Amen. Well if you turn in your Bibles to the gospel of Matthew chapter 26, you're going to be looking at verses 30 through 35 this morning, Matthew 26 verses 30 through 35, 31 pardon me through 35 even as I said that I thought that's not right, 31 through 35. Last time we saw our Lord institute the sacrament of communion. I couldn't make it work that we've got to preach it on the day that we have it. But you know it's interesting the 11 probably scarcely understood what was going on at that time. Jesus had a mind though to strengthening the faith of his church from that time until he would come again and glory. That's when he was establishing and then he would reveal to them very soon what it meant. But it's when he comes in the fullness of his kingdom then we'll have it for real. We get a token of it now as we saw and in the supper remember we celebrate that covenant. In fact we covenant again with him. We say yes we're taking the bread, we're taking the cup, we pledge ourselves as it were to be his people, his church, his body and he assures us through these signs. He testifies again that he has reconciled us to God and he promises to continue to nourish us and strengthen us spiritually by faith even as we take physically these physical elements. Because we're looking to him by faith now, understanding that one day we'll see him, we'll walk by sight and we'll have the full meal and all of them. Our brothers and sisters have been brought into the kingdom. That's why he delays. He's not ready to bring the full supper yet he has more people to save. And beloved that's true of all of Christ's church. Our communion with him is by definition a communion with one another. It's the one thing I really didn't go into last week, but by definition we have to be communing with one another or we can't commune with him. That's true of all of Christ's church. Our communion is by definition a communion with one another. His first Corinthians 10, 16 teaches us the cup of blessing which we bless is a coinonia, Greek says, which means a communion, a participation, a sharing together in the blood of Christ. By definition we're communing with one another. And as Paul says, the bread that we break also is a coinonia, a communion, a participation, a sharing together in the body of Christ and that's what it means when Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians discerning the Lord's body. That's what discerning the body is. That we recognize our fellowship, our communion, our participation in one another. Because the Corinthians were felt faulted if you remember by the Apostle in chapter 11, for what? For not doing this in the supper. Remember somewhere surfering themselves, getting drunk, somewhere we're going without. They were still hungry. They didn't get anything. And they weren't caring for one another. They weren't understanding and looking to one another, waiting for one another. Paul says, wait for one another, discern the body. You are all the body and recognize that you're all hurt and nourished by that one head who is Christ. And that's why we celebrate the supper together. And we wait for one another together and we discern the body together, recognizing that the head is is there for all of us together. Both us here in this room and spiritually all the church, right? Even those who have departed, we commune with them because they're with God too. And by his spirit, we are one. And that's what we'll be looking at and celebrating a little bit later this morning. But in today's text, Jesus predicts his passion the final time, hours before it's about to begin as they are heading out to the mount of all of us. And in this text there are two major points that we're going to look at under a subheading of four points, of course. And that is that our faith in Christ would be strengthened and that our trust in ourselves would be subdued. Let's pray as we turn to God's Word. Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you that you are the one who have saved us. You are the one who strengthened us. You keep us to the end. Therefore we cannot fall away. And so strengthen us this morning help us not to presume anything, but to pursue you eagerly, recognizing that those who are saved or saved unto the real ardent pursuit of Christ in this life with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. So, Father, give us the grace to feed on you in your Word by faith that we would grow in sanctification and holiness to your glory. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Hear now the word of the Lord from Matthew 26, beginning in verse 31. This is God's holy word. Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble 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 have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered and said to him, even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble. Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you that this night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter said to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And so said all the disciples, the word of the Lord. Several of you have asked me about hey, Easter is coming and you're sort of like almost going to get to the Easter text, you know, working out that way. No, I didn't. If you looked at my schedule, you'll see it's not actually going to work out that way. We're not going to talk about the resurrection until like July. Chapter 26 is big. Chapter 27 is huge. So unless we want to do Easter in July, it's not going to happen. But I will take a break. You know, my pattern is to take a break and I will talk about the resurrection probably from the gospel of John is what I'm thinking. I'm pretty much about how Mary Magdalene sees him first and so forth. But what I want you to notice first of all this morning is the certain knowledge of Christ. Notice the certain knowledge of Christ in this text, then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. Do you see how His prediction here is so utterly full and precise, the what, the to whom, the win, the why, the how, He answers it all. And it's going to happen very soon. He says this night. It's probably about 10 or 11 o'clock at night when Jesus says this because it's been night for some time. If you look at John, Judas goes out at the end of chapter 13 and it's night. And then we have this long teaching in 14 and 15 and 16 in the high priestly prayer and 17. And there in Jerusalem, they're in the city, they're in the upper room, celebrating the Passover. And then they have to walk out to the Mount of Olives, which is what we saw in verse 30. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. It's probably on the way that our text takes place because Jesus often taught us he was walking. So they're probably, it's probably 10 or 11 at night. They're on the way to the Mount of Olives because they normally spent the night if you remember in Bethany, but Jesus this night is going to stop at the foot of the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane as we know. But this prediction is knowledge. All of you, not some, all of you will be made, not might be, not will be pressured to be. All of you will be made to stumble this night, not in the next couple of days. Christ knows it all. He's certain of it all. And he's certain of why it's going to happen and how it's going to happen. And his certainty is based on scripture. Notice that how is Christ? How can he be so sure in his human nature? Obviously, in his divine nature, he knows all things. But in his human nature, it's because it's what the Word of God says. All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night for it is written. Christ believed in the scripture perfectly. His faith was perfect. And he knew that scripture must come to pass, not a dot, not a title could pass away until it all is fulfilled. And so he knows this is talking about him. He knows he's the Messiah. He knows he has to suffer for our sins and be raised. And so because it's written, he knows it will happen. He knows the all fall away that very night. Christ is certain of it. And he knows again how it's going to happen. It's interesting if you look at Zachariah, we read it in our scripture reading. God is actually commanding his sword to strike this shepherd. Jesus just says it more directly. I will strike the shepherd. God is the one who strikes the shepherd. Don't ever think that the Lord Jesus Christ was defeated by his enemies, or that ultimately it was human beings who struck him as it were. God used those wicked men in their wicked intentions for himself to strike Christ. That was his plan from the beginning. That's the only way we could be saved. Somebody had to be a substitute. Somebody had to go and take our punishment. And it's God who is the Punisher because God is the one who is offended by our sins. He has to exact his justice or he himself is slided by evil. God can't let that happen. He's perfect. He's holy. He's good and good wins. And if good wins and evil must be destroyed, but we're very hopeful. We're the ones who've sinned. I love that passage early in Matthew that I preached on those five words of Jesus. And you then being evil, which he says to his disciples. We deserve. God's wrath. But Christ volunteered. It was God's plan. God sent him to take the wrath and so God himself will strike the shepherd. He will pour out that wrath. Christ will become an offering for sin. He will become the target of the wrath of God that we could go free. And he's certain that it will happen and he predicts it. And this whole event will be a stumbling block to the disciples. You will be made to stumble because of me. So in a sense, it's God who ultimately sends the stumbling blocks to his disciples. But not for there, not for there being Christ, not for there punishment. God's God is behind the stumbling block for our good, but God isn't the one who directly brings it. Right? It's Satan who's going to bring it. It's Satan who's going to try to fall away. God is over it. God's intention in trials and tribulations is our good. Our preservation, our growth and grace, Satan's intention is to destroy us. That's why Christ says, whoa, to those by whom the stumbling block comes. God ordains it. God permits it. God's the one who's striking the shepherd and making it happen. But it's Satan who tries to cause them to fall away. And God has ordained this time of trial for them. Again, so that they would be humbled in their confidence in themselves and that they would be strengthened in their faith and hope in Christ that he alone is their strength. But they're not ready to handle it. And that's why they're going to stumble that night. They're not ready. They're not ready to see what is about to happen to Jesus. You all stumble because of me, because of the scorn and the shame and the ignominy and the disgrace that they're about to see, they're Lord, who they know is the Messiah, who they understand in some sense is divine. They're about to see him go through such disgrace and stuff. And they're not going to be able to handle it. It's going to cause them to stumble. The word is scandal on. They're going to be scandalized by it. Sometimes it's just translated sin. You'll be caused to sin. They're not ready to handle what the world is going to throw on their Jesus, whom they love, whom they know is the Son of God. It's going to blow their minds. They're not going to have a category to put it in and they're all going to run away. And this phenomenon, beloved, this pressure from the world, this hatred of our Savior that the world brings in every generation, this is what explains woke church. That's why there is such a thing as woke church. I know many of you in the last few years who have joined have come up to me and said, you know, pastor, one of the reasons why we're here is because we're so tired of woke church wherever we go. The world buying into or the church buying into the world's values, judging things as the world judges so that they can get the praise of the world and in escape the the pressure and the affliction and the trials and the tribulation of the world. And many of you have said, we finally found a church. That's word of God's church and not woke church. I want to buy a billboard somewhere in the city. I want to do this. I've talked to people and I want to put on a tired of woke church, try word of God's church, Providence Presbyterian church to put our website. Because there are people out there that are looking for the word of God and again tired of compromising with the world. But the reason why the church does it. The reason why so many Christians do that is because of the pressure because they can handle it. They don't want to be called hateful. They don't want to be called a bigoted sexist homophobic. They want the world to like them. And the disciples, they didn't want to suffer either. And it's hard to suffer. But beloved by Jesus telling us that this will happen. That's to strengthen us, that's to build us up. That's to give us the strength and the hope that we need to endure their attacks. You know why? Because he said it would happen. They're not overcoming him. They're fulfilling his word when they attack us. When they scorn us. They're actually causing his plan to come to pass for our glory for our good. They're going to be jewels in your crown when you stand for Jesus and are hated for it. By choosing to stand with Christ as he's cursed and scorned and hated and blamed in this, we would say today, canceled. They're pleasing God in a way that that nothing else can. It's always been this way. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, 23, we preach Christ crucified to the Jews, a scandal on a stumbling block, to the Greek's foolishness. Matthew 24 or 16, 24, Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. Let him take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life, his life in this world will lose it. But whoever loses his life from my sake will find it. This is the cross. This is the offense of the cross. We're all called to do this. Every generation is called to do this because the world hates the real Christ, the biblical Christ, the biblical ethic of Christ. Sometimes they give fainted applause to that or fainted approval because of what they're getting out of it. But Peter says, beloved, do not be surprised concerning the fiery trial which is about to try you as though some strange thing were happening to you. Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings. That's what it is. When we suffer for his name, the scorn and hatred of the world, we are suffering Christ's sufferings. It's really to our glory. Remember the apostles when they're first beaten for Christ in the early chapters of the book of Acts? They praised God, counted that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name. They understood why they were suffering. And they said, this is a glory to us. We're not worthy to suffer for him. That should be our attitude. They weren't ready for that this night yet. They didn't know all the things that they would know in the book of Acts. We know those things. We ought to be strong and rejoice like they did in the book of Acts. Beloved, I know, nobody wants to be hated. Nobody wants to be scorned or rejected or persecuted. And it's good. When we have a sort of Christian culture and a Christian ethic, where even the unbelievers are saying that what the Bible says is good. And we had that for generations in America, we really did. And we should still contend for it. And we should still seek it. And if God permits it, we might have it again. But if God lets it go. And if it goes even further to where we're actually legally persecuted as it's begun in some countries, we can't let that perturb us because this is in our home. We're not building up treasures here. Jesus told them beforehand that it would happen. He promised us as well. In the world, you will have tribulation. What form that takes is different in every generation. But it will come. And it's his plan that it come. And it's his plan that you will be rewarded and blessed and proven and tried and shown to be pure than gold when you show forth that you stand for Christ even though it's hard. And you know sometimes we fall. Sometimes we compromise. Sometimes we deny the apostles do all do. And yet the scripture says, strike. I will strike the shepherd and and the sheep will be scattered. It doesn't say the goats. The sheep will be scattered. Yeah, oftentimes we are scattered and we run and we do things that were ashamed of. But God will gather his people again and cause them to turn back to him because he will not lose one of them. And so secondly, I want you to notice the certain fact of the resurrection. Notice the certain fact of the resurrection. Verse 32, but after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. How matter of fact, Jesus speaks this. After I've been raised, something that's never happened. Something that's beyond comprehension. The most significant, the most amazing thing that's ever happened in this universe, in this physical creation, is when Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. This isn't Lazarus and a revival in the normal human body. Jesus rose again in his resurrection body, the conqueror of death, the conqueror of the grave, the status fire of the wrath of God, the achiever of perfect righteousness. He rises in a resurrection body. And he says it, as if it's saying, when I go to the store, when I step over to the pulpit, just a matter of fact, simple thing. When this happens, when it happens, when I conquer death, when I satisfy the wrath of God, when I die, and when I rise again, because it's certain. And why is he certain of that also? Because it's written in the scriptures that he would rise again. So I'm 1610, for you will not leave my soul and she all. Normally, you allow your holy one to see corruption. Both Peter and Paul in the book of Acts cite that verse when they preach and they say that David wrote that with a view to Christ because David's body did see corruption. In fact, Paul's, or Peter says, his tomb is with us, right here in Jerusalem. They knew where it was at the time. You could go and see David's body, well, his tomb. And he would have been nothing but dust at that point because his body saw corruption. He didn't write that about himself. He wrote that about the Messiah. So Jesus is certain it will happen because again, Jesus lived by faith, perfect faith as a man. He believed the word of God. He had all the virtues that we are to aspire to, perfectly, including the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. Christ's faith was perfect as a man. His hope was perfect as a man. His love was perfect as a man. And he lived by that faith perfectly. So he knows he will rise again. And he will go before them into Galilee because that's what the scripture said. And notice, this is not at all dependent on man by man or on man. It's not helped by man. They're all going to run away. They're all going to flee. They're all going to abandon and desert him. And yet Christ says what I will not forsake you. I'm going to gather you again. Yeah, you're all going to run off. But after I'm raised, I'll go before you, before you plural, before you ends. Good Pittsburgh English, buddy. I'm going to go before you ends downtown, Galilee. That's what he would have said if it happened in America, I'm sure. But the confidence, I will gather you again by my strength, by my faithfulness, by my loyalty, by my love, by my victory. And you're not making any of it happen. You're going to run away. But I won't run away from you. And that's what Jesus promises us. Do you see why we can stand against the world? Would we leave this kind of love for the temporal? Oh, wow, you guys are you're actually loving over there. I see that. Do we want that from wicked people who hate God when we can side with Jesus? Who knew he would do this? Who knew he would? And here's where we just have to affirm the word of God is true, right? Christ rose from the dead. That really happened. It's the word of God that determines the possible and the impossible in this universe, not man's limited sensory knowledge that God has allowed him to have much of which is wrong. Because we discover it later all the time that we were wrong. Do you know that just this past couple of weeks, I think it was March 24th, was the article was published. They just discovered new light waves on the Sun. Don't do it now, but do a search for new light waves Sun. And you're going to get all these articles and these things. They just found that they never knew they were there. These new kind of waves on the Sun. And I don't even know what that means now. It's funny because if you would have said that these waves were there, you know, two months ago they would have said you're an idiot, you're not scientific. And now they know something that they didn't know before. Maybe that'll correct something or maybe something else will happen that'll correct this. We really want to trust what man says is possible or impossible. The word of God said he would rise. That's what's true. It's God's power, it's God's truth that determines reality. And Jesus rose again from the dead and we're going to look at that Lord willing on Easter Sunday. And we must affirm that Christianity is ultimately based on the supernatural. God spoke into this world. That's not natural. That's beyond natural. That's not against the nature, but it's beyond the power of nature. We don't just make up this religion because it makes us feel good. I think that's the that's what you're left with. If you don't affirm the supernatural resurrection of Christ, you're left with the psychological kind of mind trick that you play because it helps you to cope. Well, we recognize that if we believe in certain things and act like they're real, we can sort of escape to this fantasy world that we've made and life gets a little easier for a time. And for many, that is what Christianity is. That's liberal Christianity. They've denied the supernatural long time ago. Christianity is valuable because it works. You know, America's contribution to the philosophical spectrum utilitarianism. There's a work. Well, that's all right. Good for you. I remember giving my testimony to a man that I worked with the head director at the time for the news at Fox. And we were both golfer. So we would go out once in a while. He was actually good. It was a scratch golfer for a time. So he'd smoke me, but I could hit the ball further than him. So at least I had that. But we're out. You know, I wanted to witness him. I wanted to talk about the Lord. It sort of did here and there, but you know, when you're working together, I want to do my job well. I think that's our number one witness as a Christian when you're a work. You'd be the best worker. You can be. But we were out. And so we were at some, I think we were just at some place getting some food later at that night. And I started to tell him about my testimony, about how I came to Christ and how he changed my life. And because he confessed to me, he was having trouble with his marriage. And maybe, you know, they were going to divorce. And so I tried to just show him that it's ultimately Christ is what he needs. And after I gave him my testimony and how, you know, I had this accident that's horrible accident. My friend was killed and God used that to bring me to him and change my life and change my desires. And I wanted to live for him now. And you know, when he said to me when I was done, he said, you know, I can see that that's good for you. I can see that you needed that. I can see that, wow, that really worked for you. That's what you needed to sort of live a healthier life. And that's what Christianity was to him. It worked for you. It was a set of experiences, a set of things that you believed didn't matter if it was real or not. But boy, that really helped you to cope. And this psychological panacea of pretend Jesus rose from the dead. You can believe that or not. But if you don't, then you're believing something that's false or you're not believing something's true, I should say. He did. It happened. His feet touched the ground again. They got dirty again. He walked. The synapses in his brain worked again. The nerves began firing again. The blood began pumping again. The muscles began contracting again. His body came back to light. Physically, really. And he knew it would happen. And he predicted it as he's about to suffer. The wrath of God. Our faith is based upon a man who was actually God and man. And he did a plethora of supernatural miracles that people saw and experienced, and it wasn't. Oh, yeah, I feel better now. Thanks for praying for me, Pastor. The blind saw, the death hurt, the paralyzed, walked instantly.
Our faith is supernatural. Christ affirmed it. He affirmed he would be raised from the dead. He believed in his resurrection. Thirdly, I want you to notice the certain confidence of man. I want you to notice the certain confidence of man. So Peter, here's this prophecy from Isaiah. I'm sorry from Zechariah. He hears of the death and resurrection of Christ. He hears that Christ is going to go before them and reunite them in Galilee. Christ is going to be raised. But the only thing Peter really hears is the all of you will be made to stumble. Peter was abended by that. Peter stumbled right there. He stumbled on the all. What? All of you. He ignores the fact that Jesus has just quoted scripture. He ignores the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. His words are scripture. And he corrects Jesus. And he corrects him vigorously. Because the only thing Peter is interested in what Jesus said is to correct and to assert his courage, his faithfulness, his unshakable loyalty to Christ and personal courage. Peter answered and said to him, verse 33, even if all are made to stumble because of you, I can believe that much. These other guys, yeah, believe me. I've been putting up with them for a while now. I can see them all falling away. I know James and John, sons of thunder, maybe sons of a spring drizzle. When it's when the go and get stopped, right? Can you imagine that to marry of Peter? Where is the Peter of verse 22? Is it I, Lord? Is it me not looking at the others? Not seeing how much weaker they were than him. Looking at himself, recognizing his own weakness. Is it me? No, no, no, even if all are made to stumble because of you, not just I won't. I will never, never be made to stumble. It will never happen directly against the word of God, cited by Jesus in Zechariah. The sheep will be scattered. The certain confidence of man. Peter is not trusting Christ. He's trusting himself. He's not trusting scripture. He's trusting his own resolve. Be careful of saying never to God. Be careful. That even on good things. My wife can tell you something about that if you want to ask her off the surface. When I met her at Cornerstone Television, I think before we were even dating, I knew and Robin had said because she grew up in the church and she saw a lot of times where ministers would kind of forsake their families and go off and do the work of the Lord, you know. And so she said, I'll never be a pastor's wife. That's what she said that would say. I'll never, right? I'll never be a pastor's wife. And I was good with that because I said, well, you don't have to worry. I'll never be a pastor. I mean, I was a Christian. I was a new Christian but I had no thoughts of being a pastor. You know, sometimes people get saved and they start to think that, right? Because they're growing. They love the Lord and they think, hey, I got to serve God. Maybe I have to run out to the mission filter. I have to be a minister or something like that. And you know, you really need to slow down with that kind of stuff. Because when you're a new Christian, of course you want to serve God, but you serve God where you're at. You've got to learn that priesthood of all believers. You know, that ditch digger who's a Christian is a holy ditch digger who's pleasing God as he does it entirely for the glory of God. His work is no less holy and pleasing to God than mine. It's just a different call. You're all called as Christians to do what God has given you to do and your gifts and so forth. You're all ministers. You're all priests in that in that sense, right? But I said, I'd never be a pastor and I didn't think I would be. And God has a way of bringing the numbers to not come to pass. But this isn't so much a positive thing that you will do. This is a weakness thing that I'll never do and we really got to be careful with that. We really got to be careful of thinking there are some sins out there that I would never commit. Do you think that's the case? I would never do that. You ever say that? See somebody do something bad? Well, I would never do that. Be really careful of that. I think we all recognize there are certain things that we are not attracted to, right? There are temptations. There are sins that by the grace of God, you and I have no inclination for it, right? There are some. I don't know what it's like to have homosexual lusts. I've never had that. I don't know what that's like. It disgusts me to even think of it. And all sins should disgust us. But the shameful thing for me is there are some sins that don't disgust me, right? That I am attracted to, that I have to guard my heart against. But what we all have to recognize is whatever your sin might be or might not be, don't think that you stand because of some inherent goodness that you have developed. That him who stands Paul says, take heed, lest he fall. There are sins by the grace of God that you're not committing and you're not attracted to, but give him the glory and attribute it to him. And all we say, most of the Christian clichés I don't like because they're almost always wrong, but I don't know where this one is wrong. But for the grace of God, there go I. That's what we say when we see some vile sinner. I would never do that. But for the grace of God, that would be me. In fact, I actually would do it worse. But for the grace of God, this confidence of Peter is his downfall. This is the very place in Luke where Jesus says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has asked for you. You think you're so tough? Satan has asked for you that he could sit. You know, hard it is to sit if we these tiny little brains, a child can do it. Peter would be putty in the devil's hands. He could make Peter do whatever he wanted if God let him. But what does Jesus say? Well, but you're strong enough. You're a little bit stronger than these other guys. No. But I have prayed for you. See, that's it. I have prayed for you so that when you return to me, because you are going to fall, Peter, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail so that when you have returned to me, strengthen your brother, Peter would fail, but his faith wouldn't. Somehow, some way, even in the midst of that denial, there was still faith in Peter. It was crushed down. It was, you know, suppressed. He wasn't certainly acting on it, but it was there. It was alive. He never actually spiritually was dead. At that point, he was denying who he was. He failed. He stumbled horribly, but Jesus said, I prayed for you that your faith would not fail so that when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. Again, the confidence of our Lord, his prayer, his grace is what gives us the strength. That's the only way any of us stand. There's no sin again that we would not be capable of. Our faith itself is upheld by the grace of God. That's what that says. I prayed. That's why you don't stop believing. Ever wondered that? Well, why don't I stop believing because I am so tough with my faith? No, because God prays that your faith won't fail because it would. I guarantee you, I would run back to my sins if it wasn't for God. He keeps me believing. He keeps me from falling away. He allows me to learn my lesson sometimes, but he is the one who ultimately keeps me. And we have to, we just have to have this this humble evaluation of ourselves. Clint Eastwood said it this way, a man has got to know his limitations. And without Christ, that's all there is limitations. Matthew Henry says those often fall soonest and fallest that are most confident of themselves. Those are least safe that are most secure in themselves, obviously. He means Satan is most active to seduce such. They are most off their guard and God leaves them to themselves to humble them. I don't doubt that the reason why verse 34 happens is because of verse 33, Peter's post. I think it's an immediate judgment of God on Peter. I don't think Peter in other words would have denied. It wouldn't have been the ordination and will of God for Peter to deny Christ three times until he boasted that he alone would never fall away. Now to humble him, he alone is going to deny Christ three times. That's what Jesus says. Jesus said to him, Oh, man, I say to you now, Peter is getting it with an oath from our Lord. Truly I say to you this night before the rooster crows. Anybody live in the country? You know, when the rooster starts crawling about three in the morning, not when it's done. Sometimes earlier, it's 10 or 11. Jesus is saying in less than five hours, Peter, you're going to deny me three times. That's astonishing. What could possibly happen? It's like Moses when he says to the Lord, how could you possibly bring enough meat into this camp in one day? What could possibly happen? The 11 are there. They're with Christ. They're safe. They're secure. They're alone in the mountain. What could happen in the next five hours? They would cause Peter to deny Christ three times. It happens. God is sovereign. It happens because Peter receives this judgment. And yet in the face of this judgment, assuredly I say to you this night before the rooster crows three times, you will deny you before the rooster crows. You will deny me three times. Even now, Peter says, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And now the other disciples begin to get embarrassed in the face of Peter's boasting. And rather than correct him and say, Peter, you know, you're a little fool yourself right now. They start boasting too. Wait a minute, Lord. Me too. Me too. Me too. And they all think they're going to do it. Does they have the strength that they have the faith? Do you see this? In the face of this, did this all mean from Jesus? Peter doubles down on his boast. Not only will he stand when the others fall, he will now stand unto death. He will die with Jesus if need be to prove Jesus wrong. This is what happens, beloved, when we begin to have confidence in ourselves, we don't live by faith anymore. We live by how we feel. So fourthly and lastly, I want you to notice the certain failure of our good intentions. I want you to notice the certain failure of our good intentions. We're supposed to have good intentions, but if that's what you're trusting in, you're going to fail. There is no doubt not a single commentator I read, even questions Peter's sincerity at this point. Peter means everything he is saying. He has never been more serious as like a friend of mine used to say, Peter is as serious as a heart attack when he says all this stuff. He's never been more serious. He means it with every fiber of his being, the archer, the enthusiasm, the passion, the zeal, the verb, the determination of Peter at this moment is unparalleled with any other moment in his life. He never meant anything more. He never believed anything more. He never felt anything more certain than that he would not deny Jesus. He knows that. He believes that, you know why? Because he feels it. He is acting on pure emotion. Because if he was acting on faith, he would have said, yes, to the scripture. He would have heard Jesus. You will all fall away. Oh, that's that cariah. That's the scripture. Oh, I'm going to fall away. He would have believed it. Faith believes and submits to the Word of God. Faith doesn't operate on feelings. Faith believes and submits to the Word of God and acts upon the Word of God. If Peter was acting on a faith, he would have fallen on his face when Jesus said this and said, whoa is me, Lord, help me. I'm going to fall away. I see that minimize it. Lesson it somehow. Bring me back quicker. He would have pled for mercy in the midst of this truth that was the Word of God. So it has to happen. So he believes it. And he would have cried out for mercy. He would have humbled himself immediately. But he doubles down because he feels it so much. He feels it.
I think this is the one of the great follies of the church today. We're really certain of something when we really feel it. Whether we have a word of God for it or not. Do I feel it? Then it's got to be true. It's got to be what God wants. Peter again, as sincere as he's ever been, no duplicity, no hypocrisy. He's saying it with all of his heart with every fiber of his being again.
But he is speaking again by the conviction of his motions, not by the convictions of his faith. Not even by a sober self-examination and evaluation of his character, like he did in 22. When he's like, I know I'm capable of this because that's true as a sinner. Faith should cause me to submit to the word of God, would cause me to believe his word and act on it because we can be honest. We can be sincere. Beloved, we have to believe this. We can really feel it. But if we're not trusting in the word of God, we're going to fall. Our hearts are not the barometer of truth. The word of God is. We're called to live by faith in the word of God. Psalm 28.26, listen to this. Proverbs 28.26, he who trusts in his own heart is a fool. The word of God. We don't trust in ourselves. We trust in the word of God. And you know, the really scary thing here is after Peter's second boast in verse 35 and after everybody else joins in, Jesus doesn't review them anymore. They're going to fall away. They're going to have to go through it. He told them it would happen. They should have humbled themselves. It would have been much better and easier for them, but they didn't because they lived by their feelings and not by faith in that moment because they really, really felt something strongly. And we've really got to watch that and guard that. Whenever you feel strongly about something, hold yourself. Take a gut check. Is this based on the word of God? Not saying strong feelings are bad. We should feel strongly about what's right and what's true in the word of God. But those feelings are not what we act on. We act on faith. We act by faith. And we pray that God would not allow us to be deceived. The world gets that, right? The world gets get somebody passionate about something. That's how you trick them. That's what all advertisements sort of tries to do, right? Get you to feel a certain kind of emotion, whether it's anger, happiness, whatever. And then you do something that you maybe wouldn't have done and spend a lot of money on something. We can't be deceived. And that's why this text is about Christ alone. If we look to him, if we look to his work, if we trust in him, we'll be able to stand no matter what. And because he rescues them and brings them back, we see that in our text. We'll have to look at that more next week. Let's close with prayer. Father, in heaven, we thank you again for your goodness. We thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that it's only by your grace that we are kept. We know that intellectually, we live that by faith often. But Father, every one of us in this room forget that at times and we stray and we run off and we think it's okay because we really felt strongly about something. But we weren't living by faith. And so forgive us. Keep us close to you. Help us to be very quick to see our weaknesses that apart from your grace, we can do nothing. But that in you, we can do all things. And so Father, cause us to again look to you in order to serve you in everything. For your glory, we pray in Jesus' name.