Will your Faith fail

Q: What does the Bible say about faith failing?

The Bible teaches that Jesus intercedes for us, ensuring our faith does not fail (Luke 22:32). In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus tells Peter that Satan desires to sift him like wheat, but He has prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail. This illustrates the importance of Christ's intercessory role. Our faith can falter due to temptations or trials, but through the advocacy of Jesus, our faith is sustained. The promise that our faith will not ultimately fail underscores the sovereignty of God and His commitment to keep His elect secure in their salvation.

Q: How do we know that Christ's intercession is effective?

Christ's intercession is effective because He prays for the elect, guaranteeing their perseverance (John 17:12). Scripture clearly states that Christ intercedes for His people, as seen in John 17:12 where He says, 'While I was with them, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept, and none of them is lost except the son of perdition.' This emphasizes the effectiveness of Christ's prayers for His people. His intercession is not vague or general but specifically aimed at safeguarding those given to Him by the Father, ensuring that none will ultimately fall away from faith. Hence, we stand assured that His prayers are always answered affirmatively.

Q: Why is understanding our weakness important for Christians?

Recognizing our weakness helps us rely on Christ and His strength rather than our own (2 Corinthians 12:9). Acknowledging our own weakness is crucial in the Christian life, as it leads us to a reliance on God's strength. In Luke 22:33, Peter expresses confidence in his ability to follow Jesus, but he soon falls into denial. This illustrates the futility of self-reliance. When we understand our limitations and weaknesses, we are drawn to Christ who is our strength. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul writes, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Thus, our own weakness points us to the sufficiency and grace of God, enabling us to grow in faith and trust.

Q: What is the significance of Christ's promise to never leave us?

Christ's promise ensures that His presence is with us always, giving believers confidence in trials (Hebrews 13:5). The promise of Christ to never leave nor forsake us is a profound assurance for believers, as stated in Hebrews 13:5. This promise indicates His enduring presence and support in every circumstance, comfort for when we face trials and tribulations. Furthermore, this underscores the doctrine of perseverance in sovereign grace theology: those whom Christ has redeemed will never be abandoned. His unfailing love and commitment grant us the confidence to withstand the pressures of life, knowing that He is always there to uphold us.

Turn with me to Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. We'll read verse 31 through verse 37. But I want to express Shirley and I's great appreciation for you. Made us feel so welcome. Your pastor and his wife has taken such good care of us and we've got travel quite a bit, see a lot of Australians. We've been greatly blessed by being here. It's been our blessing. Been very encouraged. And I'm grateful that I got to meet all of you and have fellowship with you. And if the Lord wills, maybe I'll come back in two or three years. I've really, truly enjoyed it.

I have. We'll deal with home when we get there. This is where home's at right now. This is our home right here, right now. And I would never be any place else but here preaching the gospel. And I hope I don't hold you very long, because I know it's warm in here, and you done heard one message, but we'll see what we can say again.

Verse 31, Luke chapter 22, verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, 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. And he said unto them, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock, the rooster, shall not crow this day. before that thou shalt thrice, three times, deny that thou knowest me.

And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse and script and shoes, lacked ye anything? They said, Nothing. Then he said unto them, But now that ye have the purse, let him take it. And likewise his script, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment. And by one, for I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me. And he was reckoned among the transgressors. For the things concerning me have an end. I want to ask you a question. In verse 32, it said, I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Would your faith fail? Will your faith fail?

There's a hymn that we sang at home. A wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand. This is what we have here, as our Savior said. You know, and here's what's so wonderful about it.

Satan has decided to sift you. I don't know if you know what a sifter is. I guess you know what it is down here. They used to have old cabinets at home, and then people had sifters. When you buy flour, it'd have to be sifted. And they used to have old big flour bins in a cabinet, and they'd roll the cabinet down, and that that pours a bunch of flour in that and shake it down, you know, so it'd have all the, and so that's what he said. He said, Satan has started to sift you just like sifting wheat, but I prayed for you. I prayed for you that your faith fell not. You know, we have a firm foundation in God's excellent word, but this is, this is, I mean, get right to it.

The Lord said there in verse 31, Simon, Simon, didn't call him Peter or The Rock until verse 34, and he said, I'll tell you, Peter. But here's the thing that's so precious. Our Lord, he said to him, said, Simon, oh, Simon. Such compassion, such tenderness, such empathy that our Lord tells us, Simon, Simon, oh, Simon.

Satan. hath sighed to sift you like sifting wheat. Oh my, such tenderness, such compassion, how our Lord said that. But there's, we have, and he told him, he said, you got a fearful, there's an awful enemy that's after you, an enemy that desires you. And all this, he said, called him Satan, has desired to have you, to sift you as wheat. They didn't know Satan was anywhere around. It's like Job. When Job, you know, God said to Satan one time when he was walking around, he said, listen, where you come from?

He said, I'm walking around looking to whom I may desire. And he said, have you considered my servant Job a perfect and an upright man? He said, oh yes. He said, I see him, I know him. But said, the only reason he serves you is because you bless him. Take down that hedge around him and he'll cuss you to your face.

But he didn't. He said, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And they didn't know Satan was there. They didn't know he was anywhere near. But our Lord did. Our Lord did. And oh, he's an enemy of the Lord and the Lord's people. And he's subtle because of his deception. By his subtlety, he deceived our mother Eve. He's called a lion but for his fierceness and his anger. The lion, he goes about as a roaring lion. And then he also transforms himself into an angel of light.

Oh my. And I tell you, he's only serving, he told Job, he said, he's only serving you, told God, he's only serving you for himself, not for who you are. And I tell you what, there's a lot of people that come to meetings and do what they can for what they can get out of God. instead of worshiping him for himself. And oh my, there's three things that's awful that we have to deal with in this world. There's the world itself.

The world is a snare, is a snare. The flesh is an awful burden. There's no good thing, Paul said, there's no good thing in my flesh. There dwells no good thing in my flesh. I have no confidence in the flesh. but all of my and then we have this place and then there's this awful enemy he's invisible he's experience he tipped it out or jesus christ but i'll tell you something our lord put him on the chain put him on the chain and i don't know how many of y'all read bunions pilgrims progress the one time they was christian faith was walking along they were missing this house up here called Gaius's house, as a matter of fact.

They saw that house up there, so inviting, so wonderful, and the lights were on. And they said, boy, we need to go up there. Maybe we can get some rest. But there was a line over here, and there was a line over here. And they said, oh my, how we gonna get past these lions? And then they saw him jerk and jerk and jerk, but there's only chain. So they went right between them two lions. And that's the way it is with, you know, that lion's over here, lion over there. But there's our savior right there. He put him on chains. He put him on chains. And I'll tell you something, we're no match for him. but our lord's already beat him. Already whipped him, already defeated him, already put him on a chain.

People say that, you know, they talk about, you know, Satan's gonna be turned loose in the tribulation. Listen, if he's not turned loose now, I don't wanna be here when he does. I don't wanna be here when he's turned loose. It's bad enough dealing with this flesh, but oh my, and all I tell you what, Oh, thank God, but we have a promise. We have a promise that he said, though you be satan's desire to shift you as wheat, but oh my, look what God said.

Keep Luke and look over Romans chapter 16. Look in Romans chapter 16. Look what our Lord said he gonna do one of these days. Verse 20. Oh, we have a promise. Simon was sifted. Yes, he was. But look what God said He's gonna do for us one of these days. Romans 16, 20. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan, now listen to this, under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. He gonna let us bruise him one of these days.

But thank God for these, we're back over in our text. Thank God for these wonderful words. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to sift you as wheat. And have you desired you that he may sift you as wheat? But watch what our Lord says. You know, his faith would have failed, but our Lord said this.

But I prayed for you. I prayed for you that your faith fell not." Oh, my. You know why our faith don't fail? We have a great intercession. We have someone praying for us. We have an advocate with the Father. Peter had a great high priest. He said, I prayed for you. He didn't say your brethren prayed for you. He said, you have, you know, you've prayed for yourself. But he said, I. I prayed for you. And oh my, before the temptation ever come, before Satan ever got a hold of you, I prayed for you. I prayed for you. And oh, let me, you know, let me give you a couple of verses of scripture and I want you to look at them. John 17 now, look in John 17. John's Gospel 17. Oh, my.

Look what our Master said. Now, He said, I prayed for you. The only reason your faith doesn't fail, I prayed for you. I prayed for you. Look down at verse 9. Now, look what our Lord says. I pray for them that you've given me. I pray for them. Who? Them that you have given me. I pray not for the world, but for them that thou hast given me. They are thine.

And look what He says down at verse 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those thou gavest me, I have kept. And listen to this, none of them's lost, not one of them, except the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Now look down at verse 15. Our Lord said, I pray not that you should take them out of the world. This is where they live, this is where they are. that thou shouldest keep them from the evil, and that means the evil one. I pray that you keep them. I don't, I pray, I don't, I'm not praying for the world, I'm praying for those that you've given me. And I've prayed for you that your faith fail not.

The only reason, the only reason that he did not fully and finally fall away was because of our Lord Jesus Christ. He promised he would lose none. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, there's nothing that he'll ever say or do that'll cause me to cast him away. And I mean, if anybody was gonna be cast away, it'd have been Simon Peter. Denied the Lord three times. But he said, I prayed for you that your faith fell not. The only reason is because of that.

He said, all that you've given me, I don't care what they do. I don't care what happens. I don't care how far they fall. I tell you that they shall not finally fall away. He said, I'll not lose one of them. Not a one of them. And I'll tell you, he promised he'd lose none. He promised eternal life. He promised that they would one by one be one day be where he was. and behold His glory." I've preached a lot of funerals over the years, and there's a promise that God made, a promise that He made, John 14, 1. He said, I go. He said, if you believe God, believe also me.

Believe me also, in my Father's house are many mansions, and I go away to prepare a place for you. And where did he prepare that place? At the cross. And I go away to prepare a place for you. But I'll come again, this is a promise he made, I'll come again and take you to be with me where I am, that you may behold my glory. That's a promise that He made. He made that to me. He made that to you. I'm going to come again and get you. Get you. Get you. And oh my.

And I tell you what, that He would never leave us, and oh, what a promise this is. In Hebrews 13 and five, it's five negatives there. I'll never, no never, no never, no never, no never leave you or forsake you. I'll never do it. You say, well, you don't know how bad I am. I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. I'll never do it, I'll never do it.

And that's what he said here, I prayed for you that your faith fail not. And if our faith fails, if our faith fails, everything fails. Everything fails. Courage is gone, patience is gone, hope is gone, love is gone, joy, all of it fails. And faith, if it's gone, all is gone.

But here's the thing, I prayed for you. I pray for you, oh my, that your faith should not fail. No wonder Christ is precious to us who believe. No wonder faith is precious to us. And our faith won't fail. You know why our faith won't fail? because Christ won't fail. Christ won't fail.

Oh my, he sits now, right now in God's right hand. He appears right now in the presence of God for us. Right now he appears in the presence of God for us. And then here's something that's sure to happen. He said to Simon Peter, I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." The only reason our faith doesn't fail is because of Christ. It really truly is. And when you're converted, strengthen the brother.

When you're converted, Any danger of him not being converted, he's gonna fail, he's gonna fall. He denied the Lord three times this night. He said, I won't do it, there's no way in the world I'll do that. I'll go to prison with you, I'll die with you. He was so certain of himself, so certain of his power, so certain of his abilities to stand on his own. But he's gonna fall. He's gonna deny his master three times. And the scripture said he will be sifted. Satan desires to sift you. And he was sifted. He was really sifted. And how will this do him any good? Will this do Peter any good that he denies the Lord three times, that he'll be sifted by Satan?

How will this do, what will this do to the cause of Christ? Huh? If what good will it do the gospel? I'll tell you what it'll do. It'll make you understand that there's no confidence in the flesh. And if Christ don't pray for us and keep us and keep us by his power, we'll do just exactly what Peter did.

Oh my, I tell you what, his conversion will be a glorious display of grace and faithfulness. You know, conversion, let me see if I can make this understandable. I've been converted a lot of times. And what I mean by that conversion, you have one, you know, you go this way for a while, and then you turn. You know, you'll go to the flesh, but you gotta turn from it. You go to your own understanding, you have to turn from it. And that's what conversion is.

We're born again by the Spirit of God. When God saves us, our reaction is, We converted, we turned to God, we turned to faith. You know, we get converted all the time. You'll hear something and you'll say, oh my, I've done that. Lord, turn me. Job said it like this. Lord, turn us and we shall be turned. Save us and we shall be saved. Have you ever been converted? How many times have you had to turn from some tradition or some thought? or some flesh. How many times have you had to turn? And there's a certain thing that this is gonna happen to him. And oh my.

You know, he could fall by himself. We can fall by ourselves. Yea, the righteous falleth seven times, but the Lord holdeth him up. A man can fall by himself, but he can't get up by himself. He can fall by himself, but he can't get up by himself. You know, we have our kids, and they run around, and they fall down, skin their knees real bad, and their elbows, and they go to cry, and all that little bitty thing. You run over there and pick them up.

Well, that's the way the Lord has to do us. We fall, oh, we fall, and we make a mess out of things, but He comes and picks us up. Oh, I'm so grateful He does that, huh? Oh, Christ never, never takes His people someplace where He don't go before them and go with them.

Never, never, never. But oh my, we can fall by ourselves. And you know, we have to turn from self-confidence, trusting in our own strength, trusting in our own ability. And Simon Peter did not know himself. Look what he said in verse 33. He did not know himself. He trusted in his own ability.

He said unto him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you. If you go to prison, I'll go with you. If you go to death, I'll go too. I'll go. Oh, he had to be converted from that, being that arrogant, that proud, that self-righteous, the ability that I can do this.

I got the power that I can do this. And how many times has people been told, this is what you can do. You know, preachers are all the time telling people what they need to do. Well, I'll tell you, the only thing we need is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my need. That's the only need I have in this world is the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything else he gives me, and I'll tell you what, that's what I need more than anything in this world.

He didn't know himself. Oh my. Who better, who better to tell the bitterness of falling than one who has fallen? Who better to tell the weakness of the flesh than those who have trusted the flesh Look what happens. I'll show you when he was converted. Look over here in chapter 22 and verse 60. This is when he was converted.

Verse 60, and Peter says, this is the last time he denied the Lord, third time. Peter says, man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, Immediately, the cock crowed, but when the Lord said, thou shalt thrice deny me, and all mine, look in verse 61, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. Can you imagine how he felt when the Lord turned? He's in Pilate's judgment hall, and the Lord turned, looked at Peter. Can you imagine how Simon Peter felt?

Our Lord looking at him, not angry, not mad, not condemning, not full of wrath, but he turned and he looked at Peter, and look what it says, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord and said, he had said unto him before the cock crow, thou shalt thrice deny me, Look what happened. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Oh, my. Bitterly. He didn't know himself. But, oh, nobody could tell the bitterness of falling except those ones who've fallen.

Who better to tell of grace, of the grace of God, than those who have Fallen. Mercy, who better to tell of mercy and grace and forgiveness and the power of Christ than one like Simon Peter, who failed so much? Who better to tell of Christ's faithfulness than those who were unfaithful? Who better to tell of growing in grace and knowledge of Christ than Simon Peter, after he had denied the Lord? Who better to tell?

And he takes the weak. This is what our Lord does. He takes the weak to confound the mighty, the foolish to confound the wise. Here's an apostle. There are three apostles that I stayed with our Lord all the time and did things that nobody else did. Peter, John, and James. They were the inner circle. And here is an apostle. Here is an apostle who denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times.

And yet this is what our Lord does, loves him and still uses him and still does something for him. And that's why none for whom Christ died will perish, will never perish, never, never perish. Look what he said in verse 37, our Lord did here in Luke 22. Here's why none for whom Christ will ever die for will ever perish. For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me." Everything that's written in the Old Testament, every single thing must be accomplished in me, in me. And here's how we know.

He was reckoned among the transgressors. Peter was a transgressor. What a transgressor he was. But he was reckoned among the transgressors. And I'll tell you what, I'm a transgressor, he is reckoned among me. When he hung on that tree, every transgressor, one of his own people, he said, is accomplished in me.

We're reckoned among, Peter was a transgressor, I'm a transgressor, and he just numbered us among him. And oh, and look what he says now. For the things concerning me have an end, The things to learn and be going to be accomplished, going to come to an end one of these days. And you know when it was? Oh, when he was on the cross, the last word he said, it's that the Greek work is to lay on.

It is finished. Everything that was against us right then and there was taken away. Everything that would ever, ever sin was taken away. All death was taken away. All transgressions was taken away. Every fall was taken away. You know, when our Lord died, he died for all our sins, past, present, and future.

And when he said it is finished, I mean it's as good as... Whom he called, he also justified. Whom he justified, he also glorified. All three of those in the 10. Justified us, called us, justified us, and glorified us. That's all in the past tense. I'm as good as in glory right now. Why? Because Christ prayed for me. Christ died for me. Christ bore my sin in his own body on the truth. He did that.

Oh, our Lord, our Lord and our God, thank you for giving us this wonderful time to be with these dear people of God. Thank you for the love and care and concern that's been shown us all the time we've been here. For every meal, for everything we saw, for the great love and compassion that's shown towards us. We thank you for it.

And Lord, we pray for this congregation. We pray for this dear preacher and his wife. Pray for this congregation of believers. God calls them to flourish, calls them to grow. Send in people. Send in sinners to hear the gospel. Send in your sheep. God calls this congregation to grow and flourish. Bless the preacher, Lord, and use him mightily here. And, Lord, use this congregation and this neighborhood and this community. Lord, you can do what no one else can do. You can bring people in. You can save people. You can keep people.

And, oh, Lord, bring glory to yourself through this congregation. Bring glory to yourself through me and my wife. Thank you for allowing us to be here. Thank you for allowing us to come to this wonderful place and enjoy the fellowship of your people here in this wonderful, wonderful place. We bless you and thank you in Christ our Lord's name. Amen.

We're going to sing I Need Thee Every Hour, number 47 in your songbooks. Thanks, Norm. I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can peace afford. What a tender voice. ♪ Nithyananda Nithyananda We're going to sing the doxology in a minute and I just wanted to give thanks for the meal that we're about. A word has come from God. A word has come from God and I pray that it finds fruitful soil in the hearts of the people here, all of us, that we will go from here. with 60-fold and 30-fold of love and joy and thankfulness and just the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have a great, great God and Saviour and He's been good. That's all He can do is good. That's all He can do is be good to His people. He does wondrous things, that's all He does. So let me pray. Heavenly Father, please Bless your word and let it not fall on barren ground and you alone are the creator of soils and we thank you, Heavenly Father, for your work in the hearts of your people. And as we feast on what you have provided for us, we pray, Heavenly Father, that we would also feast on your word and we would be reminded yet again that the Lord Jesus Christ has all things prepared and he says, come and dine. but all is done, all is ready. We thank you again, Heavenly Father, for your goodness and your grace and for sending your servants all this way and for the blessing that you have brought into our hearts as we've been reminded yet again of the wonder and the goodness and the glory and the graciousness of our great God and Saviour. we thank you in his precious name our father make his blood precious make his fellowship precious make his gospel precious to us our father for we pray in his precious name thanks lord we're going to sing

Will your Faith fail

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about faith failing?

How do we know that Christ's intercession is effective?

Why is understanding our weakness important for Christians?

What is the significance of Christ's promise to never leave us?

Sermon Transcript

About Donnie Bell

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Will your Faith fail

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about faith failing?

How do we know that Christ's intercession is effective?

Why is understanding our weakness important for Christians?

What is the significance of Christ's promise to never leave us?

Sermon Transcript

About Donnie Bell

Comments

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