Faith Breakers 2

Luke 22:32 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

We’ve been talking about faith-breakers in this new series…

And here we see Jesus essentially saying to Peter, “I’m praying for you Peter, that WHEN you fail, your faith doesn’t!

I’m praying that your own personal failure will not cause you to walk away from your calling or from Me.

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The Bible reveals 2 things about Peter—ONE, he didn’t think he could fail the Lord, and TWO, he ended up failing the Lord.

Peter had said to Jesus in the upper room, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you” (Mark 14:31).

But Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew himself and replied to him, "I tell you the truth, Peter--this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me” (Matt. 26:34).

And it happened just as Jesus said—Peter fell hard, denying the Lord 3 times!

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Like Peter, we don’t like to think we can fail the Lord, but we often do in one way or the other…

And sometimes we can fail Him in a way that crushes our soul and threatens to shatter our faith…

After denying Jesus, the Bible says Peter “went out and wept bitterly” (Matt 26:75).

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When we fail the Lord in a significant way it can bring such shame and discouragement that we want to quit and walk away.

It’s a faith breaker that takes the wind out of our sail and the confidence out of our walk.

We experience embarrassment, anger, fear, shame and despair, and feel dirty and unworthy because we acted foolishly—we knew better but did it anyway.

We wonder, “Will He forgive me?”

Or even more so, “How can He forgive me?”

And, “Can I ever forgive myself?”

Jesus knows this about us and, as He prayed for Peter, He also prays for you and me, that in the hour of our own personal failure “our faith will not fail.”

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I want to show you today that Failure is not fatal or final unless you quit.

This is good news because we all fail sooner or later, and if we are honest, we fail over and over again.

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Now, how did Peter escape the faith-breaker of personal failure and come out on the other side stronger than ever—As Jesus said, “Strong enough to strengthen the brethren?”

And how can we experience the same thing?

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First, I believe with all my heart that Peter NEVER would have fully recovered without the mercy, compassion, and ministry of Jesus to his life…

So let’s look at exactly what Jesus did for Peter following his epic failure, for what He did for Peter, He also does for us…

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First…

I. He sent for him

When the women arrived at the tomb early on Sunday morning, an angel announced the good news and instructed them to “go, tell his disciples and Peter” (Mark 16:7).

The risen Christ, through His angel, personally mentions and sends for the fallen and defeated Simon Peter!

He didn’t say, “Go and tell the disciples, but not that scoundrel Peter!”

The very fact that Peter was singled out in the angel’s statement—“Go tell His disciples, and Peter”—reveals that Jesus had His fallen disciple on His mind!

He doesn’t write Peter off as a permanent failure.

He doesn’t put him in the “Biggest Loser” category.

He doesn’t reject him for his painful denial of even having known Him.

Jesus still has plans for Peter, plans to give him a hope and a future, plans to give him a second chance.

He sent for him!

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Notice how Jesus made the first move, was the first to reach out and restore!

And believe it or not, He does the same with you and me!

Peter was too ashamed to seek out the Lord, the Lord had to first seek him out, and so He sent for him…

Likewise when we fail, the Lord’s way is to come knocking, offering forgiveness and restoration if only we repent.

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He sent for him, And then second…

II. He met with him

Peter did what most of us do when we’ve blown it big time.

When we’ve made a huge mistake, the last thing we want is to be around other people, especially the ones who know us best and love us the most.

Having let them down, we don’t want to see them at all.

This is the bitter fruit of sin—Sin always separates us from God and from God’s people.

Sin isolates us so the devil can convince us that, having made such a stupid mistake, no one wants to be around us.

So we spend our days in a miserable prison of self-imposed solitary confinement.

I think that’s what happened to Peter the weekend between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.

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The Bible doesn’t tell us where Peter was during the crucifixion of His Lord on Friday, or during the burial in Joseph’s tomb later that day.

We can guess that he had retreated to some lonely spot to lick his wounds and replay his gut-wrenching failure in his mind, beating himself up over and over again…

I can almost hear him asking:

“Why did I do it?”

“What made me think I was so much better than the others?”

“How could I have been so stupid?” and,

“What does Jesus think of me now?”

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Well, the good news is we’re told that Jesus made a special appearance to Peter sometime on Resurrection Sunday.

We don’t know where Jesus met with him, or how long the meeting lasted.

But twice the New Testament tells us that this special meeting took place:

Luke 24:34 “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

1 Corinthians 15:4-5 “He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.”

It’s really encouraging to me that Jesus met with Peter before he met with the rest of the disciples.

He SENT for him and MET with him because He loved him, even in his failure!

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And next,

III. He confronted him

John 21 is the chapter where Peter is restored.

When John 21 opens it’s evening on the Sea of Galilee, not long after the Resurrection of Jesus.

Peter and six other disciples decide to go night-fishing and wind up catching nothing.

As the sun rises in the morning, a lone man calls from the shore, telling them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat and they will catch fish.

They follow his suggestion and end up with so many fish they can’t haul the net because it was so full—153 fish in all!

When Peter realizes the man is the resurrected Jesus, he impulsively jumps in the water and begins swimming for shore.

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When Peter gets to Him, he finds Jesus sitting beside a charcoal fire.

It says, “Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread” (21:9).

Now watch this: The Greek word used here for “charcoal fire” is used in only one other place in the New Testament—in John 18:18—the charcoal fire in the courtyard where Peter denied the Lord!

Jesus was literally setting the stage to take him back to the place of his failure so that it could be dealt with.

You see, until we settle the sins of our past, we can’t move forward into our future!

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Peter and Jesus proceed to have a tense conversation around this charcoal fire where the Lord confronts Peter 3 times with the question, “Do you love me?”

We know that Peter had denied Him three times.

So Jesus is cleaning the wound so that it might be properly healed.

He is getting rid of Peter’s guilt and shame by dealing with it openly.

ILLUS: the axhead

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Listen: The truth will set you free but it will hurt you first!

Often we aren’t fully restored because we don’t want to face the hard truth about what we have said or done.

But until we face the truth about ourselves, we can never be free.

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Now—Did the painful surgery produce the desired healing?

Yes! Peter never denied Christ again!

Now here’s the good news—On the spot, Jesus re-enlisted Peter into his calling by saying 3 times, “Feed my sheep.”

Three times Peter denied the Lord.

Three times he restated his love for the Lord.

And three times Jesus affirmed his calling.

Praise God, a fallen, broken man was restored by the mender of broken hearts into a powerful, life-long ministry!

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RECAP: How do you overcome the faith-breaker of personal failure?

Return to the place of your failure

Repent of your sin

Receive His forgiveness

Recommit your life to Him

Re-enlist in His purpose for you

LET’S PRAY

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