I Have Prayed for You

Morning church.

Today's reading is from the Book of Luke, chapter 22, verses 31 through 34.

Luke 22:31–34

Simon Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.

But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

Peter said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.

Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

As you might notice, I am not James.

My name is Peter.

I am a pastor in the PCA, which is the denomination that this church is a part of.

But I actually don't serve right now as the pastor of a local church.

I serve as the campus minister for Reformed University Fellowship, or RUF, on the campus of the Colorado School of Minds over in Golden.

And what that means is I'm essentially this church's and all the other churches in our denomination in the area.

I am your missionary on the campus of Colorado School of Minds to go and to love those students and to shepherd them, to bring the gospel to them.

If you want to hear more about that, I'd love to talk to you about it.

I actually have a little thing out on the coffee table with a QR code you can scan with your phone and sign up for our newsletter if you want to just know what's going on and pray for us.

That would be the thing that I would ask most from all of y'all.

And actually, I would ask that you pray with me right now as we turn our attention to the word of the living and true God, which we just heard.

So let's pray.

Heavenly Father, um, we have come here together as your people because you've commanded us and you have called us, and because of the grace that you show to us.

And we have praised you and we have confessed you, and we have confessed our sins and repented of them and been assured of your pardon.

And now we ask that your grace would be lavished on us once again as we hear your word.

Um, we ask that your promise that you spoke would be true, that this word would not return void, but it would accomplish the purpose that you have for it.

Pray that as we think about, as we listen to, as we contemplate your word, that we would be changed, that our hearts would be ever lifted up more to Christ and see Him more beautifully, that our sins would be put to death, that we would be drawn closer to you, and in so doing that you would be glorified, your name would be made great because of your goodness.

I ask that you would help me as I come to preach your word, as you have called me to do.

Let them not be my words, but yours.

It's in your name, it's for your glory.

We ask these things.

Amen.

Everyone here has probably had a few really important, pivotal, memorable conversations in your life.

Ones that for one reason or another uh change the direction that your walk, your story has taken you.

What moments that you will never, ever forget.

I'd wager that as I'm saying that right now, you're thinking of a few of them.

And Jesus' words that we just heard in this passage from Luke 22 are like that for many Christians.

They were certainly like that for Peter, who one of Jesus' followers, who Jesus was speaking to.

And this comes from a portion of the New Testament called, that's often referred to as the upper room discourse, which is the night that Jesus is with his disciples in the upper room of a building, uh, the night before Jesus was betrayed and went to the cross.

He spoke to them.

And many of the most pivotal things, many of the deepest mysteries in Christianity come from this conversation that he had with his disciples.

And they're recorded in all four of the gospels, which are the four different accounts that we have in scripture of Jesus' ministry here on earth.

But we're looking at Luke's account tonight, where Jesus speaks to Peter and predicts his denial, because there's something very, very unique about Luke's account that's not mentioned in any of the other four Gospels.

Luke has a particular interest, a particular focus that he wants us to see as he tells the story of Jesus and how he interacts with his people.

And uh I think that if we understand what Luke is trying to show us here, it leads to some of the most encouraging truths in all of Scripture.

So my hope is that as we unfold this at the end of this sermon, you would agree with me and you would see what I think it is Luke has for us to see.

So if you want an outline to kind of follow through, I want us to look at two specific things from this passage.

The first is the sobering reality, and the second is the stunning hope.

So sobering reality, stunning hope.

Let's start with the sobering reality.

Verse 31, Jesus says to Peter, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.

Jesus tells Peter that Satan is after him.

This actually isn't the first time that Satan appears in Luke's gospel.

In Luke 8, which is the parable of the sower, Jesus says that the devil comes and takes away the word from the hearts of people so that they might not believe.

In Luke 13, when Jesus heals a disabled woman, he says that this woman is a daughter of Abraham, who Satan has bound for 18 years.

And perhaps most famously in Luke 4, describing the temptation of Jesus, where he is led into the wilderness and tempted face to face by Satan for 40 days and 40 nights.

Interestingly, Luke is not the only gospel that talks about Jesus' temptation.

All four of them do, but Luke's account of Jesus' temptation ends with these words from Luke chapter 4.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

When the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Jesus until an opportune time.

And later in this chapter, in verses 52 and 53, Jesus says, This is your hour and the hour of darkness.

But what's interesting is if you compare this to Luke 4, where Satan tempts Jesus, his strategy is completely different.

He's not going after Jesus directly.

He tried that, it didn't work.

Satan goes after the disciples.

Instead of going after Jesus, Satan goes after his followers.

This happens all the time in movies, TV, stories, right?

The hero is too strong for the villain to attack directly.

So what does the villain do?

He goes after those that the hero loves.

One of the primary ways that Satan seeks to destroy Jesus' purposes is by destroying those that Jesus loves.

His followers, his people, us.

You see, he enters into Judas, one of the apostles.

He demands to have Peter, another one.

And interestingly, in this verse where Jesus says to Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan demanded to have you, in the Greek, that you, it's not singular, it's plural.

Satan is after all of Jesus' followers.

Peter himself, later in his life, will write this in 1 Peter chapter 5, saying, Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

I think he knows that because of this night.

He experienced it.

One of my favorite works of fiction is the Lord of the Rings.

Actually, I have people joke with me that I'm not capable of preaching a sermon without a Lord of the Rings illustration.

I don't know if James is the same way, maybe he is, but here's my Lord of the Rings illustration for the sermon.

In the Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo, the Hobbit, is taking the one ring out of the Shire, trying to get to Rivendell to take it to safety.

And his first encounter with Aragorn, this ranger, who we know is the future king, goes like this.

Frodo says to Aragorn, What do you want?

Aragorn responds, a little more caution from you.

And then he asks, Are you frightened?

Frodo says, Yes.

And Aragorn responds, not nearly frightened enough, I know what hunts you.

Frodo says, What are they?

And Aragorn responds, They were once men, great kings of men, then Sauron the deceiver gave to them nine rings of power.

Blinded by their greed, they took them and fell one by one into darkness.

They are the Nazgul ring race, neither living nor dead.

At all times they feel the presence of the ring, and they will never stop hunting you.

Just like Frodo, we have an adversary.

Something creeping alongside, unseen in the darkness, as Martin Luther put it 500 years ago, an ancient foe who seeks to work us woe.

And just like Frodo, Peter has no idea.

How does he respond to Jesus?

Verse 33 Lord, I'm ready to go with you, both to prison and to death.

It's as if Jesus' words about the threat that Peter faces don't make a difference.

They don't resonate at all.

Not out of hypocrisy.

Peter genuinely loves Jesus.

And yet, Jesus says, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me.

And he did.

And he did.

About 10 years ago, the Gospel Coalition published an article discussing a study of fallen pastors.

So almost 250 men who were in full-time ministry, and they had to leave that ministry because of a disqualifying sin, mostly adultery.

They sinned enough that they had to leave the ministry.

And the point of the study was they were trying to see, hey, can we see anything in common with these 250 men who fell?

And there were several notable points, but the one that struck me the most was this.

Without exception, they all were convinced a fall could never happen to them.

And so they were in danger of that very thing.

Friends, are you aware of the threats that you face?

As a Christian?

As a follower of Jesus?

Do you know what hunts you?

Do you know what hunts you, or do you go through your days unaware of this danger?

Gallup polled in 2023 and shows that belief in Satan, that is, a literal evil spirit who hates God's people and wants to destroy us, is at an all-time low in the United States, including among Christians.

Christians have never believed in Satan less.

And yet Jesus does.

And yet Jesus does.

We referenced this already, but what does Peter say later?

Be watchful.

Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

And let he who think he stands take heed lest he fall, Paul says in Corinthians.

Friends, if you want to follow the Lord, if you love Jesus, if you want to see this church built up, if you want to see his kingdom go forward, if you want to see people who don't know him come to know him, Satan is going to come after you.

In fact, he already is.

Because he hates Jesus, and therefore he would like nothing more than to destroy those that Jesus loves.

So this passage shows us that Satan is after us.

It doesn't just show us that, it gives us more detail.

It shows us how Satan goes after us.

Verse 31.

Jesus says to Peter Simon, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat.

Sifting, Jesus is using an agricultural illustration here to make his point.

And what would happen is it was the last step in making, excuse me.

It was the last step before turning grain into flour and grinding it.

And basically, you would take a big filter, a big basket, and you'd put all the grain in and you'd shake it, and the good stuff, the grain would fall through, and all the bad stuff, the pebbles, the dirt, whatever, would stay behind.

So Jesus is telling Peter that Satan wants to put him through a filter and take something out.

So that something is removed from Peter and left behind.

What is that thing?

Verse 32 I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

If we look at 1 Peter 5, which we already referenced, Peter says, Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Resist him firm in your faith.

And Paul in Ephesians says, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the darts of the evil one.

Satan is after Peter's faith.

That's what he's going after.

That's what he wants to have removed from Peter and left behind.

And you can see this all the way back to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3.

This is from Genesis 3.

He, the serpent, Satan, said to the woman, Did God actually say you shall not eat of any of the tree in the garden?

Woman said, We may eat of the tree, the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die.

The serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die.

For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

You see the idea?

Satan would love to deceive us, to trick us into thinking that God is against us and not for us.

That he doesn't really love us.

That he's not really powerful, that he's not really wise, that he's not really kind, that he's not really good, that he's against us, and he won't really love us.

That is what Satan does.

He tries to attack our faith in the character and the power and the goodness of God.

He's a pragmatist, he'll use any method to accomplish this so long as it works.

But I think that the Bible shows us there's two main ways Satan does this.

The first is suffering.

The first is suffering.

Um, actually, Peter will continue in 1 Peter chapter 5 and follow on his conversation about resisting Satan with comments about suffering.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

I'm gonna completely ignore that.

Because that's not what this passage talks about.

This passage talks about the other way that Satan goes after our faith.

Verse 34.

I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me.

The same man who says, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death, would deny Jesus only hours later.

I'm about to read from later in Luke 22, starting in verse 60, but I just kind of want to set the stage for you.

At this point, Jesus has been handed over to the chief priests and the scribes of the Pharisees, and we know the story.

We know that he's going to be tried and convicted and put to death the next morning.

And as part of this process, it's the night, they take him to the house of this high priest.

And Jesus is inside undergoing this trial.

But the doors and the windows and everything in this house apparently are open so that people outside can see in.

There's a courtyard outside.

And there's fires in the courtyard because it's a cold night and people are keeping warm.

And there's guards and all kinds of people there.

And Peter is the only disciple of Jesus, once Jesus is arrested, who follows.

And he ends up in this courtyard around these fires.

He's talking to these people.

And multiple times they say, Hey, aren't you one of Jesus' followers?

Aren't you one of Jesus' followers?

And Peter denies twice, and then he's asked a third time, and I'm picking up in that moment, verse 60 of this chapter.

So he's asked if he knows Jesus.

And Peter says, 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 out and wept bitterly.

What do you think Peter felt in that moment?

Where he denies Jesus for the third time publicly, and Jesus at a distance turns around and stares Peter right in the face.

Or the next day after Jesus is put to death, knowing that that was the last interaction that Peter had with Jesus was that.

Or days later, after Jesus had been raised, and after the initial euphoria of Jesus' resurrection goes away, and Peter's like, oh, this is what I did.

Surely, surely, he thought things like this.

How can you say that you're a follower of Jesus?

How can you say that you love him?

How can you say that you're his?

More than that, how could you possibly say that he loves you?

He saw you betray him.

He knows what you did.

You rejected him multiple times in public in his presence.

How can Jesus possibly love you?

You see, Satan literally in Hebrew means accuser.

And Revelation says that Satan accuses us day and night before our God.

One of his key tactics, besides suffering, is to use the truths of our own actions, our own sins, our own failures, our own denials and betrayal of Jesus to shatter our faith, to make us doubt that we can be useful, to weigh us down, and ultimately to make us doubt God's love for us.

Tim Keller, the light Tim Keller says accusation is the main problem we face from the forces of darkness.

So this is the sobering reality.

All of us have an ancient foe who's after us to shatter our faith, and he's really, really good at it.

I told you at the beginning of this sermon that this is one of the most encouraging passes of Scripture.

Do you feel encouraged yet?

We're only halfway through.

Because this is the sobering reality, friends.

We have to know the truth of what we face.

But we also have a stunning hope.

We have a stunning hope.

And this hope is, of course, in Jesus.

But specifically, two things that we see in this passage about Jesus.

Jesus knows and Jesus prays.

Jesus knows and Jesus prays.

Look with me at verse 32.

When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

Jesus knew that Peter would blow it.

And yet he goes to the cross anyway, and he promises that one day Peter will turn back again.

One of my favorite pastors, J.C.

Ryle, who is an Anglican bishop, says this right about this passage.

How well the Lord foreknew the weakness and infirmity of his disciples.

He told them plainly what they were going to do, and yet this did not prevent his choosing these twelve to be his apostles.

He allowed them to be his intimate friends and companions, knowing perfectly well what they would one day do, with a clear foresight of the melancholy weakness and want of faith which they would exhibit at the end of his ministry.

Jesus does not cast off his believing people because of their imperfections.

He knows what they are, he takes them with all their blemishes and defects, and once joined to him by faith, will never put them away.

He does.

He knew what Peter did, he saw it.

And I wonder, when I was describing that scene for you, and I said that Jesus turned and looked at Peter, I wonder what you thought that look was like.

What did you picture?

Was it a judgmental look?

Was it a condemning look?

Was it a disappointed look?

How do you think Jesus looks on you when you mess up?

I would contend to you.

That was a look of compassion.

Peter didn't see it that way, but I think it was as if Jesus was saying, Peter, I see, I know, you have abandoned me, and yet I will not abandon you.

I'm not going to leave you in your sin.

I'm going to save you from it.

And then he went to the cross and paid for that sin.

Friends, that is the Savior we have.

Jesus is a merciful, gracious, compassionate high priest whose glory it is to pass over our transgressions because he paid for them with his blood shed on the cross.

So when you're tempted to not believe this, right?

When Satan is accusing you, when he's after you, remember that Satan is a lying liar who lies.

He lies about God.

And yet listen to this from Isaiah 55.

Seek the Lord while he may be found.

Call upon him while he is near, let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts.

Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my ways, declares the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The way that God's ways are higher than ours is his compassion.

And his forgiveness towards us as people.

As we sang earlier in this service, my compassion you can trust.

I redeem the undeserving.

I am generous with my love.

So, in those moments when Satan hits you with your sin, there's only one thing that helps.

And that's to say, yes, Satan, you're right.

You got me.

I have done those things.

But my Savior knew this and he loved me nonetheless.

He knew.

He knew I would do this when he saved me.

Jesus will always have compassion on his people who have sinned and go to him in repentance.

So, if you want a practical takeaway from this sermon, something to put into practice, it's this, friends.

Stop hiding your sin.

Stop hiding your sin.

Don't do it.

Be honest with your sin and don't let the shame and guilt that you feel prevent you from running to your Savior for forgiveness and for cleansing and for restoration and for freedom.

Because that's what Satan wants you to do.

He wants you to be so ashamed, like Peter, that you run off into the night and potentially never see Jesus again.

That's what he wants.

Don't let him do that.

And the only way, the only way to fight that is to actually take your sins and go to Jesus for forgiveness.

And he will.

And you'll be freed from their power.

You'll be freed from the shame and guilt.

Another author says the great tragedy for Christians is not our failures.

The tragedy is that Satan uses the guilt of these failures to make us fade away because of a gnawing sense of unworthiness.

Yeah, you're unworthy, but that doesn't matter because Jesus loves you anyway.

So again, stop hiding your sin, friends.

So Jesus knows.

Jesus knows.

That's the first aspect of our hope.

But there's more than that in this passage.

Jesus doesn't just know, he prays.

Jesus prays.

Verse 32, I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

And I've often thought that this is one of, if not the fundamental differences between Peter and Judas.

Now you may know both of their stories, you may know how they end, you may know how Peter gets restored and how Judas doesn't.

But take the future out and just focus on this night where we are in this story, right?

Both are apostles, both have been with Jesus for years.

Both have followed him, both know him, both have driven out demons and proclaimed the gospel in his name and done all these things.

When Jesus says that one of his disciples is going to betray him, which he does earlier in this chapter, it's not like all the disciples are like, it's Judas, man, that guy's sketchy.

It's obviously him.

No one does that.

They're all like, Who is it?

Who is it, Lord?

It can't be any of us.

And now Satan has entered into Jesus.

And now Satan demands to have Peter.

And Judas hands Peter over to the chief priest, uh, Jesus, over to the chief priest to be killed, and Peter denies Jesus and runs off into the darkness.

And when that happens, the only hope we have for Peter's restoration is this.

I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.

The only reason that Peter survived is because his savior stepped in front of Satan who demanded to have him and said, No, this one is mine.

He prays for us too.

He prays for us too.

In John 17, which is John's account of this night, Jesus says this, praying to the Father, I do not ask for these only, the people in the room, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

That's us.

Jesus is literally praying for us in John, he says, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

And Hebrews 7 says, He, Jesus, is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

What could possibly stand against that?

What could possibly stand against that?

Paul puts it this way Who shall bring any charge against those who God against God's elect?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Jesus Christ is the one who died more than that who was raised, is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us.

So, friends, we've got an adversary, but Jesus is far, far greater.

He's far, far greater, and he knows everything about us and chooses us anyway, and sets his love upon us anyway, and we can't lose that.

And he prays for us to uphold us and protect us that our faith may not fail.

And he says in John that all those that the Father gives to him will never be snatched out of his hand.

So he has us, y'all.

He has us.

I can think of no better way to conclude than with these words from Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Since then we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.

Let us hold fast our confession.

We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may find mercy and help in our time of need.

Let's pray.

Jesus, we are a needy people.

You know that?

You knew that when you loved us.

You knew that when you went to the cross for us.

As we heard that you are not unaware of the imperfections and the failings of your people.

We need you, Jesus.

And you provide.

You promise to provide.

So I pray that as we go through the difficulties of our lives, as we go through the struggles of suffering and disappointments and failures, and as we struggle with our own guilt and our shame, we would know that you know us and you pray for us.

And you would help us to be honest about our sin and with confidence draw near to you that we may find your mercy and help in our time of need.

It is in your name that we pray.

Amen.