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Introduction:
I’ve made some awful mistakes in my life; many before I became a
Christian and many after, many before I got married and many
after, many before I became a preacher and many after. I wish I
could say I made each mistake only once, but most of them have
been made repeatedly. Some of them I have overcome completely.
Some of them are a daily battle but I have consistently overcome.
Some of them are just a continual struggle. The war is on and
while, through Jesus, I believe I’m winning the war, there are
still a lot of lost battles. Do you know what I’m talking about?
One great source of comfort for me is knowing I’m not
alone. I’ve talked with lots of Christians who express the exact
same feelings. Furthermore, I can turn to the Bible and find the
exact same story even among those who were righteous. Noah got
drunk. Abraham lied and struggled with his faith. Sarah laughed at
God. Moses took the glory to himself and struck the rock. David
lusted, committed adultery, and murdered. Paul coveted. Timothy
doubted. Peter denied Jesus.
Let’s stop there and think about that for a moment. Peter
denied Jesus. However, this denial didn’t come in a vacuum.
Earlier that same night, Peter had stepped out in front of his
colleagues, accused them all of being weakly cowards and
proclaimed that he alone would stand with Jesus, arguing with
Jesus’ own prophecy on the matter (Matthew
26:30-35). “I’ll die with you, Jesus. Everyone else
will fall away, but your prophecy doesn’t include me. I don’t
care what You say; I’ll never fall away.” And he lived up to
that statement as long as things were going his way. Keep in mind,
Peter was the one who pulled out a sword and attacked the cohort
of soldiers and priests who came to arrest Jesus (John
18:10). As long as Peter thought this was going to be a
fight, he wasn’t about to fall away because of Jesus. As long as
Peter thought his potential death would be on his terms in a
brutal fight through which he might take down some of the enemy,
he wasn’t about to fall away. But when Jesus demonstrated this
wasn’t going to be a fight but surrender, Peter was lost in
utter confusion. When the test came to stand up not for Jesus the
fighting and victorious Messiah, but to surrender alongside Jesus
the condemned prisoner, he faltered. Not once, not twice, but
three times he denied Jesus, finally enforcing his words with
oaths and swearing (Luke
22:54-62). The telltale rooster crowed and Jesus turned to
look at Peter. Can you imagine Peter in that moment? Have you been
there? Do you know that feeling of having gone back on your
commitments to God? Have you ever sworn to God that you wouldn’t
do it again, but then you did? Have you ever faced the rooster’s
crow and felt the mournful gaze of God as He looked directly at
you in your sin?
How do you overcome that? How do you put your hand back in
His after you’ve slapped His face with it? How do you look Him
in the eyes again and accept even His love after seeing the gaze
that sparked such intense guilt and shame?
For me, the comfort doesn’t end with seeing how others
have mirrored my mistakes and falls. The comfort really comes home
when I see that others have overcome and returned to the fold of
the faithful. I am comforted knowing that if they can mirror my
fall, I can mirror their return. Peter’s story doesn’t end
with him weeping bitterly. It continues in John
21. This chapter provides nine vital lessons for
overcoming our mistakes and gaining victory in Jesus. Discussion: I.
Come face to face with your sin. A.
As much as we may want to, we can’t come back into
fellowship with God by sweeping our sin under the rug. God won’t
do that. He didn’t do it with Peter. B.
If we are not careful, we may miss the careful construction
of this reconciliation story. John
21:9 says this story with Jesus takes place around a
charcoal fire. Interestingly, fire is mentioned all over the New
Testament. However, the particular word used for “charcoal
fire” in John
21:9 is only used in one other place—John
18:18. Jesus was talking to Peter over the exact same kind
of fire over which Peter denied Him. Peter had demonstrated lack
of love for Jesus by denying Him three times. How many times does
Jesus ask Peter, “Do you love me?” Three times. Three times
Jesus reminded Peter of his failure to live up to his commitment.
Three times Jesus made Peter face his sin. Before he could be in
full fellowship with Jesus, fully equipped to do the work Jesus
had for him, he had to face his sin. C.
No, God won’t sweep our sins under the rug. He loves us
too much to let that happen. A sin swept under the rug always
needles us. It is the skeleton in the closet that we are always
afraid will jump out at the wrong moment. It is the closed door in
the house of our heart that keeps God from having all of us and
therefore keeps us from having all of Him. He doesn’t make us
come face to face with our sins out of vengeance or spite. He
doesn’t do it simply to say, “See, I told you so.” He
doesn’t do it to rub it in our faces. He does it to let us know
that He has come face to face with our sin and loves us anyway,
now it’s our turn. II.
Draw near to Jesus; don’t run from Him. A.
Earlier in the chapter, we see an interesting occurrence.
In John
21:3-6, we experience some déjà vu. The disciples are
out fishing all night, but have caught nothing. Then along comes
Jesus who says, “Cast your net on the other side of the boat.”
They did and the fish come pouring in. This exact same thing had
happened in Luke
5:4-7. Do you remember how Peter responded in Luke
5:8. “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
No doubt, there is some healthy humility in Peter’s early
statement. There is some recognition of sin and unworthiness that
we all need to have. Jesus responded then, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.” Peter asked Jesus to
depart but Jesus refused; He drew Peter closer. B.
However, in this second scenario, the one after Peter has
committed perhaps the most heinous sin of his life, not once but
three times, Peter’s response is completely different. I have no
doubt he felt the humility. I have no doubt he felt the guilt. I
have no doubt he felt the shame. But when he discovered this man
was Jesus, he didn’t seek to be separated from Him. He
couldn’t wait to get near Him. He quickly put all his clothes
back on and jumped in the water to swim for Jesus (John
21:7). He couldn’t wait for the others to row the boat
to shore. He swam to Jesus. C.
I’m sure Peter still had some issues, some reservations,
some concerns, but he demonstrates the great desire we must all
have if we want to overcome our mistakes. We have to want to be
close to Jesus; we have to want to get close to God. If we don’t
want to be near God, we won’t ever overcome our mistakes. We
won’t ever restore that fellowship fully. Oh, we might linger on
the fringes, coming to church, dabbling in religion, but we’ll
never have a relationship with God. III.
Love Jesus. A.
As Jesus drew Peter in, causing him to look directly at his
sin, Jesus highlighted the most important part of overcoming our
mistakes. “Do you love me?” He asked (John
21:15, 16, 17). Peter responded, “Yes, you know I love
you.” Peter needed to love Jesus. Peter wasn’t supposed to
feed Jesus’ sheep because it was the rule. He wasn’t supposed
to obey Jesus to earn heaven. He wasn’t supposed to live for
Jesus to impress everyone else. He was to live based on love. B.
Think about your relationship with your spouse for a
moment. How do you think your wife or husband would feel if the
only reason you did anything for them was because it was the rule?
Or what if you only did stuff for your spouse to get your spouse
to do things for you? What kind of relationship does that produce
in a home? A connected one? A close one? An intimate one? Or a
disconnected, independent, miserable one that is just about going
through motions to look good before everyone else? In our
marriages we need to do whatever we do because we love our spouse
and that’s it. How much more should we recognize the same thing
in our walk with God? Are we only serving Him so He’ll give us
heaven? Are we only serving Him because it has been proven to be
on His checklist of rules? Or are we serving Him because we love
Him? C.
We need to love Jesus. If we don’t love Jesus, we won’t
overcome our mistakes. The only way to overcome our sins is to
begin with a love that comes from a pure heart, good conscience,
and sincere faith (I
Timothy 1:5). Matthew
22:37 says the greatest command is to love God with all
our heart, soul, and mind. That needs to be the basis for our
action. Our goal today should be to do everything we do because we
love God. When that becomes our basis, then everything else falls
into place. If you have trouble loving Jesus, just remember I
John 4:19. He loved us first. Take some time everyday to
remind yourself how much Jesus loved you and how He showed it. IV.
Do the work the Lord has given you. A.
Jesus had a job for Peter. “Feed my sheep” (John
21:17). It was not enough for Peter to simply say he loved
Jesus. He needed to demonstrate his love by doing what Jesus said.
B.
Far too often, we never overcome our sins because all we
think about is what we aren’t supposed to do. One of the best
ways to overcome sin is to start figuring out what we are supposed
to do and get busy doing it. For instance, if you consider the
contrasts found in Ephesians
4:25-32. If I’m working hard to tell the truth, I
don’t have time to lie. If I quickly deal with my anger, I
don’t give the devil room in my life. If I spend the large
portion of my day working to gain what I need, I won’t have time
to steal. If my plan is to say only good things, there will be no
place in my mouth for corrupting things. If I’m spending my time
being kind, tender-hearted, compassionate, and forgiving, I
don’t have time to pursue malice, wrath, bitterness, and
resentment. C.
Matthew
6:33
says we need to first, that is primarily, pursue God’s rule and
righteousness in our lives. One of the most succinct ways I’ve
heard this put is the phrase I picked up somewhere: “Do the next
right thing.” What is it that God wants me to do next? If I do
that, then I won’t pursue my sins. I’ll overcome. V.
Get outside yourself and serve others. A.
I can’t help but notice that when Jesus gave Peter a
work, that work had to do with others. The work was not, “Peter,
increase your faith so you’ll pass the test next time.” The
work was not, “Peter, learn My will.” The work was not,
“Peter, become stronger and more mature.” The work was,
“Feed my sheep” (John
21:17). Don’t misunderstand, if Peter were going to be
able to feed the sheep, he would become more mature, learn
Jesus’ will, and increase his faith. But the heart of Christ’s
work for Peter was to get out of himself and serve others. B.
The story is told of a mountain man caught in a freak
snowstorm while he was hunting. He tried to make his way home in
the blinding snow. The temperature was dropping too fast. He knew
if he could just make it home, a fire was waiting. If he stayed
out too long in the dropping temperature, hypothermia would set
in. His extremities would get stiff and start to freeze, his heart
would slow, he would fall asleep and never wake up. As he walked
through the woods he did everything he could think of to create
warmth. He jumped up and down. He flapped his arms. He tried to
run. But the trek was taking too long. He started to slow down. He
was having trouble lifting his feet and missing the roots. He
stumbled several times. Each time it was harder to get back up. It
would be easier just to lie there. One last time, his foot caught
and he fell forward. But something was wrong. This was no tree
branch. This was a person. The discovery shocked a little more
life into him and he dusted the snow off to discover it was his
best friend who must have also been caught in this freak act of
nature. No matter what happened to him, he couldn’t let his
friend die. He took off his gloves and began to rub the man’s
hands and face. He reached up under the man’s coat and shirt and
began to rub vigorously on his chest and then his back. An amazing
thing happened; not only did the friend revive but the hunter
began to warm up. The same friction that was helping his friend
was helping him. C.
If we really want to overcome our sins, we need to start
serving and helping others. There is nothing that will strengthen
us like striving to strengthen others. The problem for us is we
often treat serving as if it is just another checklist burden we
have to bear as Christians. That is not the case at all. Service
is an opportunity God has given us to help us grow and overcome. VI.
Sacrifice yourself to Jesus. A.
In John
21:18-19, Jesus makes a shocking statement. He tells Peter
about his death. The day will come when Peter will die for Jesus.
His hands will be stretched out, just as Jesus’ hands were.
Peter was going to die by crucifixion as did His master. I want
you to think for just a moment about what this meant. Jesus
wasn’t calling Peter to give some. He was calling Peter to give
all. He was saying, “Peter, if you love me, devote your life to
others. If you do that, you’ll get to be crucified for me.”
Jesus called Peter to sacrifice himself for Jesus. But the
sacrifice didn’t begin when he was crucified. The sacrifice was
going to begin in the moment Jesus was talking to Him. He
concluded with, “Follow me.” B.
I can’t help but think of Romans
12:1 that calls us to be living sacrifices. I also think
of Galatians
2:20 that says we are to be crucified with Jesus. What
plans had Peter had as a fisherman? Jesus was calling Peter to put
those plans aside and surrender them to Him. C.
This is, of course, a real struggle for us, at least it is
for me. I struggle with fully sacrificing myself to Jesus and just
surrendering to His will. What if His plans for me don’t
coincide with my plans for me? I have things I would like to be
and do. I want to be a great writer, read far and wide, helping
people I never meet because they read my blogs and books. But what
if God’s plans for me are different? What if he wants me to play
a different role? What if He wants me to live and die in
obscurity, helping only a few people close by? This is where we
struggle. But the point we need to understand is that God’s way
works. When I’ve tried to run my life by my own plans, I always
fail. I always fall back into sin. I have to learn that only
God’s way really works. That is why we need to sacrifice
ourselves for Him. That is why we need to surrender to Him and to
His will. Our way leads to death (Proverbs
14:12; 16:25). God’s way leads to life (Matthew
7:13-14). VII.
Rely on the Lord’s strength. A.
We need to look again at the story that prepared the way
for Peter’s reconciliation. Jesus let something happen that
would prepare Peter to accept this challenge. In John
21:3, Peter decided, “I’m going fishing.” What else
was there to do? That was what he knew. He had been raised a
fisherman. Fishing was his element. Fishing was where he felt
strong. Fishing was where he was in control. He naturally
gravitated back to that because it was what he understood. Or so
he thought. B.
There he was in his element, doing what he knew best, doing
what he was trained from childhood for. But it wasn’t working.
Try as hard as he might, he couldn’t catch a fish. Persist and
persevere as much as he could, he couldn’t catch a fish. For all
his strength, for all his know how, for all his prowess, for all
his control, he couldn’t bring in one little fish. Enter Jesus.
“Cast your nets on the other side” (John
21:6). Suddenly they had so many fish they could hardly
haul it in. What is the lesson to be learned from this? Peter
couldn’t do what he thought he had most control over on his own.
He needed Jesus to even catch fish. What would that mean for
overcoming his sins, fishing for men, and feeding sheep? If he
thought he was powerful enough to do it, he would always come up
empty handed. He would always fail. C.
Sadly, so many of us squander our lives in sin because we
are trying to prove how strong we are. We want to come to God
saying, “Look at me, I’m perfect. Let me in, You owe me.” We
work so hard at presenting the image of great spiritual strength
and perfection that we even blind ourselves to our own sinfulness.
If we want to overcome, we have to learn some poverty of spirit (Matthew
5:3). We need to come to God saying, “Look at me, I’m
pathetic. Take me in, I need You to fix me.” We should face
every day, every decision, every deed with this prayer, “God
without You, I won’t be able to do this.” We will only be able
to overcome our sin, if we quit trying to overcome on our own. It
is when we see how weak we are and start relying on God that His
strength will work through us (II
Corinthians 12:9-10; Ephesians 3:14-21). VIII.
Clean up your own side of the street. A.
Peter, as was his usual self, got distracted from Jesus in
this story. He looked around and saw John, that is, the one who is
traditionally recognized as the disciple whom Jesus loved.
“Lord, what about this man?” (John
21:21). I think we can understand this. Peter is going
through an incredibly emotional ordeal here. He wants to get
Jesus’ gaze off of him and start focusing it on someone else. So
he asks, “What about John? What do you have in store for him?
How is he supposed to serve you? How is he going to die? Is he
going to be martyred too?” B.
Jesus refused to answer his question. His response was,
“That’s none of your business. Your job is to do my will for
you” (cf. John
21:22). While we do need to get outside ourselves and
serve others, we don’t need to get bogged down in running
everybody else’s lives. As the saying goes, we need to clean up
our side of the street. We don’t need to take everyone else’s
inventory. We don’t need to spend our time trying to fix
everybody else. We need to spend our time doing what Jesus has
asked of us. Now don’t misunderstand, this doesn’t mean we
don’t teach and encourage others, this doesn’t mean we don’t
bear one another’s burdens. After all, John would be one of
Jesus’ sheep that Peter was supposed to feed. The point is that
no matter what others do or what Jesus has planned for others, our
job is to do our job. Jesus may plan blessings for others that we
don’t get. If we get sidetracked wanting to know how their
blessings compare to ours, we’re going to fall back into sin.
Instead, we simply need to clean up our side of the street. We
need to follow Jesus and live His will for us. IX.
In Jesus, you will be victorious. A.
The final key to overcoming our sins and having victory in
Jesus is often missed because we are so shocked that Jesus tells
Peter how he is going to die. What on earth did Jesus think He was
accomplishing by tacking on, “Oh, by the way Peter, when your
life of feeding and serving my sheep is over, you’re going to
get crucified”? B.
Understand why this exchange is important. In Matthew
26:30-35, Peter had stood up before the other apostles and
brashly proclaimed though the others would fall away, he never
would. If he even had to die for Jesus, he would do that instead
of fall away. But when put to the test, he failed. He didn’t
live up to his commitment. When the opportunity arose to die with
Jesus as he promised, he denied Jesus. I don’t know exactly how
Peter felt in this moment. I do know how I would have felt. I
would have felt like a failure. I would have felt that for all the
great things I might do, I had failed the ultimate test. I would
be unsure that I would ever pass that test. I might proudly
proclaim how much I love Jesus, but when pushed again will I
resort to failure. I just wouldn’t be sure I could ever
overcome. Add to that the fact that Jesus had just questioned Him
three times on whether or not he really loved Him. At the end of
that questioning, I would be wondering if Jesus has any faith in
me or if He thinks I’m a failure. C.
But Jesus puts that potential fear to rest by telling Peter
about the death he would die. It is not a weird, out of left field
comment, leaving us wondering what on earth Jesus was doing. It
makes perfect sense. Jesus comforts Peter by pointing out that the
day will come when Peter really will make that ultimate sacrifice.
The day will come when he really will live up to that promise. The
day really will come when he will ultimately overcome that sin
because he will be put to the test and he will pass. In Jesus is
victory. No matter what we’ve done, no matter how far we’ve
gone, no matter what mistakes and sins have plagued us, if we love
Jesus, relying on His strength to accomplish the work He has given
us, we will be victorious. D.
Don’t you know that picture was a comfort to Peter? Every
time he messed up after this, and he did mess up, he could
remember that Jesus Himself had said he was going to come around.
He was going to grow. He was going to overcome. He was going to be
victorious. Maybe today another mess was made. But instead of
turning his back on Jesus thinking he would never make it, he
could come back to Him again and in the end, Jesus would make him
victorious. E.
Isn’t that God’s promise to us in Romans
8:28-30? If we love Him, He has promised us victory. We
may have messed things up again. But if we love Him, He’ll work
even that out for our good as He works to conform us to the image
of His Son that we may be justified and glorified. Isn’t this
the promise of Philippians
2:12-13, as Paul explains that we can keep working on our
salvation because God is the one working in us? If you want to
overcome, have faith in God’s promise. If you love Him, He will
bring you victory. If you love Him, He will cause you to overcome.
When we have this faith, we can say along with Paul in Romans
7:24-25, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Conclusion: Brothers and sisters, if you are like me, you are plagued by mistakes and sins. Sometimes you wonder whether you should even keep trying. The answer is, “Yes; you should.” Why? Because there is victory in Jesus. That is the only place there is victory. If you walk away because you’ve made too many mistakes, you will not overcome. You will not have victory. But, if you keep holding on to Jesus, loving Him, relying on Him, you will have victory; you will overcome.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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