Luke, The Orderly Account of Truth - Why Did Peter Weep - Luke 22:54-62

But today is our family service, which means we have

all the generations present. Right now, we have all the

generations present, and because of that, I want to make

sure that I use language that all of us can understand.

He dropped the ball, he blew it self own epic

fail face palm.

That's an L.

Fumbled cringe, NPC move, cooked skull emoji. Every generation has

many ways that we describe when people fail, And in

the good old days on YouTube, many of us would

spend our times watching epic fail videos.

Did anyone else do that?

Is that just me?

Yeah?

Or even before YouTube, we'd watch what we'd watch America's

Funniest home videos right where people would share their videos

and snapshots of times when they captured people or someone

or some things epic failure. And interestingly enough, we us

a culture watch those videos for our entertainment. We love

to watch people fail for some reason. For me, I

actually I kind of hate watching them, but also like,

I'll definitely watch them. Are those parkour failure videos because

you know that they're doing crazy stuff and you're like,

you know, it's only bad when that actually does go wrong.

But interestingly enough, in our text today we're going to

look at one of the greatest epic fails the greatest

epic failures recorded scripture, but instead of watching it for

our own entertainment, I believe that after today, we're not

gonna walk away thinking of the greatness of our failures,

but instead of the great faithfulness of our savior. So

if you would actually please turn with me, we're gonna

find ourselves. In Luke chapter twenty two, starting in verse

fifty four, if you do not have a Bible, we

actually got some awesome new bibles.

Please go grab one, help yourself. Take one.

We want you to have one. Keep it our gift

to you, so you can be in your word and

follow along with us. We're gonna read this pray and

break it down with one another, all right. Starting in

verse fifty four, says when they seized him and led

him away, bringing him to the high Priest's house, and

Peter was following at a distance, And when they had

kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and

sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a

servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light

and looking closely at him, said this man also was

with him, but he denied it.

Saying, woman, I do not know him.

And a little later someone else saw him and said,

you also were one of them, but Peter said, man,

I am not. And after an interval of about an hour,

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 are 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 away and wept bitterly. This is God's word,

Let us pray. Lord. We just asked that as we

spend this time in your word, that you would be

preparing our hearts as ready soil for your word. We

asked that we would be prepared to hear, to understand,

and to then respond to your word, Lord God. So

I just asked that you would help us here remove distractions.

Grip us today, convict us today, Help us see clearly,

remove the blindness from our ears, from our eyes, the

deafness from our ears. Lord, help us make this moment

and this time that we've set aside for worshiping you,

all about you and Jesus name me pray Amen. So

to kind of catch you up, we've been in a

series called Luke The Orderly Account of Truth, where we've

been going verse by verse through the carefully investigated account

of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus found

in the Gospel of Luke. Now, the hope of the

series has been, as we spend time with Jesus looking

at what he taught and did, that we would have

more certainty concerning.

What we believe about Jesus.

But in addition to that, my own personal hope, and

I would share this hope obviously with the leadership of

the church, is that you would see Christ as we

get to spend time in this gospel, that you would

see Christ as glorious, That you would see Christ as

good and gracious and just truly as the great God

that he is. So we find ourselves in this gospel

in the probably darkest twenty four hours of Jesus's life,

whereas we saw last week, Jesus begins to pray and

be in agony because of the things he's about to

go through. We saw him pray to God the Father,

asking that the cup of wrath that he was about

to drink would pass if possible, but that ultimately Jesus

submits his will to that of the Father, saying, not

my will, but yours be done. Then, as Jesus is

speaking to his disciples, who instead of keeping watch and

praying like he told him to, had fallen asleep. And

now a crowd accompanied by Judas the Betrayer, one of

the Twelve, comes and arrests Jesus under the cover of night.

And this is where we find ourselves at our text,

where we see Peter following Jesus from Afar, going into

the courts of the high priests and starting to be

questioned by those around him about his association with Jesus,

and he begins to deny Jesus over and over again.

Now this might come as a shock that Peter would

do such a thing, but as our text tells us,

after Peter denies Jesus the third time, a rooster crows,

and Jesus turns and looks at Peter, and Peter remembers then,

not only just a couple hours beforehand, what Jesus had

said would happen came to pass. Peter did, in fact

deny Jesus. And it's that this that Peter breaks down

and weeps bitterly. He weeps bitterly. But I have a question.

And my question is not only a question for myself

or for you. It's also the title of today's message.

So if you're writing notes, you can write, why did

Peter weep? Why did Peter weep? Now, this might seem

like an odd question to be honest, or maybe kind

of even a dumb question. Doesn't it seem obvious why

Peter wept? At first glance, yes, But at a deeper level,

I think if we go with the obvious reason Peter wept,

we get the gospel wrong. Peter did not just weep

because of the sorrow over his sin. Feeling bad about

your sins. Feeling bad about your sins will not save you.

Judas felt bad about what he did, and he went.

And took his own life. Merely feeling bad about what

you have done will not save you. It's true that

we need to rightly understand ourselves as rebels towards God

and our own failures, and recognize that our sin is

ultimately an offense against God. But if you died right now,

let's paint a picture. If you died right now and

stood before God and all you said is yes, I'm

a sinner and I feel bad about all you have

done is made the judge's job way easier. You need

something more than just to recognize that you are a sinner.

You need something to save you from that sin, to

save you from the consequences do your sin.

You need a savior.

But also likewise, you don't need a savior unless you

have something to be saved from.

So both go hand in hand.

Without each other, they don't make any sense, and ultimately

there's no salvation at all if you have one without

the other. It doesn't make sense either, because if there's

only sin, well then you're just going to be condemned.

That's just what's gonna happen. If there's only sin and failures,

well then you're just gonna end up.

Or if there's no sin, well then there's nothing to

be saved from.

There's no problem. Why do I need a savior? But

every single one of us knows that that is not

the case. Something is wrong with this world.

And as GK.

Chesterton a Christian author once wrote in a letter to

a newspaper answering answering a question that was on the

front page. I love this HiT's The front page of

a paper said what is wrong with the world?

And GK.

Chesterton wrote back, saying, what's wrong with the world? I am.

We all know that we sin, that we fail, that

we fall short of the glory of God. But we

need something more than just the conviction of sin. We

need something to save us from our sin, and we

know that to be Jesus Christ, who went to the

cross to die for our sins, and three days later

rose from the dead, so that all who believe in

him would be saved from every failure, every sin they

have and will ever commit. This is good news. So

it's true at first glance that Peter wept because of

his failure, But as we see in our text, it

was only after the glance from Peter's savior that he

remembered Jesus' words and then broke down weeping. Peter, although

grieved by his sin, wept also because of the faithfulness

of his savior. Tewod Corinthians five seven tells us for

godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret,

whereas worldly grief produces death. So Judas a couple examples,

Judas felt regret. Judas felt bad about what he did

and went off and died in his sins. But Peter

denied Christ, and all it took was a look from

the Lord to make Peter grieve the fact that he

was still so weak, still so sinful, and yet because

of the faithfulness of his savior, Peter could repent and

be restored.

And that is a real reason worth weeping over.

We're going to see from our text today this main

point that Jesus's faithfulness is greater than our failures. Jesus's

faithfulness is greater than our failures. Now, as we go

through this text with the rest of our time, I

want us to not only see this truth, but I

also want us to actually see how this applies to us.

How does this impact or how should this impact our life,

the way we deal with our sins and failures. Because

unless you're kidding yourself, you know that you are a sinner,

you are a failure.

Now.

The only reason I say this so bluntly, the reason

I only say it so bluntly like this is because

this is the exact opposite of what our culture tries

to teach us. Every failure on our part as humans

gets spun as kind of like a unique quirk. Well,

I'm not really a forgiving person, you know, I'm a capricorn.

Well I'm not really patient. I'm Type A, that's my personality.

Our culture tells us that we do what we do

because we're victims. But the Bible says that we do

what we do because we're violent. We're violators and rebels

to God's law. And when we try to do right,

or as we see in Peter's case, get too sure

of ourselves and our own abilities and strength, How bitter

is that truth that shows us just how we are weak,

sinful failures. Now, again, this is not said to just

beat us up anymore than when the doctor tells you

that you're dying is to try to make you feel bad.

They're not trying to make you feel bad. They're telling

you what the situation is. But when the doctor gives

you the diagnosis, you can never be sure if there.

Is a remedy that will work perfectly.

But the good news is that when God's word gives

us our diagnosis as weak sinners. It also gives us

the remedy that God himself made sure what be perfect

and sufficient to save you completely. So let's look at

our text. Beginning in verse fifty four, it says they

seized him talking about Jesus and led him away, bringing

him into the high Priest's house, and Peter was following

at a distance. And when they kindled a fire in

the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter

sat down among them. Now, notice something very interesting here.

Jesus has been arrested and most of the other disciples

have fled, but here's Peter, not by Jesus's side, but

kind of following from a distance. Now, which Peter now

kind of still feels hopeful, still feels hopeful for Peter.

But really, here we see Peter beginning to drift. Peter

in scripture is one of the most fascinating disciples, isn't he?

Like when you really recount all those things Peter's done,

and how his note like, no one matches Peter's fervor,

no one his energy, his like He's like, let's get

after an attitude.

No one matches that. It's just Peter.

Peters declares his belief that Jesus is the son of God.

Peter is the one who calls out to Jesus to

have him also come walk on the water. Peter, ready

to defend Jesus with the sword, cuts off the ear

of the servant of the high priest. Like we saw

last week, Peter talks a big talk, he walks a

big walk, and sometimes that gets him in trouble. It's

just a couple hours earlier at dinner, when Jesus had

told Peter that he had prayed for him because Satan

was going to try and sift him. Peter announced that

he was ready to go to prison and even.

Die with Jesus.

And yet here he is lagging behind, not too close

with Jesus, but following from Afar. But how many of

us do the very same thing. We claim Christ as

our savior, but then we follow him from Afar. We

might talk a big talk about Jesus, but we don't

make coming to service to worship him. We don't come

here as a club. We don't come here to do

cool stuff. Those are all kind of true, like not

the club part necessarily, but we do cool stuff, and

we enjoy the fellowship of believers together. But really we

come here to worship Jesus. We're here as his people,

as his body, to worship Jesus every week, but we

don't make that a priority. We treat it as it's

an optional thing or it's nice to do. We'll be

beneficial if I can get to it. We follow Jesus

from Afar by not truly getting connected to his church,

not becoming a member, serving his body, giving to his body.

But instead we settle to watch and follow Jesus and

his body from Afar. We don't take our Bible time,

our prayer time, or discipleship to grow in his image. Seriously,

we settle to follow him from Afar, which we really

need to not kid ourselves, because following Jesus from Afar

is not going to get you closer to him. Think

about that, following Jesus from Afar, keeping yourself at a

distance from him is not going to get you closer

to him. You're not going to grow closer to him.

But here is Peter. He follows Jesus from Afar and

now ends up in the courtyard of the High Priest's house.

And so as Jesus is on trial before the religious leaders.

Peter begins his trial with the world we see this

in verse fifty six and says, then a servant girl,

seeing him as he sat in the light and looking

closely at him, said this man also was with him,

but he denied it, saying, woman, I do not know him.

And a little later someone else saw him and said,

you also are one of them, but Peter said, man,

I am not. And after an interval of about an hour,

still another said 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. Three times

over Peter is exposed as having been with Jesus, and

three times Peter denies it. Also, as a commentary pointed out,

the first person to call Peter out was a young

servant girl, and he buckled under the weight and pressure

from this young this young girl being like, wait, didn't

I see you with Jesus? And he's like, I don't know.

Definitely not. Peter denies knowing Jesus. Most of us as

believers have the same chill come down our spine when

we hear the verse about how one day Jesus will

say to some depart from me, I never knew you. Honestly,

that's rightly so rightly so that should make us like

whoa you know? But do we stop and can consider

how often our own words, our own actions say that

we don't know him. We don't want Jesus to say

I never knew you, but we live like we don't

even know him. For most of us, we may not

deny Jesus verbally like Peter here, but instead we deny

him with our lives. Look at what Titus says in

Titus one sixteen. It says, they profess to know God,

but they deny him by their works. They are detest stable, disobedient,

unfit for any good work. Brothers and sisters, let us

not have Jesus close on our lips, but have our

lives far from him. So after the girl, a man

says that Peter is one of them, meaning one of

those who were with Jesus. But Peter denies even associating

with Jesus and his people. So do we, like Peter,

fear being associated with Christ and his church in a

day and age like today, where there is much hatred

for the truth and thus much hatred for the Christians

who speak that truth. Are we fearful? Do we find

ways to distance ourselves and say, well, I'm not like

those Christians, I'm one of the good ones. Do we

claim to be one of the good ones? But by

doing so turn our backs on the truth and the

rest of the bride of Christ?

Are we compromising?

I was thinking about it when I was thinking about

this today, like, would we rather be the one of

the good Christians? But but really what that is is

like good in the eyes of the world.

We would rather be good in the eyes of the world.

And what they deem is acceptable as a Christian rather

than good in the eyes of God and what He's

literally just told us to do and be and believe

and think as Christians. Last of all, Peter gets called

out again because they can tell the region he is from,

and so they say, surely you've got to be with them.

But now Peter just pleads ignorance. I don't even know

what you're talking about. I do not know what you're

talking about. Christians, out of fear for standing for the truth?

Do we plead ignorance? I must stay out of that one.

I'm not going to touch that subject. I'm not gonna

speak on to that. I'm not I really don't know.

I don't know Peter, Peter pleads ignorance. Peter has been

with Jesus. You've been following in Luke, if you've read Luke,

if you've read the Gospels. Peter has been with Jesus

throughout his entire ministry, practically from the start. And he's

not just one of Jesus's disciples, but he's one of

the twelve Apostles. He's one of the leaders.

And at that Peter is one of the three on

the inner circle. In the Apostles.

Peter sat under the teaching, worked in the ministry, and

even professed Christ himself. And here is Peter saying, I

don't know him, I'm not with them, and I don't

even know what you're talking talking about. Now, here's the deal.

If I was Peter, this is a moment in my

life that I would not want recorded in the internal

word of God. If I remember correctly, every single gospel

records this event by name, like it's it's a it's

a it's a it's a recorded moment in God's unfailing, unchanging,

eternal word. But I think that there are big failures

in our own life that haunt us, that maybe play

over and over again in our own heads times that

remind us of our sin, fallenness, and failures. And Peter's

here in the thick of it. He went from following Afar,

to denying knowing Jesus, to deny being associated with his people,

to even just pleading complete ignorance. Slippery slope of backsliding

can happen so quick, as the apostle Paul soberly reminds us.

In one Corinthians ten twelve, it says, therefore, let anyone

who thinks that he stands take heed lest he falls.

Don't be arrogant, don't like, don't.

We're weak guys, like that's that is the reality of

you think like I got this, Look at me, like,

just remember, take heed. You can fall. No one, no

one is beyond that. You can't stay close to Jesus

by following from Afar, our sin, our wickedness. Not to

mention the spiritual forces Satan on a prow like a lion,

watching waiting for those growing more and more distant from

Jesus Church. We must stay close to Christ, we must

stay close to his body, or we he becomes susceptible

to the fears and pressures and sins that are found

outside of his presence, like Peter from Afar. First it

started as just a physical distance, but then it began

to make his heart grow more and more distant. And

at his third denial, the rooster crows. But this isn't

what wakes Peter up. It's interesting, this isn't what wakes

Peter up. It's not the crow of the rooster that

wakes Peter up. It was the eyes of his savior

turned towards him. Look at this verse sixty. But Peter said, man,

I do not know what you were 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. Now what even

brought me to ask the question why did Peter weep

in the first place? Is because I kept trying to

picture or imagine what look did Jesus give Peter? What

did that look look like? And here's the deal. At first,

I was pretty confident. I thought I knew what it was.

I thought I knew exactly what that look was. I

thought maybe it was the I'm not mad, I'm disappointed.

That's kind of what I thought it was at first.

But Jesus didn't expect any different from Peter. He wasn't disappointed.

He wouldn't have been disappointed. He told Peter this is

what was going to happen. He knew all along, So

it's not disappointment. And I also don't think it was

a look if I told you so like that doesn't really

give me a Jesus vibe. I'm like, look at you

messing up all over the place like that. I don't

see that. I don't think it was anger or pride.

I don't even think it was a look of shame.

Like I said, I.

Don't know what the look was. I still don't.

I don't see. There's no more clues that I can

I can get to know what that look was. But

here's what I do know. After Peter denies Jesus, after

Peter is ashamed of Jesus and being associated with him,

Jesus turns and looks at Peter, turns and looks at Peter.

It's not like, it's not just a glance. It's not

a side eye. Jesus turns in some way or form.

It's visible. He turns and looks at Peter, who is

just denied in three times and whatever. That look was

reminded Peter of the words Jesus had told him earlier

that night. Now, I personally think that Jesus is intentional.

Turning to look at Peter. Wasn't just like happenstance. I

wasn't he like looked over, He's like, oh, look it's Peter.

It wasn't like that. I think it was intentional. I

also don't think it was a gotcha like I told

you what was going to happen. I think Jesus was

not only looking at him to remind him of his words.

But I think that there's a sense in which Jesus

looked at Peter with love and more than that, Like

really him looking at Jesus was showing Jesus wasn't ashamed

of Peter. Jesus and this is why Jesus didn't withhold

his gaze from Peter, like when someone offends you and

you're like, I can't even look you right now, right

you get in a fight with your spouse and you're like,

I'm just gonna walk around the house all day, I'm

look at you. Maybe that's just me. I'll repent. But

Jesus didn't withhold his gaze from his unfaithful follower. Jesus

did not withhold his eyes from the one who is

too afraid to be recognized as having been with Jesus.

But Jesus looked at Peter at just the right moment,

just when Peter was at his lowest in his gaze.

This intentional look from Jesus was enough to bring Jesus'

words flooding back into Peter's mind and convict him.

And we've known this too, haven't we as believers.

We fall into sin, but maybe a terrible, terribly great sin,

or maybe even a small what feels like minor sin,

And just on the other side of our failure, there's

the Holy Spirit convicting us, reminding us with his word.

We're like, oh, yeah, I should have known that one.

And what does this do to Peter? It causes him

to weep bitterly, But it wasn't so bitter that he

was destroyed. It was the perfect godly sorrow that would

lead him to repentance. On one hand, Peter's failures had

reminded him of his weakness and inability, But on the

other hand, it reminds him how much he not only

needs his Savior, but that he has a faithful savior

who is greater than his failures. Why did Peter weep? Well,

Peter wept because Jesus's faithfulness is greater than his failure.

Whatever the look was, it's in that ballpark. I think that.

We belonged to God. If Jesus is interceding for us,

praying for us, caring for us, carrying us, if we

are in his hands, that no matter how big we fail,

his grace is sufficient. So when we sin, when we

feel the eyes of the Lord, the conviction of the Spirit,

I pray that we remember his grace and his promises.

And though our sin breaks our heart, which it should,

we repent and turn to the Father who loves us,

the Savior who prays for us, and the Spirit who

keeps us is two, Timothy says, starting in verse eleven.

And I also need the band to come up, please, says.

The saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him,

we will also live with him. If we endure, we

will also reign with him. If we deny him, he

will or he also will deny us. If we are faithless,

he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Now Here

it does say that if we deny him, he will

deny us, which is true if you claim to follow

Jesus but then deny him if you don't repent, if

you don't return to Jesus, just as you claim to

not know him, Jesus is gonna say, I don't even

know who you are.

I never knew you.

But we know that if we confess our sins, that

he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins

and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, we can repent of

our sins, our failures. We know that after Jesus is

raised from the dead. Because here's the deal. If this

was like, oh, you denied him that one time and

you're out he's going to deny you, well, then you'd

be hopeless. There would be no hope. It'd be game over.

Every time you sin, your active deny of knowing him

and being associated with him, we would be hopeless. But

here we actually see that it's not the case, because

after Jesus has raised from the dead, we see this

beautiful scene where Jesus asks Peter three times if Peter

loves him, and Peter says I do, and the Lord

tells him defeat him intends to sheep.

It's almost as beautiful reversal.

It's not works, It's not like you actually have to

do this to be made right with him. But I

think it was this beautiful opportunity for Peter to reaffirm

his love after just denying Jesus so intensely. Peter now

three times to Jesus's face, got to affirm his love

for him, and Jesus tells Peter out of his love

for him to take care of his sheep his church.

But again, if we look at this second Timothy text,

what does it say. It says even if we are faithless,

he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself.

That means that whatever God says he will do, he's

good for it. That means that.

God's faithfulness is not reliant on our faithfulness.

If that was the case, we would be in big trouble.

But has shown here Peter's failure didn't nullify God's faithfulness.

And I believe that Peter's failure didn't make Jesus look

at him any different than he had before. That though

Peter had denied Jesus, Jesus wasn't going to deny Peter

because Jesus won't deny himself, meaning Jesus told Peter beforehand

that he had prayed for him. Jesus had already interceded

for Peter, that Peter's faith would not fail, but that

when Peter had turned again to strengthen his brothers, Peter

failed this test, but his faith did not fail in

the end, and not because he was great, and not

because he was strong or his faith was greater than others,

but because Jesus was faithful.

Jesus says, I know Satan's good.

He's coming for you, but I've prayed for you so

that your faith would not fail. You'll come out on

the other side. Because though Peter would deny Jesus, Jesus

would not deny Peter because he won't deny himself. Jesus's

faithfulness is greater than our failure. And how much do

we need to hear this and know this church? Those

moments that keep us up at night, our fears, our

own failures repeating in our brain. We need to let

them lead us to godly sorrow that produces rep pentance

in us. Meaning, yes, our sin should break our hearts,

but more than that, it should bring us to Christ.

You can't just wallow, You can't just sit in your

sin say I'm just bad, I'm just like. That doesn't

get you anywhere. It doesn't do anything for you except

for just yeah, you're right, we are, we are bad.

But we need Jesus. That sorrow, that grief for your sin.

Let it push you and turn you and take you

to Jesus because in him we can find graciousness, We

find grace, We find him that he's faithful, and that

in him there's forgiveness and life. Tempted to deny him,

reject him, whether it be directly or deny him with

the lives we live and the sin that we choose

over him, when we're tempted, we still need to remember

his faithfulness.

Actually, in fact, it's.

We have solutions to temptations. I don't know if you

know this. It's in the Bible. It tells us what

to do when we're being tempted. There's promises in scripture.

Look at this one Corinthians ten thirteen. It says, no

temptation has overtaking you. That is not common to man.

Love that this isn't new, This isn't a new sin.

It's like, well, I only sinned because this is a

brand new one they rolled out. Doesn't work like that.

No temptation is overtaking you, that is not common to man.

But what is the first next thing that is said?

God is faithful. God is faithful, and he will not

let you be tempted beyond your ability. Praise God, because

our ability is not great. Listen to this. But with

the temptation, He will also provide the way of a skin.

There is no excuse. There is no excuse for sin.

No matter how angry you are, how frustrated you are,

how full of lust you are, there is nothing. There's

always a way out. There is always a way out

that you may be able to endure it. He is faithful,

He's given you a way out. He's there to help

you endure it and come through on the other side.

God is faithful and here to help us through our temptations.

And I believe that if we truly pictured Christ turning

to look to us in a moment of sin. How

much more would we resist or cut off the sin

that we're falling into next time you're yelling at your kids.

I don't know if I keep talking about yelling a lot,

and maybe I yelled too much, But to picture Christ

turn towards you in that moment, that moment of lust,

Christ is turning towards you, that moment of unforgiveness, Christ

is turning towards you, that moment not of withholding love

to love an action deed. Seeing Christ turn towards you,

that would motivate me. That would motivate me knowing that

He's watching me, and not even just in a fear sense,

just like Jesus, like I got my eye on you,

I'm here with you, I see you. I definitely think

it would make those things that are scary feel way smaller.

Like Peter, would remind us of his word and cause

us to repent of how far we have let it go,

but then turn to him in tears of both sorrow

and joy. Because here's the gospel. You guys, ready feel

like I think I summed it up in three words.

Jesus saves failures. Jesus saves failures. Jesus did what we

could not do, which is save ourselves. Jesus takes on

himself what we deserve, which is all the wrath, do

our sin, and Jesus gives us what we do not have,

which is righteousness. Jesus does it all, and he's so

faithful also that we can be close to him, reunited

with him, reconciled to him, so that we can know him.

Jesus only saves failures. And the good news is that

no matter your failure is great or small, Jesus is great.

His grace and his faithfulness are greater than your failures.

You can't outsin God, you can't outsin his grace. That's

really good news. So come to him. Believe in him.

Stop trusting in yourself your failure, I'm a failure. Just

to be clear, we're on the same page there. We

all need Jesus. Believe in Jesus and be saved.

And when future fails happen, look to him, Turn to him.

Remember that Jesus' faithfulness is greater than your failures. If

you are in Christ, all your sin, past, present, future

is fully covered. And because of that we can say

that there is therefore now no condemnation. There is no

condemnation for all those who are in Christ Jesus. But

if we find ourselves like Peter, denying Christ following from

Afar and not associating with him and his people, that we,

like Peter, are cut to our core, not weeping just

for our failures, but weeping because of His faithfulness to

restore us again.

In that moment, two things should happen.

Oh a sinner, Oh, I hate that this happened again,

and just as quickly, God, your mercy is too great

for me. And when we repent, let those times serve

not as memories of condemnation but his reminders to never

again turn back. I don't want to do that again.

I don't want to do that again, to never again

deny him with our actions, our words, our lives. But

let us simply remember that Jesus' faithfulness is greater than

our failures, and let that be the motivation for our

life of constant, joy filled repentance. I think those kind

of funny words to put together joy filled repentance and

for a life that says, Lord will never follow from

Afar again, but I will cling to your side because

I know that I am nothing without you.

Lord.

I will trust in you and not myself, because your

faithfulness is greater than my failures. Amen. Would you please

stand