In the Gospel of Luke chapter
22, we pick up reading in verse 31
for the message today. Luke chapter 22, verse 31. 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. And he said unto him, Lord, I
am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter,
The cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice
deny that thou knowest me. It is no coincidence that this
is referred to in all four gospels. And it's not here for us to pick
on Peter as an individual. But it's here for us to see ourselves
in him. And so I want to speak on this
thought for a little bit this morning, the sure evidence of
God's favor, the sure evidence of God's favor. Are you convinced
today of God's favor? What does he think of you? Well, the religious world is
content to live and practice a lot of religious activity and
assume they have God's favor because they accepted Jesus. And they rest in their profession. don't seem to be having any concern
because they've been told, you know, just receive him, accept
him and all is well. Well, I, for one, don't want
to be without, don't want to live without a measure of fear. I don't live without a constant
knowing in my soul and without a strong desire to know
that I am not deceived. Excuse me from any religious
pride that has God obligated not to put me in hell. Because I know quite well that's
what I deserve. And I know quite well it's what
you deserve. So we need this concern, this
measure of fear over what we are and who God is. You say,
oh, you don't have to fear the Lord. He's our friend. He might
be your friend. In studying the four gospels,
There are two characters that offer a tremendous comparison
and contrast in relation to God's favor. And I'm referring to Simon
Peter, who we read about here in the text, Luke 22, and Judas
Iscariot. Look up sometime all the scriptures
that have any reference to Judas Iscariot, and you'll find him to be the
most trusted, most admired, unsuspicious, and most likely to succeed of
all the 12. Then look up all the scriptures
that have any reference to Simon Peter, and you will find that boastful,
hard-headed, impatient person that would most likely fall out
somewhere along the way. That's what you'll learn about
these two individuals in the four Gospels. And with all that
evidence set forth, it seems almost certain that Judas is
truly genuine and Peter is truly false. But we're talking about the sure
evidence of God's favor. The Lord is working behind the
scenes. And that's what makes the difference.
First Samuel 16, 7, man looketh on the outward appearance. But
the Lord looketh on the heart." In God's time, the truth will
come out about everything and about everybody. If we could
but with patience wait for Him and trust Him that everything's
going to work out for good to them that love God, to them who
are the called according to His purpose. Well, I find consolation
in that. And when I look at this congregation
this morning, and I see that we don't have 5,000 people like
some of them do, I find consolation in that God
knows what he's doing. And in my own life, and it might
be good for you to do this, I'm trying to ignore the headlines. The flashing neon lights written
in boxcar letters. And I'm looking for the fine
print. My hope is in the fine print
that God is working where I'm not looking. My hope is in him. It's not my
reputation. It's not my popularity. It's
not my success that anchors my hope this morning. My hope is
in him. Now to this text, notice in verse
31, some things here that the Lord Jesus addresses this man,
Simon, Peter, in a unique way, Simon, Simon, Simon was his earthly
name. His, uh, given name, Peter is
the name the Lord give him. But here he calls him Simon,
Simon. Oftentimes, our Lord would use
in His vocabulary what is called double verities, which means
repeating the same word twice. Remember, He would sometimes
say, verily, verily, meaning surely, surely. Well, one verily
was enough, but he'd say, verily, verily. And then on the Damascus
road, you remember he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And then to the troubled sister
of Mary, of Bethany, he said, Martha, Martha. Thou art troubled about many
things. And here he says, Simon, Simon,
talking to you personally with an emphasis you cannot miss. Simon, Simon, behold, which means
to listen up. Look, hear what I'm saying. Hear
what I'm about to say. Satan hath desired to have you,
that he may sift you as wheat." It is very clear from this statement
that Satan must have the Lord's permission before he can lift
a finger against Simon Peter. Just as he needed the Lord's
permission to get at Job. Or just as he needs the Lord's
permission to get at you or to get it. I, I certainly find consolation
in that. I forget it sometimes, but I
know there is nothing Satan can do without our Lord's permission. It's a blessed thought. Our Lord
has never missed anything. He's never been surprised about
anything. So we understand here that though
Satan would desire to interfere with Peter's life, we can see
this is really a compliment to Peter. Satan is only interested in disrupting
what God's doing. Even though Simon Peter messed
up a lot, Satan knew there was something in the heart of this
man. And it was the Lord in his heart that Satan couldn't handle. So he targets the Lord's people. He targets the Lord's people. I heard a fellow one time say
that he got saved and he hadn't had any problems with sin since. And I thought, well, now that's
strange. That's when my trouble started. I never had any trouble
with it before. But here's the deal. If some
smooth talking, howling preacher can convince rebels against God
that they're God's children, Satan's not going to mess with
that situation. He's going to leave that alone. See, that's
why false religion is seemingly doing so good in this hour. But if you tell people the truth,
if you believe the truth, if you trust God with all your heart,
Satan is on your trail and he'll be right there with a truckload
of fears and doubts and confusion. Count on it. Count on it. Now
we notice also in verse 31, the Lord likens Simon Peter to wheat. Satan has desired to have you
that he may sift you as wheat. Genuine grain. The Lord is paying
him a compliment here. And even Satan's paid him a compliment.
That he may sift you as wheat, not tares. You remember the parable
in Luke 13 about the wheat and the tares? And the servants wanted
to go out and deal with the tares. And the Lord said, no, you can't
tell the difference. Just leave it alone. Leave the
field alone. So the Lord says to this man,
Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. What the Lord is saying to him
is this. It is Satan's design to prove
that you are not genuine. that you're an imposter, that
you're a fake, that you're false. But I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not. Now, I don't believe Peter's
alarmed or afraid that Satan wants to attack him. Peter's,
according to the way it reads here, Peter's attitude is, well,
I can handle that. He won't get to first base with
me. And he ignores and he sees no
need for Christ's intercession. But I have prayed for thee. It's
as if Peter would say to the Lord, well, that wasn't really
necessary. Pray for somebody else. I'm with you. I'll be with you. Even in the
prison and in the death. Don't worry about me. The Lord said, I prayed for you.
I noticed carefully. The Lord Jesus did not say, I
have prayed for thee that thy flesh fail not. It's not what
he said. That was the whole purpose of
God in this, that flesh would fail, but he says, your faith
won't fail. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. Now, oftentimes we hear that
term converted or conversion used some synonymously with regeneration,
with being born again. Well, that's not the case. Peter
is God's child, but he's not converted. Conversion is that change that's
wrought in your heart after God has put you through the ringer. You remember the prophet Jonah,
for example. He was a sovereign grace preacher.
I mean, he said it, salvation is of the Lord. But he was not
converted. And he was not content with God
showing mercy to Nineveh. And so here in the text, look
at the, look at the noble stand of sinful flesh in verse 33. Lord, I am ready to go with thee
both into prison and to death. And everybody else is saying,
praise God. Now that's taking a stand, boy.
That's really taking a stand for the Lord. No, that's proud
flesh boasting while it can. That's what that is. And in verse
34, Jesus says to him, Peter, read my lips. It's gonna hurt
when you hit bottom, boy. The cock shall not crow this
day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. And here's the beauty of this
verse, verse 34. I'm telling you folks, ain't nothing wrong
with this Bible. Nothing wrong with it at all. In verse 31,
he'd called him Simon Simon. Foolish, flashly, wishy-washy.
But here in verse 34, the Lord calls him Peter, Peter, not about what
you do, bud. It's about what I've already
decreed and prayed for. This is the way it's going. And
in just a little while that same night, Peter would do exactly
as the Lord has said he'll do. He denied him three times, but it was just three times.
Don't you wish your record was that good? On down in the chapter, the cock
crew. And verse 61 says, and the Lord
turned and looked upon Peter. It wasn't a mean look. Wasn't
a scornful look. Wasn't a disappointed look. No, he who knows all can't be
disappointed, but it was a look of love and it broke Peter's heart. And at that point, faith, which
could not fail, it kicked in another gear. When he denied the Lord, faith
never failed. Flesh did. Had faith failed, he had never
have come out of this, but he's coming out of it. Christ said
he would. He said, when thou art converted,
he didn't say if you survive this, but he said, when thou
art converted, strengthen thy brother, you're going to survive. You're going to survive. So then faith jolted his memory. Look
at it in verse 61. And Peter remembered the word
of the Lord. Faith remembering broke his heart. Apart from faith, apart from
being one of God's elect, this would have made him colder and
harder. But when faith took a hold, we
read the next line in verse 62 that Peter went out and wept
bitterly. So that is the sure evidence
of God's favor is heartfelt and genuine repentance. I'm telling you when religious
people can deny the Lord in so-called worship and not be broken, that's
bad news. When a person can deliberately
go against God's word and not be broken, that's a bad sign. You see repentance is a lot more
than a pitiful little confession that I've failed the Lord. Who
wouldn't say that? It's more than just a little
confession. Well, I guess I don't love him
as much as I should. The truth is the absence of heartfelt,
heartbreaking, heart-changing repentance is sure evidence that the Lord
don't love you at all. You say, but I thought God was
a God of love. He is. He loves his son. And outside of his son, he loves
no child of Adam. He'd have to cease being God.
To love you apart from Christ. He'll not do that. So repentance
then is not our privilege. It's our duty, but it's not our
privilege. It's not in our nature. If it were Esau, whom the Bible
says sought it carefully with tears, he would have found it,
but he didn't. He couldn't. It's a gift. Repentance is a
gift that only God can work in our hearts. Romans 2, 4, it's
the goodness of God. that leadeth thee to repentance. It's not your decision left to
yourself. You'd never repent. But it's the goodness of God.
It's the sure evidence of genuine faith. It's the sure evidence
of God's favor. And that's the secret. Peter
is led, not discommanded or instructed but led to repentance. It's the goodness of God that
leaded thee to repentance. He gets his people there. Christ had started with this
man and he's not going to reject
him along the way. Philippians 1.6 being confident of this very
thing. that he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it under the day of Jesus Christ. God started with you. He will
never reject you along the way. This experience was really good
for this man. In the words of an old English
theologian, John Trapp, he said, when the godly sin We are not
transformed into sin's image as the wicked are. When the godly sin, we are better
for it afterwards in that we are more heedful of our ways,
more thankful for our Savior, more merciful to others, and
more desirous of Christ's perfection. When Judas Iscariot felt his
shame, it drove him to go out and hang himself. When Peter
felt his shame, he went out and wept bitterly. What's the difference? That's the difference faith makes. That's the difference God's favor
makes. That Peter would be torn with
this and we bitterly as the sure evidence of God's favor. So those whom God favors do fail. You do. I do. We all do. Those whom God favors are brought
to grieve and cry to Him over it. While we live in a sin-cursed
world, we live in these sin-cursed fleshly bodies. It's sin that's
wearing us out. But thank God, He'll only wear
out this body. We're planted in the ground.
It will never really wear us out. The Lord has fixed us from eternity,
paid for us in time with the blood of His darling Son, and
He will not forsake us now. So all the glory belongs to the
Lord in this. Peter blew it. The Lord didn't. He knew before any of it even
started exactly how it was going to go and how he was going to
work it all out. This is the same man that on
the day of Pentecost stood up empowered with the spirit of
God. And there's no more denying that Jesus Christ is the Lord. He said, you butcher. He said,
you bunch of rebels, this same Jesus, whom you crucified,
with wicked hands have slain, God hath raised Him up. So all the glory belongs to the
Lord. And I ask you this, give me one
reason this morning Why somebody as great and as holy as God should
even fool with the likes of you and me? There's only one answer. It's
because He loved us from eternity. And He won't quit. I'll quit. Matter of fact, I have a few
thousand times. But he won't quit. So we press
on and we press on awaiting his coming. We often cry with the songwriter,
Jesus, lover of my soul. Let me to that bosom fly. Where
else can I find rest? Where else can I find comfort?
Where else can I find hope in this world? When the storms are
raging, while the near waters roll, while the tempest still
is high. And we continue to cry, Lord,
hide me. Oh, my Savior, hide until the
storms of life are passed and you got us safely into the haven. I cannot make it on my own, neither
can you. And I pray, Lord, excuse me,
Lord, forgive us. From those who are making the
grade, I've never made it. You've never made it. I love first Peter one five.
We're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. This faith will not fail. It works all the time. It works
to shoot us down and it works to bind us up. And it works unceasingly
in God's elect. And it's the sure evidence of
God's favor, the sure evidence of God's favor. And so that's
the difference. That's the difference. And so
if you run into anybody that says, Oh boy, life is so good.
I just, I just really love my life and everything about it. My family is wonderful. My church
is wonderful. My job's wonderful. I'm never
sick. I don't have an enemy in the
world. You better run the other direction right fast. You're
talking to the devil incarnate, I think. I won't tell you the
Lord's people have trouble. The Lord's people have trouble.
And we're talking about here, the difference in Peter's flesh. And how his boasting came to
an end. And he had to eat crows to say
it is. He wasn't able to live up to
what he professed. Lord, I'll be with you. You can
count on me. We're talking about how that
flesh failed. And it does and will. But how faith never fails. And the sure evidence God's favor
is that after flesh has failed and made a fool of itself, faith
begins to stir. Peter remembered the word of
the Lord and he went out and wept bitterly. He got himself down. God got
him up. He's good at that. So remember
these things. the sure evidence of God's favor. Stand together with me.