By John Stallings
Peter said to Him, “even if I have to die with you, I won’t deny you.” [Matthew 26:35 NASB]
Three men were out hiking in rough terrain & came to a roaring, white- water river. The first man prayed, “Lord help me to have the strength to swim across this river.”
The Lord answered his prayer & gave him strength. The man struggled for over an hour but with the strength he prayed for, he finally swam to the other side.
The second man, seeing the problems the first man had, prayed; “Lord, give me strength like you gave my friend, but also give me the tools I need to safely get across this angry body of water.”
God answered the man’s prayer & he saw a boat nearby & used it to safely cross the river.
The third man, wanting to be wiser than his two friends prayed, “God make me wise & show me the absolute best way to do this thing.” His prayer was answered & he became a woman. He/she pulled out a map, saw there was a bridge a few hundred yards away, found the bridge & walked safely to the other side of the river.
Life presents us all with challenges & many times the answer will be one small missing piece of information. We’re wise when we as the three men did, search for fresh & innovative ways to solve the dilemmas we face. Obviously [hopefully] we can’t change genders like the man in the story.
THERE’S NO WAY TO LIVE LIFE WITHOUT FAILURES
Proverbs 24:17 says……For a righteous man falleth seven times and riseth up again…..
We all will disappoint ourselves & others at times. The secret is to do it as seldom as possible.
I heard a story of a young preacher who went to apply for the job of pastoring a church. One of the elderly ladies in the congregation let it be known she wasn’t voting for the young man & gave her reason. Right or wrong she said; “He’s too young, to have failed enough, to be humble enough, to be my pastor.”
In Matthew 26 we have the story of Christ & the last supper with His disciples. I’m sure it stunned them to hear Jesus say one of them would betray Him.
Peter, and by the way, Peter was the only disciple “smart” enough to give Jesus council, & tell Him He was wrong, said, -Lord, I’d never deny you. I’m ready to go the prison or even to death for you.” Peter had no problem correcting Jesus.
Jesus then explained to Peter that before the cock would crow in the morning he’d deny him three times.
So now Peter’s in the courtyard of the high priest & we should give him credit for that. IMHO, it wasn’t Peter’s bravery that brought him that close to the embattled Jesus, it was his male ego, & his pride. He was probably determined to not let the Lord down & was also determined to show Jesus He was wrong when He said Peter would deny Him.
Then as Peter stands warming himself by the fire, a servant girl questions him & he denies knowing Christ. This brings me to my first point;
1. NEVER OVERESTIMATE YOUR STRENGHTS & NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR WEAKNESSES.
Peter said, “I’m ready to go to prison” & “I’m ready to die for you Lord,” but in reality Peter wasn’t ready. He would someday be ready but he wasn’t ready yet. We often hear people say;
“I’m ready for marriage” but are they? Or,
“I’m ready for ministry” but are they? Or
“I’m ready for testing” but are they? Or
“I’m ready for anything,” but are they?
We can relate to Peter because there’s something in his “all over the place” personality & character that makes us feel there’s hope for us. Or maybe I should just speak for myself here. Jesus’ mercy & love saw what Peter could become so He worked with him like a potter molding clay.
Peter’s flamboyancy allowed him to rise to the heights of language & speak the words upon which Christ would build His church & then before you could say “cat in a hat” he’d do or say something to earn Christ’s rebuke--“Get behind me Satan.” Peter could be walking on water one minute then be crying out “Lord save me” the very next minute. He could tell Jesus he wouldn’t allow Him to wash his feet one minute, & in three seconds ask Jesus to wash his head & hands also.
One minute Peter assured Jesus he’d never deny him & almost in the next breath he was assuring a young girl he’d never heard of Jesus. One minute he was ready to fight an army single-handedly, the next minute he ran like a scared puppy.
How quickly everything could change for Peter. One minute he’s this paragon of strength, the next minute his soul is honey-combed with doubts & fears. Does any of this sound familiar to you? It does to me! How many times have we through our own timidity failed to take a stand for Christ?
Or this; we are in a powerful service hearing the music & ministry of the Word, & we make a strong commitment to be better Christians & -presto- we leave that service & soon forget about the resolutions we made. We have times that we worry about our commitment to Christ & tell ourselves we should be doing much better but we never quiet get around to it.
We pay lip service to the fact that we ought to be forgiving & loving & the next day we’re just as mean, stubborn, irritable, uncharitable & unforgiving as ever.
Peter overestimated his strengths. You see, if he’d been the man he said he was, indeed the man he thought he was, he’d have been standing in court or anywhere else defending Jesus instead of running like a kindergarten kid. Do you overestimate your strengths?
1 Corinthians 10:12 says,--Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Roman 12:3 says,--for I say…to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think….
Jeremiah 17:9 says,--The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?
Peter doesn’t just deny Jesus once. He didn’t say; “Look, alright you got me. You’re right! I’m from Galilee & I’ve been following Jesus Christ for three years. [Anyway, Peter’s Galilean accent was like a person from New York City trying to hide in South Georgia] He’s the real deal; He’s the Christ. He’s the promised Messiah. He’s the most remarkable man I’ve ever met & He’s perfect in every way. What He speaks is absolute truth & I want you to know one thing here & now; I love Him & I’ll follow Him to death, period!
But noooooo. Peter doesn’t just deny Jesus once or twice, he does it three times. THREE TIMES! He takes his denial to the highest level possible & makes it clear he’ll not be put into a dangerous situation because of Jesus. Peter swore with an OATH. What does that mean? That means he brought God into the picture. Peter said, “I swear to God, if I’m lying I’m dying.”
And with the oath still on his lips, still uttering his adamant, pathetic denial, the rooster begins to crow. At that moment Jesus passes by & looks at him, looks him straight in the eye.
And he went out & wept bitterly. Luke 22:62
How much better it would have been if when Jesus told Peter he was capable of this thing he’d just done, he would have said,
“Oh Lord, please give me strength so that I won’t deny you. I couldn’t stand it. It would kill me.” But no. Peter let’s his pride dictate the terms to him & says, Jesus, no matter what you say or think you know, I will not deny you!
NOT ONLY DID PETER OVERESTIMATE HIS STRENGHTS, HE UNDERESTIMATED HIS WEAKNESSES
I probably wouldn’t agree with much that Clint Eastwood’s
Character Dirty Harry says, but I like one of his lines; “A mans got to know his limitations."
Peter gave himself credit for having abilities that he didn’t as yet possess. He would face the crowd in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost & speak powerfully & fearlessly but he didn’t have that power yet.
There have been thousands of ministers who thought they’d be safe counseling women alone in their offices & found themselves facing temptation they couldn’t deal with. Multitudes of former preachers are selling cars or in some other line of work when they were called by God to preach the gospel & all because they foolishly subjected themselves to sexual temptation.
Years ago, one of my best minister friends allowed himself to be compromised in this way. The women he was counseling was having martial problems [I’ve never understood why a woman having trouble with one man would want to meet exclusively with another man to unburden her heart] & they bonded over the strangest issue.
This will show you how smart Satan is. The woman the minister was counseling had a discolored front tooth that she’d always had a complex about. It just so happened that the minister also had a discolored front tooth & they started “crying” on one another’s shoulders. Strange- but nonetheless true. They kept flitting around the flame & went on from there to finally commit adultery.
Satan is a roaring Lion going around seeking whom he may devour. We have to ask ourselves if we’re a “Whom.” [I realize this isn’t good English] Satan can only devour “Whoms.” And Whoms are people who underestimate their weaknesses.
Also important is;
2. KEEP YOURSELF STRONG SPIRITUALLY
In the last 25 years we’ve been introduced to AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
But as far as I know, though ultimately everyone who gets full blown Aids dies, AIDS has never killed anyone. That’s right. No one has died having been killed by AIDS. Why is that you ask?
AIDS’ power is in its ability to attack the immune system of the body; consequently people contract all kinds of diseases like the common cold or maybe even what should be a harmless virus. Now however with no immune system to ward it off, heretofore harmless diseases become killers.
If you & I don’t keep our spiritual immune system strong, the smallest things can become spiritual killers. How do we accomplish this? We do it by ingesting the Word of God into our system. We stay strong by realizing that most of our daily problems are in reality spiritual problems.
Do we have a financial problem? It no doubt has its roots in a spiritual deficiency problem.
Do we have a marital problem? No doubt the roots of it are spiritual.
Do we have a thought process problem? No doubt the problem is spiritual.
The truth is we spend our time treating symptoms when the real problem is spiritual.
If you & I are to be strong & mighty in spirit, we need to daily recharge our spiritual batteries. I don’t know any other way to do that than to spend time daily in prayer & the reading of the Word.
The book of Psalms is a treasure trove of 150 chapters arranged in five books. Have you ever thought about the Psalm the Holy Spirit directed to be the first Psalm? Listen to it;
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doeth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Here’s a message we all should heed;
DON’T LET YOUR FAILURES BE THE LAST CHAPTER OF YOUR LIFE
Peter had failed just about every test he was given having to do with his faithfulness & courage. I really don’t think he felt he would ever pass a test unless it had something to do with fishing.
After Peter had seen Jesus’ miracle working power again in the garden, after he had seen the risen Christ he received one more instruction; go ahead to Galilee & wait for Jesus there.
Again we see Peter’s impetuosity. He didn’t want to wait for Jesus. When Christ hadn’t arrived at a certain time he said, “I go fishing….Jn.21:3. Peter said in essence, “I wasn’t cut out for the ministry. I’ve miserably failed at everything I’ve tried. The one thing I can do is fish & I’m going back to it.” So since Peter was the leader, the other disciples followed him & they all went fishing.
I think when Peter went back to Galilee, he was fully persuaded he was down & wasn’t going to ever get up again. In all probability he felt he could never be usable to God.
Have you ever failed? Have you ever been down? I mean really down so far you’ve had to look up through the bottom. Are you down now? Are you spiritually depressed, feeling like a failure? Well let’s look how Peter was rehabilitated by Jesus.
There was a slight problem that night with the fishing. Jesus, knowing of course what & who He was dealing with, had rerouted every fish in the Sea of Galilee to get His point across. They fished all night & didn’t catch a single fish.
Jesus appeared in the morning & asked Peter to take a walk down the beach. John went along & heard the conversation. Notice that Jesus never mentioned Peter’s denial of Him. People will keep running our failures by us but God never will. All Jesus wanted to talk about was Peter’s love for Him.
Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Peter had denied Jesus three times now he gets three opportunities to confess his love. When Peter exclaims his love for Christ three times Jesus gives him a new calling. He said, Peter, feed my sheep. Feed my lambs; feed the young & the old, the weak & the strong.
PETER, GET BUSY FOR ME, AND GET BACK INTO MY MINISTRY!
Peter didn’t realize it then but he was soon to reach a point in his life where he’d be a towering giant for this Jesus whom he loved but had so miserably failed. He would come to a point that he’d glorify Christ & pay any price to do it.
Peter wouldn’t have believed how he was going to be changed because in the past, every time he’d had a chance to speak up for Christ he’d revoked his testimony. But Jesus was still looking beyond Peter’s faults & weaknesses & seeing his great potential. Jesus knew a day was coming when this “failure,” this man who was so down was going to get up & when he did the corridors of hell would be shaken.
Come with me to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Peter & the rest of the disciples had obeyed Jesus’ instructions to set aside the time to wait on God in an upper room until they received the fullness of His Spirit. After ten days Acts 2:4 records “They were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
NOW WE HAVE AN UNSTOPPABLE MAN
Peter got spiritually charged up under the power of the Holy Spirit & look what happened. He stands up & preaches a public sermon that drew 3,000 souls into God’s kingdom. After that Peter faced mockery, threats, jail, & finally gave up his life gladly. We see no more running & denying Jesus, but a transformed man who spoke the Word of God boldly.
The last chapters of Peter’s life were a success for God, not failure. Are you down today? If you are get up! Pray until you’re filled with the Spirit because none of has to power to do God’s work without that infilling.
Years later when Peter was an old man, he was writing to the Christians & giving them some valuable advice. Do you know the very last words Peter had for us? I’m going to paraphrase his words;
“I was once a weak, spineless man who followed Jesus afar off. I failed him so miserably that I came close to giving up any idea of standing up for Christ. But I can tell you this; there’s a power that can transform you as it did me. But hear me carefully. After you start your new walk with God, don’t take it for granted.
Never overestimate your strengths & never underestimate your weakness. Stay spiritually strong. And here’s my last words; my final advice for you all;
But grow in Grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. A-men! - 2 peter 3:18
Blessings,
John
Peter said to Him, “even if I have to die with you, I won’t deny you.” [Matthew 26:35 NASB]
Three men were out hiking in rough terrain & came to a roaring, white- water river. The first man prayed, “Lord help me to have the strength to swim across this river.”
The Lord answered his prayer & gave him strength. The man struggled for over an hour but with the strength he prayed for, he finally swam to the other side.
The second man, seeing the problems the first man had, prayed; “Lord, give me strength like you gave my friend, but also give me the tools I need to safely get across this angry body of water.”
God answered the man’s prayer & he saw a boat nearby & used it to safely cross the river.
The third man, wanting to be wiser than his two friends prayed, “God make me wise & show me the absolute best way to do this thing.” His prayer was answered & he became a woman. He/she pulled out a map, saw there was a bridge a few hundred yards away, found the bridge & walked safely to the other side of the river.
Life presents us all with challenges & many times the answer will be one small missing piece of information. We’re wise when we as the three men did, search for fresh & innovative ways to solve the dilemmas we face. Obviously [hopefully] we can’t change genders like the man in the story.
THERE’S NO WAY TO LIVE LIFE WITHOUT FAILURES
Proverbs 24:17 says……For a righteous man falleth seven times and riseth up again…..
We all will disappoint ourselves & others at times. The secret is to do it as seldom as possible.
I heard a story of a young preacher who went to apply for the job of pastoring a church. One of the elderly ladies in the congregation let it be known she wasn’t voting for the young man & gave her reason. Right or wrong she said; “He’s too young, to have failed enough, to be humble enough, to be my pastor.”
In Matthew 26 we have the story of Christ & the last supper with His disciples. I’m sure it stunned them to hear Jesus say one of them would betray Him.
Peter, and by the way, Peter was the only disciple “smart” enough to give Jesus council, & tell Him He was wrong, said, -Lord, I’d never deny you. I’m ready to go the prison or even to death for you.” Peter had no problem correcting Jesus.
Jesus then explained to Peter that before the cock would crow in the morning he’d deny him three times.
So now Peter’s in the courtyard of the high priest & we should give him credit for that. IMHO, it wasn’t Peter’s bravery that brought him that close to the embattled Jesus, it was his male ego, & his pride. He was probably determined to not let the Lord down & was also determined to show Jesus He was wrong when He said Peter would deny Him.
Then as Peter stands warming himself by the fire, a servant girl questions him & he denies knowing Christ. This brings me to my first point;
1. NEVER OVERESTIMATE YOUR STRENGHTS & NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR WEAKNESSES.
Peter said, “I’m ready to go to prison” & “I’m ready to die for you Lord,” but in reality Peter wasn’t ready. He would someday be ready but he wasn’t ready yet. We often hear people say;
“I’m ready for marriage” but are they? Or,
“I’m ready for ministry” but are they? Or
“I’m ready for testing” but are they? Or
“I’m ready for anything,” but are they?
We can relate to Peter because there’s something in his “all over the place” personality & character that makes us feel there’s hope for us. Or maybe I should just speak for myself here. Jesus’ mercy & love saw what Peter could become so He worked with him like a potter molding clay.
Peter’s flamboyancy allowed him to rise to the heights of language & speak the words upon which Christ would build His church & then before you could say “cat in a hat” he’d do or say something to earn Christ’s rebuke--“Get behind me Satan.” Peter could be walking on water one minute then be crying out “Lord save me” the very next minute. He could tell Jesus he wouldn’t allow Him to wash his feet one minute, & in three seconds ask Jesus to wash his head & hands also.
One minute Peter assured Jesus he’d never deny him & almost in the next breath he was assuring a young girl he’d never heard of Jesus. One minute he was ready to fight an army single-handedly, the next minute he ran like a scared puppy.
How quickly everything could change for Peter. One minute he’s this paragon of strength, the next minute his soul is honey-combed with doubts & fears. Does any of this sound familiar to you? It does to me! How many times have we through our own timidity failed to take a stand for Christ?
Or this; we are in a powerful service hearing the music & ministry of the Word, & we make a strong commitment to be better Christians & -presto- we leave that service & soon forget about the resolutions we made. We have times that we worry about our commitment to Christ & tell ourselves we should be doing much better but we never quiet get around to it.
We pay lip service to the fact that we ought to be forgiving & loving & the next day we’re just as mean, stubborn, irritable, uncharitable & unforgiving as ever.
Peter overestimated his strengths. You see, if he’d been the man he said he was, indeed the man he thought he was, he’d have been standing in court or anywhere else defending Jesus instead of running like a kindergarten kid. Do you overestimate your strengths?
1 Corinthians 10:12 says,--Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Roman 12:3 says,--for I say…to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think….
Jeremiah 17:9 says,--The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?
Peter doesn’t just deny Jesus once. He didn’t say; “Look, alright you got me. You’re right! I’m from Galilee & I’ve been following Jesus Christ for three years. [Anyway, Peter’s Galilean accent was like a person from New York City trying to hide in South Georgia] He’s the real deal; He’s the Christ. He’s the promised Messiah. He’s the most remarkable man I’ve ever met & He’s perfect in every way. What He speaks is absolute truth & I want you to know one thing here & now; I love Him & I’ll follow Him to death, period!
But noooooo. Peter doesn’t just deny Jesus once or twice, he does it three times. THREE TIMES! He takes his denial to the highest level possible & makes it clear he’ll not be put into a dangerous situation because of Jesus. Peter swore with an OATH. What does that mean? That means he brought God into the picture. Peter said, “I swear to God, if I’m lying I’m dying.”
And with the oath still on his lips, still uttering his adamant, pathetic denial, the rooster begins to crow. At that moment Jesus passes by & looks at him, looks him straight in the eye.
And he went out & wept bitterly. Luke 22:62
How much better it would have been if when Jesus told Peter he was capable of this thing he’d just done, he would have said,
“Oh Lord, please give me strength so that I won’t deny you. I couldn’t stand it. It would kill me.” But no. Peter let’s his pride dictate the terms to him & says, Jesus, no matter what you say or think you know, I will not deny you!
NOT ONLY DID PETER OVERESTIMATE HIS STRENGHTS, HE UNDERESTIMATED HIS WEAKNESSES
I probably wouldn’t agree with much that Clint Eastwood’s
Character Dirty Harry says, but I like one of his lines; “A mans got to know his limitations."
Peter gave himself credit for having abilities that he didn’t as yet possess. He would face the crowd in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost & speak powerfully & fearlessly but he didn’t have that power yet.
There have been thousands of ministers who thought they’d be safe counseling women alone in their offices & found themselves facing temptation they couldn’t deal with. Multitudes of former preachers are selling cars or in some other line of work when they were called by God to preach the gospel & all because they foolishly subjected themselves to sexual temptation.
Years ago, one of my best minister friends allowed himself to be compromised in this way. The women he was counseling was having martial problems [I’ve never understood why a woman having trouble with one man would want to meet exclusively with another man to unburden her heart] & they bonded over the strangest issue.
This will show you how smart Satan is. The woman the minister was counseling had a discolored front tooth that she’d always had a complex about. It just so happened that the minister also had a discolored front tooth & they started “crying” on one another’s shoulders. Strange- but nonetheless true. They kept flitting around the flame & went on from there to finally commit adultery.
Satan is a roaring Lion going around seeking whom he may devour. We have to ask ourselves if we’re a “Whom.” [I realize this isn’t good English] Satan can only devour “Whoms.” And Whoms are people who underestimate their weaknesses.
Also important is;
2. KEEP YOURSELF STRONG SPIRITUALLY
In the last 25 years we’ve been introduced to AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
But as far as I know, though ultimately everyone who gets full blown Aids dies, AIDS has never killed anyone. That’s right. No one has died having been killed by AIDS. Why is that you ask?
AIDS’ power is in its ability to attack the immune system of the body; consequently people contract all kinds of diseases like the common cold or maybe even what should be a harmless virus. Now however with no immune system to ward it off, heretofore harmless diseases become killers.
If you & I don’t keep our spiritual immune system strong, the smallest things can become spiritual killers. How do we accomplish this? We do it by ingesting the Word of God into our system. We stay strong by realizing that most of our daily problems are in reality spiritual problems.
Do we have a financial problem? It no doubt has its roots in a spiritual deficiency problem.
Do we have a marital problem? No doubt the roots of it are spiritual.
Do we have a thought process problem? No doubt the problem is spiritual.
The truth is we spend our time treating symptoms when the real problem is spiritual.
If you & I are to be strong & mighty in spirit, we need to daily recharge our spiritual batteries. I don’t know any other way to do that than to spend time daily in prayer & the reading of the Word.
The book of Psalms is a treasure trove of 150 chapters arranged in five books. Have you ever thought about the Psalm the Holy Spirit directed to be the first Psalm? Listen to it;
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doeth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Here’s a message we all should heed;
DON’T LET YOUR FAILURES BE THE LAST CHAPTER OF YOUR LIFE
Peter had failed just about every test he was given having to do with his faithfulness & courage. I really don’t think he felt he would ever pass a test unless it had something to do with fishing.
After Peter had seen Jesus’ miracle working power again in the garden, after he had seen the risen Christ he received one more instruction; go ahead to Galilee & wait for Jesus there.
Again we see Peter’s impetuosity. He didn’t want to wait for Jesus. When Christ hadn’t arrived at a certain time he said, “I go fishing….Jn.21:3. Peter said in essence, “I wasn’t cut out for the ministry. I’ve miserably failed at everything I’ve tried. The one thing I can do is fish & I’m going back to it.” So since Peter was the leader, the other disciples followed him & they all went fishing.
I think when Peter went back to Galilee, he was fully persuaded he was down & wasn’t going to ever get up again. In all probability he felt he could never be usable to God.
Have you ever failed? Have you ever been down? I mean really down so far you’ve had to look up through the bottom. Are you down now? Are you spiritually depressed, feeling like a failure? Well let’s look how Peter was rehabilitated by Jesus.
There was a slight problem that night with the fishing. Jesus, knowing of course what & who He was dealing with, had rerouted every fish in the Sea of Galilee to get His point across. They fished all night & didn’t catch a single fish.
Jesus appeared in the morning & asked Peter to take a walk down the beach. John went along & heard the conversation. Notice that Jesus never mentioned Peter’s denial of Him. People will keep running our failures by us but God never will. All Jesus wanted to talk about was Peter’s love for Him.
Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Peter had denied Jesus three times now he gets three opportunities to confess his love. When Peter exclaims his love for Christ three times Jesus gives him a new calling. He said, Peter, feed my sheep. Feed my lambs; feed the young & the old, the weak & the strong.
PETER, GET BUSY FOR ME, AND GET BACK INTO MY MINISTRY!
Peter didn’t realize it then but he was soon to reach a point in his life where he’d be a towering giant for this Jesus whom he loved but had so miserably failed. He would come to a point that he’d glorify Christ & pay any price to do it.
Peter wouldn’t have believed how he was going to be changed because in the past, every time he’d had a chance to speak up for Christ he’d revoked his testimony. But Jesus was still looking beyond Peter’s faults & weaknesses & seeing his great potential. Jesus knew a day was coming when this “failure,” this man who was so down was going to get up & when he did the corridors of hell would be shaken.
Come with me to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Peter & the rest of the disciples had obeyed Jesus’ instructions to set aside the time to wait on God in an upper room until they received the fullness of His Spirit. After ten days Acts 2:4 records “They were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
NOW WE HAVE AN UNSTOPPABLE MAN
Peter got spiritually charged up under the power of the Holy Spirit & look what happened. He stands up & preaches a public sermon that drew 3,000 souls into God’s kingdom. After that Peter faced mockery, threats, jail, & finally gave up his life gladly. We see no more running & denying Jesus, but a transformed man who spoke the Word of God boldly.
The last chapters of Peter’s life were a success for God, not failure. Are you down today? If you are get up! Pray until you’re filled with the Spirit because none of has to power to do God’s work without that infilling.
Years later when Peter was an old man, he was writing to the Christians & giving them some valuable advice. Do you know the very last words Peter had for us? I’m going to paraphrase his words;
“I was once a weak, spineless man who followed Jesus afar off. I failed him so miserably that I came close to giving up any idea of standing up for Christ. But I can tell you this; there’s a power that can transform you as it did me. But hear me carefully. After you start your new walk with God, don’t take it for granted.
Never overestimate your strengths & never underestimate your weakness. Stay spiritually strong. And here’s my last words; my final advice for you all;
But grow in Grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. A-men! - 2 peter 3:18
Blessings,
John
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