Standing boldly for the name of JEsus
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Intro
Intro
title - Standing boldly for the name of Jesus
luke 22: 54
young man wanted to get a car
dad replied
if you get grades up, study bible, cut hair i will get you a car
you did that but your hair is still long
The young man waited a moment and replied, "You know Dad, I've been thinking about that. You know Samson had long hair, Moses had long hair, Noah had long hair, and even Jesus had long hair."
His father replied, "Yes son, and they walked everywhere they went!"
I want to go back in the chapter
and have someone read
read luke 22: 31-34
Here Jesus predicts that Peter will deny Jesus
PEter exclaims God forbid
you may be sitting here saying to yourself..
I would never let Jesus down..
I will never deny Christ
This is exactly what peter thought
but as we read we are
going to see how He was faced with
the temptation to sin and deny his savior
lets start in verse 54
Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed at a distance. Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, “This man was also with Him.”
Jesus has been arrested
He has been taken into Jerusalem
and He has been brought into the high priests house
as they are beggining to walk out the arrest and trial process.
then it says that peter followed at a distance
Stay Close to Jesus
Stay Close to Jesus
remember that He was wanting to prove Jesus prediction wrong...
as the rest of the disciples fled for their lives,. peter followed at a distance..
Q. Why did he do this?
Q. Are you following Jesus at a distance?
As peter is trying to follow Jesus undercover
someone recognizes Him as they are kindling a fire..
Hey do I know you..
NO!!
His cover is being blown
He loves Jesus but is lacking the courage to
proclaim his name because of the fear of persecution
Dont be afraid
Dont be afraid
lets look at what Jesus says of this situation
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus taught on this while he was walking freely with Peter.
Dont back down
Dont be afraid to represent Jesus
Story —lost friends alex…his wedding..didnt get invited out… His wife has stage 4 breast cancer.......
guess who is going to share the gospel with them this week
for when people make fun of you
and say bad things about you for Jesus
you are blessed
Do you think Peter remembered this teaching at this moment
no ..
We see his response
But he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.”
Here we see peter denies Jesus..
He said He wouldnt
but He did
Why?
Fear.. afraid
of whaT .. PERSECUTION
Im sure He saw Jesus being beaten
and He was certain
If they find out Im His disciple
I will be on trial with him
He was trying to save face
And after a little while another saw him and said, “You also are of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” Then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
Peter denies He is affiliated with Jesus 3 times
and as Jesus predicted
once this happens the rooster will crow 3 times
Peter has refused to aknowledge his relationship to Jesus
as multiple people have questioned peter,
Jesus is in the distance not to far from peter
as He is being questioned and beaten
as we read
And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So Peter went out and wept bitterly.
JESUS LOOKED at peter
as if to say I told you this would happen..
but you must remember it was not in disgust
it was to remind peter
in your strength you cant follow me.
if you try to do it in your power your going to fail…
dont trust in yourself but trust in me..
in his biggest moment of failure
He has realized I have fallen short.
I didnt measure up
and thats the point
Jesus is the only one who can measure up.
as peter denies Christ
and is faced with his sin
he leaves and weeps bitterly
Q. Have you ever messed up so bad that you cried bitterly
Story___
Peter was filled with Shame.
He was defeated.
This is where most of us have to come to
in order to understand the grace of God..
So we see in this story that Peter was
one of the closest disciples to Jesus
He was the brave disciple
and He was the only one to run after Jesus after his arrest
yet He ran after him in his own strength
He crumbled under the pressure of association
and he denied Jesus 3 times.
and then ran away..
and He did so in shame..
q. have any of you felt shame before
your ashamed of your actions....
When you let the Lord down , dont run away from Him
When you feel the shame
remember that
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
We do not want to identify with shame but with conviction
and that conviction will lead to repentance
but repentance is an act of the spirit
We see that even though peter denise Christ,
He is restored by faith
and that brings us to our last point
there is restoration from your sin
there is restoration from your sin
We see a beautiful picture of restoration
in Johns Gospel
restoration is taking something that is broken
and restoring it to working condition
After the ressurection
peter gets to meet with Jesus again
So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, 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.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, 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 all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
Jesus came back to peter
and asked him 3 times
do you love me
and peter assuredly remembered the 3 times he denied Christ
yet Jesus was there to remind him
your forgiven
you denied me three times
im restoring you by revealing your love for me 3 times
we need to live in that
our love for Jesus not our failures
When your faced with sin and the times you let Jesus down
this is what I want you to do…
read
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
forget about the old you
the immature you
the you that made fun of somebody
the you that did something shameful
the you that denied Jesus by your actions
and be reminded of the you that loves Jesus more than anybody else
the you that is willing to die for your savior
the you that wants to go and serve Him
and love Him
and love the people around you..
as we see that is Jesus call on peters life
Jesus is very forgiving and loving
He knew that peter was weak in the flesh
and made a mistake
We will find ourselves in this place as well
and we will need to remember this passage .
and if you love Jesus
you will turn away from your sin to serve him
just like peter,,,
lets get to verse 65
Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is the one who struck You?” And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.
Now we see part of the reason that Peter denied Christ
He was getting publicly beaten and mocked
prophecy here is divinely speaking Gods words in supernatural knowledge
they were saying, if your God tell us something supernatural…
The funny thing is He just prophesied that peter would deny Him.
Jesus displayed what He taught
to love your enemies,
trust in Gods plan
and to let God fight your battles…
Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
This is where peter could have learned from Jesus
to trust in Gods plan, no matter how bad things look around you.
We are so greatful to see peter restored
He continued on in close relationship with Jesus after his denial
He came to a place where he wasnt afraid to proclaim the name of Jesus
as He was murdered for preaching the faith…
He was only able to do this because God sent the helper
the holy spirit..
He sent that to you as well as a believer..
This is the power of God and only way you can be strong in the face of persecution.
story —colombine —do you believe in God
if you say yes im going to pull the trigger…
Do you know what she said… yes
and it makes this verse a bit more chilling
But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
may we stand boldly for the name of Jesus..
pray