However, Peter’s story can encourage us when we realize what we can learn from it.
Jesus told Peter that after he had denied Him, he would return to the truth, and that then he was to encourage his brethren. (Luke 22:32)
If we follow Jesus, we are Peter’s brethren.
So what can we learn?
Failure Is Not Fatal IF . . . We recognize that everyone fails. Nobody is perfect and everyone sins. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
We have all fallen short. I have fallen short. You have fallen short.
Thank God that He forgives our “falling shorts”. (Okay, you can laugh, here. This is one of my husband’s favorite funnies.) Morally, we all have “falling shorts”, those failures and sins that leave us embarrassed. We did NOT mean to sin, however, we did. We all miss the mark.
“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.” Ecclesiastes 7:20
“We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.” James 3:2
We start out well.
We have wonderful, amazing intentions.
We are excited and we want to succeed in the faith.
We have a desire to be faithful disciples of the Lord.
Yet, we become fearful and distracted from the faith.
Then we make a bad decision and consequently we sin against our Lord.
Guilt and shame replace the joy of our salvation.
The truth about us appears inRomans 7:18-25:
“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
“So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”
When we let go of the perfection obsession, the fear of failure loses its grip on our lives.
Therefore, Failure Is Not Fatal IF… We recognize that everyone fails.
The children had practiced for weeks. Several broke down when they were eliminated. Mothers comforted them, dried their tears, and assured them they were not failures.
Jobs! Marriages! Children! Friends! Failure can feel never-ending. It can make you want never to show your face again. We fear failure and refuse to try. And the worst is when we know we did wrong, failing Jesus.
What can we do? God’s Word tells us.
The Bible records many failures because it contains life as it really is: accounts of real people. Bible heroes are remembered for their successes, yes, but before success, sometimes there was failure, as we saw last week.
This week we will look closely at a couple more, and learn how to turn life’s failures into life-giving experience.
One of our stories is about Peter:
“Then seizing him [Jesus], they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, ‘This man was with him.’
“But he denied it. ‘Woman, I don’t know him,’ he said.
“A little later someone else saw him and said, ‘You also are one of them.’
“‘Man, I am not!’ Peter replied.
“About an hour later another asserted, ‘Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.’
“Peter replied, ‘Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!’
“Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.” Luke 22:54-62
We need not be too hard on Peter. The story of the arrest of Jesus shows he was a man of courage.
In Luke 22:50, when the authorities came to arrest Jesus, only Peter grabbed a sword to defend Jesus. In this attempt, he not only displayed courage but also chopped off the ear of the High Priest’s servant. I believe that Peter would have died at that moment to defend Jesus, had Jesus not intervened.
During the arrest, Peter “followed at a distance.” That must have taken courage. The other disciples fled, but he did not do that. He followed Jesus—at a distance perhaps—but still, he was there.
Peter also managed to ease his way into the courtyard of the building where Jesus was being questioned. Then, “[. . .] when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.” What a dangerous place to be, then, in the courtyard amongst the soldiers who had just arrested his Teacher!
Finally, things got too “hot” and his courage weakened. Peter failed in a way he had sworn he would never fail. (Matthew 26:35)
As the intensity of his denials escalates, we want to say, “You were with Jesus three years! You saw the miracles! You heard His teaching! You had revelation knowledge! How could you fail so miserably?”
But what Luke wants us to see is that we have something in common with Peter: It is easy to fail.
Whenever we fail to share our faith because we’re afraid of what people might say about us, we deny Jesus.
Whenever we choose to do what we know is wrong instead of right, we deny Jesus.
Whenever we trust our own understanding instead of trusting His Word, we deny Jesus.
And, like Peter, something about us tells others we have been with Him . . .
At church, we say, “Praise you, Jesus! I love you so much! I’ll always be faithful to You!”
Peter was sure. But when the test came, he faltered.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 1 Corinthians 10:12
Peter’s story encourages in that we can learn from his failure. That is what we will look at for the next few days.
For though I caused you sorrow by my letter,
I do not regret it;
though I did regret it— for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while—
I now rejoice,
not that you were made sorrowful,
but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance;
for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God,
so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God
produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation,
but the sorrow of the world produces death.
For behold what earnestness this very thing,
this godly sorrow,
has produced in you:
what vindication of yourselves,
what indignation,
what fear,
what longing,
what zeal,
what avenging of wrong!
In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.
So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender
nor for the sake of the one offended,
but that your earnestness on our behalf
might be made known to you in the sight of God.
That is why He told the disciples, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised . . . ” Luke 2:49
The promise was the Holy Spirit.
Let’s track this Holy Spirit from the beginning: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Genesis1:1-2
You can’t go any farther back than that, the first page of the Bible. But there’s lots more.
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:18-20
The HolySpirit appeared visibly at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan. Luke 3:22
It was prophesied that Jesus, Himself, would baptize people with the HolySpirit. Luke 3:16
The old man, Simeon, recognized Jesus, by the power of the HolySpirit, when Jesus was a week-old infant. Luke 2:25-26
Jesus taught that the heavenly Father would delight to give His HolySpirit to His followers, even more than our own fathers would give us food. Luke 11:13
Jesus said His followers should never worry about what to say in His defense, because the HolySpirit would give them the words to say. Luke 12:12
Jesus taught that one of the purposes of the HolySpirit is to keep teaching us, because of so many things we must learn that we cannot grasp all at once. John 14:26
Jesus said He could not send His HolySpirit unless He went away. John 16:5-7
Jesus said, “Father, into Thy hand I commend my spirit,” when He died. Luke 23:46
Jesus promised power to be good witnesses after receiving the HolySpirit. Acts 1:8
Having the HolySpirit is how we get godly love. Romans 5:5
Righteousness, peace, and joy come from the HolySpirit. Romans 14:17
Our bodies are to be a temple of the HolySpirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19
Purity and patience come from the HolySpirit. 2 Corinthians 6:6
The HolySpirit seals us. Ephesians 1:13
The Old Testament was written by inspiration of the HolySpirit. 2 Peter 1:21
Jesus did an amazing thing after He returned to the Father. He sent His own spirit, the Holy Spirit, to be IN the disciples and IN us!
Without Him, we have no power over sin, the flesh, or the devil. Without Him, we are doomed to fail. We need Him every hour of every day and our Father wants us to have the Holy Spirit.
“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the HolySpirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13
“Christ died for our sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18
Jesus’ death is God’s way of saying, “Even though you have failed me many times, even though you’ve sinned, even though you’ve made mistakes, I still love you! I still want you!”
Sometimes we might think, “I have failed so many times, I don’t see how God could work in my life. I keep sinning the same ol’ sin and my sin seems so great, I feel like I’m disqualified even from the dishonor roll.”
You need to understand grace.
Grace is the power of God working in you, through you, with you, and for you. “Faithful is He who has called you, and He will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:24 He did it for Abraham, Moses, David, the disciples—and He died to do it for you.
The wonderful truth is that God uses imperfect people to accomplish His perfect will.
He uses flawed people to accomplish His flawless will.
If you’re willing to let Jesus have His way in your life, God will use you to be a blessing to others, just like he used all the others on the dishonor roll.
You need to understand that God never tires of forgiving us.
Even if I have to ask God for forgiveness 5 times a day for the rest of my life, if I am sincere about it, He will forgive me.
How do I know that?
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
To fully grasp the meaning of this verse, we must realize the wisdom of God in placing His Son close to Greece, where the language has an extra verb tense we call “aorist”. The aorist tense means “keep on keeping on”.
So the above verse, in aorist tense, really says: If we keep on confessing our sins, He keeps on being faithful and just, and will keep on forgiving us our sins and keep on cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
I need that.
Notice, also, the word “all”.
God is willing to forgive ALL our sin.
Why?
He loves us. Even though we sin, God wants to use us if we repent.
Once we realize we have sinned, we need to confess and ask God to forgive our sins. We can’t just say, “God loves failures, so I’ll just keep sinning and let God clean up after me.”
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:1-4
We have to give our failures to God. We have to say “Lord, I sinned! I blew it! And I confess and repent from the bottom of my heart.”
“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:13
Have you noticed the two words, “confess” and “repent”? They are both vitally important, and most folks think they are the same, but they are not, therefore an explanation is in order.
Repentance: This is turning around, turning your back on your sin, hating it enough to change or to want to change. It is the giant, “OH NO!” that accompanies our realizing the consequences of what we have done.
Confession: God does not forgive excuses; He forgives sin. If you tell Him all about how it was the other guy’s fault or how you couldn’t help it because of your headache, you are not confessing your sin.
Listen to the prayer of David after He committed his great sins:
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:1-17
How does God respond to people who have sinned? How does He respond to our failures?”
Mark gives us a clue, on the morning of the Resurrection:
As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'” Mark 16:5-7
In other words, even though the disciples sinned, even though they had lost faith, even though they had abandoned Him, Jesus wanted to be with them!
Consider the times of Jesus. The whole New Testament demonstrates to the world that Jesus is the Son of God by His deeds and by His death. And His 12 Apostles had a front row seat for the whole thing.
Let’s look at what they saw, as recorded by Matthew the Apostle:
Jesus drove out demons, as recorded in Matthew 8. Jesus told the wind and the waves to be still in Matthew 8. They saw Jesus heal the sick and raise the dead. They were there, we read in Matthew 12, when Jesus spoke to the Pharisees like no one had ever spoken to them before. In addition, in Matthew 26, they were there for the Last Supper, when Jesus established a new covenant with all of humankind.
Yet in spite of all these things the apostles were privileged to see, in spite of all the things that were designed to strengthen their faith, “You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’” Matthew 26:31
How could anyone fail God with Jesus walking alongside him?
The disciples swore they would not leave Him, but they were about to find out how weak they were.
They walked with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus told them to watch and pray. However, they were so tired that they could not even keep their eyes open. Then the soldiers arrived and took Jesus into custody. The disciples were so scared and so startled that they turned and ran for their lives. Jesus was right. They all fell away. They failed Jesus and they failed to keep the faith.
What about us? In church, it’s easy to pledge our allegiance to Jesus Christ. But when we are out in the world, it is not so easy. Out there, we consider other things:
Our marriage.
Our job.
Our finances.
Our family.
Our health.
Our worries.
As much as we want to serve God, there are times when it is hard. We fail, we sin, we deny Jesus as Lord, and we fail to keep the faith.
Yes, we are in pretty good company with God’s dishonor roll of failures. Thank God, He is not finished with us!
Let’s look at more examples of God’s Dishonor Roll.
In Exodus chapter 2, we read that Moses killed a man with his bare hands.
God could have said, “I’m not working with this guy. He’s a hot-tempered man! He’d be a terrible leader!”
But instead, 40 years later, in chapter 3, we find that God chose Moses. He told Moses He wanted him to be the man to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. He wanted Moses to be the one to tell Pharaoh, ’Let my people go.’ Even though he killed a man and was a fugitive from justice, He still wanted him to lead His people out of bondage.”
Even Moses thought God was making a mistake.
He made excuses for not being up to the task.
He wanted God to choose someone else.
Moses felt like a failure and unqualified for the task.
He was afraid. He didn’t want to fail again. Have you ever been there?
God could have agreed and selected another person, but He didn’t give up on Moses and enabled Him to show forth God’s miraculous power.
Furthermore, God met with Moses,
this murderer,
this weak man,
and talked to him as a friend. He gave Moses His Law and Commandments, the Old Testament.
“As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” Exodus 33:9-11a.
Or how about David, a “man after God’s own heart”, who failed greatly: Coveting another man’s wife, he committed adultery with her and planned her husband’s death on the battlefield to cover up his sin.
God could have been done with David and removed him as king of Israel, as He had done with David’s predecessor, Saul, but God had made a promise to David and He kept it. David suffered consequences of his sin, but he continued to rule as king over Israel. He, and his descendants, continued worshipping God.
“When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.” 2 Samuel 7:12-14a
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