Failure Need Not Be Fatal

I hope you mean it, because if you do, you're in for a wonderful, wonderful surprise one day. So the title of my message today is, Failure Need Not Be Fatal. When we think of spiritual failure, we tend to think of falling into sexual sin after a time of freedom and victory.

But that isn't the only kind of spiritual failure. There's other kinds. It comes in different shapes and forms, and we're going to see some of that today.

I don't want to say that failure is inevitable for you guys when you leave this place. But we do live in a culture that is saturated in pornography. Not just the availability of it, but the mindset of it is entrenched in our culture.

It really is. It's terrible. How women present themselves and think, and how men think.

We live in a pornographic culture. So you may have some failures in the future. And my hope is that being here, you will get something in you that will help you to be prepared to face those temptations.

And if you do fail, how to handle it in the right way, without falling to pieces. So we're looking at Peter's great failure today. And I think there's some lessons for us in this little story.

And we're going to be looking at Matthew 26, 69-75. But before we get there, let's look at this little piece of the story that begins in verse 30. I'm going to read these verses because this is really setting the stage for something.

And you know, I'll tell you one thing. I have a lot of experience in this. The Lord knows how to set you up.

Man. But it's all good. It's all mercy.

All right. 26, 30. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

And most scholars believe that this was possibly the Great Hillel, which is Psalm 136. And the refrain that you hear over and over and over again in that psalm is, Now think about what Jesus is facing. I mean, hell is going to be let loose on him in just a few minutes.

And I could just see him because he's got the wisdom and knowledge to understand what he's going into. He's not going in blindly like the disciples. He's going in fully aware of what he's about to face.

And what does he want in his mind? God's mercy is there for me. He wants that refrain in his mind and probably on the cross even. He was singing that under his breath.

Who knows? Then Jesus said to them, You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.

Peter answered him, Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Jesus said to him, Truly I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter said to him, Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.

And all the disciples said the same. So Peter's pretty confident. Sure that he can handle whatever the enemy is going to dish out that evening.

Well, let's see how it goes. So skip now down to verse 69 and let's get into our story. So in the meantime, you understand that they came and arrested Jesus and hauled him off to Caiaphas' house.

All right. So that's where they have him and they're brutalizing him and so on. Verse 69.

Now, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard and a servant girl came up to him and said, You also were with Jesus, the Galilean. But he denied it before them all, saying, I do not know what you mean. And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him and she said to the bystanders, This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.

And again, he denied it with an oath. I do not know the man. After a little while, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.

Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know the man. And immediately the rooster crowed. You know, it's not enough that he denies the Lord, but he's got to distance himself from the pure one, the holy one, by using foul language and invoking God's curse on him if he's lying.

I mean, this was a bad fall Peter took that day. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. All right, so that's the story.

Before we go any further, though, I need to dispense the notion that Peter was a coward. You'll see that in commentaries or hear it in sermons. And, you know, most of the people who make those kind of statements have never even been in a fistfight, let alone faced an angry mob.

You know, it's easy 2,000 years later to just fling out those kinds of names. But let's just remember that Peter's the one that pulled out a sword and was ready to do battle with an entire, whatever it was, band, regiment of soldiers, all armed to the teeth. He was the one that was ready to fight.

And let's also remember that he and John, while the others ran for their lives, he and John were the only ones who followed the mob to Caiaphas' house. Peter may have been foolish, but he was no coward. So let's just drop that thought if you ever see it again.

Stand up and rebuke the preacher when he says it. You have my permission. You know, Peter did fail the Lord that night.

But the Lord didn't keep that story in Scripture to shame him further. He kept that so we could learn from it. That's why it's in here.

And it's one of the things I love about the Word of God. It tells it like it is, even when one of its heroes failed. You know that this is telling you the truth because of things like that.

That's the wonderful part about it. If this was a book of lies, they would not ever let you see one of their heroes fail. Praise God.

I'm grateful for Scripture. Another thing that we need to consider about, you know, what Peter experienced that night. Well, let me just read this out of Luke 22.

Jesus said, in that whole interchange, Luke shows this. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

And when you have turned again, as we heard earlier, strengthen your brothers. All right. In other words, Satan is going to violently shake you until you feel like you are coming apart at the seams.

And you know, when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, he said to them, this hour and the power of darkness are yours. Now, the Lord has Kairos moments. You guys hear about that all the time in this place.

And today, I believe, is going to be a Kairos moment for some of you. And that just means an opportunity to meet God in a special way. I believe some of you will have that today.

But the enemy who always, he never comes up with anything fresh and new on his own because he doesn't have creative power. But what he does is he copies and imitates everything the Lord does. So he has his Kairos moments for people.

And this is one of those where the powers of darkness are somehow allowed to have more brain to attack or to tempt or whatever it might be. I remember in the early days of this residential program, nights I would wake up in terror. Now, I don't know how to explain that to you.

I'm not a fearful sort of person. That's just not one of my weaknesses. I've got plenty of weaknesses.

Don't get me wrong there. But that's just not one of them. I'm just not that fearful.

And these were not like bad dreams or something. This was, I would wake up and I would feel an evil presence in the room. Now, after a while, I started to figure out, you know what? This is just the enemy trying to intimidate me out of this place.

That's what they're doing. And I would learn that if I just pray and if I just rebuke them, that they would leave. And that's what happened and eventually they never came back again.

And that was the kind of thing that they were facing that night, except in so much more powerful. Can you imagine? The power of darkness was being unleashed by the devil that night. You know, like a concentration of forces right there in Jerusalem to be let loose on anyone that would stand in the way of Satan while he was trying to accomplish the death of the Messiah.

Nothing was going to stop him if he could help it. And he had a lot of power at his disposal. So, you know, before we sling out those words like coward about Peter and the disciples, let's just remember what they were up against that night.

And I want to just say in passing that that's not the only way the enemy can come in a special time like that. He also will do it with temptation, sexual temptation. I have faced that too.

And what I'm talking about is not just build up of hormones or memories or something like that. I'm talking about when it comes on you out of the clear blue and it's this powerful, sensuous atmosphere falls on you, you know an enemy is in your car or in your room or whatever it is. And he's got something in his mind.

I have faced those times too. All right. So what can we learn from Peter's experience? You know, if you want to do the right thing, when those delicious temptations come your way, you have to prepare for it ahead of time.

Your lifestyle is what prepares you for the battle ahead. So Peter wasn't doing so good. And I want to just touch on three things we can see out of the story about his life.

The first thing that stands out to me is that Peter clearly had not learned to deny self. You know, if you look in those verses 31 to 35, the action verb there is deny. And, you know, I always think back because this is something Jesus, well, he's quoted in all four of the Gospels.

I think it's the only thing he said and taught that is quoted in all four of the Gospels. If anyone wishes to come after me, he must what? Deny what? Self. And take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. You know, the gist is if you're a follower of Christ, you guys have learned to follow from afar.

And you would have discovered had you not come here and met the Lord in a real way. I fear that one day you would have discovered that you really weren't following him at all. At least not from his perspective.

But the gist of this is that if you're going to be a follower of his, you must in general, overall, your lifestyle must be one of saying no to your self-life and yes to the Lord. It's like my wife was talking about, and I'm not going to bail her out on her statements either. She's just going to have to learn to deny herself, that's all.

But there is a culture out there, the church culture, where, let me put it this way, the American culture has so powerfully penetrated and permeated the church culture that denying self is hardly even heard of out there. On another occasion, Jesus said, So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.

In other words, I do not know this man. The very words that Jesus said, you don't want to hear that when you stand before God. Better take this stuff seriously, guys.

Better take it seriously. But what did Peter do? Jesus was in his most desperate hour. The one time it would have been nice if the big fisherman would have been there to help him and to encourage him through that difficult time in the garden.

And Peter fell asleep. He fell asleep. But we do know that Peter recovered, don't we? And just as Luke shared, that was beautiful.

Couldn't have opened with a better little talk than that, Luke. That was wonderful. For those by tape, Luke opened the meeting with just sharing out of acts and how God powerfully used Peter and how he stood against the Sanhedrin and so on, even when his life was on the line.

So, you know, if Peter can fail at this level and be restored and recovered and be used by God, you also can be recovered. And that's why you're here. That's why God insisted that there was a place on this earth for men like you and me, that we could go and live and learn what it means not to deny the Lord, but to say yes to the Lord.

This thing about self-denial is a big deal in real Christianity. It's a very big deal. And it's the thing that will prepare you for the hour of darkness.

Because there is an hour of darkness waiting for you when you leave this place. Make no mistake about it. And you better be armed to the teeth with the grace of God.

You know, the more you allow your self-life to have its way, the more it's going to thrive within you. And the more your self-life thrives within you, the weaker you will be to face temptation. You're not going to be able to resist the enemy's delicious temptations if you're living for self.

On the other hand, if you learn how to deny self, the enemy is not going to be able to get at you. He's just not. It's going to amaze you guys.

Those of you guys who really get it here, I don't assume that all will, you're going to be amazed. You are not going to go home the same guy that came here. You're not.

You're going to be a different guy that shows up at home. And people, loved ones and so on, are going to be, what happened to so-and-so? He just met the Lord, that's all. And the Lord crucified him at Pure Life Ministries.

Alright, the second thing that stands out to me here is that Peter clearly had not learned to walk in humility. Where's that guy that said this? Was that a couple of weeks ago? I was the Lord changing you today, and one of you said he's teaching us to be humble and walk humbly. Did he? Huh? I want to see.

Is he hiding? Would someone please raise their hand? Like you guys are like arguing with each other. Right in the middle of a sermon? It was you, I know it was. Okay, let's get back on track here.

You know, it had only been like an hour before this that Jesus was on his hands and knees washing their feet. Including Judas on his hands and knees washing their feet. Why? To illustrate to them what it means to be a follower of Christ.

That you are going to serve other people. That you are going to humble yourself to other people. That you are going to live out your life humbly before your God.

And then he comes to Peter, and Peter says, not my feet! No way! I don't take nothing for free from nobody! Well, that's not exactly how he said it, but that's what was in his heart. Proud Peter. So it's no surprise how he handled all this a little bit later.

You know, because he's pretty much like that. Let's look again at what happens here. Jesus said to them, You will all fall away because of me this night.

Peter answered him, Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Well, frankly Peter, no one was asking for your input. Who asked you what you think about anything? So the first thing we see is, he's pretty much full of himself, right? And the second thing that stands out here is how he throws his buddies under the bus.

Well, they didn't exactly have buses then. Cart. Threw him right under the cart.

Claims to be better than all of them. Look Lord, I know all these losers are going to flake out on you, but I am going to be there for you. Yeah.

We also see how he contradicts the Lord. It's amazing. How many times has he seen Jesus foretell the future? In little things and in far away, huge worldwide things, over and over and over again.

He's witnessed it, but yet Jesus has told him what he's going to do, and he knows better. Prideful. And his self-trust is off the chart.

Even if I have to die for you, I will not deny you. I, I, I. So like all of us, Peter began his journey full of himself, and he was going to have to have his self-confidence devastated and shattered into a thousand pieces, and you are too. You are too.

Some of you have faced some of that already, and you know, just thank God when it happens. It's painful, but it's so necessary, and the fruit that comes out of it is so awesome. So awesome.

He failed Jesus in the most important moment of his life, but God did a great work inside of him through that, and you know, legend says that Peter could never hear a rooster crow without weeping the rest of his life. He was like that. And you know, I'm sure that the memory of failing, not just failing Jesus, not like he just ran off like the other ones, not only that, but to deny the Lord three times, and even to curse and all of that.

This was bad, and he had to spend the rest of his life with that memory. I think I said to you guys a couple weeks ago how those bad memories become like a whip. You know, I don't mean it in an overly bad way.

Actually, I thank God for it. I've got all kinds of whips in my life, and I'm serious, because regularly I am remembering things I've done, things I've said, how I've hurt people, and I'm saying things like 40 years ago, 50 years ago, I can still remember like it's today, and I just grieve when I think about those things. But yet, I don't know how to explain this.

At the same time, I am full of joy. If you were to follow me around in life, you would hear me laughing and cracking jokes and having fun all the time, because my life is full of joy, and the Lord has gotten rid of so much of that poison of self out of me. There's plenty left.

Don't worry. But He's sure gotten rid of a lot of it. The self-life is self-perpetuating.

You know, it just constantly looks to strengthen itself. So the Lord has to constantly keep humbling us and bringing us down and dealing with our natures. And the wonderful thing is He is winning.

He does win. As long as we are saying yes to Him, He's winning. It's awesome.

It's so wonderful. What Peter had to learn this night is that something as deeply rooted as pride has to be purged out of us through bitter pain sometimes. But I thank God for it.

The third thing that stands out to me is that Peter clearly had not learned to depend on the Lord. You know, the reason people don't depend on the Lord is because they trust in themselves. They don't trust the Lord.

It just means tiny faith, really. It's what Pastor Nate was talking about last week a little bit. You know, when the Lord is not very real to you, you're the only one that you've ever been able to really trust in life.

I don't know why you trust yourself, but you did. But you're going to come to learn to trust the Lord. It really is such a blessing.

And the only way that's going to happen is time and time again, you will discover that you cannot trust yourself. And time and time again, you're going to learn that you can trust the Lord. That's how you get it.

And that's how you go from there over to there. You know, into more of a life with the Lord. But at this point, Peter's still full of self-confidence.

You know, the truth is, no human can stand up against the forces of darkness on their own. There is no way. There is no way.

We are all cowards at heart, in a sense. Because when it comes right down to it, you just cannot stand against the enemy. They are too powerful.

And they can affect us very powerfully. But with God, all things are possible. Amen? This is, you know, what is real, is that the spiritual battles that we face are not won or lost on the battlefield.

They are won or lost in the daily life leading up to it. David didn't defeat Goliath with his slingshot. David defeated Goliath way back when he was a boy out there in the wilderness with the sheep and laying under the stars communing with God night after night.

Just by himself, lost in love with the Lord. You know, all he needed was a bear or a lion or a Goliath. It didn't matter what came his way.

He was going to win those battles because he had learned to walk with God. And Elijah, the same deal. You know, he didn't defeat all those Baal prophets up there on Mount Carmel.

He defeated them out there on the wilderness when he learned to depend on the Lord. And Jesus did not defeat Satan on the cross. He defeated Satan in Gethsemane when he said, not my will but thine.

That's where he defeated Satan. And that's the very place that Peter lost the battle. Right there in Gethsemane.

Because Jesus had come to him. Jesus had come to him and said, Peter, you know, I'm in great distress. Can you please watch and pray with me? Please watch and pray with me.

And Peter fell asleep. At that moment, Peter felt like his sleep was more important than prayer. Jesus said, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

Jesus knew what was coming. Just a little bit, what's going to happen. He already sees it very clearly just like we would see a movie or something.

He sees exactly what's going to happen. He's warning Peter, Peter, a temptation is coming your way and if you want to be ready, you better watch and pray. And Peter went to sleep.

He said, the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak. Referring to spiritual battles. Peter's spirit was willing.

You know, he would have in his spirit that tiny little bit of spiritual life that he had or whatever, he would have gone to the death for Jesus. But you know, at his, where he was that night spiritually, his spiritual life was weak and his carnal life was very vigorous. Very much in control.

Guys, this is, man, this is, I can't say it strongly enough. This thing about watching and praying is everything for you guys. Everything.

You know, we are basically mandating that you have a quiet time here while you're here. But what's going to happen when you go home? That's going to be where it's proven out. I've told you guys, I don't know when was the last time, but I've told you that back when I was crisscrossing the country and yeah, out preaching constantly, I was regularly running into pure life grads.

This is like 20, 30 years ago, 15 years ago, whatever, back in those days. And I'd run into pure life grads and some of those guys were doing great. They had maintained their life with God.

Their life had completely turned around, full of gratitude. They were happy to see Pastor Steve, you know, and all of that. But other guys, they weren't doing well.

And it was always, every single time, because I always asked them, that was the first thing I would do is, how is your quiet time? How is your devotional life? And every single time, they had let it go. Every single one of them, that weren't doing well, that were failing, they had let their devotional life go. These are the guys, when they got home, they couldn't wait to reestablish the carnal lifestyle they had had before they came here.

Get back into internet, hours, watching television every night, letting their devotional life go. All the warnings they heard in this place, all for nothing. Because it all flew out the window when they got back to where they could have whatever they wanted.

You know why? Because nothing happened inside. They just got on the gravy train here, did what everyone else was doing, and got home and found out that they never got it. Scary.

Should scare you guys. You're giving up nine months of your life in this place for a reason. Right? You came here for a reason.

God has victory for you. You know He does. You have heard too many testimonies in this place.

You know that He's got the power to keep you free. But it's serious, guys. You've got to make sure.

You've got to make sure that you're really getting it inside. You're not going to make it if you're not connected to the Lord in a real way. All right.

I'm going to wrap it up by returning to the story, but I'm going to look at it in Luke 22 here for a second. You can open up if you want to. You don't have to.

I'm going to read these verses here, starting with verse 59. And after an interval of about an hour, this is cutting into the story on the third denial, okay? Still another insisted, saying, Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean. But Peter said, Man, I do not know what you're talking about.

And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.

The words are in his mouth, and somehow, Jesus and him made eye contact. Maybe there was a window, and Peter could look over right then, or maybe they were dragging Jesus out into the courtyard, beating him, spitting on him, slapping him, mocking him. And he looks at Jesus, and I just would imagine that Jesus had the saddest look on his face that Peter had ever seen.

I don't think he was angry with Peter. I think he just was sad. Anyway, when Peter saw that, he just crumbled inside.

His whole inner world collapsed, and he rushed into the night, just like Judas had. The difference between Judas and Peter is that Judas was totally devoted to himself the whole way through. You know, it's like Judas could be here in this ministry and go through the nine months and fit right in, do everything everyone else is doing, and then later, you know, when it comes right down to it, you see who he is.

And, of course, there's no one ever going to be like Judas. But Judas was just totally devoted to himself, and he was following Jesus because he was in it for what he could get out of it. Jesus was a superstar at the time for a while, but then when things started falling apart and people started turning on him and abusing him and so on, then he turned on Jesus.

Peter was weak. Peter was full of himself. Peter was proud, but at the end of the day, he was devoted to the Lord, and therefore the Lord could restore him when he repented.

That's the difference. That's the difference. And when Peter remembered what Jesus had said, he went out and wept bitterly.

And you know the part at the altar of sexual idolatry where I talk about repentance. Let me just read this little blurb. This kind of brokenness is what the man in sexual sin desperately needs to experience.

The strong will, like the spoiled child who always gets his way, must be dealt with severely by the Lord. God must be given his rightful position of authority in the man's heart. This dethronement of the almighty self can only take place through such brokenness.

Each time one is broken by God, self loses that much control over one's life. The old nature, which loves the pleasures of sin, must be crushed. This can only come about through the mighty hand of God.

Here's the difference between Peter and Judas. And here's the difference between guys who make it and guys who don't in this place. It's that kind of repentance, what Luke was talking about earlier.

Guys, I want to tell you that your self-life is your enemy, just like Peter's self-life was his enemy, Judas' self-life was his enemy. Your self-life is your enemy. It has ruined your life.

Wouldn't today be a great day to renounce it and to consecrate yourself to the Lord in a new way, in a fresh way? Would that be a bad thing to do? Why don't you come on up, Reagan, and we should probably have an altar call after a little talk like this. This hasn't been, you know, some mighty, stirring, powerful sermon, but we are getting at the crux of the matter here this morning. Why don't you all stand up? Yeah, why don't you guys? Today would be a good day, guys.

This is a great day, in fact, to nail that self-life to the floor, to nail it to the cross, really. You know, even if you have a powerful breakthrough today, you're still going to deal with yourself because we're always going to have a self-life at some level, but it won't be the same. It won't be the same because when you've allowed God to deal that blow to it, it just never has the same power inside you.

I mean, I guess you could still go back and just give over and give over and give back to where you were, but I'm just telling you, that's where you're going to meet the Lord. So if any of you feel like today's the day you want to make that consecration, Lord, just slip out and come on down here, and I'm going to pray for you. God loved Peter.

He loved him. Jesus loved him. Even as he failed him, denied him, cursed, he loved him.

And he loves you. He loves you. He greatly, greatly loves you.

I can't say it strongly enough how much he loves you, but you have to respond to that love. You can't be like a two-year-old child who thinks he can go through life receiving love and not giving it back, not having any devotion to the one who loves you, living for yourself. You can't do it that way.

It doesn't work like that, not in real Christianity. That's what the cross is all about. The message of the cross is Jesus saying, come and follow me and deny yourself life.

And pick up the cross I have for you and follow me. That's what Jesus is saying to you today. And he wants you to follow him.

He wants you to follow him. He wants to help you. He will help you.

His grace will be there for you. His power will be there for you as long as you respond to him, as long as you are saying yes to him, as long as you are trying, even though your efforts and your strength is tiny, as long as you're putting forth some kind of effort and showing him by your actions, by your behavior, that you are serious about following him. He is going to empower you and be there for you in your time of need.

He will because he loves you. But that self-life has to be crucified. It has to be broken down.

It has to be denied. Lord, these men have been taught. They already know what they need to do.

They know how to turn to you and to repent of their sin, to repent of their self-will, to repent of their pride, to repent of their selfishness, to repent of what they once were. They know how to deny that, to turn away from that and turn to you. And as they do that in their hearts right now, Lord, I pray that you will come rushing in with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Put something in them that wasn't there before and take something out of them that was there. Just diminish that self-life a little bit more, Lord, I pray today. Maybe for some, this is the great breakthrough that they've been in need of.

Maybe today is the day of salvation for some. Meet them in it, I pray, O God. Meet them in it, that this day, June 30th, 2024, would be their day.

I know others have had their day in the last few months, but maybe this will be their day today for some of them. Meet them. Carry them forth, Lord.

And when the enemy comes in tomorrow or a week from now or whatever and tries to whisper in their ear that nothing really happened, nothing's different, nothing's changed, Lord, you be there for them. You just let them feel your presence. Let them know that you are right there with them.

And they don't have to buy into those lies anymore, that something new is there. Do that for them, I pray, O God. You know, I was with a minister a couple of days ago, and he said, people can't be saved until they realize they're sinners.

People can't be saved until they realize they're sinners. And I fear that we have raised a generation of young people who have been raised in church and have been taught to play the part, but they've never been to the cross. They've never acknowledged they were sinners.

They've never felt a real need to repent. It's all just been doing what everyone else does. But if that's been your story, guys, I just want to tell you there is something real.

There is something real, and you can have it. You can have it. You can choose to receive it and appropriate it from God.

You guys just go ahead and spend as much time as you want. The rest of you may be dismissed. Let's keep it quiet in here, though, please.