Sifted Yet Safe 82519

“Sifted Yet Safe”

8/25/19

Luke 22: 31-34 LB “And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have you, to sift you like wheat, 32 but I have pleaded in prayer for you that your faith should not completely fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up the faith of your brothers.’”

33 Simon said, “Lord, I am ready to go to jail with you, and even to die with you.” 34 But Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. Between now and tomorrow morning when the rooster crows, you will deny me three times, declaring that you don’t even know me.”

Here, Jesus introduces the subject of sifting—Here’s what’s it means:

In Jesus’s day, grain harvesters used what’s called a sieve or “sifter” before pouring grain into sacks to sell...

They shoveled the wheat into a square box covered with netting, then turned the box upside down and shook it violently.

The grit, dirt, and chaff fell through the netting until only the pure grain kernels remained.

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So then, “sift” in this verse means “to be turned upside down, shaken and separated—to be shocked through the agitation of sudden trials.”

The grain kernels that remain represent your faith.

The idea is—Jesus prayed that when Peter’s life was sifted by the shaking and turmoil over Jesus’ arrest, and his denial of the Lord, his faith would remain intact.

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Sifting type trials can take many forms—sickness, death of a loved one, loss of reputation, financial disaster, loss of employment, broken relationships, and so on.

The whole purpose of this sifting from Satan’s persepective is that we would lose our faith!

So Satan’s prime target is ALWAYS our faith!

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Let’s look at a few things here. First,

Peter’s sifting followed a powerful revelation

Peter and the other disciples had just received a powerful promise from Jesus regarding their future.

In verse 29, Jesus said, “I confer on you a kingdom.”

He said they would eat and drink at His table and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

They would literally rule and reign with Him.

That’s heady stuff!

This revelation from Jesus rocked their world with excitement, expectancy, exhilaration!

But in the VERY NEXT VERSE, Jesus turns to Simon and tells him of Satan’s coming attack.

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So here’s the lesson: Be on your guard when you’ve had a great spiritual experience—when you experience the Lord’s presence and power in your life—when you move closer to Him than ever before.

You can almost hear the devil saying to God, “So, You think Peter is a rock do You?

You think you can build your church on his kind of faith.

Just let me put him to the test.

Let me place him in my sieve and shake him for a while.

He won’t last. He’ll cave in.”

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Maybe you’re being sifted right now.

You feel as though your life has been turned upside down and shaken apart.

You might be asking, “Why me?” “Why now?”

Keep in mind that Satan seeks to sift only those who are a threat to his work!

The sifting is there because you’re commitment to Jesus has alarmed hell!

Hang tough! God will see you through this as we’re about to see!

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Next we see that Peter overestimated himself...he had some pride that only sifting would remove.

So...

II. God uses sifting to remove our pride

After Jesus tells Peter they will all forsake Him, he immediately responds by saying:

“Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33 NKJV).

Matthew records Peter saying, “Even if all (the rest of the disciples) are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble” (26:33 NKJV).

This was a very over-confident statement, and a bit of a slam against the other disciples as well.

Peter is essentially saying, “My faith and resolve to be true to you is greater than the other eleven. I’m stronger than them!”

As they say, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

All the disciples would forsake Jesus at His arrest, but Peter’s denial of Jesus was the worst betrayal of all!

This reminds me of Paul’s warning in I Cor.10:12: “So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” NIV

Within 24 hours of his boasting, Peter fell hard–cursing and denying Christ 3 times in public view.

So sifting takes the prideful strut out of our walk; it smashes our fleshly confidence and deepens our dependence on the Lord!

It humbles us when we see that, apart from Him and His strength, we will fall.

As Jesus said in John 15:5, “For without Me you can do nothing” (NKJV).

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The final thing we see here is:

III. Jesus was out in front of Satan’s attack

Jesus knew what Satan planned to do with Peter and the rest, so He prayed for them:

“I have pleaded in prayer for you that your faith should not completely fail” (22:32).

As with Peter, the Lord Jesus knows all about the Satanic assignments aimed against you and me.

He sees it coming, and He gets ahead of it by praying that the Satanic assignment fails!

NOTICE: He didn’t pray that Peter would not go through the attack...

He prayed that he would survive the attack and come back even stronger, to “strengthen and build up the faith of the brethren.”

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LISTEN: Whatever you’re going through today, Jesus is in front of it, always a step ahead of the devil!

ILLUS: David wrote in the 23rd Psalm, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (23:5 NIV).

In real shepherding terms, the “table” he mentions means “a level place like a pasture for sheep to graze in.”

In Bible times, when it was time for a shepherd to take his sheep to the mountains for summer grazing, the shepherd went ahead of them and selected the pasture.

Before leading the sheep there, he made trips to the selected place and prepared the pasture.

He made sure the grass was tender and checked the water supply to make sure it was clean.

He walked or crawled very slowly over the pasture, pulling any poisonous weeds and destroying thorn bushes.

He checked for snake holes in the ground and poured oil in them.

He looked for signs of wild animals that might attack the sheep so he would know how to best guard his flock.

When his work was done, he had “prepared the table” by destroying the poisonous plants, thorns, snakes, and predators.

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In the same way, God “prepares a table” for us!

He’s always out ahead of the enemy.

He’s checking out our next arrival place, removing poisonous things that could harm us, sizing up the enemy’s schemes against us and praying for our safety.

So that when we arrive, our Shepherd has already been there ahead of us!

He sees all the dangers and attacks that will come against our faith and prays, not that we will never have a battle, but that our faith will not fail!

The Bible says, “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Heb 7:25 NIV).

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So sifting comes on the heels of powerful experiences with God.

Sifting is used by God to humble us.

Jesus is always out in front of the devil’s attacks, praying for our faith, and preparing a table for us!