Matthew Pt. 98 - Pride Comes Before Disgrace

Matthew 26, we're in verse 31, everything's slowing down.

We're in these last few chapters.

We just had the Last Supper. Jesus just established the new

covenant in his blood. They're thinking, Yep, here's

the Passover meal just like always.

Passover meal, just like always. Passover meal, just like always.

Jesus says, take this, eat it. And they're like, Yep, He says,

this is the new covenant. Take this, drink it.

This is the new covenant in my blood.

And they're going, that's different.

That's different from the Passover meal.

He says, well, it's still a Passover.

The death Angel is still going to Passover you because you'll

be covered in my blood. Everything was always pointing

to Jesus. Everything the whole Bible is

about Jesus. All of creation was built by

Jesus for Jesus through Jesus. Nothing exists without Jesus.

Everything will glorify Jesus forever.

So now we saw in verse 30 that they sang a hymn, and then they

left. When they had sung A hymn, they

went out to the Mount of Olives. Now we pick up here in verse 31.

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'll 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.

Heavenly Father, help us to depend upon you right now, even

for something that we're familiar with.

We've come to church many times, we've gathered many times, we've

heard many sermons. Lord, I pray right now that we

would be dependent upon you. I pray for each of your people

that they would be needy and desperate for your help in

expecting you to unlock something and reveal something

and change something, shift something, remove something,

grow something, please yourself and glorify Your name in US.

Your word is anointed Lord. As it comes forth, it's going to

accomplish everything you intended for it to accomplish.

I pray that you would guide me, my tongue and my thoughts and my

words that they will be what's best and what's right for your

flock. You as the chief Shepherd who

care for your people, help me to serve them well and help them to

be humble sheep who receive it and depend upon You for their

daily bread. We thank you for your word now

in Jesus name, Amen. They sung in hymn and they went

out to the Mount of Olives. Now we don't know if we're on

the way walking out to the Mount of Olives.

We don't know if they're already in the Mount of Olives.

But they were in Jerusalem when they had had that Last Supper

meal in an upper room together, that Passover meal that had been

prepared for them by some man, some unnamed man who somehow

makes the pages of Scripture because he had prepared

something for the Lord. And now here they're probably

walking out up the Mount of Olives away from the city.

It's about a mile or so. Gordon Linda, is that what it

is? About a mile or so.

You can see into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, I'm told.

So you can see Jerusalem right there.

It's still Passover time. It's still festival time.

Everybody else is super excited. Jesus heart is very, very heavy.

He's going into the garden to pray.

He's going up to the Mount of Olives, but he's preparing his

disciples now for this moment. And he says to them, you will

all fall away because of me on this night.

This is shocking to them. He's just exposed betrayal.

Remember at the meal he says 1 of you will betray me.

And they go, well, that's heavy. I mean, that's that's the worst

thing we could possibly do is betray.

But now the betrayer is left. Satan entered into Judas when he

took the body and the blood of the Lord unworthily.

Satan entered into him and then he went to go betray the Lord.

But now Jesus says to the 11 you will all fall away because of me

this very night. So he's exposed weakness now in

every single one of them. That's hard for them to hear and

it's shocking for them to hear, but it's interesting.

Notice the way he puts it. You will fall away because of

me. It's not that it's Jesus's fault

that they're going to fall away. He's not.

You're falling away because of my fault.

But what he's saying is that he is the dividing line, which he's

always said about himself. Jesus is the dividing line.

Jesus divides households. Jesus said I did not come to

bring peace, but a sword. And a man's enemies will be

enemies of his own household because of Christ, not because

of family dysfunction there. There's all kinds of stuff that

happens in families all the time for all kinds of reasons like

that. But Jesus saying people be

divided by me, I will be the severing factor.

I'll be the sword that divides things.

He separates people, He divides households.

Jesus is the cornerstone or Jesus is the stumbling block for

every single life on earth. He's either your cornerstone,

meaning when they build the building, they started with a

big cornerstone and they set the cornerstone perfectly, and now

everything will be calibrated according to the cornerstone.

It's like the compass and they say we'll work every stone off

of that one. That stones the truth For those

who love and follow Christ. We say he is the cornerstone and

I and I, if I, if something is out of line, it ain't him, It's

me. And I need to readjust myself to

make sure I'm in alignment with the cornerstone.

Jesus is either your cornerstone or Jesus is your stumbling

block. He's the thing that you trip

over and that you're offended at.

You're angry at. You stubbed your toe because you

were out of line. The cornerstone never moved, but

he becomes a stumbling block for you.

And now you go. How could you?

How dare you? I don't understand you.

I disagree with you. I challenge you.

All the things we see people do to Christ, all the things that

we've done in our own hearts when we've challenged the Lord,

when we've disobeyed the Lord, He is the cornerstone or he's

the stumbling block in every life.

And even the leaders of the church, the 11 are not exempt

from stumbling. The leaders, the beginners of

the church, all fall away on the Lord's on the night of the

Lord's suffering. He says, For it is written, I

will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be

scattered. He's quoting Zechariah 13, Old

Testament prophecy about Jesus. It had, it had the the prophecy

had some fulfillment for the nation of Israel previously, but

now it has ultimate fulfillment in Christ.

I will, I will strike the shepherd and the flock will be

scattered. This is the fulfilment of this.

The shepherd will be struck, the sheep will scatter.

The scattering is real. The failure is real.

But thankfully the prophecy does not end there in Zechariah.

Zechariah continues to speak of refinement like silver and like

the testing of gold. So this is good news.

We always just think that that's all there was to the Zechariah

passage because that's all that Jesus quoted here.

But that's not all there is. You should go read Zechariah 13

and you'll be encouraged to see the restoration that's taking

place. And ultimately we see it happen

with the 11. You'll all be scattered.

But Jesus doesn't leave them there.

There is a refining and that's what happens.

Zechariah continues to speak of refinement.

Jesus in a moment is going to allude to it.

A remnant will be brought through fire.

They will call on His name, He will say they are my people.

The scattering is not the final word.

Refining is not destruction and testing is not abandonment.

Have you ever sinned against the Lord?

Yes, you have. Has the Lord ever gathered you

back to Himself? Yes He has.

This is the comfort that we have in having a shepherd instead of

saying my survival is based upon me being the perfect sheep.

Well, good luck with that. Sheep are dumb and that's what

the Lord chose to compare us to over and over throughout

scripture. So he says, I'm comparing you to

a dumb ignorant animal with no defense mechanisms, who often

gets lost, who will go eat the wrong things and kill itself,

who will be attacked by parasites and cannot help

itself. That's what he compares us to

over and over and over he says, and I love you and I will keep

gathering you back to myself. So we see a great fall here on

this night from the disciples, but this isn't the final say.

So don't miss this. Jesus knows that they will fall.

He does not want them to fall. He is warning them, but He also

knows that He is going to gather them back to Himself.

Even in His warning, there's mercy.

Verse 32 He says, but after I am raised up, he puts in a butt

there because the butt is essentially the undoing of what

was just said. This is something I try and be

mindful of in my speech to people.

Hey, I love you. What typically comes next when

we're getting ready to correct somebody on something, but it

almost seems like you're taking back the I love you.

You don't intend to take back the I love you.

What you intend to say is I love you and you need to knock it

off. Both of those things are true at

the same time. I love you and I'm very annoyed

both of these things are true. I love you and not I love you

but but Jesus is saying there's a bit of an undoing.

He puts the the butt here. There's going to the flock will

be scattered, but after I'm raised up, I will go before you

into Galilee. What Jesus is communicating is

that they are going to be restored and that he is going to

gather them again and they are going to meet together again in

Galilee. The good news for you here,

Saints, is before the fall happens, Jesus is already

declaring and talking about the resurrection.

Before the scattering happens, He's already planning for the

regathering. Jesus doesn't stay dead.

He's already planning his resurrection.

He's still experiencing the weight of the cross, and still

he knows he will be resurrected. He still knows he's going to be

glorified forever. He doesn't have any question

about that. And yet it's painful to walk

through painful things. It was painful for Jesus to walk

through the cross. It's painful for you and I to

walk through sin. It's painful for the

consequences of the sin. It's painful for the separation

that we experience in our fellowship with the Lord, our

relationship. When we sin as Christians, the

relationship is not severed. When Natalie and I sin against

one another, we don't instantly become divorced, do we?

But our fellowship is hindered in that moment.

And in any relationship you have with someone, the relationship

isn't permanently severed, and yet the fellowship is injured.

The fellowship needs to be healed.

The fellowship needs to be restored.

There's ways that we can go about that.

But the disciples experience this pain.

They experience this separation. But Jesus encourages them.

I will go before you. That is shepherd language.

Even after they abandoned Him, He still goes before them.

Even after they fought, even after they fall and fail, he

still leads. Even before you sin, Jesus has

already planned through to your restoration.

He knows that your sin is coming.

That's comforting to me. It doesn't mean that you're

doomed and destined to commit that sin.

It doesn't mean that He's forcing you to do the thing

that's coming. It just means that even though

he sees it, even though he knows it's coming, he's planning for

the next step past it. That's what the sovereignty of

God means. It doesn't mean that God is

orchestrating your every action. It means that the Lord is still

sovereign over your every action, and He still sees the

beginning from the end. So his foreknowledge does not

mean that he is in deliberate control of the thing that you've

done wrong, but it means that He is still orchestrating a good

outcome to bless you and to resurrect you.

The sins you have not even committed, He's not forcing you

to do them. You're not doomed to do them.

But he sees what's coming, and He's already prepared a path for

your return. That's comforting.

So no matter what sin you're facing, no matter what

difficulty you're in, no matter what shame you feel, the Lord

has a path back right in that moment.

You're like, surely it's too, it's I'm too far gone.

I can't bear, I can't bear the shame.

I can't walk through the repentance.

I can't walk through the restoration.

The Lord's like I've, I've paved a road.

There is a path for restoration for you.

This is the good news of the gospel.

Well, why? Why has he done it?

Well, Jesus earned that path. You didn't deserve it, but God

loved you, and as you put faith in Christ, now you experience

the advocacy of Christ. He advocates to you.

He advocates to the Father on your behalf.

What a blessing, what a comfort, what a God.

He sees the weaknesses, and he still plans the gathering for

later. The issue we see here in this

passage comes of course, from the disciples and Peter in

particular. Verse 33.

Peter answered him though. They all fall away because of

you, I will never fall away. Immediately we see the problem.

Peter disagrees with Jesus. Hey Jesus, you are wrong.

That's the boldness of Peter. But it's not a Holy Spirit

boldness. It's a it's just Peter's own

flesh. It's Peter's own

self-confidence. It's Peter's own self assurance.

We all love Peter. We all like Peter.

We can all relate to Peter. Peter's a real guy.

Peter's a real person. He, you can tell he genuinely

loves the Lord and you can tell he genuinely puts his foot in

his mouth and that's why he's so lovable because we're like, this

guy's real. This guy looks like us.

This guy's a blue collar fisherman.

When he sees a problem, he's like, I'm going fishing.

That's what that's all I know to do.

We're not catching any fish. You just fish harder, you fish

more, you fish better, you fish, you just keep fishing.

That's what he does over and over.

When you see Peter's problems, that's all he knows to do, and

you can't help but love him for it.

And also, it's not the answer. Peter lacks A dependence upon

the Lord over and over and over. And we continue to see it.

We continue to see Peter trusting in himself.

He's like, I'm going to do it. And you see, Jesus loves Peter.

Jesus loves Peter. He cares about Peter.

He encourages Peter, he rebukes Peter, he corrects Peter.

He's a friend to Peter, but he needs Peter to grow and he needs

Peter to stop trusting in himself.

He needs Peter to actually depend upon the Lord.

Remember 1 of Peter's first license?

Whenever you've been fishing all night long, Jesus called out and

said, cast your Nets onto the other side of the boat.

Well, Peter's a fisherman. That doesn't make any sense.

And he said that doesn't make any sense.

We've been fishing all night. But you know what?

I'll do it. I'll do it reluctantly, but I'll

do it. And then of course, comes the

massive catch. Could Peter explain it?

No Did it make sense to this seasoned fisherman?

No, but it's the goodness of God and its obedience to the Lord.

Peter needs to humble himself before the Lord and not trust in

himself. At the dinner they were super

humble. When Jesus said one of you will

betray me, they all the true the 11 go is it I is it me?

They were fearful and we applauded that.

And we said, look, look at the humility.

And they're concerned. They're asking, is it me?

They didn't say I never would. They were like, please tell me.

But now something's changed. Something shifted.

Even in their walk in this short time, within the hour, maybe we

see a problem. Before, they were inspecting

their own hearts. Now Peter says, not me.

No way. It's absolutely not going to

happen. That shift from humility to

confidence in self. And then he makes another error

here. He says even if they all fall

away now he separates himself from the rest of the 11.

All right, Judas is fishy. We've had our eye on him.

We don't know where he went tonight.

That seemed weird the way he left.

But here we are with the 11. Even if the other 10 fall away.

Jesus, I will never and he separates himself from the rest

of this is in front of the rest of the guys.

They're all right there and he goes.

They might keep your eye on them Lord.

They might all fall away tonight, but not me.

He's comparing himself elevates himself above the group

misplaced confidence that he is placed in himself and also this

this comparison reveals his pride.

This is why he falls. He's not dependent upon the

Lord. When Jesus said you're all going

to fall away on account of me tonight, what should the

response have been? Oh my goodness, Lord, help us to

pray. Which is what he encouraged them

into in the garden. Pray that you will not fall into

temptation. Can't you stay away for one hour

and pray? And they're like, we're not

going to fall away. Trust us.

We know we love you. We know we'll be faithful.

It scares me because I've thought that way before.

I've definitely thought that way before.

I've absolutely thought how Peter is thought.

I've absolutely talked how Peter is talked.

And as I've gotten older, I've repented from that.

You still might feel those things.

You still might feel no way would I ever deny the Lord.

I'm talking in anything. And I'm like, I've used my

imagination to to go to to dark and awful places.

What might someone do to try and get me to deny the Lord?

And I've gone, I've taken it to extremes and I'm like never.

But I've since changed over the years.

I'm going, Lord, keep me faithful instead of a zealous,

I'll tell you who I am and I'll tell you what I'll do kind of

confession. I've changed it to Jesus, please

give me strength. Jesus, please give me strength.

I never want to grieve you. And he knows I don't want to

deny him. He knows my heart is to love

him. But instead of I'll muscle up,

I'll fish harder, I'll fish all night.

That's not the answer to Michael.

It's actual dependence upon the Lord, because if you're going

to, if you're going to sustain anything, you're going to do it

in the power of God. And if you're going to fail,

you're going to fail in your own flesh.

Keeping yourself aligned to the cornerstone is the solution.

Jesus has already warned Peter earlier this night, Simon,

Simon, Satan demanded to sift you like wheat.

But Jesus told him, I've prayed for you.

And then of course he tells them, watch that you don't enter

into temptation. He tells them the Spirit is

willing, but the flesh is weak. The answer for them was prayer.

Peter chose his personal confidence instead.

He was certain. He was super, super certain.

I've been super certain before. Being certain in yourself is not

a solution. And it can even feel like your

Bible certain. And really you're still just

pridefully certain. What you've called faith was

your presumption instead of a heart faith that's bubbling out

of a humility that came from a place with I've.

I've sought the Lord on my knees.

I've sought the Lord in humility and I sense his strength.

Once you've tasted both, they're very, very recognizable.

The counterfeit becomes pretty obvious to you.

Prayerlessness is often the fruit of self trust.

I've seen this. Proven over and over and over in

my life. When you feel strong, you pray

less. When you feel experienced, you

lean on him less. Now I've got wisdom for this.

I've done this 1000 times. I know how to fish.

I've been doing it my whole life.

My granddaddy was a fisherman, My daddy was a fisherman.

I'm a fisherman and this is the only lake I've ever fished.

I know this lake. I know the timing, I know the

currents. I know exactly what to do with

this lake. I'm an expert.

And then the Lord says do it different.

Do it different because you're not being successful.

Prayer is the answer though. Actual devotion to the Lord,

actual seeking the Lord. Peter felt so strong.

He felt so courageous on this night.

He felt so devoted. When you feel those things, take

heed the lest you fall. It is unwise to look back on

your past victories and assume that they guarantee future

victories. Your past victories do not

guarantee future victories. Past victories are evidence of

the Lord's faithfulness. They are not proof of your

invincibility. That's all.

Look at all these past things. Yeah.

Praise the Lord. That's what all that is intended

to do. To draw you vertical to worship

ago. God, you've been so good to me.

Well, haven't you done stuff? Well, yeah, I've done stuff.

Yeah. I put the Nets on the other side

of the boat like he told me to. We're not talking about a

passivity that that takes no action.

We're not talking about a mindlessness that sits on the

sofa and says God will provide. Or like I was saying, the person

who sleeps 3 hours a night. It's like just pray for a

miracle that I would have some energy from the Lord like, well,

we know your solution. It's a bad time.

It's OK. Pray that my pray that my blood

sugar will get in check. Hey, we know your solution.

It's changing what you eat and changing how you move your body.

You know, there's, there's some things that we can do.

There's some things we can impact.

So we're not minimizing the fact that we could ever take action,

but we we are minimizing a self-confidence and a courage

that comes from me and a courage that comes from all my

experience. Past victories are evidence of

the Lord's faithfulness. They're not proof of my

invincibility. So the Lord spoke, Peter says,

no Lord, it's not going to be like that.

And now the Lord double S down. Jesus said to him, verse 34,

truly, I tell you this very night before the rooster crows,

you will deny me three times. So Jesus got very specific.

It tells him exactly how it's going to happen now because of

his pride. Unfortunately.

Remember, this is known by the Lord.

That does not mean that this is forced by the Lord.

Just as Judas's betrayal was foreknown, not forced, Peter's

denial was foreknown, not forced.

What if, what if now he had repented?

That's a foolish mind game that isn't fruitful.

The point is the Lord saw a long time ago what Peter was going to

do on this night, and he's just letting him know what he's going

to do. It's not a trap that he has set

for Peter. Verse 35, Even after Jesus's

specific prophecy and revelation to Peter, Peter said to him,

even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.

And all the disciples said the same pride multiplies now

leadership in self-confidence spreads quickly.

And then within hours they have all proven the prophecy true.

That's wild. Like we think we're ready for

the heat. And then 600 soldiers show up

into the garden and they go, oh, my knees feel like Jelly and my

stomach is in my throat and my heart rate is sky high.

And that's why are all these soldiers here that it's not

happening how I thought it was going to happen.

I had imagined something else. And they take off and they

scatter. This is one of the reasons that

I'm so emphatic about people being built on Christ and not

being super devoted to their end times expectations.

I want you to be secure and faithful no matter how it comes

out. If your chart is the one that

happens perfectly, congratulations, but I don't

want you to be dependent upon your chart and going like, Oh

no, I had, you know, my bingo card had this happening next and

there, but this happened instead.

Like I said, we're all, we have much freedom in our convictions

on how the world is going to end and how Jesus is going to wrap

this whole thing up. But no matter what, we need to

have simplicity and focus on following him and waking up and

doing it day after day and night after night.

Even if it's even if I must die with you, I will.

I will not deny you. And all the other disciples are

like after they've just been insulted by Peter.

He's like they all might, but I won't.

And Jesus goes, Peter, you're going to deny me not once.

You being the hero that you are, you're going to deny me three

times and it'll be before we hear a rooster.

And then later, if you'll remember Peter and Jesus,

because Peter was at a distance, he was kind of following but not

close enough to be identified with Jesus, and he was watching

from a distance. And in that moment, a rooster

crows after Jesus, after Peter denies Jesus 1/3 time and Jesus

looks at Peter. So they're in some courtyard and

there's some scenario and Jesus is there and he's been punched

and he's already been assaulted multiple times and he's been

mocked and he's been belittled. And Peter denies Jesus.

Hey, you're a Galilean. I can tell your accent.

No, I saw you with him. No, no, I swear.

I swear to God. And he calls down Kurt.

If I'm lying, then May God strike me dead.

All kinds of obnoxious fear coming up out of him.

All that pride vanished. All that courage long gone.

I swear to God, which we don't do.

Let your yes be yes and let your no be no.

Anything more than that comes from the evil 1.

And in that moment a rooster crows.

And in that moment Jesus looks over at Peter, and Peter runs

away and weeps bitterly. I denied him just like he said I

would. I just denied the Lord.

He's over here being assaulted. This is.

Things are going from bad to worse for him tonight.

And Peter, he's got the shame of what he's done.

He's got the humiliation of what he's done.

I said I never would. That was like a couple hours ago

in the garden in the Mount of Olives.

And here I am doing it. And yet the restoration was also

already prophesied. But I'm going to go ahead of you

all in Galilee. Hey, you're all going to, you're

all going to, you're all going to deny me tonight.

You're all going to be scattered because of me.

Oh, no, we never would do that. But we're going to meet together

again in Galilee. Don't worry, you're going to be

restored because I'm the shepherd, That's why.

Not because you're the best sheep, but because I'm the best

shepherd. So you're all going to be

restored, and then you're going to get power.

And then, Peter, don't you worry, you will finally actually

have real boldness. Not this thing that comes and

goes with moments, Peter, but you're going to have this thing

that lasts all the way through. And yes, Peter, you will die

with me and you'll die on a cross and you won't be afraid

because I'll give you, I'll give you real power and you'll

actually lean on me. You actually trust me for power.

Everybody feels brave, but we only get tested when the heat

comes. The heat is what reveals the

weakness in the steel. The fire reveals the impurities

in the gold. And this is where we're refined.

This is where things are exposed in our lives.

And we go. I thought I was at this level,

but the fruit is always talking to you church, your fruit is

always telling you what level you're at.

So you're like, I thought I was here.

I thought I was there. Well, you're probably

embarrassed about it because you're comparing yourself to

others. So knock that off because that

doesn't serve you. Compare yourself to you of

yesterday and say, Lord, how can I bear good fruit today?

I want the I want my life to look like progress.

Lord, I just want it to look like progress.

Help me to not compare to anybody else, but except old

John Michael. Help me to keep comparing to him

and say, Lord, am I, am I more faithful?

Lord, am I sweeter? Are the fruits of the Spirit

more evident in me? Am I more gracious with my

enemies than I used to be? All the things that I know are

weaknesses for me, particular weaknesses for me.

We all have sins that are particular and particularly

common for us and our makeup and our way and our background and

our whatever. Those are areas in particular

that I'm watchful of and I'm going, this is where I need to

keep growing. This is where the Lord applies

heat because He loves me. And this is where the impurity

can come up, rise to the top and He can sweep that thing away.

Have you ever looked at someone else's sin and thought, I could

never do that? Take heed lest you fall.

Oh, I could never do that. I have instead said I am capable

of any sin that any human being has ever committed on the earth.

How could you say that? Because I'm a human.

You really think you. Yeah.

Apart from the grace of God. I bet if I had had to walk in

all of their shoes and had all the temptation and pressures and

circumstances I've had done what they did, man, it almost makes

like God's the hero in the story.

I know. It's like I get no credit.

Like, dude, I don't even know I should trust you.

Joe Michael, I agree. I don't trust you either.

So there you go. But for the grace of God, there

go. I doesn't mean that we don't

still want justice to be executed in wicked situations.

We are seeing extreme wickedness displayed in our government at

the highest level right now. Things that are grieving me,

grieving me, things from our White House, Demonic pedophiles

are being hidden and protected by the White House that we

elected, that I encourage you to elect.

And if I could go back, I would elect again.

Why? Because when you've got to

choose between two demon worshipping pedophiles, you're

going to always choose the one that you think is still going to

be better for your nation, although it's still a fool's

game, all of it. But there are wicked, wicked

things taking place. And we still want justice to be

served. And our Justice Department is

anything but at the moment. So we still want that.

We still expect those things our humility and us need.

Realizing that we need the lore doesn't mean that we should that

we say that there aren't consequences for actions.

That was just a quick sidebar. And I was able to bring in a

quick relevant issue from the weak because I want you to be

able to people who think clearly as well, think about issues.

Well, I like this person for that thing, OK, And you don't

like them for this thing. We're allowed to say two things

at the same time. Well, I'm going to support the

president. No, no, no.

I'm going to support righteousness, I'm going to

support righteousness, I support Jesus.

That's it. So to whatever degree the

president is honoring the Lord Jesus and he's fulfilling his

duties of the earth to punish the wicked and reward the

righteous, which is literally the job description.

Then I'll say 2 thumbs way up. But the farther you venture from

that assignment, well, he's done good stuff.

Yep, most pro-life president history. 2 thumbs way up.

I see you fulfilling the ministry of Jesus and the earth

there. But protecting demon worshipping

pedophiles, we have real, real, real, real, real problems.

Real problems. All right, back to the points

here. Heat is applied and all gets

revealed. Peter had a blind spot.

You have blind spots. When someone points them out, be

thankful. Cry if you must hurt.

If it hurts, it's OK, but later you will be gathered.

You're not going to stay scattered.

Be embarrassed if you must, but be driven by all of that into

prayer, not into pride. Some are tempted to dismiss the

messenger. Peter dismissed the Lord Jesus

himself even after Jesus doubled down.

I think it's because people don't really believe that grace

is coming for them. I can't acknowledge the depth of

my sin. I can't acknowledge the depth of

my error. I believe that's most common

when a person really doesn't believe that there's grace on

the other side of it. They're like, I think I'll just

be rejected. I think I'll just be condemned.

Or if they really knew. Well, I can't cast people's

votes. I can cast my vote.

I can tell you I'll be gracious. I can tell you I'll be merciful.

I can tell you I'll be kind, but I can I can tell you the Lord's

vote. His has already been cast.

He cast it on the cross. He wants to gather you to

himself, but it will take humility.

But can you receive it when a messenger brings things to you?

Peter couldn't even receive Jesus.

Some of you wouldn't even receive Jesus if he corrected

you on certain things. How could you say that?

Well, because Peter did it. So clearly we're capable.

I'm capable of any sin anyone's ever committed, including

Peter's. On that night.

I love to look back at the knuckleheads and go, what a

knucklehead. But I'm also a sheep in his

pasture in Revelation 3, and we're closing, Jesus is speaking

to the church and Laodicea, they're the ones who are

prideful. Laodicea was known for its

textiles, super nice fabrics. They were known for wealth.

They had lots of gold. They were, they were known for

this. I salve an ointment that would

be put on the eyes that was supposedly helped to cure

people's eyes. And Jesus attacked the church in

every area where they were pride, where where they had

pride and he mocked each one. He said you think you're rich,

you're poor, you think you're clothed, you're naked, you got

your fancy eye salve, you're blind.

They're like us. He attacked all the things where

they said we're the church are laid to see him.

Here's what we have going for us.

He's like, you're proud of a bunch of stupid things.

You should buy gold from me. That's what you should do.

You should buy your gold from me.

You don't have real gold, Laodicea.

Yes. Look at our.

Look at this and look at that. Look at this and our fine

textiles. Nobody cares.

You need to buy gold from me. The precious things of God.

I thought everything was free in Christ.

Your salvation is free in Christ.

But anointing fellowship, those things will cost you.

They'll cost you time. Knowing him, it's got to look

like something. It can't look like nothing.

I have an awesome marriage. It did not fall on us out of the

sky. It was not automatic.

It was devotionals and it was books and it was sofa time and

it was hanging out and it was conversations and it was

learning how to fight fair. And it was deliberate effort

over and over and over. And that's a lot of work.

Yeah. Well, it's a lot of fruit.

It's a lot of harvest. It's a whole lot of harvest.

Everything takes effort. It's not the same thing as

earning it, though. It's still the blessing of the

Lord. It's still God did it.

It's still the Lord LED it. As we look back at our marriage,

we, we just, we just go, God, it's been so good to us.

And then yes, simultaneously, when people are like, hey, how

have you done it? Yeah, we have many things to

tell them and teach them and instruct them in, but not

because we nail this thing, but also because God has been good

to us isn't the most helpful answer to them.

So it's true that God has been good to us and he has done the

work. And yet here's what he showed

us. Here's how he led us.

Here's how we walk this out. Do not say you're rich and you

need nothing if Jesus says you're poor, blind, and naked,

buy gold from me. Buy white garments from me.

Buy salve from me. The very things they boasted in

are the things that they actually lacked.

Buying from Jesus is not a transaction of money.

It's not offering in the plate. That is false teaching.

That is demonic teaching. If you need your miracle, you

can put money in the offering. That is false teaching.

It is unbiblical. It is clearly unscriptural.

I thought ties and offerings are good.

Absolutely, ties and offerings are good.

You should give them. But the Lord did not.

The Lord does not connect them to particular breakthroughs and

blessings. False prophets and false

preachers have done that. Could the Holy Spirit lead you

to do something? Of course He can.

He could lead you to do anything.

The Lord could say, hey, I want you to do this, I want you to do

that. But He's not going to tell me to

tell you to do that. He's not going to tell me to

say, Chris and Halo, are you? Have you been praying for a

miracle? Because I think it's on the

other side of a $10,000 offering this morning.

If the Lord will tell me that, then he can tell them that.

I don't need to tell them that. It's not my place.

It's not my business. If the Lord tells them that,

that's between them. He can do whatever he wants.

Buying from Jesus is not a transaction of money, is a

transaction of humility. It is dependence.

It is seeking him first. It is going to him in prayer and

saying, Lord, I need your gold. I need your vision.

I need your covering, by the way, I want to, I want to

specifically add to that that that is not the Lord's will.

Just to be even more clear, I'm going to go farther and say

obviously I would never say that.

And also I'm telling you, the Lord's not telling you that.

So nobody's allowed to go home and get in their head and be

like, is there? Nope.

No. Who's blessed?

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Peter and disciples.

That night they were not poor in spirit.

Peter's large in spirit, rich in spirit.

Lord, I have much spirit. My spirit will carry me all the

way. No, but his spirit will.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of

heaven. Blessed are those who mourn.

Why? They shall be comforted, and

that's the pop. That is the posture that Peter

lacked in this moment. Apart from him, you can do

nothing. If you're attempting to follow

God in your own strength, you're already failing.

We get strength from God Himself to follow God Himself.

So prayer is the thing I call you to.

That's the thing I invite you to.

What the disciples are about to be invited into when they

finally get into the garden. What does that look like?

The thing that you're facing in life, the thing that you're

concerned about in life, the thing that's heavy in your life,

How much have you really taken it to the Lord?

How much time have you spent in prayer over your marriage, over

your job, over your struggles, over your kids?

Are you white knuckling everything in life?

That's self-reliance. That is exhausting.

That dependence on the Lord though, that strengthens you.

Jesus is still king. Satan is still seeking to sift

like we are wheat, but Jesus intercedes to the Father on our

behalf. Jesus is praying for you.

That is good news. I haven't been praying enough.

OK, Jesus has though. And now he calls you into

prayer. He calls you into prayer.

Why? Because you actually believe

you're dependent. Person who doesn't pray is a

person who thinks they don't need anything from the Lord.

Person who never prays is a person who's saying I think I

got this. No, no, I got it.

I've done this. I've done this 1000 times.

I've been fishing in this lake a long time.

I got this. I've seen this before.

I know what to do. Jesus strengthens his sheep.

Even when we scatter, he gathers us again.

So this morning I call you to those two things.

Return independence to Him. Return to Him in dependence,

relying upon Him, and rejoice in His mercy for all the times that

you failed and He regathered you, and the times likely still

to come when we fail, and know that the path is already paved

to regather us into the flock. He sees all of our weakness, and

He still works all things together for the good of those

who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.

Lord, thank you so much for the comfort of the gospel.

Jesus is the hero. Jesus paid it all.

Jesus is worthy. The manliest man to ever live,

the most courageous one, the one who got all of his strength from

God, the one who relied upon the Father.

If there was anyone who could do things on his own, it would have

been Jesus. And still, Jesus often went

alone to pray, constantly getting away to pray for

direction, for strength, for encouragement.

He sang that hymn before he went to go face the cross.

Before he faced the cross he he prayed and pleaded in the

garden. Still on the cross, he called

out in prayer to the Father. And then in his dying breath,

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Lord, help us to live that kind of vulnerable life, truly

trusting the shepherd and being thankful that we are not the tip

of the spear. But you go before us like you

went before them in the Galilee. You go before us in the Sunday

afternoon. You go before us into Monday.

You go before us into that family issue.

You go before us into that work situation.

You go before us into the cultural moment.

You go before us in all that we're facing.

You go before us in our health. You go before us in our

finances, lead us deeper into prayer, deeper into dependence.

We surrender again in Jesus name, Amen.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face Shinedown upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen. Be blessed.