Sermon Tone Analysis

Sifted but Saved

Sifted by Christ's Prediction

Ron Dunn

Luke 22:31-32

 

        Would you open your Bibles this morning to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22...I'm going to read verses 31-34.

The setting of these verses is, as you know, the Lord eating the Passover Supper with His disciples as He institutes the Lord's Supper.

It's a very critical and strategic time both for our Lord and for His disciples.

Strange things are happening.

Some strange things are being said.

It is a night filled with tenseness and mystery and in the midst of this situation comes the startling prophecy of the Lord Jesus concerning Simon Peter.

Verses 31-34:

 

                "And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired

                to have you that he may sift you as wheat.

But I have prayed

                for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted,

                strengthen thy brethren.'

And he said unto Him, 'Lord, I'm ready

                to go with Thee both to prison and to death.'

And He said, 'I tell

                thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt

                thrice deny that thou knowest Me.'"

 

        Now, there are two great themes in this passage.

It is both a frightening and an encouraging passage.

It is frightening and enlightening in the sense that it reveals to me that a man who loves Jesus sincerely and had the truest desire to follow the Lord Jesus may be overcome and overborne with fear and intimidation and by the devil and fall into great, great sin.

I have every confidence Simon meant exactly what he said when he told the Lord that he was ready to go with Him to prison and even to death...I have no doubt that the apostle meant it because Simon Peter dearly loved the Lord Jesus with all his heart...that rough fisherman loved the Lord Jesus.

He had given up everything to follow His Master...and I believe He meant it!

He wasn't just bragging!

He wasn't making an idle boast!

He meant it when he said, "I am ready to follow Thee to prison and to death..."And, yet even with this dedication...even with this love...even with the highest resolve, Jesus said, "Peter, before the rooster crows this day one time, you will have denied Me three times."

And, I say to you that is a very frightening prophecy!

It reveals to us that a man who has lived in very close and intimate fellowship with the Lord for three years and whose heart is dedicated to the Lord and whose life is filled with the sincerest desire to follow Him and serve can fall into great sin!

The whole Bible is testimony to this truth...and not only the Bible,

but the experience of every one of us, and many times we're frustrated and discouraged because we somehow feel that our highest ideals, our highest resolves, our greatest times of dedication will somehow be a buttress against failure.

We sometimes wonder how it is that we can fail our Lord when we love Him as much as we do.

And yet, I'm convinced that the Lord Jesus is saying to the Apostle Peter and He's saying to us the same thing..."Even though you love Me, even though you have the most honest and sincere desire to follow Me, yet you are vulnerable and you are subject to failure."

That's the first thing that this passage of scripture says to me.

It's a frightening thing in that it tells me that the

best can fail.

H.

G. Wells once said that a man can love music and be a very poor musician...and there's a lot of truth in that.

A man can love art and yet be a very poor artist himself.

A man can love Jesus and have the highest desire to never do anything that would dishonor and disgrace Him, and yet that man can fail miserably.

Not only is this passage a frightening passage to me, it is also an encouraging passage, because it tells me that the greatest fall can be recovered.

Even a man who, like Peter, curses and denies that he knows his Lord, Jesus said, "When thou are converted, strengthen thy brethren..."The prophecy of the failure is made at the same time that the prophecy is made of his recovery.

So, I say that this is a very encouraging passage...because it teaches me that even though I may fail greatly, as Simon did, yet I can be recovered...I can be restored and I can go on to live a useful life of ministry for the Lord Jesus.

Now, these verses, particularly verses 31 and 32, where Jesus prophesies that Satan is going to sift Peter, but the fact that the Lord has prayed for Peter..."when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren"...these two verses have occupied my heart and mind for several days and several weeks and I find in them some of the greatest instructions for believers to be found anywhere in the Scriptures.

As a matter of fact, these two verses touch on a number of great theological doctrines and a great number of theological truths that you and I need to implement in our daily lives.

It touches on the matter of the devil and his personality.

It touches on the matter of the sovereignty of the Lord.

It touches on the matter of the intercessory ministry of the Lord Jesus...and many other things are revealed and touched on in this tremendous passage...so I want us to examine these verses today and tomorrow as we're talking about the general theme..."sifted but saved".

I believe that's a pretty good description of the Christian life of a great many people.

Sifted but saved!

Simon was sifted but he was saved.

You and I again and again are sifted but we can be saved even from that sifting.

This is a very serious thing.

You can see the seriousness of it in the way the Lord Jesus addressed Simon Peter.

You'll notice in verse 31 when the Lord says, "Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you"...the word "you" is in the plural, indicating all the disciples, but He singles out Simon in particular...calling attention to the seriousness of the situation.

I may also mention that Jesus' use of the name "Simon" is significant.

Notice He doesn't call him "Peter."

He calls him by his original name.

Simon was Peter's name when Jesus met him.

Jesus had said, "Thou art Simon and thou shalt be called 'Cephas,'" or "Peter," which is interpreted "rock" or "stone"...in other words, Jesus is saying to Peter when He meets him that first time and calls him to be His disciple that Jesus is going to change his character.

He's going to make something firm and steadfast and dependable...a rock...out of Peter.

But, when He comes to prophesy of the failure of this apostle, He does not address him as "Peter."

He addresses him as "Simon."

He uses his former name and I think by this, Jesus Christ is indicating that Peter is full of frailty and fickleness and human weakness because this is the area in which the devil is going to strike at Peter.

I have about four things that I want to share with you today and tomorrow.

Four great truths that come out of these great verses on being sifted by the devil.

The first one is this:

 

1)   Satan Desires to Have the Believer

 

        Satan desires to possess the believer.

Jesus said to Simon, "...Behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat..."  The fact that the devil has an intense interest in the believer...the fact that this interest is so great that he had a desire to possess this man, to literally bring him, pull him, extract him from the hands of God...get him in his own clutches and do with him as he pleases.

I think this is a very important truth for every believer to understand.

The devil has a great desire for you.

He wants you.

He wants to take you in his hands and sift you as wheat.

He wants to harass you, to trouble you, to attack you, to separate you from the Lord Jesus, to separate you from the fellowship of other believers.

I think that Simon Peter was speaking out of his own experience when he wrote in 1 Peter 5:8..."Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walketh about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

The devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.

You remember in the book of Job, when the devil showed up in the court of God.

God asked the devil where he's been...Job1:7:

 

                "And the Lord said unto Satan, 'When comest thou?

Then Satan

                answered the Lord and said, 'From going to and fro in the earth

                and from walking up and down in it.'

And the Lord said unto Satan,

                'Hast thou considered My servant, Job, that there is none like him

                in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and

                hateth evil?'  Then Satan answered the Lord and said, 'Doth Job

                fear God for naught?

Hast not Thou made an hedge about him and

                about his house and about all that he hath on every side?

Thou

                hast blessed the work of his hands and his substance is in-

                creased in the land.'"

Now, the interesting point there is that when God asked Satan, "...hast thou considered My servant, Job...," and Satan, by his reply indicates he has spent a great deal of time considering Job.

He knows a great deal about Job.

He says, "Aha, Job is Your servant, and he has served You, but the reason he has served You is because You've built a hedge about him and not only is there a hedge about him, but there's also a hedge about his house and there's a hedge about everything that he has on every side and You have blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the land."

I tell you, the devil knew a great deal about Job.

I have an idea he had a pretty thick file on Brother Job.