Turn with me, if you would, to
the gospel of Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. As the Lord Jesus and his disciples
partook of their last meal together in the upper room, right before
the Lord's mock trial and crucifixion, our Lord said here in Luke chapter
22 verse 21, he said, but behold, the hand of him that betrayeth
me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of Man goeth
as it was determined. And that's when it was determined
and purposed by God. But woe unto the man by whom
he is betrayed. Now look at this, verse 23. And
they begin to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should
do this thing. It seems at first that each one
of them thought it was the other. However, when you look at Matthew's
narrative, it lets us in on just a little more detail concerning
these inquiries that were made. So stick your marker here in
Luke 22 and turn with me to Matthew chapter 26, if you would. Matthew
chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26 verse 20 says,
now when the even was come, or when the evening was come, he,
the Lord Jesus, sat down with the 12, sat down with his 12
apostles. And as they did eat, he said,
Verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. And they
were exceedingly sorrowful. And began every one of them to
say unto him, Lord, is it I? You see, Matthew's account lets
us know something of the emotions involved here. They were first
exceedingly sorrowful when they heard this, that one of the twelve,
one of their closest friends, would betray the Lord Jesus.
It troubled them, and that's what was so troubling to them,
that it'd actually be one of them who would do the betraying.
The thought of one of their closest friends to prove unfaithful to
the Lord Jesus grieved them sorely. And it left uncertainty within
them as to which one of them it would be that would do such
a thing. And each of them seems to become afraid for himself. Is it I? Is it I? You know, like
all God's people, the apostles were beginning to learn. I think
that about myself often. Sometimes I say I'm beginning
to learn. I think I'm beginning to learn something. But they
were beginning to learn that in and of themselves, They were
capable of doing horrific things, even the betrayal of their master. And the proof is found in their
question. Every one of them began to ask the Lord, is it I? Has God revealed to you that
apart from his merciful, restraining grace that you're capable of
the most horrific and unimaginable things? Sometimes I am just flabbergasted
at the things that men do, and yet I know that if God would
take his hand from me for one second, I am capable of doing
those same unimaginable things. Well, right this moment, if you
and I were asked to picture in our minds the most hideous, nasty,
foul, repulsive, and detestable thing that we could conjure up,
I'm certain we could come up with some pretty offensive, horrendous,
vile, obnoxious, and nauseating things. I know that we could.
But I am sure that probably none of us would have thought of ourselves. And yet, that's the way that
a holy God sees the sin in us. Repulsive, obnoxious, detestable,
nauseating. The thought of betrayal among
them at first caused each of the apostles, with the exception
of Judas, to look upon the other. That's just human nature. Naturally,
each of us would be suspect and suspicious of the other. But
the ironic thing is this. I would dare say that each of
the disciples were probably more suspicious of one another than
they were of Judas. The reason I believe that is
because he was entrusted with the position of their treasure.
That's a position that's given to an honest man. But Judas had
and would reveal his true heart. While Judas had proved and would
continue to prove to be a judge and a critic. Do you remember
when the woman brought that costly alabaster box of ointment? Judas,
criticizing her, said, wow, this was a waste. We could have sold that for more
than 300 pence and have given it to the poor. And the scripture
said that he murmured against her. He began to criticize her
for this act of love toward Christ that she showed. Yes, Judas was
a judge and a critic. But let me ask you, do you know
anyone else like that? It seems as though after the
disciples had given some serious thought to the Lord's accusation
that one of them would betray him, the disciples go from suspecting
one another to suspecting themselves. And with much concern, they asked
the Lord, is it I? Am I the one? Will it be me? You see, when God reveals to
a sinner something of their deceitful and desperately wicked hearts,
that's what Jeremiah calls them. Our hearts are deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. And when we see something of
those hearts, truly, as God describes them, we become more conscious
of our frailties and our weaknesses, and we're quicker to take sides
with God against ourselves. But here we see Jesus' hypocrisy. You know, he knew that he was
the traitor. Well, he had already taken the blood money that was
given him, and soon he is going to go on his way to commit the
very act of betrayal. Yet, with great hypocrisy, he
innocently asked the Lord the same question as the others,
saying, is it I? Well, he knew it was him. He
knew it was him. What self-righteousness and hypocrisy
with that he proves to have. Do you know anyone else like
that? Only when a man or woman has been given life from above
would they sincerely ask the question, is it I? Only a sinner
with a new nature, only a sinner born again, born from above would
know that their sin has made them capable of doing the most
outlandish things. And they say, Lord, is it I?
Is it I? Do we get better when God saves
us? Actually, I believe that we see
that we're worse. That's sure been my experience.
I think the reason is that we see our sin with more light and
revelation. But Judas's question is not with
the sincerity of the other apostles. His hypocrisy is only to deceive
the others so that they wouldn't be suspicious of him. My greatest
concern this morning, what concerns me the most and what often robs
me of my assurance, is to know that I'm a lot like Judas. I'm
a lot like him. We must remember that even believers
still war with the old nature, the old man within. I had a man
write me recently denying that he believed man had two natures. Well, I wonder, and I'd like
to ask the man, was Paul saved when he said, oh, wretched man
that I am? To me, there's no doubt that
he was saved, but he knew that only Christ could deliver him
from the body, that's the language he used, from the body, that
fleshly dwelling place where death resides. All the apostles
had their faults. Man at his best state is still
man. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. Well, James and John, two of
the three closest apostles, had their issues. They wanted to
be the greatest in the kingdom of God. They asked the Lord one
day if they could sit on his right hand and his left. Another
time when the Lord was not received into a city, the sons of thunder,
as he called them, asked the Lord if they could pray down
fire on the inhabitants of that city to kill them. Then we have
Peter. Peter had boasted time and time
again how he would never forsake the Lord, even though he thought
that the others would. Peter declared with pride that
he would go to the cold, dark dungeons of prison with the Lord
and even to the cross to be crucified with the Lord if necessary. What
about Thomas? He didn't believe the word of
God either. He had to see things with his own eyes in order to
believe. They all had their faults. Yes,
the Lord had chosen a group of men that were far from being
what religion today would approve to be fit disciples and apostles. But now, they will finally understand
what the Lord meant when he said, have I not chosen you 12 and
one of you is a devil? And they all asked, is it I? What proof we have here of God's
electing grace, mercy, and love. Judas was really no worse than
the rest of the disciples. But God let Judas have his own
way and simply left him to do his own will. But understand
this, that the difference found between Judas and the others
was the difference that God made. Yet concerning the ill fate of
Judas, still no one has the right to question or ask, why does
God yet find fault since none can resist His will? If God just
let Judas go, then how can God find fault with Judas? No man
or woman has the right to require of God to answer the question,
why has He made me thus? The real wonder has never been
how God could hate Esau. We talked about that in the first
hour. The real wonder of wonders is how God could love Jacob and
how he could love me. None of us are worthy of God
being mindful of us. By nature, we're all enmity,
hostile toward God. We've talked about that in recent
weeks. Naturally speaking, we are all predominantly concerned
with ourselves. And yet back in our text in Luke,
if you would look there with me, Luke chapter 22, we don't
have to look far to find something of man's depravity, his depraved
nature, and his inability to make himself worthy. We only
have to look at really the next verse in our text. Look at it
with me, verse 24. And there was also a strife,
a dispute among them. What was this dispute over? Which
of them should be accounted the greatest? Do you see how inconsistent
we are? The very disciples of Christ
prove it to be so, one minute with humility and concern. They are inquiring among themselves,
the scripture says sorrowfully, as to who might be the traitor,
each one of them concerned deeply that it might be them. Each one
of them asks the Lord, Lord is it I? Is it me? And then the
very next minute, they're quarreling and disputing as to who among
them should be accounted as the greatest. Boy, I tell you, we
can go from humility to pride in just a split second, can't
we? Now in verses 25 through 30 here, the Lord again teaches
them that true greatness, true greatness is found only in self-sacrifice
and servitude. The Lord in these verses speaks
of the kings of the Gentiles, the rulers of the world. And
he talks about them and how they exercise lordship or superiority
over one another. And many, if not all, of the
disciples still thought that Christ's kingdom was going to
be an earthly kingdom. And that they would rule and
reign with Him in that realm. Letting His disciples know in
these verses that this lording over folks' desire to be the
greatest was of the world in the way of the Gentiles. And
Christ's kingdom was a spiritual kingdom. They didn't get this
at this time. that Christ's kingdom was not
of this world and therefore not to be managed as the world was. And he tells them that these
worldly kings, the worldly kings of the Gentiles, considered themselves
to be benefactors. You see that there in verse 25?
A benefactor means a worker of good or a philanthropist, one
who's worthy of worship and praise. You know, a man today with money
gives money for a good cause and people just basically worship
him. Wow, he does so many good things.
And because of that, These earthly kings or government officials
or whatever they were, thought that they ought to be admitted
to rule even over others who were of equal authority. And
that's exactly what the disciples are disputing over here. They're
arguing as to who among them would be the greatest in Christ's
kingdom. The Lord is teaching them that
this is not how you become great in His kingdom. So in verse 26,
excuse me, look at what the Lord says. He says, but ye shall not
be so. But he that is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger or the less important. And he
that is chief is he that does serve. Then in verse 27, the
Lord asked this question. He said, for whether or which,
same thing, for which is greater, he that sitteth at meat or he
that serveth? Now, which of the two is greater,
the one who sits to eat or the one that serves him? And our
Lord answers the question with another question. He asked, is
the greatest not he that sitteth at meat? Why, he must be the
master. He's the one that is sitting
and eating. He must be the greatest in the
household or he wouldn't be sitting at the table while the other
one serves. Or is he? Look at what our Lord
says next. He said, but I am among you as
he that serveth. So in the kingdom of God, who
is the greatest? Is it he that sits and eats and
is ministered to and served? Or is it the one who serves?
Greatness. in God's kingdom comes in humility
and servitude with Christ here as our example. But understand
this, every single redeemed sinner will be equally great in God's
kingdom. That's why it was so ridiculous
for them to be arguing over this. Because they're in Christ, they're
all going to be great. He's the King of kings and the
Lord of lords. And that's what the Lord's telling
them in verse 28. He said, ye are they which have
continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom
as my father hath appointed unto me. This is not a temporal kingdom
that Christ gives us, but it's a spiritual, eternal kingdom
where all who suffer with Christ will reign with Him, according
to 2 Timothy 2. And there will be no envy and
strife in God's kingdom, for all the elect of God are equal
in Christ and all are beneficiaries of God's inheritance by being
joint heirs with Christ. We're not going to be fighting
over God's inheritance. Everybody gets the same, and
they get it all. No envy and strife in God's kingdom.
And no one can have a true understanding of the spiritual and eternal
kingdom of God by way of carnal thinking. Totally opposite to
what our carnal minds think. And that's what our Lord is saying
in verse 30. He's teaching His disciples that
His people's greatness is found in being in Him and being with
Him in Heaven's glory. In verse 30, He says, that ye
may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones
judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Oh, may God enable us to put
away our carnal fleshly thinking that Christ's kingdom will be
anything like this upside down world in which we live. Remember,
the way up in God's kingdom is to come down. And the way to
be exalted is to be humbled. And the way to spiritual and
eternal life is to die to self. And this is the lesson. that
God is going to teach his disciples, especially Peter. And he's gonna
teach us from the verses we have before us. Verse 41. And the
Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you,
that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. Now from what we find in the
scriptures, Peter seemed to be the most proud of all the disciples. As I said a moment ago, he was
always the first one to step up and declare how faithful he
was. I want to make just a few observations here, and I want,
if God enabled me, to encourage each of you to never give up
on the gospel of Christ. No matter how hard it gets, no
matter how tough life is, don't ever give up on the gospel of
Christ. The Lord warns Peter here that
Satan had desired him, that he wanted to sift him as wheat.
You might find it interesting that the word sift here means
to separate. The method of sifting is how
you separated the wheat from the chaff. Satan desired to separate
Peter. Now what does that mean? Well,
he desired to separate him from his gospel, which is the truth.
He desired to separate Peter from his faith. He desired to
separate Peter from his Master and Savior. He's desired to sift
you, to separate you. Satan desired to separate Peter
from his God, separating him from his salvation. And child
of God, Satan desires the same thing of you. But I've got gospel
news for you. If you belong to Christ, if Christ
died for you, you cannot be separated. Isn't that good news? You cannot
be separated. Nothing can separate you from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. How so, you might ask? Because you've got one who's
sitting at the right hand of God interceding for you. He said,
Peter, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you, that
he may separate you, that he may get you to quit. Just give
up. Say, what's the use? He said,
but I prayed for you. I've prayed for you, that your
faith won't fail you. What was the Lord's prayer for
Peter? That his faith would fail not. And if Christ prays that
Peter's faith and ours fail not, you can be assured that it won't. Why? Because we're kept by the
power of God. Now, Satan is no doubt a real
and a powerful foe. We're no match for him. But he's
no match for our Lord. And did you know that the phrase
here that says Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat, it actually means, when you strip it down and look
at it in the original language, it actually means Satan has asked
permission to separate you. Who did he ask permission of?
God Almighty. And did you notice the Lord's
answer? He didn't deny Satan the permission
to sift Peter. How do I know? Because he sifted
him. He sifted him. He separated him for a while.
He simply prayed that Peter's faith not fail him. Did Peter's
faith fail him? Well, it sure seemed at first
that it did. Look at verse 33, and Peter said
unto the Lord, I'm ready to go with thee both to prison and
to death. And the Lord said to Peter, I
tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow today before you deny
three times that you know. And as you know and I know, that's
exactly what happened. So Peter's faith seemed to fail
him. But did you notice what the Lord
said in verse 32? He said, I prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, converted,
strengthen thy brethren. Now that word converted here
doesn't mean when Peter was saved. We talk about people being converted,
when they were saved, when they were converted. That's not what
that word means. Peter had been saved from the
foundation of the world. His conversion proves it to be
so. That word converted there means
returned. It means turned about. When you
are turned about, you're gonna be turned about. If you're one
of God's elect, you may seemingly fall away, but you're gonna be
turned about. You're gonna return. The Lord
is saying when you return, when you are turned about, strengthen
your breath. Strengthen the church, strengthen
those who trust in Christ as you do. When you think about
it, that was the whole purpose of Peter's trial, to be a strength
to the brethren. Do you think that when Peter
stood on the day of Pentecost and preached the gospel and all
those folks were saved, do you think that he had any confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ whom he preached? You better believe
he did. And it wasn't just by divine
revelation. It was also by personal experience. Peter knew that the Lord had
prayed for him and that his faith fell not because of the Lord's
effectual prayer for him. Always remember that the Lord
chastens, corrects, strengthens those whom he loves. Our mistake
is to believe that we're invulnerable. And that was Peter's mistake.
He said, I'm ready. I'm ready to go with you. But he wasn't.
He said, these others may not be ready, but I certainly am. Not so. Peter's gonna learn the
lesson that Christ was teaching. We read in verse 54 that Peter
followed afar off. Do you see that? Look at verse
55. And when they had kindled a fire
in the midst of the hall and were set down together, Peter
sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him
as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said, this
man was also with him. And he denied him, saying, woman,
I know him not. And after a little while, another
saw him and said, thou art also of them. You're one of those
disciples. And Peter said, man, I am not. And about the space of one hour,
After another confidently affirmed saying of a truth, this fellow
also was with him, for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, man,
I know not what you're saying. In one of the other accounts,
it's said that basically he began to curse and deny that he knew
the Lord Jesus. And here we're told, and immediately,
wow, he spanked the cock crew, just as the Lord said it. Now
look at this, verse 61. And the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word
of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice. Can you even imagine the heartbreak
of that look? Can you even imagine what that
look said without ever saying a word? And Peter remembered. And I can assure you, he never
forgot it. He never forgot it. Verse 62,
and Peter went out and wept bitterly. And that word bitterly means
violently. It was a wailing, it was an uncontrollable
weeping. Now hear me on this. It's Satan's
desire to destroy you if you belong to Christ. Over the years,
I've seen it happen many times. I could go around this room right
now in my mind and tell you names of people that came, some for
years, that are no longer here. Some were doing fine, and somewhere
along the line they got offended. The Lord said to His disciples
in Matthew's Gospel, He said, all of you shall be offended
because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the
shepherd. and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
And Peter said then, though all men should be offended because
of thee, yet I will never be offended. You see, we never think
that it's us. We just never think that it would
be us that would be offended. Our Lord talks about stony ground
here in Mark chapter four. If you would turn with me there
in closing. Mark chapter four. In verse three, the Lord Jesus
says, have you got it? Mark chapter four, verse three.
The Lord Jesus says, behold, there went out a sower to sow,
and it came to pass as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and
the fowls of the air came and divided up. And some fell on
stony ground, where it had not much earth, and immediately it
sprang up, because it had no depth of earth. But when the
sun was up, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it
withered away. And then the Lord, in a few verses
later, explains this parable. Look down at verse 14. He says,
the sower soweth the word. That's for all practical purposes,
the preacher. And these are they by the wayside
where the word is sown. But when they had heard, Satan
cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in
their hearts. And these are they likewise which
are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard the word,
immediately they receive it with gladness, and have no root in
themselves, and so endure but for a time. And afterward, when
affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately
they are what? Offended. Now that word offended
means tripped up. It means to stumble. It means
to scandalize. That's Satan's number one goal,
to scandalize you, to cause you to fall, to sift you, to separate
you from Christ in you, the hope of glory. One old writer said
this, and it's true. The child of God is always going
through a trial. He's either in a trial, coming
out of a trial, or going into a trial. And it has to be the
Lord's will or it wouldn't be so because nothing happens if
it's not His will. Satan has desired, he's asked
permission and God has granted permission and it came to pass.
But the difference is this, the difference is Christ intercession
for you. The difference between you and
the Judases, the unbelieving of this world, and the only difference
is that Christ has prayed for you that your faith fail not. Some of you are right now going
through such trials. If you belong to Christ, you've
got a good hope because he's prayed for you that your faith
fail you not. And if he's prayed for you that
your faith fail not, then your faith can't fail. It will not fail. I love what the angel said to
those who came to the tomb when the Lord rose from the dead.
He said, you seek Jesus, which was crucified. He's risen. He said, he's not here. Now you
go tell his disciples and Peter. You go tell his disciples and
Peter. You be sure, tell Peter. Don't you forget to tell Peter.
that the Lord goeth before you under Galilee and there you shall
see him as he said you would. And friends, when I read that,
I know that one day soon I will see him because he prayed that
my faith fail me not. And that will prove to be the
only reason why I'll see him. What a God, what a Savior. You
go tell his people and David. and Danny, and Larry, and Adele,
and Sharon, you tell them all that they'll see me as I said
they would because I've prayed that their faith fill mine.