Good morning. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 17. Hymn number 17. Come Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount I'm fixed upon
it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
to thy help I'm come. And I hope I find good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home Jesus sought me when a stranger Wandering
from the fold of God He to rescue me from danger interposed his
precious blood. O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
255. 255. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. O one of four days of glory divine,
heir of salvation, Purchase of God Born of His Spirit Washed
in His blood This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst
on my sight. Angels descending ring from above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of
love. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Perfect submission, all is at
rest. I in my Savior am happy and blessed,
watching and waiting. Looking above Filled with his
goodness Lost in his love This is my story This is my song
Praising my Savior All the day long This is my story This is
my song, praising my Savior all the day long. Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14. Blaine and Shelby, Shannon, excuse
me, brought that little fella we've been praying for service
this morning, out to open heart surgery. I just, blessed my heart
to see that little fella come in here. Still got the tape over
his chest, you know, where they opened up his. Happy little fella, too, just
grinned. I said, boy, we've certainly been
praying for you, and still gonna continue to pray for you. Pray
for them. I've got a very unusual message
this morning. I hope it'll be a blessing to
you. Because I'm going to deal with
a fellow named Simon Peter and why he fell, what made him fall. But I'm going to be reading a
few verses here and then I'm going to jump from place to place
in Mark chapter 14. Watch with me now and start reading
in verse 27 down through verse 38. And Jesus saith unto them, All
ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written,
I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said unto him, Although
all shall be offended, Yet, not I. And Jesus saith unto him,
Verily I say unto you, say unto thee, that this day, in this
night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me three times,
thrice. But he spake the more vehemently,
If I should die with thee, I will deny thee in any wise. I will
not deny thee in any wise, in any way, under no circumstances.
likewise also said they all. And they came to a place which
was named Gethsemane, and he saith to his disciples, Set ye
here while I pray. And he taketh with him Peter,
and James, and John, and to beget sore amazed, and to be very heavy. And saith unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful unto death. Tear ye here, and watch. And
he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed
that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And
he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take
this cup away from me, and nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou
will. And he cometh and findeth them
sleeping. and saith unto Peter, Simon,
sleepest thou? Couldst thou notest watch one
hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter
into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but
the flesh is weak. Now look down with me in verse
50. And they all forsook him and
fled. And there followed him a certain
young man having a linen cloth cast about his naked body, and
the young man laid hold on him. And he left the linen cloth and
fled from them naked. And they led Jesus away to the
high priest, and with him were assembled all the chief priests
and the elders and the scribes. And Peter followed him afar off. even unto the palace of the high
priest, and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire. Now look down at verse 66. And
as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids
of the high priest. And when she saw Peter warming
himself, she looked upon him and said, Art thou also with
Jesus of Nazareth? But he denied, saying, I know
not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out
unto the porch, and the cock crew. And a maid said unto him,
and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And he denied it again, and went
a little after. And they stood by and said again
to Peter, Surely thou art one of them, for thou art a Galilean,
and your speech agrees thereto. But he began to curse and to
swear, I know not this man of whom you speak. And the second
time the cock crew and Peter called to mind the word that
Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crowed twice, thou shalt
deny me three times. And he went, when he thought
thereon, he went and wept. The margin said he wept abundantly
or began to weep. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed,
glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, the one to whom
we wish to worship, to honor and glorify and trust his blessed
and precious word. Lord, we thank you for the day.
Oh, what a day you've given us. And Lord, we thank you for it.
We thank you that you've kept us another week, that you kept
us in our right mind, you kept us strong, you kept us healthy,
you kept us believing you, you kept us pleading to you, calling
on you and looking to you. And, Lord, we know that it's
by your grace, know it's by your power, know it's by your blessed
purpose given us in Christ even before the world ever began.
And, Lord, we pray that you'd be pleased to cause the gospel
to run well here today, that the words that we'll deal with
today will be a blessing, will be an encouragement, will be
some kind of a teaching, a help, and a hope to help us understand
what we're really like. And our Lord Jesus, I pray for
those who are not with us today because of sickness or providence,
but I especially pray for this congregation gathered here today.
Please bring glory to yourself through this message, and God
bless these dear saints. And Lord, those that's never
yet believed on Christ, never yet confessed their faith in
Christ, They may be a believer yet. They may have some understanding. They may wait for some reason
to confess their faith in Christ. Lord, take away every reason,
remove every stone, remove everything out of their path that would
keep them to coming to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Please,
O Lord, meet with us today and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand together and sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Oh, what shall we do, our Savior
to praise? So faithful and true, abounding
in grace. so strong to deliver, so good
to redeem, the weakest believers who rest upon Him. How happy the man whose heart
is set free. The people be joyful, be joyful
in thee. Their joy is to walk in the light
of his face, and sweetly to rest in His comfort and grace. Their daily delight shall be
in His name. They shall by His grace His righteousness
claim. This righteousness wearing, and
cleansed by His blood, O shall they appear in the presence of
God. Our Savior alone, the Lord let
us bless, Who reigns on His throne, the Prince of all peace, who
evermore saves us by shedding His blood. All hail, blessed
Savior, our Lord and our God. Be seated. All right, look with me back
here in Mark chapter 14. You know, this is a kind of a
warning message, I think. I believe it is. But as we follow the Apostle
Peter, as he goes step by step, as his downfall and his denial
of the Lord Jesus Christ, they have some great, great warnings
for us. Now, Peter was one of them fellas
that every time the Lord said something, he had something to
say about it. Every single time I Can show you that from the
scriptures, but whatever our Lord said he had some say about
it every time now I'm going to show you four places about Peter
before we get into the message look in chapter Luke chapter
5 and verse 2 Luke in chapter 5 Luke Verse 2 here with me Our Lord was preaching, and he saw two ships standing
by the lake, but the fishermen were going out of them and washing
their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's,
and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the
land, and he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now
when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into
the deep, and let down your nets for a draft. And Simon answered,
he said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night. You see,
you got to always say something negative to the Lord. He did
it. And have taken nothing. But he always ends up acquiescing.
And he said, nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the
net. And then when they did this,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in the net break. And
they beckoned to their partners, which are the other ship, and
they came and helped him, and they filled both ships, so that
they began to seek. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell
down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man. He understood how sinful he was
to question the Lord. Now look over in Matthew chapter
16. Look in Matthew chapter 16. There's so many things about
Peter I can identify with him in so many ways. But look in
verse 13. In verse 13. And when Jesus came into the
coast of Caesarea, Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying,
Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, some
say that thou art John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah,
so one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter's first one jump
up, said thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And
our Lord said, Simon, you are blessed, you are blessed, for
flesh and blood didn't show you this, but my Father revealed
it unto thee, my Father which is in heaven. And he said, now,
go down here in verse 20, and then he charged his disciples
that they should tell Mo-Man that he was Jesus the Christ.
And from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples
how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the
elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be
raised again the third day. Then, listen to this, then Peter
took him, and began to rebuke him. Be it far from thee, Lord, this
shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter,
get thee behind me, Satan. You're an offense unto me. For
you don't enjoy the things of God, but you say you enjoy the
things of men. And all look down over, now look
with me in John chapter 13, and then I'm gonna get into this
message. John chapter, I want you to, I want to set this up
to show you what a, how every time the Lord said something,
Simon Peter had something to say. Look down in verse 4 with me. Now our Lord Jesus is getting
up and He rises from supper and laid aside His garments and
took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poureth water
into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe
them with the towel wherewith He was girded. Then cometh he
to Simon Peter, and Peter said unto him, Lord, do you wash my
feet? Our Lord answered and said unto
him, what I do you don't know now, but you'll know hereafter. But Peter said unto him, thou
shalt never, he always had something to say, thou shalt never wash
my feet. Jesus answered, if I wash thee
not, you've got no part with me. Well, when he learned that,
he said, Lord, this works me all over. Start at my head, go
to my feet. That's what he said. Now, let's
go back to Mark chapter 14. We're going to follow Simon Peter
as he falls, downfall, his downfall, step by step in his denial of
the Lord and Master, our Lord Jesus. You know, falling away,
falling away is a process. It never happens all at once,
never happens all at once. There are steps that people take
as they gradually, gradually turn away and eventually leave
the Lord, leave the Lord Jesus Christ, leave the gospel, leave
his church. It was like an Eve in the Garden
of Eden. You know, the three things, the
several things she did that made her End up doing what she did
first of all Satan come in the form called him that old sluice
old serpent that old sleuth of the Satan that old serpent he
came and The first thing she did when he start talking to
her. She should have went said Adam I said told her husband
Adam come over here and talk to this fella She didn't do that
She listened to him And she said, Oh, listen. And then the first
thing he said was that she looked at that tree and she said, It's
good for food. And it looks like it's good.
She desired it. And then she said, That's good for food. And
oh, my. Then she began to desire. Then she took it and she ate
it. Nothing happened to her because
the commandment wasn't to her. It was to Adam. So she turned
around and gave that fruit to Adam. And we know the rest of
the story. We know the rest of the story.
And I tell you, that's exactly how she fell. Now look what happens.
And I tell you, those who fall away from the fellowship of Christ
and His church, they do it by steps. falling away has a something
inwardly long and I've said this before, if there's a weak spot,
if there's a bad spot, a dark spot in a man's heart and soul,
he'll walk away from Christ just as sure as God's on his throne.
If a man can walk away, he will. If a man can leave Christ, he
will. And if there's an inward disease in a man's heart, if
there's something wrong with his heart, and he's got some
disease in his heart, and I'll tell you what, It'll eat away
and weed away until he falls completely away. And our spiritual
well-being, the disease that this thing is called is self-will,
independence. Self is the motor raising reason. But let's follow Simon Peter
step by step. The first thing I want you to
notice about him here in verse 29, he says this, look at his
self-confidence. Although all everybody else,
every one of them else will be offended unto you, I won't. I
will not. You notice how he put I? Everybody
else can do it, but I won't. Oh, the self-confidence that
he had. Oh, you know what? And this is
the result of what I said in verse 27. Though all shall be
offended because of me this night. Our Lord said, let them all be
offended. I'm not gonna be offended. I'm not going to stumble over
you. I'm not going to have my feelings hurt. I'm not going
to be the one to fall. And oh my, this is, he's so self-assertive
here. He's had such confidence in himself. And what he was doing, he was
comparing himself with other believers. Oh my, he said, I'm
more trustworthy than they are. But oh, only a fool trusts in
his own heart. He said, if a man thinks he stands,
let him take heed, lest he fall. And Paul says, we're not those
who compare ourselves among ourselves, but there are people that compare
themselves among themselves. And he says, you know what? They're
not very wise. If we compare ourselves to each
other, we all come out pretty good. But God don't compare us
to one another. He compares us to his son. And
oh my, and then not only did he have self-confidence, look
at his boasting. And our Lord said to him in verse
30, truly I'm telling you Simon Peter, this day, today, even
this night, before the cock crow twice, you're going to deny me
three times. And oh, watch what he says. Oh,
he was proud and he boasted, look what he said, but he spake
the more vehemently. It upset him. I got to tell the
Lord that I got to make the Lord understand what I'm really like.
I got to let him know that that's really something to me. So he
had to boast a little bit about it. If I should die with you,
if I should die with you, I will not in any other circumstances
deny you. Oh, boasting. You know, somebody
that knows anything about grace, they just hate boasting. But
oh, my. And then it says there in the
same verse, every one of them said the same thing. All of them
said the same thing. And oh, but he spake the more
vehemently. And I told you that every time
the Lord said something, Simon Peter had something to say to
him. to try to correct him, or add to it, or tell him he didn't
agree with him. And oh my, he always had something
to say. And I'll tell you something about
him. He was unbelieving and ignorant of his own weakness. Unbelieving and ignorant of his
own weakness. Our Lord had already told him,
look with me, keep Mark chapter 14, look again in John chapter
13. Look in John chapter 13 with me. You know, our Lord in verse
36, our Lord had done told him that he was going to go away
and that he couldn't follow him. He done told him that. He said
here in John chapter 13 in verse 36, Peter saith unto him, Lord, where
are you going? Our Lord told him he's going
away. Jesus answered him, whither I go, you can't go. You can't
follow me now, but you'll follow me afterwards. Peter said unto
him, Lord, why can I not follow thee now? I will lay down my
life for your sake. Our Lord answered him, will you
lay down your life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto you
before the cock crow, twice you will deny me three times. Oh,
my. Our Lord says, you can't go up
there with me. You're going to deny me. You can't go where I'm
going. You can't go this. And I tell
you, proud, proud boasting, that's a mark of the last days. You
know, the people that brag and boast is unbelievers. He says, you know, they're heady,
high-minded, proud, lovers of themselves, boasters, heady,
high-minded. And one of the things that Paul
says, you know, said, they boast of themselves. And the worst
thing that a believer can do is brag. Brag, what do we got
to brag about? Sing that old song over the old
rugged cross, I lay my trophies down, we got no trophies. We
ain't got nothing. And oh my, what are we gonna
talk, you know, James said, this tongue is a
little bitty member, but it boasts great things. And when it starts
boasting of great things, you know what it does? It sets on
fire. It kindles a fire. This old tongue
will kindle a fire. And oh my, most men, the proverb
says this, most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness. But
a faithful man, where can you find? And, oh my, all self-boasting
is a contradiction to God's Word. He says, you know, that He gave
everything to Christ, and He says that everything is in Christ,
that no flesh, 1 Corinthians 1.30, no flesh should glory in
His presence. God said, I will not let anybody
boast in My presence. And I tell you what, you know,
I'm used to being around people that brag and boast. The religious
world brags and boasts. This thing up here, they put
some of the most dumbest things up. They said, you know, if you're church shopping, if
you're church shopping, we're open on Sundays. Walmart's open
on Sunday. What a, what a, you know, that's
boasting, bragging. And oh, listen, people wanna,
you know, boasting is, look what I've done, look what I've accomplished,
look at my life, look at what I've done with my life. You know,
a fella told me one time, you couldn't, you wouldn't believe
how many churches I've helped established in my lifetime. And people get on buses and go
out and start walking the streets and winning people to Jesus.
And then they come back, how many did you win? I won 12. Brag about the most ungodly things
that there is possible. How many confessions did you
get out of church this morning? Oh, we had 12 come forth. We had 12 come to Jesus today. But the fact is that Christ's
got to come to you. But that's what people do. They
do this stuff to brag, to boast. Oh my. And then look what he did and
watched. Look down at verse 37. Now our
Lord Jesus, oh my. And he cometh and told Simon,
Peter, James, and John says, now you all sit here and watch
while I pray. I want you to watch while I pray.
And then he comes and he comes and findeth them sleeping. And saith unto Peter, Simon,
sleepest thou? You sleeping? Couldn't you watch
just one hour? Couldn't you watch just one hour?
And, oh, watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation. Truly
the spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak. And our Lord warned
him, warned him, warned him about how weak the flesh is, how the
spirit really is ready. But pride and self-confidence
are sure to lead to unwatchfulness. Oh, my. And I tell you what,
you know, Psalm 13.3, you know what it says? Oh Lord, oh Lord, don't let me
sleep the sleep of death. Now I know these bodies get tired
and I know sometimes people have a hard time, you know, but I'm
telling you what, he said, that's one thing to fall asleep under
the preaching, but it's another thing to sleep the sleep of death. When you sleep, when you sit
there and listen, you're asleep and you ain't paying attention
to anything that's said. And next thing you know, you sit
there and you're asleep and you leave Christ and Christ does
not mean anything to you. Oh, my. And he says, watch and
pray. When should we watch? When should
we watch? Huh? All the time. All the time. And you know who
you need to watch more than anybody else? Yourself. Yourself. And oh my, watch all
the time. All the time. If you're in poverty,
watch. If God's blessing you, watch.
In sickness, watch. In health, watch. When times
are good, watch. When bad times come, watch. When
you're weak, watch. When you're strong, watch. Oh,
my. And when you're in the light,
watch. When you're in the darkness,
watch. There's never a time that we shouldn't watch. Watch the
world. Watch your heart. Watch your
mind. Watch your language. Watch your eyes. Watch your mouth. There's a lot to watch, ain't
there? Oh, I'll tell you something.
Those, those who are consciously weak are the ones who lean hard
on the Lord. Oh, Scott Richardson used to
preach about, you know, laying your head on a sacrifice. He
said, those that need Christ and those that are sinful, those
that are weakest, they lean the hardest on that head. Lean hard. And those, beloved, are the weakest.
They lean the hardest on the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, my. And when somebody's
asleep, These fellows were asleep and they were insensible. They
did not see what Christ was going through in that garden at night.
They didn't see Christ crying. They didn't hear Christ weeping.
When a person's asleep, they're not conscious what goes on around
them. And they missed our Lord falling down. They missed our
Lord's weeping. They missed our Lord's begging. They missed our Lord's prayers. because they were asleep. I don't want to miss anything
about Christ, do you? Huh? Oh, now, look at the next one
down. Look in verse 54 with me. You know, they led Jesus away.
He has two men. There's two men here. That young
man, verse 51, that was following him, and, uh, They seem to think that's Mark,
the one that wrote this book. Because they didn't tell who
it was. It said just a certain young man. John was with Christ
in the garden. Here in the garden. So it was
probably John Mark. But anyway, they started to lay
hold on him. Because why? He was walking along
with Christ. And when they started getting
hold of him too, he jerked that clothes off and he run off naked. The young man laid hold on him,
he left the cloth and fled from them naked. And they gathered
around Christ, and oh my, he became ashamed. And look what
it says, Peter followed him afar off. Followed him afar off. You know, when our Lord was so
popular, I mean the crowds gathered around him. You know, he had
to go out in that ship and there was such a crowd that he had
to go out in ships a couple of times to preach to the people.
Went up on a mountain one time and all them. And one time he
fed over 5,000 people. 5,000 people he fed them. Another
time he fed over 4,000. So our Lord Jesus was real, real
popular. Crowds gathered around him. He
couldn't even eat sometimes. They said they couldn't eat sometimes
because of the crowds around him. Crowds around him. But he's not so popular now.
Where's the crowds at? Where's all them people that
he fed? Where they at now? And here's Simon Peter. He's not so popular anymore with
everybody. But what happened? Peter follows
afar off. I don't want to be identified
with him. I don't want to be identified
with Christ. Don't want to be identified with
him. Huh? Oh my. What an awful thing to
think. Not be identified with Christ?
not be identified with that lowly Nazarene. And he said he followed
him afar off. Oh my. A professing Christian is far
off when he's ashamed of our Lord and ashamed of his word. Ashamed to be identified with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. I wonder how far off some of
us really are. It'd be awful to be far off from
the Lord. The only other person that was
as far off as you can find in the scriptures was the prodigal
son. He was so far off that he couldn't get back by
himself. Well, here's Simon Peter. He's far off. Far off. There goes the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's just back it up. Get away from him. They've got him bound. A whole
crowd of people that hate him are following him. Wait a minute. I don't want to suffer. I don't
want to be identified with him. I don't want people to understand
that I'm a believer, that I'm a Christian. and that my life
is identified with Christ, his cross, and what he did on that
cross, that how could I be a far off when he died for my sins? How could I be a far off when
he says, Simon Peter, you're blessed because you said you're
of the Christ? Flesh and blood didn't make you
understand that, my father, which isn't, Peter, where are you,
where are you, where are you? Back here. Stay back here. Oh, I tell you
what, whenever you start neglecting God's Word, whenever you give up prayer, and you give up the company,
and you start finding company more in the world than you do
with Christ, I tell you, it won't be long before you'll be leaving.
you'll forsake Christ, you'll follow him afar off. And oh my,
then let me show you another one. Worldliness, again, look down
at 54. And look what he says, Peter
followed him afar off, look at what, even under the palace of
the high priest. And look what the last line says,
and he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. What did it say? Sat with the
high priest servants and warmed himself at their fire. Oh, my goodness. That's, it's cold. Oh, this is in April. This is
in the month of April when this took place. And here it is, it's
cold. And I tell you what, and he fell
in company with those who hated Christ and his people. Christ is being brought in there
to be put on trial. And he comes up, and they've
got a fire. They got a fire in that hall. He walks up there, it's cold,
and he starts getting up there like this, rubbing his hands,
and holding them over the fire, and all turns his back to the
fire. You know, everybody, you know, when you used to have fireplaces,
you turn your back to it, and you turn your side to it, and
you turn everywhere in the world, trying to get warm. Well, that's
what he was doing. But he was warming himself at
those who hated Christ, Oh my, I tell you what. Oh, this is
worldliness of its worst kind. And this is the palace of the
high priest. Yeah, how many preachers live
in palaces? There's preachers that's worth
hundreds of millions of dollars. Hundreds of millions of dollars. Simon, Peter, and John, when
that fellow sitting at the beautiful gate, when they went up to pray,
he said, you know, held his cup out and said, give me an arm,
said Peter, said silver and gold. I ain't got any of that, but
I'll tell you what I have. But oh, at this particular time,
when a man falls out of company and fellowship with the Lord's
people, they'll end up finding their company among those who
don't know Christ. If you like to be with those
who don't know Christ more than you like to be with the Lord's
people, you got problems, real problems, real problems. Oh, my. And warm yourself at
the enemy's fire. You know, the world is ruled
by three principles. The world is ruled by three principles.
The first one is the lust of the flesh. Paul said, whose God
is their belly. The lust of the flesh means that
you want to indulge the flesh. You want to satisfy the flesh.
You want to meet the needs of the flesh. You want to pamper
this flesh. And then the lust of the eyes.
Now, I'll tell you what that means, not what your eye sees,
but if your eyes see something that'll make you look good. Something that'll make, boy,
if I got that, people say, boy, look at that fella. Boy, that's
the nicest suit I ever seen. And we go and we say, boy, I
gotta have that name brand now. I want everybody to see that
I can afford the best brand names that there are. That's what we want. That's what we want. They're all the
eyes. If I can just get people to look
at me, see me, be impressed with me. Do you know who I know? Oh, listen, I know some folks,
buddy. They always tell about who they
know and who they're with and what they're doing and where
they're gonna go. all the things that they're gonna do in this
world. And it bothers me. But then there's the pride of
life. Oh, I've done it. I have really
done it. I'm a self-made man. I pull myself
up by my own bootstraps. You know what Spurgeon said about
a self-made man? He said, he's a poorly made man.
And a self-made man is a poorly, poorly made man. Oh, I'd rather be made in Christ
and before Christ and be made in Christ and be made a believer
than anything in this world. It's like that song that Houston
and Kim sang. I'd rather have Jesus than riches
untold than palaces and kings. I'd rather have the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you know, James said it like
this, he said, to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy
of God. Now I'm gonna tell you what worldliness
is, and I hope you can pay attention to this. If you don't get it,
get the, watch it later. Worldliness, worldliness means
yielding, giving over to the spirit that animates and causes
fallen mankind to live by. What man in his fallen state
animates him. And you know what animates and
causes people of the world to do? They're self-seeking. Always self-seeking. Self-seeking. And they self-indulge. They're self-indulgence. And
they do all that without any regard to God whatsoever. They,
you know, whose course is according to this world, the spirit that
works now in the spirit of disobedience. They do everything in this world
without regard to God. Now, how in the world could we
do something without regarding God? Could we do anything without
regarding God? Huh? Then, oh my! And whether a man
is worldly or not depends not on how much enjoyment he takes
from the good and pleasant things. We as believers, I am grateful
for everything God gave me. He's made my life very pleasant.
He's made my life very enjoyable. He's made my life Full, if I
can say it like that. I could not dream as big as what
God's done for me. I couldn't do it. And I enjoy
my brothers. I enjoy my home. I enjoy my wife. I enjoy you. I enjoy the gospel. I enjoy God's peace. I enjoy
going in a nice comfortable bed and sleeping in it at night.
I enjoy the simple things in life. I enjoy setting down to
a good meal. But oh my, it's not how much
a man is worldly, it depends not on how much enjoyment he
takes from the good and pleasant things of this life, but on the
spirit in which he takes it. If all the things that you have
enslaves you and makes you a slave to what you have, then you got
an idol on your hands. And you got an idol in your hand,
heart. Huh? Oh my. This is what the scripture said,
if you be dead with Christ, set your affection, not your affections,
your affection on things above, not on things of this earth.
For when Christ, Christ who is our life, shall appear, then,
then shall we also appear with him. Oh my, oh my. Paul said this, he said, all
things are lawful for me. He said, there's not nothing
that God would not let me have, that's not lawful for me to do,
not right for me to do. But he said, but everything's
not expedient, everything's not profitable for me. That's why
he said also, he said, if meat offends my brother, I'll not
eat meat while I'm around him. If something I do offends my
brother and he's weak, then I'll be the strong one and I won't
offend him with what I'm doing. But everything's not expedient.
There's things that we're lawful to do, but you gotta be careful
where you do them and who you do them with. What I'm telling
you is that everything's not profitable for us to do it. People
say, well, I think I need to tell them this, that, and the
other. Would it be profitable to them or you? Oh, my. Oh, a Christian, if he's worn
indeed, he must be awful, awful cold to have to be at the devil's
fire and get warmed. And then, oh, my, look at his
denial down here in verse 66. one of the maids, and as Peter
was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the
high priest. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she saw
him warming himself, oh my, and she looked upon him and said,
thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. And he denied saying, I don't
know what you're talking about and I don't understand what you're
saying. And he went out onto the porch
and the rooster crowed. You know, that made him a liar.
He become a liar right then and there. You know, he became a
liar. He said, I'll not deny you under
no circumstances. I'll die with you. I'll never
deny you. He became a liar right then and
there. He lied to himself, he lied to her, he lied before God,
he lied. Oh my, huh? Oh how his conscience
must have bothered him when he done that, must have tormented
him. And while he was warming himself, and I'll tell you what,
look what else, his heart's prepared to deny the step deck down. And
I tell you, he goes on down there and said, the maid saw him again,
say them stood by, this is one of them. He said, no, I'm not. And another one comes and says,
surely you're a Galilean, your speech betrays you. Oh my. And you know, a man can
deny his master, not just with his lips, but with his wicked
works. And our Lord said, he that denies
me, I'll also deny him. You deny me and I'll deny you.
And then look how reckless, oh my, this is the seventh, eighth
step down. Look how reckless he was. And he began to curse. You know,
over in 29, he says, although all shall be offended, I'll not
be offended, I won't. But then look what he says, verse
71. Oh my, he began to curse and
to swear. He began to use language you
ought not use. He began to swear when our Lord
told him not to swear. Don't swear by heaven, that's
the Lord's throne. Don't swear by earth, because
the earth is the Lord's. Don't swear by a hair on your
head, don't swear. Just let your yea be yea and
your nay be nay. But oh my, he said, he began
to curse and swear. Now he's so easily offended look
what happens here, and he's began to curse and swear I know not
this man of whom you speak You start using language Start swearing that you ought
not use, it won't be long, won't be long before somebody say,
boy, what, I thought you was a believer. Oh, my. Now he's so easily offended,
falls into open profanity. And I tell you what, if God does
not stop a man before he goes this far, it won't be long before
he'll completely go back into the world. Go back into the world. But, thank God, thank God, look
what happens. Verse 72, And the second time
the rooster crowed, Peeper called to his mind the word that Jesus
said unto him before The cock crowed twice. You'll deny me
three times. And look what it says. And when
he thought their own, he began to cry. He began to weep. He began to cry. Now I want you
to look with me over here in Luke chapter 22. Oh, this is
some wonderful stuff over here. This is a good way to end this
message. I hope it is. He called to mind the word that
God had said to him. the word the Lord had said to
him. Oh, my. Look down here in verse 60 with
me. And Peter says, I know not what
thou sayest. And immediately while he spake,
the cock crew. Now listen to this now. And the
Lord turned and looked upon Peter. Ain't you glad God sees us when
we're at our worst? The Lord looked and looked upon Peter, and Peter
remembered the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cock crow,
you'll deny me three times. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. The Lord brought him to repentance. The Lord brought him to where
he was so sorry his heart was tore out of him. He began to
weep and weep so bitterly. He said, oh, wept and wept and
wept and wept. I bet he soaked the front of
his clothes with how many tears he shed. When he thought about
what he had done, he wept bitterly. He wept abundantly. And look
now back with me back here in verse 31 and 32 of Luke 22. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may see you
as wheat. Look what he said. But I prayed for you. I prayed
for you. I prayed for you that your faith
does not fail. You know why he did not fall
away? Because the Lord said, I prayed
for you. Your faith would have failed
you if I hadn't prayed for you. And how many times, how many
times, as our Lord interceded for us in such an awful, awful
shape. It was by the word of Christ
and the look of Christ that brought Peter to repentance. And he remembered,
and he remembered. And oh my, look back over here
at Mark chapter 16 with me, and then chapter 16, and then I'm
done. I hope so. You know, when he
said, I'll go before you. Oh, God help us remember the
Lord. You know, the Lord put these
things in the scriptures to warn us. He has all these wonderful
promises, but he has that all hedged up with warnings on one
side and promises on the other. But look what he said here in
verse seven of Mark 16. Now this is after our Lord resurrected.
He said, I'll meet you, I'll go before you. He done told him
that in Mark chapter 14. But go your way and tell his
disciples, talking to Mary and Peter, be sure and tell Peter. Be sure and tell Simon Peter
now that I go before you in the Galilee and you shall see him
as he said unto you. Oh, if we didn't have that Christ
praying for us, if we didn't have the promise
that Christ would go before us, what an awful state we'd be in.
Sitting under the sound of the gospel three times a week and
hearing preachers on the internet and listening to them on sermon
audio with all the preaching we listened to. You know why
we need it? Because we understand just how
weak we really are. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for meeting
with us today. Thank you for your word. I pray
that we learn some things from it. and that we had never, ever
have any confidence in this flesh. Never trust in ourselves in any
way. Just trust you. Trust your word. Trust your promises. Trust your
warnings. Trust your rebukes. Trust your
corrections. Thank you for your instruction
in righteousness. God bless us to the hearts and
our understandings. Bring glory to yourself and Lord,
We'll thank you even before we go back today for the food that's
been prepared for us, for this meal we're fixing to enjoy that
the men and women of this congregation have prepared, the care, the
love, the desire to feed the Lord's people. We thank you for them. We thank
you for the food. We thank you for the people who
prepared it. and bless our time together this afternoon as we
eat and enjoy our fellowship together. Spread glory to yourself
through us, and whatever way seemeth good in your sight, according
to your will, in grace and mercy, in Christ