What an amazing thought that
is, that the Lord would be pleased tonight to speak to our hearts. The passage I wanted to read
for our scripture reading is a promise to that very thing.
Let's turn our Bibles together to John chapter 10. John chapter
10. We'll begin reading at verse
14. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and have known
of mine. As a father knoweth me, even
so I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep." He didn't
die for everybody. He didn't die for the goats.
He died for the sheep. Another sheep I have, which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring." As you know the church began
with the Jewish congregation and he's referring now to the
Gentiles. He's referring to us. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold but I must bring them. I must. Can't fail. And they shall hear my voice
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd and they shall all
see eye to eye Therefore doth my father love me, because I
lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh
it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay
it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment
I have received of my father. In him is life, and the life
was the light of men. And there was a division, therefore,
again, among the Jews for these sayings, and nothing's changed. Still the same. Religious people
still divide over Christ. And many of them said, he hath
a devil, and is mad. Why hear ye him? And others said,
these are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil
open the eyes of the blind? No, he can't. And it was at Jerusalem,
the Feast of the Dedication, it was winter, and Jesus walked
in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt, if
thou be the Christ? Tell us plainly. Oh, he had made
it plain, but they couldn't hear. They had ears, but they could
not hear. And Jesus answered them, I told
you, and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not. Why? Because you are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand." Nobody can take Christ's
sheep away from Him. You can't take yourself away
from him. If you could, you would, but you can't. My father which
gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one." Good to have Ryan back. We missed
you, brother. Mary Wiginton just texted Tricia
a minute ago and said she was hoping to be here tonight, but
she wasn't quite up to it, but hoped to be here Sunday. So she's
recovering well. And Jennifer Dunbar's father
is still, is he still in ICU? He is in ICU in Gainesville. Let's pray together. Merciful Heavenly Father, we're
so very thankful that we can call You our Father and come
before You and know that we have acceptance before Thee in the
Beloved, the one that You love and the one that You have caused
us to love. We pray tonight that You would
give us ears to hear, Lord, that You would cause us to hear His
voice and that we would be refreshed and renewed and revived in our
hope and in our faith. We thank you for bringing Ryan
home to us safely and we pray Lord for Mary and for Jerry and
ask for your mercies to be upon them. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's all stand together again. We'll sing hymn number 225. I've titled the message tonight,
Unfailing Faith. Unfailing Faith. That's what
I need. I need a faith that won't fail.
Our text tonight comes from Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. Scripture says that there is
a sin which doth so easily beset us. The writer of Hebrews made
those words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He did not
have in mind different sins for different people. Every sin that
you and I commit is born out of the sin of unbelief. That is the mother of all sin. It is the The fountain for which
all pollutions come. Unbelief. And there's some of
it in every one of us. We cry with a man who said, Lord,
I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Lord, sometimes I feel like I'm
just hanging on by a thread. Lord, increase our faith. That was the prayer. And that's
our cry. like you and like me and like
every other child of God, had his struggles with unbelief. He didn't trust Christ. He trusted
himself. There was a debate going on among
the disciples as to who was going to be the greatest. And Peter
joined right in, thinking, surely it's going to be me. And the
Lord told Peter in verse 31, the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
Behold, Satan hath desired to have you." Satan hath desired to have you.
Surely this is what Peter referred to when he spoke of that roaring
lion that seeketh whom he may devour. He knew something of
the devouring powers of Satan. He knew something of the mortal
wounds that he could inflict and his need for the Lord to
restore him as a result of this very experience that now he's
about to have this night. Satan has desired to have you.
And he's a foe that we all deal with. He's the prince of the
power of the air. He takes advantage of the weaknesses
of our flesh. He presents his enticements in
such a way as to cause us to look away from Christ. He's real. He's not somebody you want to
contend with. He's more powerful than you.
More powerful than me. And the Lord tells Peter, Satan
has desired to have you. Now one thing I like about this
is that the devil is God's devil. And he's on God's leash. And
he can only do that which God allows him to do. Just like we
have the picture of him going before the Lord to tempt Job. And he had to get permission
from God for everything that he did. So here it's clear that
Satan had gone before the Lord and requested this affliction
for Peter. Satan's desired, he's asked me,
I would allow him to sift you like wheat, and I'm going to
use Satan in order to glorify myself. The wrath of man shall
praise me, and that with which remaineth I will restrain. What
I can't use for my glory, I'll restrain, but I am going to allow
him to bring some afflictions into your life. In the end, I'll
be glorified. Satan has desired to have you
that he may sift you as wheat. I'm going to allow him in his evil devices. He's really, everything he does,
he thinks he's doing it in a way that's going to dishonor the
Lord and the Lord turns it against him. The greatest example of
that is the crucifixion of Christ. Satan was involved in that. You know that. And he thought
that he had gotten the victory in killing God. And the very
crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ was to the glory of God
and to the salvation of his church. And that's the case everything
he does. Everything he does, God turns
it. to His glory. He's desired to sift you like
wheat. He wants to separate you out and destroy you, but I'm
going to use it to burn off some dross and to make your faith
more than it is. It's going to be tried with fire
and it's going to come out on the other end more pure than
it is now. And in verse 32 he says, but
I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. I'm so thankful that the Lord
didn't say I'm going to pray for, I've prayed for you that
you'll never do this again. I prayed for you that you'll
do better. I'll pray for you that you'll
learn your lesson and never need to be turned again." No, he didn't
say that. He said, I prayed for you that
your faith fail not. That's what I need. I need a
faith That though it's tried and tested, though Satan himself
has given permission to afflict it, though the weakness of my
flesh causes me to be attracted by things away from Christ, I
need a faith that will persevere, that will not fail. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. Now, this is the believer's life. Conversion is not a one-time
experience. You say, well, I've been converted, and I need to be converted again,
and again, and again, and again, and again. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the one to whom we are always coming in order to be turned. That's what the word conversion
here means. Jeremiah put it like this, Turn thou us unto thee,
O Lord, and we shall be turned. Lord, if you'll turn us, we'll
be turned. Renew our days as of old. You find yourself in need of
being continually turned? Do you find yourself to be a
perpetual backslider? Do you find yourself to be caught
up in the things of this world and lose sight of Christ? Do you find your faith wavering? Do you find sometimes the fear
of wondering if you have any faith at all? Well, the hope here is that true
faith cannot fail. It cannot fail. No man can pluck
them out of my hand. Now, how important is it for
us to be turned, to be converted? Peter, I'm gonna turn you, and
in a moment, we're gonna look at the means that the Lord uses
to turn us back to Himself. I wanna know, how does God turn
me? How does he bring me back into
fellowship with him when I lose sight of him? And the things
that he did for Peter, this is a pattern. This is the example
and the experience of every child of God. In our pride, we say,
Lord, I'll never forsake you. I can do this. I got this one.
I don't need you. And as soon as we begin to think
that way, the Lord allows us to fall, He allows us to fail
in order to show us our need for Him to turn us. Turn with me to Mark chapter
4. the most often Old Testament
passage quoted in the New Testament. I think it's quoted six times
in the New Testament. No other Old Testament passage
quoted that many times. It's from the prophecy of Isaiah
chapter 6 and it's also in that passage that we looked at Sunday
morning from Psalm 115. They will have eyes, but they
will not see. They will have ears, but they
will not hear. Feet have they, but they walk not. Look at verse
12 or verse 11. And he said unto them, they asked,
Lord, why do you speak to them in parables? And he said unto
them, unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom
of God, but unto them that are without, these things are done
in parables. It's not for them. I didn't come
for everybody. I'm not wringing my hands trying
to get everybody to believe me. I'm here to take care of my sheep.
And their faith will not fail. I've prayed for them. That seeing they may see and
not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand,
lest at any time they should be converted. If the Lord has
ever turned you one time, then you're turned for eternity. Lest at any time they should
be turned. See, they have ears, but they
never hear. They have eyes, but they never
see. But my sheep, they hear my voice. They see the truth
of who I am, and I turn them. And here's my hope, if the Lord's
ever turned me once, if He's ever turned me one time, if He's
ever converted me back to Himself, then I have the hope of believing
that what He started, He's going to finish. That my faith, though
it waver, though it be weak, though it be shameful sometimes,
it will fail not. It'll fail not. That's what I
need. I've got an easily besetting
sin in my heart. It's the sin of unbelief and
it manifests itself in so many ways. And yet the Lord's promise
is these things have been told unto you because you do have
eyes to see and you do have ears to hear. And if there's ever
been one time that you've been converted, then the hope is that
what he started, he won't stop. Lest they should at any time
be converted and their sins should be forgiven them. To be turned
is to have your sins forgiven, is to have them put away. To
be turned to Christ, to look to Christ in faith, is to believe
that he has satisfied the demands of God's justice and put away
your sins once and for all. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, it's the evidence of things not seen, it's looking
unto Jesus the author and the finisher of your faith who for
the joy that was set before him endured the shame of the cross
Faith is resting in, believing in, relying upon the Lord Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sin. Lord, I've got no place
else to go to get rid of this sin stain. There's nothing that will wash
it away other than the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
my only hope. In Acts chapter 3, when Peter
was preaching on the day of Pentecost, the first gospel message preached
in public after the ascension of Christ, and he concluded that
message with, repent ye therefore and be turned. It's the same word, be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out. So this matter of being
turned is a matter of looking to Christ for the forgiveness
of my sin. It's believing that His faithfulness,
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is relying upon His faithfulness. That's what it is. Turn with
me to Psalm 89. Psalm 89. Verse 24, But my faithfulness
and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn
be exalted. I will set his hand also in the
sea and his right hand in the rivers, He shall cry unto me,
thou art my father, my God, the rock of my salvation. Also, I
will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant
shall stand fast with him. This is God's promise to Christ. And our faith is believing that
God is faithful to his promises and that Christ was faithful
to accomplish that necessary to make those promises fulfilled. Look at verse 29. His seed also
will I make to endure forever and his throne as the days of
heaven. If his children forsake my law and walk not after my
judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments.
In other words, if they fall into unbelief, That's the cause
of all of our sin. Then will I visit their transgressions
with the rod and iniquity with their stripes. I'll chastise
them. I'll chastise them. Nevertheless,
Look at verse 33. Nevertheless, my loving kindness
will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the things that has gone out of my lips. Once I have
sworn by my holiness, that will not lie unto David. I will not
lie unto David. So in their unbelief, I'm going
to correct them, but that's a good thing. That proves that they're
my children. And I'm going to turn them and bring them back
to myself. And I'm not limited in the resources that I have
in accomplishing that end. Their faith will not fail. It
will not fail. I'll see to it. I've made a covenant. God Almighty has made a covenant
with Christ. Christ has ratified that covenant
by fulfilling all of its demands. And those for whom He died, they're
going to remain in the covenant. And they're going to believe.
They're just going to believe to the end. And every faltering
failure in their faith will be brought back and they'll continue
to be converted and they'll continue to believe and continue to be
turned. That's what I need. My experience
is that I need a promise like that. I need a God that will
do that for me. Because I can't keep myself. Jude said, he keeps us from falling
and presents us faultless before his throne of glory with much
joy. He's the one that keeps us. Lord,
would you keep me? I'm so much like Peter. So much
like Peter. I get caught up in what I think
I can do. I lose sight of who you are.
Then my pride and my fear of men My lust for the things of
this world? I find myself losing sight of
Christ? Lord, would you turn me again? Turn me, O Lord, and I shall
be turned." I prayed for you, Peter. I prayed
for you that your faith fail not. Now in Hebrews chapter 11
we have that great declaration of those Old Testament saints
that God calls faithful and true. They're faithful believers and
there's not one hint of unbelief mentioned in Hebrews chapter
11 but in every one of those characters if you go back to
their stories in the Old Testament you'll find that Well, Noah was
called a man of faith. Was he a man of faith when he
planted a vineyard and made wine and got drunk and was exposed
of his nakedness? Was he a man of faith then? Yeah. Your faith will not fail. Abraham. Shameful Abraham. Denied Sarah twice. Denied that
he was her wife before Pharaoh. And here's what the, when Pharaoh
asked him, why have you done this? He said, lest I die for
her. I was afraid you're going to
kill me and take her away from me. So I just denied she was
my wife. No mention of that in Hebrews
chapter 11. Sarah laughed at the promise
of God. No mention of that in Hebrews chapter 11. Isaac did the same thing with
Rebecca that Abraham did with Sarah. Apple doesn't fall far
from the tree, does it? No mention of that in Hebrews
chapter 11. Jacob, the supplanter. No mention of his failures in
Hebrews chapter 11. Why? Because in all their falterings,
in all their failures, in all their unbelief, their faith failed
not. They continued to believe God. Why? Because it was the faith that
God had given them. They had once been turned. And
once turned, you can't turn back. You can't go back. John makes
that clear, doesn't he? They went out from us because
they were never of us. And what are the means that the
Lord uses to keep his children in the faith? According to our
passage, Luke chapter 22, back in our text, the first one's
obvious. He prays for them. He prays for them. How many prayers
have you prayed in your life and the Lord has not answered?
Or by not giving you what you asked for, He answered but with
a no. Because you didn't know what to ask for. You prayed amiss,
as James said, that you might consume it upon your own lust.
You didn't know. You just had to say, Lord, if
it be Thy will. And our prayers are so weak and ineffectual. James also said the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Now who is
that righteous man? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Did he pray effectually? Did
he pray fervently? He said, Peter, I've prayed for
you. I've prayed for you. Is it possible that the Lord
Jesus Christ could offer a prayer to the Father and it not be answered? John chapter 17. Turn with me
there. I know you're familiar with this,
but I look at verse nine of John chapter
17. I pray for them. This is the
high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ interceding for
us before the father. And he says, father, I pray for
them. I pray not for the world. Not praying for everybody. If
he prayed for everybody, everybody would be saved. If he wanted
everybody to be saved, everybody would be saved. Somebody said,
if he didn't mention Lazarus' name there at the cemetery, the
graveyard, everybody would have come out of the tomb. But he
mentioned one specific name, didn't he? I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, but them which thou hast given me, for they are thine,
and all mine are thine, and thine are mine. I am glorified in them. I am no more now in the world,
but these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are one." Now that's a glorious prayer.
Lord, did you pray that for me? The fact that I can't stop believing
gives me hope that yes, He prayed that for me. Believers can't not believe. They just can't. They're always
trying. But He won't let them. He's prayed
for them. James said, oh, I love it, back
to Lazarus' tomb, when the Lord prayed to the father there an
audible prayer. And he said, father, I thank
thee that thou hast heard me, and I know that thou hast always,
that thou always hear me. But for their sake, I'm praying
it, so that they'll know where this is coming from. Father,
I thank Thee that Thou always hearest me." James said, if a brother or sister
be naked or destitute of food, and you say unto him, go in peace,
be filled and be warmed, and give them not those things that
are needful for the body, what good have you done for them? If you just say God bless you
or you just pray for somebody when you have the means to help
them and he goes on to say that kind of faith without works is
dead faith. I'm thankful that the Lord didn't
stop in just praying for us. He prayed for us and how wonderful
and powerful that is. But he didn't just stop there
with Peter. Look at Luke chapter 22. How does the Lord turn His children
back to Himself? How does He do it? It's all based
on the fact that He's hid them in Himself, He's interceded on
their behalf, He is their advocate before the Father who ever lives
to make intercession for them, He prays for them effectually
and fervently, and God honors that prayer. But He doesn't stop
there. Look what he did for Peter in
chapter 22 and verse 61, and the Lord turned and looked upon
Peter. Now the Lord is being moved from
one place to another. Peter now has already denied
the Lord. He's fulfilled that that prophecy that the Lord had
made that before the clock crows you'll deny me three times and
Peter is in great conflict and he sees the Lord having been
Scourged, having a purple robe, having his beard plucked from
his face, having been beaten to a pulp, looking like no man. There was no beauty in him that
we should desire him. And through those swollen, bloody
eyes, the Lord turns and looks at Peter. How did he look at him? Was it a condescending look of
disgust? Was it a look of disappointment?
Why would he be disappointed? Peter did exactly what he told
him he was going to do. He knew he was going to do it.
He wasn't disappointed. He wasn't disgusted. The means
that the Lord uses to bring us back to Himself is that He always
takes the first step to turn to us before we're able to turn
to Him. The Lord turned and looked at
Peter. If we're ever to be turned, If
the prophecy of Jeremiah has ever come true, turn us, O Lord,
and we shall be turned. Lord, you're going to have to
turn toward me before I can turn toward you. He always takes the first step,
and he looks upon us in mercy and in grace and in pity and
in love, and it's that look that breaks the heart and causes us
to confess our sin and brings us back to trust in Him once
again. Zacchaeus there in Luke chapter
19, and the Lord looked up and saw him. That man at the Pool of Bethesda,
the Lord saw a certain man. The Lord has to see me before
I can see Him. I know my sheep and am known
of them. He has to know me. He has to
look on me before I can look on Him. He has to turn and see
me and show me. Show me what He's done for me,
before I can turn towards Him. Turn with me to Zechariah. Zechariah, right there at the
end of the Old Testament. Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10. and I will pour upon the house
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that's the church,
you know that, the spirit of grace and supplication. I'm gonna
turn them. I'm gonna give them the spirit
of grace, free grace, and I'm gonna cause them to plead with
me, to supply them with faith. That's the spirit of supplication.
that we would cry out to him for him to supply us with our
need for faith. I'm going to give that to them.
They wouldn't do it if I didn't give it to them. And they shall
look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness
for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Oh, they're
not going to feel sorry for him. The Lord said, don't grieve for
me, don't feel sorry for me. There's enough of that going
on in the world already, isn't there? Everybody feeling sorry
for a little poor Jesus who wants to save everybody, but he just
can't get it done. He's not saying feel sorry for
me. He's saying that when I give them the spirit of supplication,
when I look upon them like I looked upon Peter, and I look upon them
in love and in grace and in pity and in mercy, and they're gonna
see what I've done for them and that's what's gonna break their
hearts. They're gonna grieve over their
sin when they see what I've done for them. So what does the Lord do to turn
his children? He prays for them He prays for them, He turns to
them before they can turn to Him. He takes the first step
and He declares to them His success in saving them. That will turn
you every time. That will turn you every time.
In Mark chapter 12, when the women came to the tomb and Mary
was standing there and the angel said unto her, Why seek ye the
living among the dead? He's not here, he's risen. Go
back and tell the disciples and Peter that he's risen. Tell Peter about the resurrection.
And when the Lord appeared in that upper room in Luke chapter
24, they thought it was a ghost. They thought their eyes were
deceiving them and he said to them, be of good cheer, it is
I. You got any fish? Give me a piece
of fish, I'll eat it, show you, I'm here in the flesh. And the scripture says that for
great joy they could not believe it. They were overwhelmed with
happiness. They couldn't believe that there
was the Lord in his resurrected glory standing in their very
presence. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ declares to His children that everything He set
out to do, He accomplished. And the Father rose Him from
the dead. And His resurrection, that's
our hope. Tell Peter that I'm not... Tell
Peter that He's risen. That'll turn Him. That'll turn
Him. That'll convert Him. Peter, I've prayed for you. Peter, I'm going to turn to you
first in grace and in mercy, and that'll break your heart
when you see what I've done for you. Peter, I'm going to send a message
of hope to you that I'm not among the dead. I'm risen. I'm alive. I've destroyed the works of Satan.
I've put away your sin. I've put them away. God's satisfied. That's what the resurrection
declares. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ declares
that God is completely satisfied with the sacrifice that Christ
made for the sins of His people. And all those sins have been
put away once and for all. It's the resurrection that men
mock and they still do. They still mock the accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They talk about the resurrection
as if it was a historical event, and they say, well, he's risen,
I believe that. But they don't know why. They
know the acts of God, but they don't know his ways. Tell Peter
that I've risen. Fourthly, John chapter 21. What did the Lord do to turn
Peter? Peter, I prayed for you that
your faith fail not. Peter, I'm going to restore your
faith. I'm going to renew your faith and I'm going to keep doing
it. I'm going to keep doing it. This wasn't a one-time experience. I'm going to look upon you I'm
going to send you a message of truth, declaring my accomplished
work in the resurrection. And in John chapter 21, verse
15, So when they had dined, Oh, Peter's about to eat more than
just the fish and the loaves that they sat around the fire
there at the Sea of Galilee and ate. That was just symbolic of
the bread of life that he was about to feast on. when they
had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, son
of Jonas, lovest thou me? Now when we read these three
times where the Lord seems to almost be interrogating Peter,
do you love me? Love me more than these? He wasn't
saying, do you love me more than these other disciples. Peter
had already said, I go a fishing. In other words, Peter thought
that all of his hopes and chances of ever serving God were lost
by what he had done. And he thought, I'm washed up. God's not going to be able to
use me. Look what I did. I denied him. I cursed him. I said I didn't know him. I'll just go back to my old profession.
And I'll trust in what I can do with my hands to catch fish
and provide for my family." And the Lord said, Peter, do you
love Me more than these? Do you trust Me more than these
nets and fishing and all this stuff? Yea, Lord, feed My sheep. And the second time, Peter, do
you love Me? Yes, Lord, feed my lambs. And the third time,
Peter, do you love me? And Peter was grieved that he
asked him the third time. Why did the Lord ask Peter three
times? Why did He ask him three times?
How many times did Peter deny the Lord just a few days earlier?
Three times. When we read this, it almost
seems like the Lord's getting Peter to search down deep into
his heart and try to determine how much love there is for Christ. You do that, you're going to
find yourself in a tailspin of discouragement and doubts and
fears if you try to evaluate your love for God. How much do
I love Him? Do I really love Him? And that's why Peter was asked
three times because the last time he said Pete, he said, Lord,
thou knowest. Thou knowest. Lord, I do love
you, but you know what my love is like. You know how fickle
it is. You know that I love you, but
you know how weak it is. And Lord, my love for you is based on your
love for me. We love Him only because He first
loved us. When the Lord asks you, do you
love me? It ought to cause you to consider
whether or not He loves you. Lord, do you love me? Lord, you
know. You know my heart. The fourth means that the Lord
uses to turn his children is to put the love of Christ in
their hearts by showing them his love for them. His love for
them. Peter, I haven't given up on
you. I haven't given up on you. I haven't given up on you, Bert.
Aren't you glad? Your faith's not going to fail. Say, well, that was the end of
that, right? I wish it was. Well, I'm glad it wasn't, actually,
because I find myself in need of being turned all the time. Years later, Galatians chapter
2, turn with me there. Peter, the one that had been
turned, The one that had been converted needed to be converted
again. He needed to be turned again. He was doing the same thing years
later in Antioch that he did when he denied the Lord that
fateful night of his crucifixion. He was doing the same thing. It was a little bit less obvious,
but the end result was exactly the same. He denied Christ again. And here he was, an apostle,
a pillar in the church, used mightily of God. And he goes
up to Antioch, and by then, now there's some Gentiles that God's
beginning to convert, and the Jews come up from Jerusalem to
check out the work, and Peter, moves away from the Gentile converts
and sits over with the Jews. That's all he did. He just got
up from one table. He realized these are all Gentiles
and he sees these Jews over there and they're looking down their
nose at the Gentiles. He gets off one table and goes
over and associates with the Jews. And by that very act, he
was denying the grace of God and the accomplished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had to rebuke him. Look
at Galatians chapter 2 verse 11. And when Peter was come to
Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came
from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. You know, he was there
in the church at Antioch, eating with the Gentiles, eating their
bacon, whatever it was, and didn't think anything of it. But now
James and some of the Jews come up from Jerusalem. And when they were come, he withdrew
and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that
Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But
when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth
of the gospel, If I let this go, it will destroy the gospel. Everything about the gospel is
being denied by what Peter is doing. Saying that somehow their
heritage, or somehow their Judaism, or somehow their dietary laws
were somehow providing them better access to God than what had been
accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. Somehow the Jews were
better than the Gentiles. I said unto Peter before them
all, if thou be in a Jew, live as like after the Gentiles, and
not as do the Jews. Why compelst thou the Gentiles
to live as do the Jews? Why are you doing this, Peter?
Peter had to be rebuked, and he was, and he was turned again. Peter, I prayed for you that
your faith fail not, and when you are converted, Teach the
brethren. Teach them what? Teach them not
to do the things you do? Well, yeah, but teach them the
gospel. Teach them to believe God. Teach
them to trust Christ. And I'll use the means of sending
a brother to rebuke you. are the wounds of a friend. Iron sharpeneth iron. There are
times when believers may be very careful, very careful about rebuking
a brother. This is not something we take
lightly. It's not something that we just Most times when another
brother offends you, just let it go. Just let it be water on
a duck's back. I've been in groups of believers. that became way too sensitive
about offenses, and they thought every offense needed to be dealt
with, and every offense needed to be challenged, and every rebuke
needed to be made, and everybody needed to be always repenting
and being corrected, and it's a mess. It's a mess. Don't do
that. But there are times, when the
gospel's at stake, that the Lord will send, and you know most
of the time that He does that. It's what we're doing right here.
You know, the Lord rebukes His children by His Word through
preaching. It's not my place to rebuke you.
I'm not trying to rebuke you. But if the Lord takes His Word
and gives you a rebuke, then thank God for it. He just sent
another Peter to accomplish a rebuke in your life, and that's a good
thing. Why? Because that's one of the means
that the Lord uses to turn us. Lord, turn me. Turn me, whatever
you have to do. Pray for me. Look upon me with
love. Tell me about the resurrection. Send me a message of hope. Send
me a messenger. That my faith as weak and faltering as it is,
fail not. Fail not. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask,
Lord, that you would accomplish that end for us. We pray it in
Christ's name. Amen. All right, we'll stand
together and sing number 64 in the soft back tenor.