Lessons From Peters Denial

Well, I'd like you to look here at Psalm 18, starting in verse number 12. And we've been following along, for those of you who are visiting, we've been following along here the betrayal by Judas of the Lord Jesus and how last time we saw Jesus before Caiaphas and how Jesus acted blameless and harmless before those who were persecuting Him and those who were delivering Him up. Just the beauty of a blameless and a harmless life.

Bible says that you might be harmless and blameless before a perverse and crooked generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. And so having a speech and a life that is without rebuke and having a life where you're harmless is a wonderful testimony to the world. And just viewing this political system, my, that's the total opposite, isn't it? Harming, verbally assaulting, lying, blameless, my, the speech and just the deception and all the things that are going on, that's human nature and politics shouldn't get into the church.

Well, I'd like to look here at the betrayal or excuse me, the denial by Peter in the midst of while Jesus is in the high priest's palace here in John 18 and He is acting wisely and harmlessly outside of the palace, one of His disciples named Peter is not acting wisely. And it's the infamous account of Peter's betraying, denying the Lord Jesus outside the palace. So we're going to look at that and I just want to consider three reasons why Peter fell and this is not just for Peter, this is for all of us.

I see in Peter's life, three major issues there from the scriptures and we deal with these three and so if you're falling and you're having issues and you need help, well then I want to share some things with you this morning that will be helpful, I believe, and something also to glorify God. Get to the end here, we'll see the things that God would like us to glorify Him through. So let's turn to John 18 and I'm going to start reading, I'm going to read down through this account, some of this chapter we've already touched on, starting in John 18, verse 12.

Follow along as I read here. Then the band and the captain and the officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him and led Him away to Annas first, for He was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was He which gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.

And Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple, and I believe that's John, it doesn't say that, but whenever John does not mention names it's usually he's talking about himself. That disciple was known under the high priest and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest, but Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple which was known under the high priest and spake under her that kept the door and brought in Peter.

Now if you read the other accounts there's kind of a Peter is back and forth, he's not sure whether he wants to go in, sometimes he's pictured outside, ultimately he never got in, he never stayed in, he might have been in a short time but he got out. Verse 17, Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. And the servants and the officers stood there who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves, and Peter stood with them and won himself.

Now the next few verses goes inside the palace and talks about Jesus before Caiaphas. Now jump down to verse 25, And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it and said, I am not.

One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again, and immediately the cock crewed. And you remember Jesus had told him that the cock is going to crow twice before you deny me, or after you deny me three times. And so Peter here makes three denials, these denials increase in intensity, in a sense he's standing before a lady, a young lady, and she says, Aren't you a disciple? No, no, no, I'm not a disciple.

Then he goes out and warms himself before a bunch of officers, and those that were out there when they came and picked up Jesus, and he denies it there. And then one of the relatives of the man whom he hit with the knife and cut off his ear, a relative says, Aren't you the guy? And of course Peter denies it again, and he denies the Lord three times. Why did Peter deny the Lord? Three times, and I'd like to talk about that, I'd like to have three lessons for us in our own personal life, and especially the last one, I want to spend a little more time on it because I think it's the most important one.

But I'd like to look here at Peter's life and where he fell, where he failed. Let's pray, and then we'll open up the Scriptures. Heavenly Father, we come to you, Lord, and we desire to be taught in hungering and thirsting after righteousness, Lord.

May you grow us and prosper us in our spiritual life, Lord, and we invite the Holy Spirit to teach us and to walk amongst us and to administer the Word to our individual situation, Lord, and tailor it to fit our individual need. And so we call upon you and we ask you to bless our gathering. May we edify one another today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, all right, thank you. Well first of all, I'd like to start off by saying that, and some of this is going to be review, some of you who are visiting, you won't think this is review, you haven't been here in the past, but the first thing I'd like to bring out is that Peter was not prepared to suffer. He was not mentally prepared to suffer.

And I've talked about this before, Peter has for the last three years been rejecting this concept of suffering. Whenever Jesus is speaking about suffering and how that suffering is coming upon them, and Peter was rejecting it. You remember I shared this last week or two weeks ago, how that Jesus told the disciples that he was going to be taken in and betrayed and delivered up and taken in before the high priest and scourged and he was going to be beaten and killed, and Peter rises up and says, not so Lord, it's not going to happen.

And of course, Jesus gives him that incredible rebuke, he rebukes him and says, get thee behind me Satan, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. That this statement of yours is inspired by the devil, it's demonic. This idea that I am not going to suffer, or that we are not going to suffer, is something that is coming out of the underworld.

And so Peter was actively against this whole idea of suffering. Not only Peter, but his disciples. They were unable to embrace the teaching that they were called to suffer.

And I talked about this last time, how that even that hour before, when Jesus was betrayed, they are sitting in the table where they are taking the Lord's supper and arguing about who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom. Their minds are talking about reigning, or thinking about reigning, and their arguing is about reigning. But they are about ready to enter into a time of great suffering, and they are mentally not prepared.

And therefore, the Bible says, all of them forsook him and fled. They forsook him and fled, in large part because they were not prepared. Look over here at John chapter 18, and you see here how Jesus was prepared.

Not only has he been talking about this for three years, but in John 18 verse 10 it says, Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into thy sheath.

The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? In other words, Jesus knew that he was going to have to drink this cup of suffering. He had prepared his heart, he had prepared his mind to enter into this difficult time, and because he was mentally prepared, he was able to go through that. By the grace of God, we'll see a little bit later, Peter comes to this night, and he is not thinking suffering at all.

He is not prepared for it, he is not mentally prepared for it, and therefore he completely collapses, and he falls, and so does all the other disciples. Now look at Peter, what he says, turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 4, later on in his life, when he is a much wiser man, he says these things, and having learned them from experience, in 1 Peter chapter 4, starting in verse number 1, he says this, For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind. Arm yourselves with the same mind.

You know what it means to arm yourself? Some of you young boys like to arm yourselves when you go out hunting, you load yourself up with ammunition, with a gun, with whatever armor you need, and you go forth with a mindset to go into battle. If you go into a war and you don't arm yourself, not only with guns and swords, and as Ephesians 6 says, put on the whole armor of God, if you don't arm yourselves as you enter into a battle, you are certainly going to be destroyed, you are certainly going to fall, and the enemy is going to take you down, and so we are encouraged here, and Peter is the one who writes it, to arm yourself with the same mind. What mind is that? Well it says there, He suffered for us in the flesh, so you arm yourself with the same mind.

So we as a church, we as a brotherhood here, we ought to arm ourselves, or certainly we should have already armed ourselves, and I've encouraged you to do that, I don't know what's coming tomorrow, or in a month, or in a year, but I do know this, that the Christian life we've been promised to suffer, as a matter of fact, the first words you probably heard, or you should have heard when Jesus called you to follow Him was, take up a cross and follow me, and the whole idea of a cross means, God is calling me into a life of suffering for the Lord Jesus Christ, and so if you enter into this battle, first of all with this mindset that I'm never going to suffer, that the Christian life is going to be one party, and one fun, and one easy, straight, narrow gate, you're destined to fall, because you're not arming yourself with truth, and the truth is, that you're called into suffering for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and so we wouldn't have a chance in a war if we entered the battle without arming ourselves, and so mentally and spiritually, you ought to arm yourselves with this mindset to suffer, and that's why I think one of the great dangers of this pre-tribulation rapture theory, that everything is going to be, you're going to be taken out before any suffering comes, before any great tribulation comes, is a very dangerous philosophy, because it's disarming the church, and it's not allowing for the church to arm itself with this mindset, and so it's important for us to, not like Peter, make the same mistake, to enter into great difficult times, thinking that we're not going to suffer, and we're called to suffer, so for three years, Jesus has been warning his disciples, that they're going to have to suffer, and yet in their minds, in their hearts, they've been rejecting this entire concept, you know, it should have been there that night when Judas brought that band of men, the disciples should have looked at each other and said, you know, guys, we've been preparing for three years for this night, you know, the Lord's been telling us it's going to happen, and you guys ready? We're prepared, we've been thinking about this, mentally, okay, here it's come, let's go for it, you know, but they had, they never thought about it that way, they rejected Jesus' teaching on it, and now they come to this point, like what's happening, and because they're not armed for it, mentally and spiritually, they're wiped out, and they're all just scattered. I can see that happening in the church if great tribulation comes, people who aren't armed to take on some difficult times, they're going to scatter, just like the disciples did. So, let me ask you this question, I think it's very important, are you arming yourselves with this mindset to suffer? Have you played through some of the scenarios in your mind, have you prepared yourself, am I prepared to be betrayed? Am I prepared to spend, Brother David mentioned, am I prepared to spend months, maybe years, as Peter and Paul did, in a prison cell, alone? Am I prepared mentally to deal with that? Do you ever sit around and think, Lord, am I ready to sit in a prison, cold prison cell, and suffer for Jesus' sake, alone? Am I ready to go without food, am I ready to go without the comforts of this life, am I ready to deal with hardship, and stand for Jesus? Well, we ought to be thinking along those lines.

Are you ready to confess Christ to the point of death? Are you ready? You say, well, that's way off, I've got time. Well, things can change rather quickly. You know, these disciples went from singing a song in the upper room and having this great feast, you know, they had the millions of people there in Jerusalem, it was a great time, and they went from that down through the Kidron Valley, up, sleeping while Jesus was praying, and the next thing they wake up and here's a band of people ready to take Jesus, and they weren't prepared at all.

And so let's make sure that we, in our hearts, are armed with the same mind. We're armed to suffer. I gave you this verse last week, Philippians 1.29, for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.

Don't reject, like Peter did, the idea that I'm not going to suffer. And a lot of people do that in a practical way, they avoid things now that they could do that would bring suffering into their life, but they reject it and avoid it. You shouldn't do that.

You should embrace the suffering. Well, these were not prepared, much like, you know, I think of Pearl Harbor, and the American army was not prepared for the Japanese attack, they had no idea. They thought, you know, they're too big, they're too far away, and the U.S. army was too big, and they were surprised.

A day that will live in infamy. And I'll tell you what, I think Peter would have probably said this, too, that that day that I denied the Lord was a day that lives in infamy, and it does. We're even teaching on it this morning.

It lives in infamy. Peter was not prepared. And I, maybe we can hear from Jackson when he gets back here, but I think, you know, boot camp is a place where they take these young soldiers and say, fellas, listen, you're going to suffer.

Some of you are going to die. And you better get your mind. You stop thinking about your girlfriend and your sports events and all this stuff.

You're going to get your mind in a place where we're going into a hostile environment, and some of you are going to see your buddy's head blown off. And some of you are going to lose your own life, and you better toughen your mind and prepare yourself for suffering. And in the military, they armed the line.

They get people ready. This is a war. And so the disciples, they weren't ready.

They weren't mentally prepared for what was coming. So my heart has been trying to prepare my own life and also your life to get ready. We ought not to come to that place.

All of a sudden, you know, we come one Sunday and realize that this whole thing is falling apart, and we're going to have to suffer. And people go, what do you mean? And everybody just scattered like panic. Instead of having a preparedness in our own hearts to be prepared to suffer.

And so that's one of the mistakes Peter made. He didn't understand and arm himself with a proper mind. Number two, the second thing that I see here in his life, and Brother David said something this morning, I'm not going to say something that's contradictory, but there are times in our life when God calls us to be alone with Him.

And yea, I tell you, if you're not a Christian and the danger of being alone forever ought to send you to your knees and crying out to God for mercy. But it is not the will of God for us to live our life alone. As a matter of fact, you're familiar with this verse, it's not good for a man to be alone.

The very beginning of the Bible. And so God made him to help me. But something happened to Peter here and it's the purpose of the devil.

But Peter is left to himself. All these disciples are now scattered and Peter is left to himself. Look down here to John chapter number 18 and verse number 15.

It says, And Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priest and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without.

Now if you'd have been there, Peter could have gone in. As a matter of fact, John goes in because he knows the high priest. John comes back or calls someone to tell Peter to come in, but if you look at the other accounts, Peter never comes in.

And Peter is talking with this girl at the door there. He might have stepped inside just a minute, but that girl then asks him the question. This is the first denial.

Aren't you one of his disciples? Now this is kind of surprising to me because I would think they knew John was his disciple or the other disciples that had gone in. And yet Peter is here and he's by himself. And he says no.

He denies that he knows the Lord or that he is a disciple while he is alone. Look down here a little further to verse 18. And the servants of the officers stood there who had made a fire of coals for it was cold and they warmed themselves and Peter stood with them and warmed himself.

Verse 25, And when Simon Peter stood and warmed himself, they said, Therefore unto him, Art thou also one of his disciples? He denied and said, I am not. Now he's out by himself with these other lost individuals and they ask him, Aren't you a disciple? And Peter says, No, I'm not. So Peter is alone now.

Now I'll tell you what, when Peter is with the twelve and Jesus, what does he do when they come for Jesus? What does he do then? He's fighting. I'm going to fight you guys. And he's got all these brothers around him and he's trying to smite this guy's head off with a sword.

You see, Peter is a different person when he's got his fellow disciples around him and the Lord Jesus. But now you separate him from all of them and now Peter is turning into a coward. He's alone.

Keep reading down in verse 25, his third denial. It says, And when Simon Peter stood and warmed himself, they said, Therefore unto him, Art thou not also one of his disciples? He denied it. One of the servants of the high priest being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him? That's the third one.

Peter then denied again and immediately the cock crewed. Peter denies the Lord here three times. Each time he is separated from the disciples.

He is by himself. You know, we're most vulnerable. How many of you know this? We all know this.

We're most vulnerable to sin when we're alone. Just think if you had a brother or a sister with you all the time of your life. Now, wouldn't that be a help to you? We tend as human beings to be more vulnerable to temptation when we are alone.

And that is why I believe Jesus always sent them out two by two. And you've probably heard this verse many times at weddings, but I'd like to read it. There's some wisdom in it in the book of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes chapter number four, if you want to write it down and look at it later. But listen to what it says. Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. Can you imagine Peter? I don't know the man. And John's saying, Peter, you shouldn't say that.

All right. Yeah, I know him. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falleth for he has not another to help him up.

Again, if two lie together, then they have heat, but how can one be warm alone? Now listen to this. And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

If somebody comes after me, I'd rather be with brother Chris or brother David or one of you young strong guys with me. Two, two can withstand him. Now notice here in Ecclesiastes, it says it's better.

Two are better than one. But brother David mentioned here this morning, sometimes in life, Paul is stuck alone in a prison cell. He doesn't have the privilege of having two.

And I've had in my lifetimes where I've had to be alone and we should learn to be alone and have Jesus as the only one we need. And I think that's important for all of us because there may be a day when you're alone and no, you're not alone. Never alone as far as with the Lord Jesus.

Now Jesus did teach us that you don't need your brother to overcome temptation and the devil because when he was tempted, he was tempted when he was alone in the wilderness, all alone. He didn't have anybody there beside him to encourage him. So he shows us that even if you are alone, there is enough grace for you to overcome the devil and the world and all the temptation.

But God doesn't want us to be a bunch of loners. And that's why he's given us fellowship. And so Peter was failing because he was alone.

And I believe, I have no doubt in my mind that the devil was working it. The Bible says, smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be, I think somebody mentioned the word this morning, scattered. Scatter the sheep.

And brothers and sisters, someday, you know, we might all be scattered. Just like in the early church, when Paul came in, he scattered them everywhere. And you might find yourself alone somewhere.

And so when they smote the sheep, or smote the shepherd, the sheep were scattered. They were separated. Many of them were on their own.

I've shared some in our Saturday morning Bible study about the book of Daniel. It says that the Antichrist will in the end scatter the power of the holy people. Scatter them.

And there are strength in numbers. There are strength in unity, the body. I've given you this illustration before, but it's a good one.

The KKK, the Ku Klux Klan in America, they had a philosophy. You know, now that everything's been uncovered, you realize some of their philosophies, their secrets. But back then, in the South, they would wear those hoods and they'd walk around town.

They would burn fires. You know, in the country, they would do things. And the purpose for them doing all of that underlying purpose was to bring fear into the African-American community so that they would not assemble together and gather together in big groups, but to stay alone in their own homes.

Then Martin Luther King comes along in the early 1960s and starts to bring them together and they begin to march in large numbers. And so the enemy is trying to seek to divide us, to scatter us. And one of my favorite pictures of that is that picture that I shared with you probably last week also was that lion.

The devil goes around as a roaring lion. When the lion tries to attack a herd of those animals in Africa or those beasts, he tries to disorient them to attack different animals or lions attacking to scatter them. And then once an animal is off to the side, then he can attack that individual or that weak one.

So that's the ploy of the enemy. And you see this. If you just picture the devil smiting the shepherd and trying to scatter the disciples.

And here we got Peter. We got him all alone over here. And we're going to attack him with temptation and three denials.

And you know, it almost took Peter down. But praise God. And here's the good news.

Peter knew that he had one who would forgive him. And he didn't have to despair. He went out and wept bitterly.

But do you remember Jesus said to Peter, Peter, I prayed for you that your faith would not fail. I mean, Peter, you're going to get the lion's going to start tearing you up. But I'm praying for you, Peter, that you'll hold to your faith and that you won't, your faith won't fail.

So, so we're encouraged to not forsake. Listen to this, not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. And so you're ready.

So much the more as you see the day approaching. Oh, wow. In other words, God says you're going to need more of your brotherhood as you see the day.

What day is he talking about there? Talking about the end. As things get more and more difficult, there's going to be a push amongst the devil to try to scatter the sheep because to scatter them makes them more vulnerable. But the Spirit of God is saying as that day approaches, you need to assemble more and more as you see the day approaching.

And so there is the strength in the fellowship of the saints in the brotherhood. Now, we, we wrestle with this all the time. I know church is not perfect and we're a long way from it and there's no perfect church.

And many of us have a choice, either be a part of an imperfect church or be alone. I just encourage you to take the choice, imperfect church, and not be out there by yourself. Because the scriptures encourages us, it doesn't say here, not forsake the assembling of yourselves with the perfect people.

And so much the more as you see the day approaching. So we're going to need each other. We're going to, and I'm not saying that we can't learn to maybe one of these days, myself, Brother Cleet, maybe your family, Brother David, some of you Brother Chris, you're going to be alone.

God's going to put you through that test. And that's a, that's a good thing to learn, to be able to stand for Jesus alone. But let's, let's make sure that we encourage and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

So here we got Peter. Peter is coming into this great trial of an affliction with a mindset that he's not prepared to suffer. He's also now being singled out to where he's all alone.

And all these things are contributing to this infamous denial. And then here's what I want to spend the rest of our time on this morning. I, I think it's probably Peter's biggest failure.

And that is this. He, he was a self-confident individual. Peter was self-confident.

Peter was looking at this time to his own power, his own strength. I'm going to read it for you. You don't have to turn there, but all of the accounts of the gospel give some, some information on Peter's denial here, but I'm going to read in Matthew chapter 26 and starting in verse number 30.

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then said Jesus unto them, all you shall be offended because of me this night for it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

Peter answered and said unto him, though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. That's self-confidence right there. Oh, though all be offended, I will never be offended.

Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter said unto him, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples, all of them.

And then Jesus said to them, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Peter, your heart is willing.

Your insides, you have good intentions. How many of you have ever had good intentions, but it didn't work out the way you intended? Peter, you have good intentions. Your spirit indeed is willing, but your flesh is weak.

Good intentions are not enough. You cannot, and we've talked about this before, you cannot in your own strength, by your own will, grit your teeth, pull up your bootstraps and get it done. That's what Peter was going to do.

I'll get it done. I'll get it done. And so Peter's strength failed him.

And I just want to share with you this morning that we have to, and this is so important, and I think one of the things that we need as far as bringing glory to God here, especially on Sunday morning when we gather together, is we need to look outside of ourselves. The songwriters said the arm of flesh will fail you, you dare not trust your own. We need to look outside of ourselves.

Now I'm going to read another account here, Luke chapter 22. You don't have to turn there if you don't want. Luke 22 and verse number 31, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you that he may shift 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 am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt have denied me three times, or denied that you knew me three times. Jump down to verse 39.

And he came out and went as he was wont to the mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray ye that ye enter not into temptation. Now think about this.

Fellows were about ready to go into some difficult times. Pray that you enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.

Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And notice verse 43. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

Now think about this for a minute. Jesus himself is entering into a time of great trial and testing. And does he stand up and say, I can handle it.

The Bible says that Jesus, he even said to himself, I can in mine own self do nothing. It's an example for us. He even said, I've got to go pray.

I've got to go cry for grace from God. I can't make it. I can't do this.

And if the Son of God can't come into that temptation and make it in his own strength, I doubt if you and I can make it. And so here Jesus cries out to his Father and it says angels appear unto him from heaven, strengthening him. He is getting strength to overcome in this trial from something outside of him.

God is giving him grace to deal with this temptation. Jesus is not sitting there saying, listen, bring it on. I'll take it on.

I can handle it. Even he said, you guys, I've got to go pray. I've got to go ask my Father for grace.

And so he does. Jump down here to verse 44. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground.

When he arose from prayer and he was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. These guys are sleeping when they should be praying. They don't think they need grace.

Peter in his heart, this is a heart issue, Peter in his heart says, I can do it. I'll never deny it. I have the strength in my being.

I would never do that. Well, Jesus, the Son of God is saying, God, give me grace in this trial. And so you know who's going to fail.

Verse 46, and he said unto them, why sleep ye? Rise and pray. Pray, lest you enter into temptation. In other words, get help from above.

You need some help or you're not going to be able to overcome this trial you're about to face. Now, Jesus shows us a pattern here of how to overcome temptation. And that is looking to God for grace.

And you know, salvation is the same principle here. It's the same concept that salvation is something that we cannot do ourselves. And God meets us on that level and says, listen, you don't have anything to offer.

Your works, even your good works are filthy rags. You have nothing to offer. You need to come to me like you have nothing and that I'm the only one that can help you and save you.

Everybody understands that, right? You'll not be saved until you come to the end of you and you say, Lord, my righteousness is worthless. There's filthy rags. I need saved.

I'm a sinner. It's all on you. And then here's the unfortunate thing.

We come to the Lord and we say, okay, it's all on you, Lord, because we're worthless. Then once he saves us, then we pull up our bootstraps, strengthen our muscles and say, now I'll take it from here and I'll do it myself. And my own strength.

And a lot of people live that way. You know, I've learned over the years that if I grit my teeth harder to try to overcome lust, if I grit my teeth harder and pull up my bootstraps to try to overcome, you know, temptation like to unforgiveness and bitterness, if I just try harder and I can overcome it. How have you learned that doesn't work? And that's why it's never good to vow and make promises to God.

Always troubles me when preachers send them and say, let's all vow to God, not to do that anymore. And I say, you know, you can make promises, do all you want to, but the strength to overcome sin is not in you. You know, we think, God, if I sin this one more time, I'm just going to ask you to kill me.

And that'll help me. It'll help me overcome my sin. It doesn't help you.

You're not going to overcome that way. You have to overcome by getting something from an outside source. And so the Bible says, having begun in the spirit, having begun by being born again, by giving everything up and saying, Lord, I'm worthless.

You saved me. How then are you perfected by the flesh? If God started out by showing you that you have nothing and you need to cast everything upon him and he saved you that way, that's how you're supposed to live. Amen? You, having begun in the spirit are you now made perfect by the flesh? Dennis mentioned it this morning, looking unto Jesus, the author of our faith, right? The author and the finisher.

That was a great thing that happened to me when I was 19. I said, Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm worthless.

I have no hope. Save me. He did.

Now he wants to continue by delivering me in the very same way. Lord, I cannot overcome lust. I have no strength.

I have no strength. Lord, I cannot overcome my anger. Lord, I cannot overcome my bitterness.

Lord, I cannot do this. I've been gritting my teeth and trying my hardest, but I cannot. Well, you couldn't save yourself either.

And you finally came to the realization that you just quit and give it to me. And so if he began our faith this way, he wants to finish it the very same way. And when we stand up here every morning on Sunday and we say the Lord's Prayer, did you ever think about the fact that it said this? Lead us, you.

Lead us not into temptation, but what? You deliver us from evil. You deliver us from evil. It's not me being wise and figuring out what temptation is and me in my own strength delivering myself from evil.

You deliver me from evil. And so it's not about us trying harder. It's about us saying, it ain't in me.

And you know, that's something that is a spiritual principle that you understood and you got saved. But sometimes I think we forget it along the way, that me living a holy life is not about my strength. It's about the same thing I did in salvation.

I said, Lord, I can't do it. You're going to have to do it through me. And so Peter was encouraged to pray.

What is prayer? When Jesus said pray, Peter, you've got to pray. I'm praying and you need to pray, Peter. But what is prayer? Prayer is turning to God for help and deliverance.

Seeking help outside of yourself. Peter, you better seek help outside of you because you don't have the strength to overcome what's coming. And what Peter's doing? He's asleep.

He doesn't think it's that important. He can take care of it. He can handle it.

You know, if Peter would in his heart, if he said, Lord, I know my weakness. I know my frailty to fail and deny you. I know it.

That's in me, Lord. I'm going to get on my face and cry out to you to give me the grace to overcome. This whole story would have been totally different.

Totally different. Unfortunately, he didn't. But he said, I can handle it.

In many ways, we're like Peter. Instead of seeking God for deliverance at the start of the day. And I want to make this a practical one for us who have our midweek times together.

But, you know, I experience this. Get on my face in the morning, pray half an hour an hour and say, God, I need help today. I'm going to fall into sin today.

And I can name the ones I'm going to fall into. Lord, unless you deliver me, you're going to have to give me grace. Or I can sleep a little extra and get up and just go straight on to work and say, Lord, I'll grit it out.

I can make it today. I'll grit it out. I won't fall.

I won't stumble. I won't have an immoral thought. I won't do or say something unkind.

I'll grit it out and I'll make it. That's the recipe for failure right there. So what we need to do is we need to come to the Lord and say, Lord, you know, I don't have it in me.

I don't have it in me to be an overcomer in any area. And some of you, I mean, most of you probably have an area that's just a constant struggle. And you might want to approach it this way.

Get on your face in the morning and say, OK, I've got another day. Sufficient until today is the evil thereof. All God is asking me to do is get through this day without sinning.

OK, Lord, here's my temptations. I mean, here's where I fail. God, I'm going to spend a half an hour or an hour in the morning just getting my face to the ground and crying out for deliverance in this area.

Lord, deliver me today. Give me grace today because the temptations are going to come. I want to overcome.

You acknowledge your failure. Pray for deliverance. Say, I don't treat my husband with respect.

Lord, give me grace today. It's hard, Lord. Give me grace to do that, Lord.

I want to do it. I don't care about next week. Just today.

You know, one of the things we need to do is focus on just today. That's all we have to worry about. And then tomorrow we focus on today.

Just one short period of time. But most of us, truthfully, let's be honest, we say, like Peter, I'd rather sleep an extra half hour. I'd rather sleep an extra hour.

This bed is nice. And if I get up and I don't pray and pray, Lord, don't lead me to temptation. Lord, deliver me from evil today.

I'll grit it. I'll get it done. I'll get it accomplished in my own strength.

And I find personally that that fails me. Well, pride comes before a fall, and pride is simply this. I can do it.

And the word fall, Peter's a good example of it. He showed us what it means to fall. Now, I don't know if you've realized this, but all these verses, and there are many of them in the Bible, I just want to read a couple of them, but there's a phrase that's in these verses that we read over and we don't often pick them up.

Let me just read down through some of them. I can do all things, and that little word, through Christ. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

How about this one? Romans 8.13, for if you live after the flesh, you shall die, but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body. You know, some of us think, no, if we threw our own grit and struggle and beating ourselves, that we're going to mortify the deeds of the body. No, if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body.

In other words, you're outside of yourself. God, I need the Spirit to mortify my body. Here's one that I've pondered.

This is one of the verses that's very important to me, but it's something that I've pondered regarding this very thing. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty. What's the next two words? Through God.

Mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You say, I'm going to grit this thing out and I'm going to get every thought into captivity. I know I can do it in my own strength.

You know, it says it's mighty through God. Again, everything has to be outside of us. And there's a reason for it.

We'll look at it here in just a minute. Philippians 2.13, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Galatians 5, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

All those things are teaching you that overcoming is outside of you entirely. It's not in you. And so Peter, when he looked to himself and said, I will never, he fell.

And when he was asked to pray for the grace to overcome, he slept. Better, listen to this, better that you and I spend an extra half an hour crying out for grace than for you to try to grit it out in your own strength. Better for you to say, Lord, I'm just going to spend an extra half an hour just praying and asking for grace today for you to deliver me from this sin and these things that I'm involved with than getting up and saying, I'm going to try so hard today to do it.

Because it's outside of you. And here's the reason. This is the most important thing.

And I've shared this with you before. These are review. But it's all about the glory of God.

It's all about the glory of God. If God delivers you, just like we saw this morning from Lizzie, if God delivers you, you stand up here and you glorify Him. God did it.

And we're saying, to God be the glory. But if you deliver yourself, who gets the glory? You do. And my Bible says that God said this, I will not give my glory to another.

That will eliminate every effort that we have to try to deliver ourselves. Now one of my favorite verses, I've used this, the Lord knows, hundreds of times in my Christian life, is Psalm 50 verse 15. It's one of my favorite promises.

Here we go. Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee. And thou shalt what? Glorify me.

That's a beautiful verse right there. Call upon me. There's the prayer.

In the day of trouble, there's the temptation. I will deliver you, not you, and because of that, you will glorify me. And you know, I think, as was shared this morning, one of the things we ought to see more of here on Sunday, people coming and saying, even if it's just a day, you know, or this week, this week I've been crying out to God every morning for deliverance from lust, for deliverance from bitterness, for deliverance from being irreverent to my husband, for deliverance from being angry.

I want you to know something. God has delivered me all week to the glory of Himself. You should hear a lot of those testimonies.

God has delivered me. Well, 1 Corinthians talks about how that the Lord, and I'm almost done here, that the Lord has chosen the weak, the foolish, all these that He might bring to naught, the wisdom of the wise, and here's the reason, that no flesh should glory in His presence. No flesh.

In other words, when you stand before God, it's His will that nobody would say, it's about me and what I did. That no flesh should glory. God is desiring to glorify Himself through every one of you.

Every one of you. To get glory. A very familiar verse says this, Ephesians 2, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it's not about you, it is the gift of God, not of works, this is interesting, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Can you imagine the Spirit of God writing that? Who are not going to have any works involved in salvation, lest any man should boast. God's not interested in any of our boasts. He's not interested in you saying, I gritted it out and got it done.

He's interested in you saying, I couldn't do it and I cried out to the Lord and He delivered me. If God saved you by His grace to keep you from boasting, He will also deliver you from sin and temptation by His grace for the very same reason. So how did God save you? You came to Him and said, I'm worthless, I'm a sinner, I have nothing.

He said, I like that. I'll save you, you glorify me for salvation. Now, I want you to walk that way, I want you to walk, I can't overcome sin, Lord, I need you and you pray to me and I'll help you overcome and you'll glorify me your whole life.

And I want to encourage all of you to glorify Him. Maybe we could say, this could be a discussion in our mid-week time, what is it that you have in your life that's a, as Brother Dennis mentioned, a sin that does so easily beset you? Why don't we attack some of those things by the grace of God, amen? Okay, brother, what's your sin? Well, here's where I'm praying for grace. The Bible says, confess your faults one to another and pray one for another.

Not only me praying, but my brother praying for me, that you might be healed. So we can go around and say, what is your issue? I mean, let's help each other. You're struggling with lust, that's okay, let's pray for you.

You pray for grace, we'll pray for grace, we'll come back in two weeks and we can help each other. And so it's all about the glory of God. God wants to receive glory from our life.

And Peter stood up and said, I'm going to do it. I'll never deny you. And if Peter would have not denied Him, which he probably couldn't have, he'd have said, pretty strong guy I am spiritually, I did it.

But if Peter goes to the garden and gets in with Jesus and prays and says, oh God, I've got temptations coming, Lord, help me, help me, help me, give me grace. And God gives him grace and he goes through it and he can glorify God. So let's learn from Peter's life.

Peter was not prepared to suffer. Peter was ostracized by himself. He was alone and he had a lot of confidence in himself.

And so those three things many times are the reasons why we fall. So let's take those to heart.