11/17/02

FAITH BIBLE CHURCH - www.faithbiblechurch.net

RAY RUSS - PASTOR-TEACHER

MATTHEW: THE KING HAS COME, WEEK 176

TITLE: THE DISCIPLE'S DENIAL

TEXT: MATTHEW 26:31-35

INTRODUCTION: (1) HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT WHAT YOU WOULD DO IF YOU WERE FACED WITH THE CHOICE OF DENYING CHRIST AND LIVING OR NOT DENYING CHRIST AND DYING, TO BE MARTYRED?

* I'VE ACTUALLY THOUGHT ABOUT THAT OVER THE YEARS. WHAT WOULD I DO IF I LIVED IN A LAND OR WAS PUT IN A POSITION WHERE I WAS TOLD TO DENY CHRIST OR DIE?

** NOW I WOULD LIKE TO THINK BY THE GRACE OF GOD THAT I WOULD NOT RENOUNCE MY SAVIOR AND LORD, BUT TO BE TRANSPARENT, I HAVE DOUBTS, I'M NOT SURE.

*** THE REASON BEING, I CAN LOOK BACK AT SITUATIONS IN MY LIFE FAR LESS THREATENING THAN MARTYRDOM WHERE I FAILED TO SPEAK FOR THE LORD, WHERE I FAILED TO BE AS FAITHFUL AS I SHOULD HAVE BEEN, EVEN TO BE ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL.

**** AND PROBABLY MANY OF YOU TODAY IDENTIFY WITH WHAT I'M SAYING.

(2) YOU WOULD LIKE TO THINK YOU WOULD NEVER DENY THE LORD, OR BE ASHAMED TO BE CALLED BY HIS NAME.

* BUT YOU KNOW THERE ARE TIMES THAT YOU HAVE SUCCUMBED TO NOT SPEAKING UP FOR THE LORD WHEN YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD HAVE, OR ALLOWED THE FEAR OF MAN TO CRIPPLE YOU IN SAYING WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID.

** AND GOD FORGIVES US FOR TIMIDITY, AND HE DOES, BUT GOD FORGIVES US FOR II TIMOTHY 1:7 SAYS: (READ). ALSO READ PROVERBS 29:25.

*** AND THE REALITY TODAY IS, AS MUCH AS WE MIGHT LIKE TO THINK OF OURSELVES AS BEING SPIRITUALLY STRONG, THOSE WHO ARE MATURE IN THE FAITH KNOW FROM SCRIPTURE AS WELL AS EXPERIENCE THAT IN OURSELVES WE ARE WEAK.

**** AND THE MOMENT WE THINK WE ARE PRETTY STRONG, AND GET CONFIDENT IN OURSELVES, OUR ABILITIES, OUR BOLDNESS, WHAT HAPPENS?

(3) BOOM, WE'RE ON THE FLOOR, WE'RE DOWN, WE FALL.

* WELL, THE 11 APOSTLES OF JESUS CHRIST EXPERIENCED THE VERY THING I'M TALKING ABOUT.

** AND YES THEY LOOK LIKE MODEL BELIEVERS, AS MEN OF SUPREME FAITH WHO UNFLINCHINGLY ENDURED EVERY HARDSHIP AND PERSECUTION FOR THEIR LORD.

*** BUT, IT WAS NOT UNTIL AFTER PENTECOST THAT THEY DID INDEED BECOME SUCH MEN.

**** FOR ON THE LAST NIGHT OF CHRIST'S EARTHLY LIFE, CONTRARY TO THEIR SELF-CONFIDENT ASSERTIONS OF LOYALTY AND BRAVERY, THEY DEMONSTRATED ANYTHING BUT FAITH AND HEROISM.

(4) FOR THEY DISCOVERED, ALONG WITH EVERYONE WHO READS THE RECORD OF SCRIPTURE, THAT, IN THEMSELVES, THEY WERE FEARFUL, COWARDLY AND SPIRITUALLY IMPOTENT. * YET THEY WILL EXPRESS AT THIS VERY TIME, THAT THEY WOULD NEVER DENY THE LORD.

** THE SELF CONFIDENCE THEY EXPRESSED ON THIS OCCASION WAS BASED ON FALSE FEELINGS OF PERSONAL STRENGTH AND COMMITMENT.

*** THEY THOUGHT THEIR LOVE AND DEVOTION TO CHRIST WAS GREATER THAN THEY WERE AND THAT THEIR ABILITY TO HANDLE TEMPTATION AND INTIMIDATION WAS GREATER THAN IT WAS.

**** SO THEY BOAST THAT THEY WOULD NOT DENY THEIR LORD. AND BECAUSE OF THAT, I'VE TITLED THE MESSAGE TODAY, "THE DISCIPLE'S DENIAL."

(5) AND I TRUST THAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THEIR WRONG SELF-CONFIDENCE AND PRIDE, NOT TO BE CONFIDENT IN SELF OR BOAST, OR THINK THAT WE WOULD NEVER BE CAPABLE OF NOT ONLY DENYING CHRIST BY OUR LIPS, BUT ALSO BY OUR LIVES.

* AND IN OUR STUDY TODAY, WE'LL LOOK AT 4 POINTS. NO. 1 THE PREDICTION BY JESUS BY JESUS OF THE DISCIPLE'S DENIAL AND HIS RESURRECTION, VV. 31&32; NO. 2 THE PRIDE OF PETER, V. 33; NO. 3 THE PRECISION OF JESUS IN PREDICTING EXACTLY WHAT PETER WOULD DO IN DENYING HIM, V. 34; AND NO. 4 THE PERSISTENCE OF PETER IN SAYING HE WOULD NOT ONLY NOT DENY CHRIST, BUT HE WOULD DIE FOR HIM, V. 35.

** AND WITH THAT OUTLINE TO WORK FROM, LET'S MOVE TO OUR FIRST POINT TODAY, THE PREDICTION. LOOK AT MATTHEW 26:31 PLEASE.

I. THE PREDICTION, (READ V. 31)

A. NOW MOST LIKELY, THE THINGS THAT ARE COMMUNICATED IN VV. 31-35 TAKE PLACE AS JESUS AND THE 11 ARE ON THEIR WAY TO THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE.

* AND BEFORE THEY GET TO GETHSEMANE, JESUS STOPS AND SAYS, "YOU WILL ALL FALL AWAY BECAUSE OF ME THIS NIGHT."

** NOW THE VERB "FALL AWAY" OR "OFFENDED" IN THE KJV AND "STUMBLE" IN THE NKJV IN THE GREEK IS THE TERM FROM WHICH OUR WORD SCANDAL IS DERIVED, THE GREEK WORD IS SKAN-DAL-ID-ZO WHICH YOU CAN SEE ON THE SCREEN.

*** AND THIS WORD HAS THE LITERAL MEANING OF SETTING A TRAP, A SNARE OR A STUMBLING BLOCK.

**** AND IN JESUS' DAY, THIS WORD WAS MOST OFTEN USED METAPHORICALLY, AS IT ALWAYS IS IN THE N.T.

1. MEANING: JESUS PREDICTED THAT THE DISCIPLES WOULD SOON CONFRONT AN OBSTACLE THAT WOULD MAKE THEM STUMBLE AND FALL AWAY FROM THEIR LOYALTY TO HIM.

* JESUS KNEW IN HIS OMNISCIENCE THAT ALL THE DISCIPLES WOULD DESERT HIM, NOT JUST PETER, AND THAT ALL OF THEM WOULD BE SHOCKED AND OFFENDED AT HIS PREDICTION OF THEIR ABANDONMENT.

** AND I EMPHASIZE THE WORD ALL, FOR IT IS THE FIRST OF THREE ALLS IN VV. 31-35. *** THE FIRST ALL USED HERE IN V. 31 SPEAKING OF THE 11 DISCIPLES.

**** THE SECOND "ALL" IS USED IN V. 33 BY PETER SAYING, "THOUGH "ALL" MAY FALL AWAY BECAUSE OF YOU, I WILL NEVER FALL AWAY."

2. AND THEN PETER IS SPEAKING OF THE OTHER 10 AND ANYONE ELSE THAT MIGHT FALL AWAY.

* AND THEN THE THIRD "ALL" IS FOUND IN V. 35, WHERE PETER SAID, "EVEN IF I HAVE TO DIE WITH YOU, I WILL NOT DENY YOU." THEN "ALL" THE DISCIPLES SAID THE SAME THING TOO.

** SO THE THIRD "ALL" ARE THE 10 DISCIPLES.

*** AND THE SECOND AND THIRD "ALLS" ARE A RESPONSE TO THE FIRST "ALL". AND IF THE DISCIPLES HAD NOT BEEN OVER-CONFIDENT, AND HAD JUST TAKEN JESUS AT HIS WORD, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE ADDED THE SIN OF PRIDE TO THEIR SIN OF DENIAL THAT NIGHT, WHICH I'LL ELABORATE MORE ON IN A LITTLE BIT.

**** BUT NOTICE AS WE LOOK BACK AT V. 31, THAT AFTER JESUS MAKES THE STATEMENT THAT ALL THE DISCIPLES WILL FALL AWAY, HE APPLIES SCRIPTURE TO SHOW THAT ALL OF THIS IS A PART OF THE PLAN OF HIS FATHER.

3. FOR JESUS WILL QUOTE PART OF ZECHARIAH 13:7 WHICH SAYS: "AWAKE, O SWORD, AGAINST MY SHEPHERD, AND AGAINST THE MAN, MY ASSOCIATE," DECLARES THE LORD OF HOSTS. "STRIKE THE SHEPHERD THAT THE SHEEP MAY BE SCATTERED; AND I WILL TURN MY HAND AGAINST THE LITTLE ONES."

* NOW IN JESUS QUOTING AND APPLYING THIS VERSE TO THIS SITUATION, HE IS ASSURING THE DISCIPLES THAT THEIR ABANDONMENT OF HIM, WAS A PART OF THE ETERNAL PLAN OF GOD, WHICH THEY WILL FREELY FULFILL.

** CHRIST'S OWN SOVEREIGN PLAN WAS UNFOLDING AND THE SUPPOSED VICTIM WAS IN REALITY THE FOREORDAINED VICTOR.

*** AS D. A. CARSON SAID AND I QUOTE: "YET JESUS' WORDS 'FOR IT IS WRITTEN' SHOW THAT THE DISCIPLE'S DEFECTION, THOUGH TRAGIC AND IRRESPONSIBLE, DOES NOT FALL OUTSIDE GOD'S SOVEREIGN PLAN." (END QUOTE)

**** AND IN APPLICATION FROM ZECHARIAH 13:7, THE SHEEP OF WHOM JESUS SPOKE THAT NIGHT ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES WERE THE DISCIPLES, AND THEY WOULD BE SCATTERED WHEN CHRIST THE SHEPHERD WAS STRUCK.

4. BUT AS WE MOVE ON TO V. 32, THE DISCIPLES WERE NOT LEFT WITHOUT HOPE, FOR JESUS AGAIN WILL PREDICT HIS VICTORIOUS RESURRECTION. LOOK AT V. 32 PLEASE.

B. READ V. 32. NOW AS AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE DISCIPLES, JESUS QUICKLY ADDED THE REASSURING STATEMENT, "AFTER I HAVE BEEN RAISED", WHICH FOCUSED BACK ON THE ULTIMATE VICTORY, RATHER THAN THE MOMENTARY DEFEAT!

* AND JESUS WAS NOT ONLY REASSURING THE DISCIPLES OF HIS RESURRECTION, BUT ALSO OF THEIR VICTORY.

** FOR THOUGH HAVING JUST PREDICTED THEIR FALLING AWAY BECAUSE OF PANIC, HE CLEARLY IMPLIED A REUNION WITH THEM IN GALILEE.

*** IN OTHER WORDS, THEY WOULD FAIL IN A MOMENT OF WEAKNESS BUT WOULD NOT BE CAST ASIDE. **** RATHER, JESUS WOULD HAVE THEM PERPETUATE HIS WORK AFTER HIS RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION.

1. AND BELOVED, JESUS ASSURING THE DISCIPLES OF HIS REUNION WITH THEM IN GALILEE, WHICH WILL HAPPEN IN MATTHEW 28:16&17, SHOULD HAVE HELPED THEM THROUGH THE DIFFICULTY THEY WOULD FACE THAT NIGHT.

* IN THE BIG PICTURE, THERE WOULD BE MOMENTARY FAILURE, BUT ULTIMATE VICTORY!

** WHICH TO ME IS A PICTURE OF OUR CHRISTIAN LIVES. WE FAIL, WE SIN, AND THAT HURTS OUR LORD AND WE ARE GRIEVED, BUT ULTIMATELY THERE IS VICTORY BECAUSE OUR LORD ROSE FROM THE DEAD!

*** HE IS OUR LIVING SAVIOR, OUR HIGH PRIEST, OUR MEDIATOR, AND HE HAS SENT US THE COMFORTER THE HOLY SPIRIT.

**** SO FOCUS ON THAT TRUTH AND LET IT EMPOWER YOU THEN TO LIVE THE RISEN LIFE. AND WHEN YOU SIN AND FAIL, CONFESS IT IMMEDIATELY, AND THINK OF THE VICTORY WE CAN HAVE IN CHRIST NOW AND THAT WE WILL ULTIMATELY HAVE BECAUSE HE ROSE AGAIN.

2. AND AS WE GO BACK TO VV. 31&32, JESUS MAKES TWO PREDICTIONS, ONE OF DEFEAT AND ONE OF VICTORY, AND THE VICTORY SHOULD HAVE OVERCOME THE DEFEAT AND HUMBLED THE DISCIPLES.

* BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT LEADS TO A PROUD RESPONSE FROM PETER, OUR 2'D POINT TODAY, THE PRIDE, LOOK AT V. 33 PLEASE.

II. THE PRIDE, (READ V. 33)

A. NOW PETER REACTS TO WHAT JESUS SAID IN V. 31 AND RATHER THAN TAKING JESUS AT HIS WORD, HE BLURTS OUT, "EVEN THOUGH ALL MAY FALL AWAY BECAUSE OF YOU, I WILL NEVER FALL AWAY."

* AND PROUD, SELF CONFIDENT PETER, CONVINCED OF THE STRENGTH OF HIS LOVE FOR JESUS, PRESUMPTUOUSLY PROCLAIMED HIMSELF TO BE THE TRUEST OF THE TRUE.

** AND TO DEFEND PETER A LITTLE BIT, I BELIEVE THAT PETER IN HIS HEART MEANT THOSE WORDS, HE WAS NOT LYING, THAT IN HIS HEART HE BELIEVED IN HIS LOVE FOR JESUS THAT HE WOULD NEVER FALL AWAY OR DENY HIS LORD.

*** BUT PETER'S PASSION THAT DROVE HIM, UNDERESTIMATED THE POWER OF THE FLESH.

**** AND THIS IS THE FIRST STEP OF SEVERAL THAT WILL LEAD TO PETER'S OUTRIGHT DENIAL OF CHRIST, TO HIS FALL.

1. PETER WILL BE BROUGHT LOW, HIS PRIDE WILL LEAD TO SHAME. AND BELOVED THAT'S WHAT PRIDE DOES, WHICH IS A LACK OF PROPER PERSPECTIVE, IT BRINGS US DOWN, READ PROVERBS 11:2, PROVERBS 16:18, PROVERBS 18:12, PROVERBS 29:23.

* AND BELOVED THE MOMENT WE THINK THAT WE CAN GO SOLO, AND ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING IN OUR OWN STRENGTH AND POWER OR I WILL NEVER DO THAT, WATCH OUT, YOU'RE ON THE WAY DOWN TO SHAME AND BEING BROUGHT LOW.

** FOR THE BOTTOM LINE IS "GOD RESISTS THE PROUD BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE," JAMES 4:6 AND JAMES 4:10.

*** AND ROMANS 12:3 SAYS: (READ IT).

**** AND WE MUST HAVE PROPER PERSPECTIVE AND REALIZE WITHOUT GOD'S GRACE AND STRENGTH WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING. AND THAT MAKES US DEPENDENT ON THE LORD RATHER THAN PROUD AND INDEPENDENT.

2. AND IT BASICALLY GOES BACK TO TAKING JESUS AT HIS WORD. THAT WHAT HE SAYS ABOUT US IS TRUE AND THAT WE NEED HIM EVERY SECOND OF EVERY MINUTE, OF EVERY HOUR, OF EVERY DAY, AND THAT WITHOUT HIM WE ARE NOTHING AND WITHOUT HIM WE CAN DO NOTHING, JOHN 15:5, I CORINTHIANS 15:10.

* AND BROTHERS AND SISTERS, PETER IN HIS PRIDE EITHER WAS NOT LISTENING WELL OR DID NOT TAKE JESUS AT HIS WORD, FOR HE BLURTS OUT WHAT HE SAYS HERE. HIS FIRST STEP DOWN.

** AND PETER IS IN DENIAL THAT HE COULD EVER DENY JESUS, BUT IN V. 34, JESUS WITH PRECISION, WITH EXACTNESS AND DETAIL WILL SHOW HIM THE EXTENT OF HIS DENIAL. LOOK AT V. 34 PLEASE WHERE WE'LL SEE OUR 3'D POINT TODAY, THE PRECISION.

III. THE PRECISION, (READ V. 34)

A. NOW OUR LORD REPEATS HIS PREDICTION AND WITH PRECISION OR EXACTNESS GIVES PETER SOME DETAILS ABOUT WHAT HE WILL DO THAT VERY NIGHT.

* AND THE LORD'S RESPONSE TO PETER MUST HAVE CUT DEEP INTO PETER'S SOUL, FOR THE WORD "TRULY" OR "VERILY" OR "I TELL YOU THE TRUTH", DEPENDING ON WHICH TRANSLATION YOU HAVE WAS AN EMPHATIC WAY OF STATING AN IMPORTANT PROPOSITION AND WAS A SIGNAL FOR PETER TO LISTEN CAREFULLY.

** AND THE LORD THEN PREDICTED THAT PETER WOULD DENY HIM 3 TIMES BEFORE THE COCK CROWED TO ANNOUNCE THE NEW DAY, BEFORE DAWN.

*** FOR THE ROOSTER CROWING WAS A TIME DESIGNATION HERE, VERY SHORTLY PETER, BEFORE SUN UP, YOU ARE GOING TO DENY ME 3 TIMES THIS VERY NIGHT, DURING THE NIGHTTIME.

**** AND IT'S IMPORTANT TO ADD AT THIS POINT WHAT LUKE SAYS IN HIS PARALLEL COMPARISON TEXT TO OURS IN LUKE 22.

1. FOR IN LUKE 22:31&32, LUKE SAYS: "SIMON, SIMON, BEHOLD, SATAN HAS DEMANDED PERMISSION TO SIFT YOU LIKE WHEAT; BUT I HAVE PRAYED FOR YOU, THAT YOUR FAITH MAY NOT FAIL, AND YOU, WHEN ONCE YOU HAVE TURNED AGAIN, STRENGTHEN YOUR BROTHERS."

* NOW ALTHOUGH THIS ADDRESS BY JESUS IS DIRECTED RIGHT AT PETER, THE "YOU" IN THIS VERSE IS PLURAL, INDICATING THAT THE WARNING EXTENDED TO THE OTHER DISCIPLES AS WELL.

** SO IN REALITY ALL THE DISCIPLES WOULD BE SO SEVERELY TEMPTED BY SATAN THAT IT WOULD SEEM AS IF THEY WERE BEING SHAKEN VIOLENTLY LIKE A TRAY OF WHEAT IN THE HARVESTER'S HAND.

*** BUT JESUS SAID, I HAVE PRAYED FOR YOU THAT YOUR FAITH WOULD NOT FAIL; AND YOU, SINGULAR, PETER, WHEN YOU HAVE TURNED AGAIN, STRENGTHEN YOUR BROTHERS.

**** AND THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS SATAN SOUGHT OPPORTUNITY TO ATTACK THE DISCIPLES, BUT THE LORD REASONED PETER OF HIS INTERCESSION, WHICH WE SEE HERE AND IN JOHN 17, THAT PETER WOULD STRENGTHEN THE OTHERS.

2. AND OUR LORD IS GREATER THAN SATAN, AND PETER AND THE DISCIPLES WILL STUMBLE BUT THEY WILL NOT FALL AWAY FROM THE FAITH, BUT JESUS KEEPS THEM, AS HE DOES WITH ALL OF HIS OWN, I PETER 1:4&5 AND II TIMOTHY 4:18.

* AND IN JOHN 17, AT THE END OF THE UPPER ROOM DISCOURSE AND BEFORE HE GOES TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES AND THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE, RIGHT BEFORE THE TIME TALKED ABOUT HERE IN MATTHEW 26:34, JESUS PRAYED FOR HIS OWN.

** AND JOHN 17:11&12 AND V. 15 SAYS: "AND I AM NO MORE IN THE WORLD; AND YET THEY THEMSELVES ARE IN THE WORLD, AND I COME TO THEE. HOLY FATHER, KEEP THEM IN THY NAME, THE NAME WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME, THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, EVEN AS WE ARE."

V. 12 - "WHILE I WAS WITH THEM, I WAS KEEPING THEM IN THY NAME WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME; AND I GUARDED THEM, AND NOT ONE OF THEM PERISHED BUT THE SON OF PERDITION, THAT THE SCRIPTURE MIGHT BE FULFILLED."

V. 15 - "I DO NOT ASK THEE TO TAKE THEM OUT OF THE WORLD, BUT TO KEEP THEM FROM THE EVIL ONE."

*** NOW LET ME ASK YOU A QUESTION, DOES THE FATHER ANSWER THE PRAYER OF HIS SON?

**** WELL, THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS, FOR THE SON ALWAYS PRAYED IN THE WILL OF THE FATHER. AND GET THIS, JESUS WOULD NOT ONLY KEEP AND PROTECT HIS OWN FROM SATAN SIFTING THEM LIKE WHEAT, BUT ALSO JESUS PRAYED FOR US.

3. FOR IN JOHN 17:20, JESUS PRAYED FOR US ALSO, FOR IT SAYS: "I DO NOT ASK IN BEHALF OF THESE ALONE, BUT FOR THOSE ALSO WHO BELIEVE IN ME THROUGH THEIR WORD."

* AND BELOVED TRUE SAINTS ARE PRESERVED AND ALWAYS PERSEVERE THROUGH THE PRAYER AND POWER OF CHRIST AND HE HOLDS ON TO US AND NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM HIS LOVE, PRAISE GOD.

** READ JOHN 10:27-30 AND ROMANS 8:1, 8:31-33, 35-39.

*** AND BELOVED AS WE GO BACK TO MATTHEW 26:34, PETER WILL DENY THE LORD 3 TIMES, AND WE HAVE DENIED OUR LORD, MOST OF US MORE THAN 3 TIMES, BUT WE OVERCOME THROUGH OUR RISEN CHRIST AND HIS POWER. **** WHICH LEADS US TO OUR 4TH AND LAST POINT TODAY, THE PERSISTENCE OF PETER. LOOK AT V. 35 PLEASE.

IV. THE PERSISTENCE, (READ V. 35)

A. NOW PETER HERE IS SINCERELY PERSISTENT, EVEN TO THE POINT OF SAYING, LORD, "EVEN IF I HAVE TO DIE WITH YOU, I WILL NOT DENY YOU."

* AND I BELIEVE PETER. I BELIEVE HE MEANT IT, AGAIN HE WAS NOT LYING. BUT HE DID NOT SEE HIS OWN WEAKNESS, THE WEAKNESS OF THE FLESH.

** AND IN STUBBORN PRIDE, PETER WILL TAKE ANOTHER STEP DOWN THAT WILL LEAD TO HIS DENIAL OF CHRIST 3 TIMES.

*** PETER DISAGREES WITH HIS LORD HERE AND HIS ASSESSMENT OF WHAT HE WILL DO, CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT?

**** PETER DIRECTLY AND CONFIDENTLY DENIED THE VERY WORDS OF HIS LORD. HE DISAGREED WITH GOD. WOW!

1. BUT NOT ONLY DOES PETER DISAGREE WITH HIS LORD, BUT SO ALSO DO THE OTHER DISCIPLES.

* FOR THEY PIPE IN HERE ALSO. MATTHEW WRITES: "ALL THE DISCIPLES SAID THE SAME THING."

** AND SOMETIMES WE FORGET ABOUT THAT IN OUR CHASTISING OF PETER. BUT IN REALITY ALL OF THEM SAID, THEY WOULD NOT DENY JESUS.

*** BUT ALL OF THEM WOULD, FOR ALL OF THEM FORSOOK JESUS AND FLED WHEN IT CAME DOWN TO CRUNCH TIME.

AND IN APPLICATION AND WRAP UP OF OUR TEXT TODAY (1) LET ME SAY, LIKE THE DISCIPLES, WE ONLY PARADE OUR IGNORANCE WHEN WE CLAIM TO BE WISE, COURAGEOUS AND SELF-SUFFICIENT.

* AND OFTEN, AS WITH THE DISCIPLES, THE LORD ALLOWS US TO LEARN THE HARD WAY THAT WE ARE WEAK WITHOUT HIM.

** MAY WE BE REMINDED OF THAT IN A CLEAR WAY TODAY.

*** AND MAY WE BE REMINDED THAT THESE 11 MEN WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT INCLUDING PETER, WERE DIFFERENT MEN AFTER PENTECOST.

**** FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT WOULD COME UPON THEM AND EMPOWER THEM TO BE BOLD AND DO GREAT THINGS FOR OUR LORD.

(2) AND MY POINT IS, ALL OF US HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT AS BELIEVERS NOW, OUR NEED IS TO YIELD TO HIM, WALK IN THE SPIRIT, TO BE FILLED AND LED AND CONTROLLED BY HIM.

* AND THROUGH HIM, WE WILL BE BOLD AND NOT DENY OUR LORD, READ ACTS 4:31.

** AND MAY WE BE REMINDED TODAY THAT A KEY IN BEING BOLD FOR OUR LORD IS TO BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.

*** AND WHEN WE ARE, WE WILL NOT ONLY BE BOLD, BUT HUMBLE AND MEEK, WE WILL HAVE PROPER PERSPECTIVE. OH MAY WE YIELD TO THE SPIRIT'S WILL TODAY OVER OURS, AND BE BOLD FOR JESUS AND NOT COWARDS.

**** BUT FINALLY, IF YOU ARE HERE TODAY WITHOUT THE SAVIOR, LET ME SAY IT IS DIFFICULT TO GET SELF-SUFFICIENT PEOPLE TO SEE THEIR NEED OF CHRIST AND COME TO HIM.

(3) AND THAT'S WHY CHRISTIANITY IS MOST OFTEN, NOT ALWAYS, BUT MOST OFTEN FOR THOSE WHO ARE WEAK, AND NOT SELF-SUFFICIENT, BUT WHO SEE THEIR NEED, TURN FROM SIN TO TOTALLY TRUST JESUS.

* AND IF YOU ARE NOT IN CHRIST TODAY, YOU NEED TO BECOME ONE OF THESE PEOPLE. IF YOU DO, YOU WILL CEASE TO TRUST IN YOURSELF AND TURN TO JESUS AND CRY OUT TO HIM TO RESCUE YOU.

** AND HE WILL. DON'T ALLOW PRIDE AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS TO BLIND YOU. REPENT AND TURN TO CHRIST TODAY. (LET'S PRAY)