A Study of the Book of Luke
Sermon # 63
“Failure Is Not Fatal If … ”
Luke 22:54-62
Do you realize that although there are
winners at the Olympic games every four years, 90% of the best athletes in the world did not win a medal. Like them, many of us try, but never win. Work has not become what we had hoped. Things do not turn out as we were led to believe. Marriages begun in hope have ended in tears. Our children are a constant concern despite our hopes for them. Politicians disappoint us. Friendships are betrayed. Prayers do not seem to be answered. Even those things that we do manage to achieve often disappoint us. The sense of failure is never far from the surface.
The Bible records many failures because it records life as it is. The Bible is about real people. Some of the biblical failures are today only remembered for their successes, but before there was success, there was failure. One such story is before us today in the story of Peter’s fall.
Jesus has been betrayed by Judas and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. In verse fifty-four we read, “Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed at a distance.”
Jesus has been arrested and then hauled off
to the home of the high Priest. Peter follows at a distance and ends up in the courtyard of the high Priest where he warms himself around a fire with some strangers.
We need to be careful to not be too hard on Simon Peter. The story of the arrest of Jesus shows that he was a man of great courage. In Luke 22:50, when the authorities came to arrest Jesus it was Peter alone who grabbed a sword to defend Jesus. In his ill conceived attempt he not only displayed courage but in the process chopped off the ear of high priest’s servant. I really believe that Peter would have died at that time to defend Jesus.
But we are told that when Jesus was arrested Peter “followed at a distance.” Even that must have taken courage. To be fair to Peter he is not the only disciple standing as far away as possible. All those who knew Him, including the many women, watched from a distance. He could just as well have fled like the other disciples, but he does not do that. He goes after Jesus. At a distance perhaps, but he is still there.
He also manages to worm his way into the courtyard area of the place were Jesus is being held (the courtyard of the high Priest). Verse fifty-five says, “Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.” That took courage because the High Priest at the time was a man by the name of Caiaphas. In fact there was no more dangerous place that Peter could have been at that moment than the courtyard, among the soldiers and where Peter could have easily been identified as a disciple of Jesus. It is amazing that he came here and even more amazing that he stayed there even after he had been spotted and identified by a servant girl.
Verse fifty-six tells us the story of his first denial, “And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, "This man was also with Him." (57) But he denied Him, saying, "Woman, I do not know Him." Peter’s answer sounds much like the kids of today when they answer, a question with exclamation,
“Not!” In the original Greek his answer begins with “not,” the emphasis is not on the personal pronoun “I” or on the action verb “know” but literally reads, “Not I know Him, woman.”
Sometime later, someone else (a man this time) repeats the charge in verse fifty-eight, “You are also one of them.” Peter instantly replies, “Man I am not!” or literally “Man, NOT I am!” Peter not only denies being one of his disciples but of even knowing Jesus.
The final denial follows about an; hour later and is revealed in verse fifty-nine, “another (allos – another man) confidently affirmed, saying, "Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean." Matthew’s account (Matt 26:73) adds the detail that it is Peter’s accent that has given him away. Just as you don’t have to spend too much time with any us to tell that we are not from New Jersey, the old southern accent comes through. Huddled around the fire in the high priest courtyard, his accent had become a liability because it had associated him with Jesus of Nazareth. In verse sixty Peter again denies his involvement when he says, "Man, I do not know what you are saying!"
What is encouraging about Peter’s story is that he learns from his failure, and that is the subject I want us to look at for the next few moments. Failure Is Not Fatal IF…
1. Failure Is Not Fatal IF… We Recognize that everyone fails. (v. 60) Nobody is perfect and everyone fails. Honestly face defeat and realize that just because you fail at one thing does not make you a failure.
At the very moment of his third denial the second half of verse sixty says, “Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.”
Jesus’ prediction that Peter would deny him three times comes to fulfillment.) It was earlier that same day that Peter was one of the first disciples, who had boastfully said: Matt. 26:33-35, “…‘Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.’ (34) Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’ (35) Peter said to Him, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.’ And so said all the disciples.”
Peter was absolutely confident of his loyalty
and strength. He was absolutely sure that he would never fail Jesus on a point of loyalty and courage. But as Peter is nearing the finish line he falters. Three times he denies Jesus before a few nameless people of no particular significance. At the moment we least suspect, Peter flounders. Peter had failed! Peter failed to tell the truth. He failed to keep his promise. He failed in his loyalty to Jesus.
Invariable we wind up doing something similar in our own spiritual lives. We start out well. We have the best of intentions. We are excited and we want to succeed in the faith. We have a desire to be faithful disciples of the Lord. Yet, so often we become distracted from the faith. We allow the wrong influences in our lives. And then we make a bad decision and as a result we experience failure.
Failure Is Not Fatal IF… We Recognize that everyone fails and….
2. Failure Is Not Fatal IF… We Remember that God’s Love and Forgiveness is not Dependent on Success. (v. 61)
No matter how you have failed, no matter what sin you have allowed into your life, the Savior who died for you still loves you. The story of Christianity is the story of failed men and women who found new futures.
In verse sixty-one we have a single sentence of explosive power: "The Lord turned and looked at Peter." Jesus turned and “looked at Peter." The Greek word used here is a word that denotes “intense looking.” It is used in one place in Scripture to describe the very first look of a blind man who has just been healed opening his eyes for the first time. As most of us married men know a single look can display a whole range of emotions. Was it disappointment and sadness, or compassion and understanding? What kind of look did Jesus give to Peter? We are not told, but whatever it was, Peter broke down afterwards. He went out and wept bitterly. As Warren Wiersbe points out, “It is to Peter’s credit that all that the Lord had to do was look at him to bring him to (the place of recognition of what he had done) repentance.” [Warren Wiersbe. Be Courageous. Luke 14-24 (Grand Rapids: Victor Books, 1989) p. 124]. Because no matter how effective “the look of Jesus would have been wasted on Peter if he had not been that Peter was looking at Jesus.” [G. Campbell Morgan. “The Gospel According to Luke.” (London, 1931) p. 312]
That was the turning point in Peter’s life.
Jesus had predicated a turning point back in Luke 22:32: “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” This is the turning point for it is at this point that the reminder of verse sixty-one tells us that, “… Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."
Failure Is Not Fatal IF… We Remember
that God’s Love and Forgiveness is not Dependent on Success and ….
3. Failure Is Not Fatal IF… We Learn and Grow From our Failures. (v. 62) Take advantage of your failure; don’t waste it. Learn all you can from it; every bitter experience can teach us something.
Verse sixty-two tells us that “… Peter went out and wept bitterly.” When it says that he “wept bitterly” it means that he wept with “great remorse.” As we have seen previously with Judas (Matt 27:2) remorse alone is not enough but the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 7:10, “For godly sorrow produces repentence leading to salvation….”
Failure Is Not Fatal IF… We Learn and
Grow From our Failures and …
4. Failure Is Not Fatal IF… We Put Our Failures behind Us. (John 21:15-18)
Each of us will at one time or another fail, sometimes we will even fail the LORD and when we do Satan will tell us that we are finished, that our future is destroyed, but that is not God’s message to us.
We must never use failure as an excuse for not trying again. Proverbs 24:16 reminds us, ‘For though a righteous man may fall seven times he rises again.” Everyone fails what we need to remember is that we do not have to stay down. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising each time we fall.” - Oliver Goldsmith
You may not be able to reclaim the loss, undo the damage, or reverse the consequences, but you can make a new start—wiser, more sensitive, renewed by the Holy spirit, and more determined to do right.
The best part of this sad story is that Peter’s story does end in verse 62. Peter did not have to live the rest of his life with a heavy burden of sorrow and regret. Instead Jesus reinstated Peter and asked him to become a leader of the church (John 21:15-18) “So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Feed My lambs." (16) He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My sheep." (17) He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep. (18) Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish."
Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. president: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they lie in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
Failure Is Not Fatal if –
We Recognize that Everyone Fails!
We Remember that God’s Love and Forgiveness Is not Dependent On Our Success!
We Learn and Grow From Our Failures!
We Put Our Failures Behind Us and Go On!
