilist that has ever fought in the ring.
And yet, he lost. And not only did he lose, he suffered a blow in the ring from which he never quite recovered. This fight literally sent him into retirement.
I. Two Thousand years ago, there was another confident man.
A fighter. A brute of a man - who feared nothing and no-one.
And if there was a conflict, you could count on him being there
… especially, if the conflict endangered his friends
… and especially if that friend happened to be Jesus Christ
His name was Peter, or Petros… People of the day might have called him “Rocky,” for that’s what his name meant. And like his name, he WAS a rock:
A rock of loyalty and of courage, and strength.
A man who had decided to stand beside Jesus in the worst of situations
And, for the most part, Peter did stand beside Jesus.
His loyalty to Christ caused him to be a model of true faith and devotion.
It was Peter who stepped out of the boat and walked on the water out to Jesus.
Say what you will about the fact that he took his eyes off of Jesus and began to watch the waves and feel the violent wind. He took his eyes off Jesus and became overwhelmed by fear and doubt and began to sink. Then Jesus reached down to him and rebuked him for his lack of faith.
Say what you will about that incident… Peter was the only one of the 12 who even dared to try it. Because he loved and trusted Jesus. And wanted to be with his master even in the most impossible of situations.
It was Peter who answered Jesus question when He asked who the disciples said He was. Peter blurted out: “You are the Christ the Son of the Living God.”
Some might say “Well, yeah, but a few minutes later, he said something really embarrassing that caused Jesus to rebuke him.” True…
But Peter was the only one of the 12 who had the courage to say what they all believed anyway
II. Whenever there was something to do, something to say, something to stand for…
Peter was there. You could count on him. Peter was a simple, uncomplicated man who had one driving passion: his love for Jesus and his determination to defend his master against all threats.
That’s why he reacted to violently to Jesus’ comment in Matthew 16:21-23
Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
And later, when Jesus is about to be betrayed by Judas in the Garden, He says
"You will all fall away," Jesus told them, "for it is written: "‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."
Peter declared, "Even if all fall away, I will not."
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "today— yes, tonight— before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times."
But Peter insisted emphatically, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the others said the same." (Mark 16:27-31)
Then, here in Luke, we read that Peter told Jesus
"Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."
That’s the kind of friend I’d want to have. There aren’t many who, when the going gets tough and your back is against the wall, who’ll stand there for you. There’s many times I wished I’d had a guy like Peter watching my back.
Peter was willing to step into the ring and take on all comers for the sake of Jesus, and I believe he would have tried to take on the entire Roman army if it came down to it. Even now, Peter believed he could defend Jesus against any threat. BUT… he wasn’t going to be able to.
III. You see, Jesus knew something (about the coming fight) that Peter did not.
Peter was going to try to fight a fight he couldn’t possibly win.
Look at Luke 22:32-33 "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
In other words: “Peter… you’re not going to win this one”
You will turn away
You will fail
Your faith will falter
You’re going to hit the mat hard.
But… (pause…) I’m going to pray for you. I’m going to pray that you don’t stay down for the full count. And when you get back up, I’m going to pray for your to strengthen the others.
Now, the fact that Jesus had warned Peter he would fail didn’t stop Peter from trying.
You remember, in the garden when Jesus was betrayed by Judas. Remember the man cutting off the ear of the servant of the high priest? That was Peter…
John 18:10 tells us “Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)”
And even after Jesus was arrested, Peter still doesn’t give up.
Luke 22:54 tells us that when the crowd seized Jesus, “they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance.”
He’s upset. He’s frustrated. And he’s perhaps a little fearful that this whole thing has gotten way out of hand. But he was still seeking an opportunity to protect his master.
He was still hoping to defend Jesus even if He didn’t want to be defended.
He follows. Trying to stay close to Jesus. Hoping to…. Well, we don’t know what he hoped.
We don’t know what he planned. Or if Peter even had a plan. All we know is he sat down by the fire… and he waited for his chance to do something.
The Gospel of Mark gives us this account:
While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. "You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus," she said.
But he denied it. "I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about," …, and went out into the entryway.
When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, "This fellow is one of them."
Again he denied it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean."
He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, "I don’t know this man you’re talking about."
Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept. (Mark14:66-72)
Peter denies Jesus… not once… not twice… but 3 times – just like Jesus said he would.
Three times, Peter says – “I don’t know this Jesus
He even cussed a little to prove that he wasn’t Christ’s follower
But why? Why would Peter deny this Jesus he was so devoted to?
We’re not told. But my personal suspicion is that Peter feared that if he was recognized, then he’d be arrested. If they arrested him, he couldn’t do Jesus any good whatsoever. His usefulness to Jesus would end here in this courtyard. So he lied and he cursed and he denied he ever knew Jesus. Doing everything HUMANLY possible to be of use to Jesus.
Then, when he heard the cock crow, and saw Jesus look directly at him, he went out & wept bitterly. He had done everything he knew how to do to protect Jesus… And in the end, he failed.
IV. Now, there are two things I want you to see here.
1st – Peter lost this fight and betrayed his master for one very basic reason
He wanted to protect Jesus – but he wanted to do it “his way.” Even when Jesus told him how things were going to turn out, Peter refused to accept it. He even had the audacity to rebuke Jesus:
When “Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.”
Peter’s plan was to improve on God’s plan by doing what came naturally to him: violence and anger.
Later, when the crowd came to the Garden to arrest Jesus, Peter acts true to form. He took out his sword and started swinging – cuts off the ear of the servant of the high Priest. The way Peter’s got it figured: if you hurt Jesus… Peter intended to hurt you.
And Peter wasn’t the only one that thought like this. Luke 9 tells us the story of James & John who were outraged when a Samaritan town rejected Jesus.
James & John then asked Jesus to bring down fire out of heaven and destroy that town
But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, “You know not what manner of spirit you are of.” Luke 9:55
You see, the problem for James & John (and for Peter as well) was that they forget who they were. They forgot who they belonged to. They forgot that this wasn’t how Jesus did things
They were used to the idea that if someone hurt their Jesus, they were going to hurt them.
And are we any different? If someone attacks our Jesus, attacks our faith, attacks our church… don’t we get angry and almost violent? I don’t know about you… but I’ve been that way.
But, we are called to be different. Called to a different way of dealing with this world. Because we belong to Jesus Christ.
As Paul wrote: “though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
(II Corinthians 10:3-5)
Why do fight differently than the world does? Because “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)
The reason Peter lost his fight that day was that he forgot who he belonged to. And he tried to fight the battle his own way, doing everything HUMANLY possible to defend Christ, rather than doing that which was DIVINELY required. That’s why he failed. And that’s the 1st thing I want you to see.
2nd – In spite of the fact that Peter failed Jesus, his failure wasn’t permanent.
I believe Peter nearly gave up on following Jesus’ after that fateful night
I believe he had determined that Jesus could never ever trust him again
There’s even a possibility that after Jesus from the dead, Peter had intended to back to fishing again, rather than embarrass Jesus ever again as he had that night at the fire
Part of the reason I believe that is found in John 21.
Where we’re told of Peter sitting at another campfire with Jesus
At that other campfire in the High Priest’s courtyard, Peter had denied Jesus 3 times
Now, at this campfire, Jesus gives Peter 3 chances to tell him he loves Christ
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly LOVE (agape) me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I LIKE (phileo) you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." John 21:15
Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly LOVE me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I LIKE you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." John 21:16
The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you LIKE me?"
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you LIKE me?"
He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I LIKE you."
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. John 21:17
At that first campfire, Peter had failed Jesus because he had tried to do things his own way, using his own plans and his own strength
That might happen to you and me as well. There may come a time when we’ll fail Jesus – just like Peter did. We’ll embarrass God so badly that we won’t think He’ll ever forgive us again.
That’s when we need to realize that he forgave Peter… and that means He can forgive us too.
CLOSE: Gary Inrig, in his book "Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay” Tells the story of a very capable evangelist that God had used in a significant way in the British Isles. But he lost his interest in spiritual things and drifted into a life of sin, for a number of months. Some of his sin was done in secret but ultimately, it became public knowledge and even made the headlines. At first, all he could think of was that he had been ruined for life, but, finally, he realized what a fool he had been, and he came back to God like the prodigal from the pigpen.
When he did that, he found exactly the same thing the prodigal did. The Lord welcomed him with open arms and began to strengthen and bless him. Finally, after a period of waiting, he felt pressed back into a public ministry. He was afraid that his sin would be found out and brought up all over again, but after he felt sure it was hidden and tucked away in the past, he went back to preaching, rejoicing in the forgiveness of God.
One night, when he was in Aberdeen, he was given a sealed letter. Just before the service began, he read the unsigned letter. It described a shameful series of events he had been engaged in. His stomach churned as he read it. The letter said, "If you have the gall to preach tonight, I’ll stand and expose you."
He took that letter and went to his knees. A few minutes later, he was in the pulpit. He began his message by reading the letter, from start to finish. Then he said, "I want to make it clear that this letter is perfectly true. I’m ashamed of what I’ve read, and what I’ve done. I come tonight, not as one who is perfect, but as one who is forgiven." God used that letter and the rest of his ministry as a magnet to draw people to Jesus Christ.
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES
Rocky – Preparing for the Fight (Matthew 16:13-28)
Rocky II – The Real McCoy (Matthew 17:1-9)
Rocky III – KO’d (Luke 22:31-62)
Rocky VI – The Comeback Kid (Acts 4:1-31)
