I haven't heard from Tom Lynn
but talking to Aubrey I think they're having a good time they're
leaving France going somewhere else the south of France sounds
like so I guess no news is good news with that kind of trip so
if you will open your Bibles this morning to John chapter
13 I'm going to start reading in
verse 36. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord,
whither goest thou? And Jesus answered him, Whither
I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me
afterwards. And Peter said unto him, Lord,
Why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. Jesus answered him, wilt thou lay down thy life for my
sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we pray
to you in the high and holy name of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Lord,
we pray that your spirit might be with us this morning, that
you'd quicken us and show us Christ in the scriptures. Lord,
give us grace to have a saving faith and to persevere in this
faith that only you can give. Lord, we pray for our friends
that aren't with us, that you'd give them traveling mercies and
that you'd bring them this way again. Lord, thank you again,
and we ask for your presence here with us this morning, amen.
All right, turn if you will, our passage we're gonna be in
is actually Luke chapter 22. So I've entitled this lesson, The
Perseverance of Peter. So I think we're, in some ways,
when we look at the faith of the apostles, I look at them
certainly at least and think, When I look at the apostle that
loved the Lord, that the Lord loved John, I can't enter into
his experience. He almost seems, in some ways,
it's a very unhuman response. You see no dynamics to his personality,
whereas Peter, he gives you a lot more than anyone ever asked.
Peter was always the guy answering the question nobody ever asked.
Always has a comment when no comment was warranted. I can
identify with this. Maybe you can't, but certainly
I can. We find in Peter's experience,
and yet he's the rock of the church, the most impetuous, bumbling
disciple in some ways. And so I find that interesting
just in that. So I wanna read this verse 31
here, and this really stopped me this week when I was studying,
trying to see if the Lord had a word for us here this morning.
This verse 31, it said, the Lord said to Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. What more fearful words, and
you consider this, what more fearful thing could you hear
yourself if the Lord himself, who knows all things, told you
Satan himself hath desired to have you? And what does that
mean? I don't want to know anything
to do with this falling being of Satan. He is power beyond
our understanding. He has influence, so subtle we
don't even perceive it, and I think that's the scariest part. It's
one thing if you see some dark figure that is fearful and you
see it and you think, okay, stay away from that, don't come near
me, but when you don't even perceive it, that he has control, and
this is what we're told in the scriptures that Satan does. He's
described as a fallen angel. His name is Lucifer, son of the
morning. He was beautiful, he wasn't something
to be feared, he was beautiful. And this is where the deception
comes in, he looks like an angel but yet he's a messenger of darkness. It says he was eaten up with
pride, he sought to exalt himself above the stars and above the
throne of heaven, above God because he hated him and he was cast
down to roam the earth. Satan is described as the serpent
in the garden. Now, I personally don't believe
this was actually a talking snake. I think this is figurative language
speaking from him because when the Lord speaks to him later
in the account of Job, he says, Satan, where have you been? wandering
to and fro, walking to and fro on the earth. So he walks around. He's still a fallen angel. In
the same way, the lion of the tribe of Judah or the lamb upon
the throne, those aren't actual animals. Those are animals to
depict the image of the Lord, just like the serpent is used
to depict the image of Satan. Serpent is the most feared animal
in some ways there is. You see a snake. I saw one this
week. I was in Arizona and they told me It's the time of year
for rattlesnakes. He said, stay out of the desert.
But there's a run that I really like to take when I go to this
particular area. So of course, me being me, I
went anyway, thinking I would be fine. Five minutes into it,
rattlesnake right in the path. So I was like, well, that's the
end of that. I'm going out. So turn and I went back. But it scared me when I saw it,
and it didn't move, it just sat there. But when we see it, man
is given to fear the serpent, and I believe the Lord is putting
that fear in our hearts. The Lord cursed him for what
he did. He was in angelic form, but he was cursed to roam this
earth, and this is his realm. It was Satan who provoked David
to number Israel. It was Satan who was considering
God's servant Job. It was Satan who attempted to
tempt the Lord in his time here. Who else would have the power
above all things to do that? Satan. The Lord's word describes
him as being able to bind men and women with disease. It describes
that woman who was bent over. Satan hath bound her. It is Satan
who fills men's hearts to lie to the Holy Ghost. He's the father
of lies. He was called a murderer from
the beginning. He steals the good seed of the word before
it takes root in men's heart. And you consider this during
the preaching of the gospel. This is where the word is communicated. And men and women, we sit there
completely unaware to it. It's like you hear the word,
you rejoice in it, and then your mind goes somewhere else. Where
does it go? What am I gonna have for lunch today? Is that tire
on my car, it looked a little low this morning, do I need to
fill that up, is that gonna be flat later today? The words stolen
out of your heart, just like that. And this is the work of
Satan. He's called the destroyer of
flesh. He has power and signs and lying
wonders. And if it were possible to deceive
the very elect, if you'll turn, look at this passage over in
Ephesians chapter two. I think this is particularly
fearful that men and women in this world, we don't consider
this. I think we read through these first verses of Ephesians
2 to get down to some of the other stronger meat of the gospel,
but these first three verses are frightening. And you, hath
he quickened? And the translation actually
reads being dead, instead of who we're dead, being dead in
trespasses and sins, wherein in times past, You walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air. This is speaking of Satan. The
spirit, this is his spirit, that now worketh in the children of
disobedience, among whom we also had our conversation in times
past, fulfilling the lusts of our flesh and the desires of
the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. So this tells us the power and influence of this fallen
being is greater than anything we have any conception of. Now
picture Peter. Peter. Satan hath desired to
have you. Taking this all in, there's nothing
more that I can think of to be frightened of. Peter must have
thought, why me? That's what I would be thinking,
why me? And on top of this, you consider this, it's Satan hath
desired to have thee. And this gives us some comfort.
He has to desire it means he has to ask for it. He can't just
do it. He can't just, when the Lord
said, have you been considering, and this is really the way it
reads, have you been considering my servant Job? The Lord wasn't
offering Job up, Satan was considering him. In order for Satan to touch
any of the Lord's people, he has to ask. He is a created being
just like any other one of us. He can't just do it unless the
Lord allows it. Yet, the Lord purposed, even
through this even being, good to come out through it. In order
for Peter to be brought out to the other side, he had to go
through the dark valley. And this is what we're reading
here. And in verse 32, he says, Satan desired he may have you
to sift you as wheat, but I've prayed for you, that your faith
fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. It doesn't say, but I won't let
him. Satan hath desired to have you.
He doesn't say, but I'm not gonna let him have it. He said, Peter,
I'm gonna let him have you. but I will permit it, but I prayed
for you that your faith fail not." Now, Satan's mission in
this world is to find weakness, to find a loophole, to find something
to defeat God. This is what his war in heaven
was, to exalt himself over God, and all he wants to do is to
thwart his efforts here on the earth, the efforts of his son.
He doesn't know who is saved and who's lost, but if he can
get one to fall, He's made the blood of Christ of ill effect. It did not really redeem and
therefore he is not deserving of all the glory. This is his
role and this is his mission, if you will, in this world. It's
not in the bars, it's not in the people that are doing very
outwardly things that are hurtful to themselves and others. It's
looking for those who have some concern over their souls to deceive
them. That's why Satan is called the
accuser of the brethren. He says he accuses us night and
day. And I know if you consider your
own experience as I do mine, he has plenty of material on
me. And when I consider this, we have some idea of the things
that we've done and the things that we do. I just wonder how
much material there is on me that I don't even know. And I'm
fearful of that. How much I don't even know. He's
the accuser of the brethren. But the Lord says, but I've prayed
for you. And there are times I know in
my own unbelief, in my own experience, I wonder when I cry out to the
Lord to do something for me, and it seems in my experience,
he's not hearing my prayer. I know that's not the case. He
may just not be giving me what I want when I ask, at the time
I want. But I often wonder at times,
is he hearing me? Here I am going through this,
still going through it, is he hearing me? But yet we see the
Lord here telling Peter, I've prayed for you. Is there any
doubt in anyone's mind if the Lord asked for something, whether
he's heard? In fact, he had to tell his father
when he did ask for something in the garden, I pray if it be
possible, let this cup be removed from me. but not my will, thine
be done. Because if he had asked that,
anything he asked for is possible. There's nothing that he cannot
ask for that will not be given to him. But he says, I've prayed
for you that your faith fail not. So is there any chance,
if the Lord prayed this prayer for Peter or for you, that your
faith could have any way to fail? It's an impossibility. It is
impossible for the Lord to ask for that and for him to not be
able to bring it to pass. But what we do see here in our
own experiences, though our faith may not have failed, do we still
experience doubt? Oh yeah, every day. Fears? How often does the scripture
tell us fear not? Because he knows we do. Unbelief? Is there much for me to be ashamed
of? Oh yes, all these things. We
fall down, we turn to the left, we turn to the right, we're distracted,
we find other things that we're interested in that draw us away.
But yet, he says, I prayed for you that your faith fill not.
And Peter, he cries out, he says here in verse 32, he says to
Peter, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. When
you're converted. Conversion just means to turn
back. How often must you be converted? We're converted every day. If
the Lord's revealed himself to you, you've been regenerated
once. That's the giving of life. But conversion, this is something
that happens every single day because every day I'm gonna turn
away and he's gonna have to draw me back. He says, when thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren. We must be converted every day.
We're in sinful, weak bodies. We are subject to the infirmities
of the flesh. We're encumbered with many distractions
and things to draw us away in this world, all of which take
our eyes off of him, his strength, his sufficiency, who he is. Now, I may find no strength and
fall down. And you will too, this is certain
in our existence here in this world that we will. But just
as Peter was foretold that he would do, he said, you're gonna
fall. But yet, I'm not content just to lie there. It's one thing
for me to lament my experience and say, Lord, raise me up, give
me faith, show me your face again. But we can't just be content
to lie there when we do fall. It's he who finishes the race,
not he who doesn't fall down and he who doesn't turn to the
left and to the right, because we will. If the Lord doesn't
strengthen us and call us back, we will fall down and we'll stay
there. But thank goodness in this experience that we can see
through the Apostle Peter, even a believer can fall very low.
but yet the Lord has prayed for him that his faith fails not,
not utterly. And I love that, and I've never considered it
the same way. It's he who finishes the race.
It's not he who doesn't fall down, he who doesn't have trouble,
he who doesn't go through an experience in this life. When
verse 33 says, after hearing all this, and Peter said unto
him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to
death. And the Lord's response to him was, I tell thee, Peter,
the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice
deny that thou even knowest me. And you know what? Peter meant
this when he said it. He meant that, Lord, I'm willing
to go to death for you. But yet, that was not the Lord's
will in what was best for Peter. And Peter's fall here is foretold,
and let's read it here, starting in verse 54. And they took him
and led him and brought him into the high priest's house. And
Peter followed afar off. And when they had kindled a fire
in the midst of the hall, they were set down together. And 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 saying, woman,
I know him not. And after a little while he saw
him and said, thou art also of them. And Peter said, man, I
am not. And in 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 thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet
spake, the cock crew And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And you consider this what happened
right now. The Lord didn't say one thing
to him. But you can imagine what he felt. There was more said
in this look than any words could ever speak. And you've experienced
this, I'm sure, in your own life, where you've done something.
You knew you were wrong. You knew you were caught. And
somebody gave you a look. And you knew exactly what they
were saying. much more powerful and more devastating than them
telling you something to rebuke you for it. For us, this look,
if I'm looking at someone in this way, it might be astonishment. Like, after all this, you've
been present with me? Through all these things, all
the miracles he saw, the word being spoken, the Lord giving
life to the dead, curing lepers, giving sight to the blind, everything
that he saw, and assuredly confident in these experiences. After all
this? And you deny me now? Or our look might be something
of disappointment. Like Peter, you had an opportunity
to witness me before men and you didn't. You failed. You failed
the faith. And as I was thinking writing
these, these are human mortal emotions, the Lord knew he would
do this, the Lord foretold he would do this and yet the Lord
still knew Peter's heart. And I think the look that the
Lord gave him was one of pity because he knew this crushed
him, this crushed him and he felt that he was utterly cast
off for this altogether. The Lord knew it would crush
him. Peter loved the Lord. His spirit was willing to defend
him even unto death. Yet his flesh, being what it
is, is fearful and weak. He couldn't even stand up to
the accusation of a little girl. Who do you think moved that little
girl to accuse him? The same one who said, Satan
hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. Satan
moved this girl to accuse him just to show him you're weak,
you're fallen. You're fallen from the faith,
you denied him in front of everyone, you denied you even knew him. If I'm tested, tempted, or tried,
I will fall. I have no strength in myself.
My spirit is willing, just like Peter, but my flesh is utterly
weak. I know this in my own experience.
How many wrong places do we look for strength? How many wrong
places do we look to hold us up and to gain confidence from,
but yet we find, I'm thankful that the Lord takes these away
from us. Because then we can see them
for what they are. We're able to look to him in
a way we couldn't otherwise had he not taken them away. Christ
is our strength. He never failed, he never faltered,
and you will be tested and very likely fall down at some point.
The Lord himself knows this and he allows it. Yet, if it is his
will that your faith fail not, it will be for the strengthening
of your soul, it will be for the good of you and your faith,
and there will be a hardening and a trusting that you have
that you would not have had otherwise had he not caused you to fall.
Yet, there is no excuse for staying down and wallowing in your failure.
If those who were bit by the serpents out in the desert, you
remember them, they were bitten and they were gonna die. And
they had seen others die. If they wallowed and lamented
their plight in life, I've been bitten, I'm gonna die, I came
all this way. If that's all they got out of
it, they would die. But the Lord told them, you look and you'll
live. So that's the call to you and
I. When we're to fall, we're to look to him, not to look to
us as to why we fail, you're gonna fail. You're to look to
him for your strength and is giving you the ability to pick
yourself back up. Because if he doesn't, you won't.
Peter left this experience here weeping. He was crushed and he
felt this is too far gone. None of the others did this.
I've been a fool all along and be rebuked and now I've done
this, this is it. He said, I'm gonna go back to
fishing. The Lord's not gonna have anything to do with me.
And let's look at this end of this experience in John chapter
21. We'll stay here for the rest. And in verse 5, then Jesus said
unto them, after they were out in the boat, they tried to fish
all night long, they hadn't caught any of them, and they didn't
even know it was the Lord that was on the beach there. And the
Lord said unto them, children, sirs, do you have any meat? They
answered him, no. And he said unto them, cast the
net on the right side of the ship, and you'll find. And they
cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for
the multitude of the fishes. And you think about this, this
happened more than once to them. Throw it over the other side.
Lord, we haven't caught anything all night, but yet at thy word,
we'll let down the net. So they threw the net in, and
it picked up so many fishes, it almost broke, it almost sunk
the boat. Therefore that disciple, John, whom Jesus loved, said
unto Peter, it's the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that,
that it was the Lord, he gird his fisherman's coat onto him,
for he was naked, and then cast himself into the sea. You think
about how hard he swam when he heard it was the Lord. Nothing
would have stopped him from getting to him. Every bit of might that
he had, he used to get to that beach. I love thinking about
that. And the other disciples came
in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it
were 200 cubits, dragging the net with the fishes. And as soon
as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals and fish
laid thereon and bread. Pause there for a minute and
consider this. The Lord asked them if they had any meat, but
yet they're still pulling the fish in and see he's got a fire
and bread and fish already there. Everything that the believer
requires will be provided by him. There's nothing that you
have to bring to this to provide. This is the Lord providing all
that we need. All that our needs are, they're
already provided. But yet the Lord uses this experience.
And Jesus said unto them, bring of the fish which you've now
caught. And Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full
of great fishes, 153 for all was there. There were so many,
yet was the net not broken. So you see, there's a specific
number given. You know what that identifies?
There's not one of the Lord's people that he's gonna forget,
153, not about a hundred, over a hundred, 153. He knows each
one. Each one is in the net. And if
one more fish was in the net, it might break. But that net
was so full it couldn't handle one more fish. There's nothing
more. We are completely full in Christ. A specific number
to let us know not one is ever forgotten. And Jesus said unto
them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst
ask him, Who art thou? Knowing it was the Lord. And
Jesus then cometh, and taketh the bread, and giveth them, and
the fish likewise. This is now the third time that
Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from
the dead. So when they dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? And he said
unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto
him, feed my lambs. He said unto him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? Thou
knowest that I love thee, feed my sheep. He said unto him the
third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved
because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? He
said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that
I love thee. And Jesus said unto him, feed
my sheep. Now there was some dark days for Peter, undoubtedly,
between the time that he left, denying the Lord, and the Lord,
now it tells us this is like the third time the Lord had shown
himself. So many weeks had probably gone by at this point where the
Lord had not spoken unto Peter. He gave him some time in the
dark year. And it might be that you or I are going through the
same thing. The Lord's left us in the dark. Feel lost? Feel
estranged from the Lord? We feel he's not speaking to
us? I don't know. But what I do know is that we're
to do exactly as the Apostle Peter here has done. He abandoned
the ship that he was on. His former life, his former interests,
his lusts, his occupation, everything that would keep him from being
with Christ, he abandoned that. And with what might he was given,
he used all of that to get to Christ. He was not willing to
stay and lament the plight that he was in and saying, I'm falling
away, I've got no grace, he won't speak to me. He had no idea whether
the Lord would receive him, but what he knew is the only thing
for me to do is to get to him. So he cast off everything. He
left the boat, he left the fish, he left his companions, he said,
I've got to get to Christ. And that's what you and I are
to do here today. Our call is to get to Christ.
And I say it again, imagine how he swam. Imagine with what ferocity
that he swam to get there. He left everything for Christ.
And the Lord said, him that cometh to me, I will no wise cast out. Now may we be given the grace
to persevere as Peter, to cast off everything, to leave our
occupation, to leave our things that would keep us from Christ
and get to him just like Peter did.