Hope for the Failure
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Intro
Intro
Satan desires failure… (v.31)
…and failure will come. (v.32)
But Jesus knows (v.32)
and Jesus prays (v.32)
…so be restored and carry on. (v.32 & Jn. 21:15-18)
Alright, so tonight we are sort of in one passage, and sorta not. I’ll show you what I mean, go ahead and open your bible to Luke 22.
As you’re turning there, let me recap for you what I said about our time in Luke last Thursday. If you’ll remember, I told you that we are entering the final chapters…and by extension…the final days of Christ’s life. And this chapter, puts us at the beginning of the end.
Right away, we see the plot to kill Jesus take shape…we see in verse 3 that Satan is having his way with Judas (don’t worry, we’ll get more on Satan in just a minute)..but anyways…we see the plot to kill Jesus. And then we see Jesus’ last meal…specifically the passover meal. In this, he has a lot to say to his disciples and some final things to implement…like communion.
And one of the things that he says at this time…relates to Peter..and by extension, us.
And that’s what we are focusing on tonight really…is the apostle Peter…and what happens to him the night of Jesus’ arrest…and after the resurrection.
Tonight we are looking at Peter because Jesus’ interaction not only teaches us a lot about Jesus (which was the whole goal of this series if you remember) but it also teaches us about what happens…and what is going on…when we fail. Meaning…when we fail Christ. When we don’t live up to what we should do. When we sin…
And in fact…what we see tonight…is that for those of us who fail Christ (and we all do at times)…there is hope. And that’s the title of tonight’s message...
Title Slide: Hope for the failure
Meaning…there is hope to be found for us in our failures and sins against Christ.
And like I said…that hope if very evident in the story of Peter on the night of Jesus’ arrest. So let’s look at it together. So Jesus is at the Last supper…and Jesus at some point turns to Peter (also called Simon) and says this.
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” 33 Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” 34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”
So let me give you the first point tonight and then tell you why it applies to you and not just Peter.
The first point is..
Satan desires failure… (v.31)
And when I say that he desires failure…I mean that he desires our failure as disciples. He wants to see all those that follow Christ fail in doing so…therefore meddling in our lives, creating hopelessness, sin, and lack of faith.
And it would be easy to argue against me reading this passage and say “Cody, how do we know that this is not just towards Peter…like…this sounds like a specific instance.” And to that I say Yes....and No. Let me show you…if you have the ESV translation you’re going to notice a little number next to the word “you” in verse 31. That number is referencing one of the footnotes down below, and if you look at that footnote below, you’re going to notice that it says something.
It says… “the Greek word for you, is plural”. The best way to think about it…is the text doesn’t mean you…it’s means ya’ll.
So the text actually reads like this...
“Simon, simon, behold Satan demanded to have all of you, that he might sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for YOU.”
So what this teaches us…is that Satan is demanding…to God…that disciples of Christ be handed over to him…so that he can sift them like wheat. And what does sifting like wheat mean?? It means that Satan wants to sift them…filter them…to show that they are like chaff…that is the useless part of the wheat, the not edible part…rather than the healthy part of wheat.
By extension…we know that this is what Satan does…to many followers of God. In fact, this is just like when Satan comes to God in the first chapter of Job and desires to tempt Job to reveal that he doesn’t actually love God…he just loves being blessed by God.
So…yes…this is revealing that Satan desires failure for the followers of God. And your application point to this is to acknowledge that this is very real in our lives. That we are at war. That Satan wants to sift people to reveal their unbelief and their true intentions and thoughts of God.
He would love for us to fail…and by failure we mean sin. He would love for us to be sifted to show a lack of faith rather than the presence of faith...
And what we need to acknowledge is that sometimes...
…and failure will come. (v.32)
Satan desires failure…and sometimes failure will come. Or at least momentary failure will come…look at what Jesus says to Peter at the end of verse 32. He says “when you have turned again”…what is this saying? It’s saying…that Jesus is telling Peter that he’s going to fail…but he’s going to be restored. We’ll get to that second part in a few minutes…but focus on the first part. Jesus acknowledges that Peter will fail (at least temporarily)…Jesus acknowledges that Peter is going to come up short.
So we to…must we acknowledge that we fail…and that failure will come. Now…that doesn’t justify it…that doesn’t allow you to say “that’s just who I am, man”…I’m gonna fail and that’s okay…by no means…because sin is sin. However, it does mean that failure is a part of the Christian walk. That when it happens…it’s expected but not desired. When it happens, it’s not surprising but it should still be convicting.
So so far…we are feeling not so great right. In this text…you’ve been set up for battle and failure. You’ve been told…that Satan desires failure…and in some ways he’s going to get it out of you. BUT…if you’ll remember last week…there was this amazing moment in the text where we talked about the amazing strength that Christ provides…and we see the same thing here…and here’s where the amazing part comes…it comes in two part. The first one is...
But Jesus knows (v.32)
Look back at verse 31 and 32 and pick out the things that Jesus is saying he knows.
Jesus says he knows that Satan had demanded to have the disciples...
Jesus says that he knows Peter will fail because he states that he knows that Peter will turn back again.
So our point of encouragement from this is not only should you know that failure is going to come…that you should not be surprised by it…but also that Jesus knows that it’s going to come.
When you fail him…when you give into sin…when you look at what you shouldn’t, say what you shouldn’t, do what you shouldn’t…when you straight up become a failure in your walk with Christ...
He knows. And it’s not that it’s this “he knows when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake” thing…it’s that he knows…as in he’s not surprised. He’s not caught off guard. In fact…he knew before you did. And not only does he know that you’re going to fail…and when you’re going to fail…he knows what is going to happen afterwards…he knows how the story ends....he knows those who are going to persevere and those who won’t.
Loved ones…there is no shame found in Christ because he knows all of the things you have to be ashamed of.
How many of you have been over to my house? How many of you know my dog Doxie?
So…when we’ve been gone and we come home…and Doxie does something wrong..what does she do? She sorta cowers…and hides…and keeps her face down…why?
Because she’s ashamed, afraid, and she doesn’t want me to know exactly what she did and interact with her based on that...
And when I come home…and she’s done something wrong…sometimes I am surprised…and I get angry or upset, and I express that to her.
But what if…what if…before I ever bought her in 2020…before we went to the farm to pick her up…I had a list of everything that she had done and will do wrong…I had a list that had the exact sin, time, and place of every single one in her life...
I was fully aware of them, knew all of them and the depth of their extent…and chose to buy her anyways, despite knowing all those things.
How much would that change how I approach her…and how much would the way I approach her in her failures change how she approaches me when she does fail??
Guys…Christ already knows your sins…past and present. Christ already knows how you’re going to fail him...And he bought you anyways.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So be encouraged. Satan seeks for you to fail, and failure will come…but thank God that Jesus already knows…and
and Jesus prays (v.32)
So last week we talked about the beauty of being able to pray to Jesus for strength and that he will provide this strength. But this week…we turn it around…and we understand that not only does Jesus know every failure we are to make…but he actively prays for his disciples that they should be strengthened.
You can see it right there in verse 32. Jesus informs Peter that Satan desires failure, that that failure will come…but what does he also say to him? “BUT I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail”.
Look at those words. Yes, Peter. You are going to have failure…but my prayer is that your FAITH will not fail.
What is Jesus saying? He’s saying that faith is what sustains us in our failures and sins. That when we give into temptation, that when we come up short, that when we do some horrible things…that the thing that will bring us back…the thing that will sustain us…the thing that will restore us and keep us from falling away…is the faith that he has given us. And that faith…is ENOUGH TO SUSTAIN US.
Because what does Jesus say after that? He says “WHEN YOU HAVE TURNED AGAIN”. Look at how certain that is. It’s not “so if you turn again”…it’s when you turn again.
Sincere faith in Christ, is enough to get us through all of life’s trials, temptations, and our own failures. It’s enough to sustain us through the attacks from Satan.
And that faith, is provided by and strengthened by Jesus and his prayers for his disciples. And it’s not just that he’s prayer for Peter. We see in other parts of scriptures the sincere prayer of Jesus for us. Here’s a few examples.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
Jesus is specifically praying…Father, keep them in your name. Sustain them. Give them unity. Give them strength to resist temptation.
So…we’ve got a good understanding. It’s a great theological understanding…and it is something that may be easy for us to remember.
Satan seeks failure…failure will come…but Jesus knows and Jesus prays...
So…what are we to do then. Because you know…you know there are those moments when you don’t live up to the calling on your life…you know there are moments where you outright sin again God and deny Christ the exact way that Peter will in just a few hours time in this passage. What do you do?
Well…what happened to Peter?
Let’s see.
54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” 59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
What happened to Peter? Exactly what Jesus said would happen. He failed. He denied Christ. He sinned and fell short. And what does he do?
Verse 62....he went out…and he wept bitterly.
He left…he hid…he cried…he regretted…he mourned his actions…and you know it’s because Christ reminded him what he said…with just one look…Christ knew what was going on and revealed to Peter the truth…how faithful is Christ to do that?
So…what happens then?
Christ died.
Peter’s friend…his teacher…his master…his king…the one whom he loved and served…died. And you can only imagine how Peter felt, knowing his last words and actions about Christ before he died were to deny him.
And we have been…or will be…in that boat. Where we have shamed Christ with our actions…or we feel the conviction of our failures in our walk with him…and we may cry and weep…and feel hopeless.
So what are we to do?
Our last point for the night...
…so be restored and carry on. (v.32 & Jn. 21:15-18)
We already see in verse 32 that Jesus has promised that Peter will be sustained and will “turn again” which means to be restored. But let’s see what that looks like.
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”
So how many times did Peter deny Christ? 3.
And how many times does Jesus ask Peter to affirm his love for him? 3.
And each time that Peter answers that he loves Christ…what is he told? “feed my sheep”.
Does this sound familiar? Because in our passage tonight Jesus told Peter…when you have turned again, what?
“when you have turned again…strengthen your brothers.”
What is Jesus doing here? He’s allowing Peter the chance to be restored…to “turn again”…and then he tells him “feed my sheep” aka…strengthen your brothers.
Guys…this is the moment of Peter’s restoration. This is the moment Jesus spoke of. And what was required of Peter? That he be restored…meaning..
That he repent of each time he sinned against Christ. That he confess to Jesus his true heart. That he turn away from his denial and turn towards Christ.
That’s what repentance is…turning away from sin and towards Christ.
Do you see how beautiful this is?
What do we do in our failures, shortcomings, and sins?
We repent to Christ. We admit them, and we give them over to him…and then we carry on in what he has given us to do.
When I fail as a father…I repent to Christ, and I continue being a father.
When you fail as a friend, or leader…what do you do? You repent of it to Christ…and you continue in humility doing what he is calling you to do?
What do you do when you’ve sinned…bad. Like if you’ve given into sex with your boyfriend or girlfriend…what do you do?
You repent to Christ, you give it over to him…and you continue on…keeping a pure relationship, just as he called you to do.
This is such a hope filled message because it not only speaks of the hope we have of forgiveness in Christ…but it speaks of who Christ is…the one willing to forgive, restore, and love. Even those who have actively denied him…even for them there may be forgiveness if they but repent and put their faith in Christ.