Luke #50: The Path to Failure (22:31-62)
Notes
Transcript
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B: Luke 22:31-62
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Welcome
Welcome
Thanks to Alvin.
Good morning, and welcome to family worship with the church body of Eastern Hills. Whether you are here in the room, or online, thanks for being part of our celebration of Jesus today.
Also, thanks to those of you who serve in our Student Ministry alongside Trevor. Your ministry to our students is important and appreciated.
If you are visiting with us for the first time today, thanks for choosing to worship with Eastern Hills! We would like to be able to thank you for your visit and to pray for you, so if you wouldn’t mind, please take a moment during the sermon to fill out a visitor card, which you’ll find in the back of the pew in front of you. If you’re online, you can let us know about your visit by filling out the communication form at the bottom of our “I’m new“ page. If you’re here in the room today, you can get that card back to us in one of two ways: you can put it in the boxes by the doors at the close of service, or I would love the opportunity to meet you personally, so after service, you can bring that card to me directly, and I have a gift to give you to thank you for your visit today.
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Opening
Opening
Today marks the fiftieth message from the Gospel of Luke. We’ve been looking at the Story of the King through Luke’s eyes since the first Sunday of 2025, and we’re nearing the end of our journey.
Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? It’s got so much beauty, so much depth, so many different places to look, that it can be really hard in the beginning to take it in or to focus on it… it’s just too much. Too grand (thus the name, I guess).
Sermon prep for me this week was kind of like this. Sometimes, the most difficult thing to do when I come to a passage to preach is to decide what to focus on, because there’s just so much to see. We don’t have time to focus on everything that every passage contains. This week, there was so much to see! It was a really rewarding time of study.
So when we have times like that in the Bible, it’s good to find a thread that is woven through the whole passage. That’s what we’re doing this morning. The message this morning is called, “The Path to Failure,” and our focal passage is rather long: Luke 22:31-62. So as you are able to do so, please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word, and turn in your Bibles or Bible apps to Luke 22, and I will begin reading in verse 31. Please feel free to sit back down or remain seated if standing proves difficult.
31 “Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33 “Lord,” he told him, “I’m ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” 34 “I tell you, Peter,” he said, “the rooster will not crow today until you deny three times that you know me.” 35 He also said to them, “When I sent you out without money-bag, traveling bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Not a thing,” they said. 36 Then he said to them, “But now, whoever has a money-bag should take it, and also a traveling bag. And whoever doesn’t have a sword should sell his robe and buy one. 37 For I tell you, what is written must be fulfilled in me: And he was counted among the lawless. Yes, what is written about me is coming to its fulfillment.” 38 “Lord,” they said, “look, here are two swords.” “That is enough!” he told them. 39 He went out and made his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 When he reached the place, he told them, “Pray that you may not fall into temptation.” 41 Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. 44 Being in anguish, he prayed more fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. 45 When he got up from prayer and came to the disciples, he found them sleeping, exhausted from their grief. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you won’t fall into temptation.” 47 While he was still speaking, suddenly a mob came, and one of the Twelve named Judas was leading them. He came near Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49 When those around him saw what was going to happen, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” 50 Then one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus responded, “No more of this!” And touching his ear, he healed him. 52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal? 53 Every day while I was with you in the temple, you never laid a hand on me. But this is your hour—and the dominion of darkness.” 54 They seized him, led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. Meanwhile Peter was following at a distance. 55 They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, and Peter sat among them. 56 When a servant saw him sitting in the light, and looked closely at him, she said, “This man was with him too.” 57 But he denied it: “Woman, I don’t know him.” 58 After a little while, someone else saw him and said, “You’re one of them too.” “Man, I am not!” Peter said. 59 About an hour later, another kept insisting, “This man was certainly with him, since he’s also a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. So Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
PRAYER Happenings in Minneapolis, Syria, and Iran.
If you’ve been in my office, you know that I’m a big Batman fan. Always have been, since I was a little kid. I was usually there at the same Bat-time on the same Bat-channel after school. I have Batman comics and memorabilia, pajamas and socks, posters and too much to explain here. So of course, I’ve seen all the movies.
If you haven’t seen the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises, spoiler alert. The Dark Knight Rises was the final film in the trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan, which started with Batman Begins (I personally my favorite Batman movie… it’s a good story even if you aren’t into Batman). In The Dark Knight Rises, the character of Batman or Bruce Wayne goes through an unfortunate journey where he fails miserably in attempting to stop the primary bad guy in the film, a mercenary named Bane.
Batman’s failure comes as a result of a series of missteps. It starts with his own overinflated self-confidence, followed by his trust in Catwoman, compounded by the fact that he’s neither as young nor as fit as he once was, and the fact that his solution to stopping Bane is simply a foolhardy frontal assault when he really had no idea what he was getting into. He loses to Bane quickly, and ends up in a pit prison with a dislocated vertebrae in his back.
His faithful and wise butler Alfred was concerned from the beginning. He knew that this path was going to lead to failure, and he told Bruce so. Bruce ignored him.
I was reminded of this as I wrote this week because in our focal passage, I saw a similar path to failure in Peter’s life. At each step through this narrative, we can see another step in Peter’s path toward denying that he knew Jesus, even though Jesus had told him ahead of time that his failure was coming.
Many of us take the same path when we stumble and fall spiritually. I confess that this is the path that I generally take when I take my eyes off of God and walk in disobedience, and in fact, this message is in some ways a revelation of my own struggles.
Perhaps your journey is a little different, but often the steps are basically the same. The path to failure begins with misplaced confidence: we trust ourselves or others to provide blessing or growth or wisdom, instead of God. This is followed by the revealing of our inability to meet the demands of our situation, despite our attempts and plans to do so. And so finally, we fail. The good news is that it’s often in that failure that we see God as the great God that He is. I’ll warn you now that this message might feel pretty cynical until the end. So hang on for that good news!
Our first misstep on the path to failure is misplaced confidence:
1: Man’s confidence
1: Man’s confidence
Remember that in our passage last week, the disciples were arguing with one another about who should be considered the greatest in the Kingdom of God. Jesus corrected them by saying that true greatness wasn’t about power, but about humility. I wonder if that argument isn’t what led to what Jesus says next, beginning in verse 31:
31 “Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.
Jesus addresses Simon Peter because he was the de facto leader of the disciples. He was usually the spokesman, and often acted or spoke before really thinking. The “you” in verse 31: “Satan has asked to sift you like wheat,” is plural. Jesus is speaking about all of the disciples, not just Peter.
And I would imagine that this “sifting” He tells them of was probably very disconcerting. The idea behind this term is a violent shaking, so as to upset or even ruin their faith. This brings to mind thoughts of Satan accusing Job in Job 1 and 2, or the fact that Peter would later say:
8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
Satan wants to overwhelm those who follow God, if he can. He wants to distract us, disrupt us, and disturb us. Not only that, but we have the draw and pressure of the world, along with what goes on inside our own heads and hearts, all working to prevent us from following the Lord. There is a lot stacked against us and our own strength.
But we have Christ on our side, interceding for us according to Hebrews 7:25, as He said He had done for Peter:
32 But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Jesus prayed for Peter (the “you’s” in verse 32 are singular, so directed at Peter), that his faith would not ultimately fail. Yes, we know that Peter is going to deny knowing Jesus, but Jesus even predicted that he would “turn back.” Peter’s true faith and perseverance would be revealed in his repentance, not in his sinlessness.
But placing our supreme confidence in man—whether that is in ourselves or in others—is misplaced confidence. The prophet Jeremiah wrote:
5 This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind. He makes human flesh his strength, and his heart turns from the Lord. 6 He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.
These are strong words! We should not trust ourselves or others for that which can only come from God. Let’s consider these two points. First, we misplace our confidence when we trust in ourselves and our own righteousness.
A: Self
A: Self
This is the place where my own failures normally start. I don’t know if you guys do this, but I let myself down all the time. Yet somehow, I keep right on trusting me, thinking that this time, I’m strong enough to handle things on my own. Not surprisingly, Peter had confidence in himself as well:
33 “Lord,” he told him, “I’m ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”
We can see that Peter is at least starting to get the reality of what is coming (about time, given that Jesus has said it on multiple occasions). And he swears that he’s ready to go the distance, no matter what happens. Even if he has to die, he’s certain that he will do so willingly.
But Jesus knows that Peter’s not ready:
34 “I tell you, Peter,” he said, “the rooster will not crow today until you deny three times that you know me.”
Often, we act like Peter: “I can handle this. I know I’m strong enough. I can do this on my own, God… just watch.” But the Scriptures reveal to us something different:
10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.
In our own strength, we will not be like Jesus. We can’t do anything of eternal consequence in our own power, even in our own lives. We need the indwelling and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit to do that. Trust in and submission to the Lord is the only way spiritual growth is going to happen.
However, we also cannot trust others to do that work in us.
B: Others
B: Others
In verse 35, Jesus asked the disciples if, when He had sent them out (chapters 9 and 10), they had everything that they had needed. They said that they did. God had used their fellow Jews to provide for their needs as they traveled and ministered, through a common acceptance of their mission and work.
But now, Jesus said that their upcoming journey would be different, and they would not be able to rely upon other people, because they would be rejected for being associated with Him.
36 Then he said to them, “But now, whoever has a money-bag should take it, and also a traveling bag. And whoever doesn’t have a sword should sell his robe and buy one. 37 For I tell you, what is written must be fulfilled in me: And he was counted among the lawless. Yes, what is written about me is coming to its fulfillment.”
The reality is that people can be very fickle. Even our friends and family can and will let us down. We have all of these limitations that keep us from being able to meet all of someone else’s needs. We lack time or energy or ability or resources. And sometimes, we’re just lousy friends or family members—we actually hurt one another instead of helping at all. Consider what David wrote:
12 Now it is not an enemy who insults me— otherwise I could bear it; it is not a foe who rises up against me— otherwise I could hide from him. 13 But it is you, a man who is my peer, my companion and good friend! 14 We used to have close fellowship; we walked with the crowd into the house of God.
Please hear me that I’m not saying that we should never attempt anything or never place any amount of trust another human soul. What I’m saying is that if we look to ourselves or to others for what only God can provide, we will always be disappointed. This is because we all, despite our best intentions and attempts, have weaknesses.
2: Man’s weakness
2: Man’s weakness
None of us here this morning is perfect. Every last one of us has weak points in our lives—points where it is easiest for the devil or the world or our own sinful flesh to attack us and get us to stumble. For the disciples on the night of Jesus’s arrest, their weakness was literally physical: their inability to stay awake in prayer:
39 He went out and made his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 When he reached the place, he told them, “Pray that you may not fall into temptation.”
This admonition to the disciples to stay awake and pray fits very well with how Jesus taught His disciples to pray way back in Luke 11:
4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation.”
Both Mark and Matthew give us an extra sentence from Jesus that night in the Garden of Gethsemane that helps us understand this a little more:
38 Stay awake and pray so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
But for the disciples on this night, they just couldn’t do it. Their spiritual selves may have wanted to stay focused in prayer, but their bodies couldn’t keep from fading into slumber. Luke tells us that they were “exhausted from their grief.” (v 45) I think that they all, as we’ve already said of Peter, were getting the idea that something big was coming. And prayer was the well from which they could draw the strength to persevere through it. But still they couldn’t overcome their tiredness. They couldn’t keep their eyes open, according to Mark. Their flesh was weak, as is all of ours apart from Christ:
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.
Compare this with Jesus: He knew exactly what was coming. I seriously doubt that the physical part of the crucifixion was foremost in His mind. He knew that He would be taking the wrath of God against sin on Himself, as the shame of humanity’s rebellion was placed upon Him. But still He didn’t waver from His willingness to do what He had come to do:
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
The will of the Father was of the utmost importance to Jesus. He would do nothing else, even though it meant being separated from the Father for the first and only time in all of eternity:
34 And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Even as I was writing this, I was convicted about my own weakness. I was tired. I was having a hard time concentrating because of some other things that had gone on this week. I was frustrated that I couldn’t rely upon myself to think clearly, and then realized that I was living out my first point, displaying to myself the folly of relying on my ability to communicate God’s Word, instead of looking to God to guide my heart and mind, and trusting Him for the words to write. And I had to stop and repent, going to the Lord in prayer, confessing my weakness and asking for His strength, not my own.
We all have weaknesses. And because of those weaknesses, we are also terrible at coming up with solutions to our problems.
3: Man’s solutions
3: Man’s solutions
Some of the stickiest problems I’ve encountered in my life came because I tried to solve a God-sized problem with Bill-sized wisdom, or that I tried to preemptively solve a problem that I thought I could see coming. Relying on my solutions instead of waiting on God has at times caused many more problems than they have solved. Anyone else experience this?
There are several ways that we see human solutions at play in our focal passage this morning, each one destructive:
It was a human solution for Judas to sell Jesus into the hands of the Jewish leaders for thirty pieces of silver (we saw this back in the beginning of chapter 22… it’s coming to fruition now);
It was a human solution for Judas to lead the mob to arrest Jesus at night in private, when the common Jewish folks who looked favorably at Jesus would not be around, so there wouldn’t be a riot;
It was a human solution for Judas to betray Jesus with a kiss, since it was nighttime and dark, so that the temple guard with them could arrest the right man. He turned a greeting of blessing into a signal of betrayal;
It was a human solution for Peter to pull out his sword and cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear. Luke doesn’t say it was Peter who did this, but John does:
10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
Jesus called for that to stop. The mention of selling one’s robe to purchase a sword back in verse 36 was figurative: a warning that they would face opposition and danger on the road ahead, not that physically resisting the Romans was anywhere in view. Not only does this thinking go against everything we know about Jesus and His teaching, but two swords would hardly be enough to mount an armed insurrection. The announcement of the fact they had two swords was met with Jesus’s response “That is enough!” This could be taken to say that two swords was enough for their purpose, or more likely, to say that that had been enough talk of actual swords. Probably it was Jesus’s quick action in healing Malchus that kept the Roman guards from killing the disciples on the spot.
There’s a tension here that we have to confess: Judas’s human plans were working exactly as he meant them to. Jesus was arrested. Judas had been successful in something terrible. Sometimes, our solutions are exactly that: terrible sins. The tension is that this was all happening exactly as it needed to happen for God’s plan of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf to take place. Judas approached the Jewish leaders in order to get them to pay Him for betraying Jesus:
14 Then one of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him.
But this was prophesied by Zechariah hundreds of years before:
12 Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, thirty pieces of silver.
Judas was at at the Last Supper with Jesus, and Jesus even quoted Psalm 41:9, referring to it as a prophecy that was being fulfilled:
18 “I’m not speaking about all of you; I know those I have chosen. But the Scripture must be fulfilled: The one who eats my bread has raised his heel against me.
9 Even my friend in whom I trusted, one who ate my bread, has raised his heel against me.
However, even in these things we see that God is sovereign over the whole situation, using the human solutions to further His ends of Jesus dying for our sins. God’s plans aren’t going to be thwarted by our foolish decision-making. But just because God can and does work out His plan in full knowledge of our sin doesn’t make our sin righteous. Jesus acknowledged this in His high priestly prayer in John 17:
12 While I was with them, I was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.
Judas had been under the cover of Jesus’s presence and teaching, and still rejected Him. While Peter would later repent of his denial of Christ and be restored, Judas would take his own life in guilt and shame, admitting Jesus’s innocence, but not coming back to Him. His failure was an ultimate failure, which takes us to our final point:
4: Man’s failure
4: Man’s failure
I struggled with whether or not the word “failure” was the best word here. It seems so final, so condemning. But the truth is that when Peter was sifted, his commitment to Jesus faltered. What we see in verses 54 through 62 is that despite all the confident boastings, when Peter was at risk of being associated with Jesus while He was being questioned in the house of the high priest, Peter did everything he could to distance himself from his relationship with Christ, three times declaring that he didn’t even know Him. Jesus had promised him that this was going to happen. In the Garden, Peter was challenged to stay awake and pray so that he wouldn’t fall into temptation, but he didn’t. And now, his misplaced confidence was bearing fruit: He had in self-confidence crowed about his commitment. Now a rooster would crow as a marking of his failure.
And when I turn away from God and go my own direction, my commitment fails. Not in an ultimate sense, but in a momentary one. When I turn make someone or something other than Jesus most important, even for a moment, that’s a failing. There’s a reason that Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:
12 So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. 13 No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. 14 So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
The Lord is there in the midst of my temptation, as He was in the midst of Peter’s. The way through is available, but I often fail to take it. But my failing doesn’t define me as a “failure,” because it’s the Lord’s work that enables me to stand in righteousness:
4 Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.
This is where the good news is found, even though it may not always feel like good news at the time. When Peter denied knowing Jesus that third time and the rooster crowed, Jesus looked right at him. I’m not sure how this happened, but it must have been a powerful moment. And it cut Peter to his core.
60 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. So Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Jesus still loves us when we fail. He didn’t hang His head and shake it in shame over Peter’s rejection. He looked right at him. He still saw him. And Peter knew it. He remembered. He was convicted. And after Jesus rose again, he was restored.
15 When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Feed my lambs,” he told him. 16 A second time he asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Shepherd my sheep,” he told him. 17 He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus said.
So just as we make a path to failure, God makes a path to restoration if we will trust Him and submit to it. It may be uncomfortable and even painful, but it’s the only way we will walk. Going back to the passage from Jeremiah 17 we read earlier that began, “Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind,” we see that the prophet continued:
7 The person who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. 8 He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.
God provides the strength that we need through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. He will use His Word to convict us and call us and direct us if we will read it. He will use prayer to strengthen us against the temptations that might assail us. He will use our brothers and sisters in Christ to lift us up and help us to stand.
19 My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
He will be our strength and our wisdom against the pressures of the devil, the world, and even our own sinful flesh, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:
24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
I can say this with complete confidence: We all need Jesus. All the time. Every day. If you’re saved, you need Him every bit as much as you did the day you surrendered. If you’ve never trusted in Christ, then you need to know and believe the Gospel: That you were made by God to be in a relationship with Him, but you (and all the rest of us) have sinned, and rebelled against Him. We can’t fix that relationship on our own, because we are broken. So God gave the solution in Jesus: He lived a sinless life so He could be separated from God for us. He took the wrath our sins deserve so that we can be forgiven. When we trust His sacrifice instead of ourselves, we’re justified before God. And the Bible tells us that Jesus overcame death and rose again, and if we have believed in Christ for our forgiveness, we will overcome death with Him and have eternal life.
Closing
Closing
You can’t save yourself. You need Jesus. On our own, we’re walking at path toward failure. Trust Jesus and be saved. Come and tell us.
Brother or sister: Are you walking a path toward failure yourself this morning? Turn to Christ in confession, repentance, and faith, hearing the words that Peter spoke in Acts 3:
19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.
Come and pray at the steps or with one of us. Pray where you are.
If you want to join the church.
Giving
PRAYER
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Bible reading (Gen 12, Mat 11, Ezra 10, Acts 11)
Pastor’s Study tonight
Prayer Meeting
Instructions for guests
Benediction
Benediction
20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
