Pathway to Victory

David J. Mullins: Hey podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today’s podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a non-profit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God’s word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to PTV.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes. Now, here’s today’s podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I’m glad to study God’s word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today’s edition of Pathway to Victory, the psalmist said, "Sorrow endures the night." Perhaps you’ve experienced that yourself. You know what it’s like to go through a difficult night that seems like it would never end. Today, we’re going to look at the longest night in Jesus' entire life.

David J. Mullins: Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Nobody’s perfect; that’s the truth. And people in our lives will inevitably disappoint us. But perhaps the deepest hurt of all comes when we’re betrayed or abandoned by someone we trust. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explores how we should respond when someone we love wounds us deeply. But first, let’s take a moment to hear some important ministry updates.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. I’ve set aside all other topics this week in order to concentrate fully on our resurrected Lord. What could possibly be more important? Easter Sunday is coming. But before we start today’s message, did you hear that Pathway to Victory is hosting a seven-day cruise to God’s creative masterpiece?

We’re sailing to Alaska, June 13th through 20th, 2026, and I’d love for you to join us. Picture yourself surrounded by fellow believers as we witness towering glaciers, majestic wildlife, and pristine wilderness that will absolutely take your breath away. We’ll enjoy luxurious accommodations while experiencing meaningful Christian fellowship, uplifting worship, and inspiring Bible study, all against the backdrop of Alaska’s stunning beauty. Time is running out to make your arrangements, so don’t let this incredible opportunity sail away without you aboard. All the details are at PTV.org.

Well, the recent events in the Middle East have only magnified the evil that exists in our world. No question that we are living in treacherous days. But despite the darkness, nothing can eclipse Easter morning when Jesus conquered the grave and rose to life. And because he lives today, we have no reason to fear. This is the urgent message we proclaim every single day on Pathway to Victory.

I want to thank anyone who supports this non-profit ministry because your generosity allows us to boldly share the good news about Easter. Thanks so much. Just after today’s study, I’m going to describe a book I’ve written for you. But right now, let’s turn our attention to Luke chapter 22. I titled today’s message, "The Longest Night."

Today we’re going to look at the longest night in Jesus' entire life. A night in which he experienced temptation, betrayal by somebody close to him, and the abandonment by everyone he trusted in. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Luke chapter 22 as we talk about Jesus' longest night.

Look at verse 39. And he came out, that is of the upper room, and proceeded as was his custom to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed him. And when Jesus arrived at the place, he said to them, "Pray that you might not enter into temptation." And he withdrew from them, that is the disciples, about a stone’s throw, and he knelt down and began to pray.

He fell down on his face and began to pray saying, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as thou wilt." Let this cup pass from me. What did he mean by that? I think he was asking God to exempt him from the physical suffering of the cross and the spiritual suffering of the cross.

You see, Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully man. And it was only natural that he would ask for another way to accomplish the Father’s will. And that’s why he said, "Father, if you can find another way for me to accomplish your mission." Notice verse 43 and verse 44. Now an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. And being in agony, he was praying very fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground.

I don’t understand it. It’s a theological conundrum to me. Jesus the Son and God the Father are one. "I and the Father are one." And yet that night in the garden, there is a struggle between the will of the Son and the will of the Father. I don’t understand it, but I know this: when you and I struggle with doing God’s will, God understands that because he’s experienced it.

Jesus went through a real struggle in the garden that night in doing the will of God. "Not my will, Father, but your will be done." Jesus struggled with that, but God’s will ultimately won. And when Jesus settled that matter in his own heart, he got up with confidence to face the cross. And that set up the stage for the greatest betrayal he would ever experience.

Look at verse 47 of Luke 22. While Jesus was still speaking, behold a multitude came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them. And he approached Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" Verse 49, and when those who were around Jesus saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?"

Well, there was one over-zealous apostle who didn’t wait for the answer. Look at verse 50. And a certain one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. That certain one, John 18 tells us, was Peter. Don’t you love Peter? I mean, he was ready to do whatever it took to stand with the Lord, at least at this point. So he took the sword and he wasn’t aiming for the ear, trust me. Nobody would aim for the ear. He was aiming for the throat, and this slave probably ducked and ended up losing an ear. The slave was a slave of the high priest, Malchus.

Now, to see what Jesus’ response to that was, hold your place here and turn over to the parallel passage, Matthew 26:52-56. Then Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword." Now, don’t read into that more than ought to be read into it. "Those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword."

What Jesus is simply saying here is you’re not going to advance the kingdom of God by physical force. There is no justification for a Christian jihad, okay? There are other faiths that say we’re going to use the power of the sword to convert people to our way of thinking; not Christianity. It is the power of the Holy Spirit of God that changes people’s lives, not physical force.

He’s simply saying, "My purpose is not going to be fulfilled through the use of the sword." He goes on to say, "For do you not think that I could appeal to my Father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?" But then he goes on to say, "But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen this way?" Jesus said, "Peter, put the sword away. This is part of God’s plan for my life."

That’s what Jesus was saying. And then notice how Matthew 26 verse 56 ends. Then all the disciples left him and fled. It wasn’t just Judas who betrayed him; all the disciples left him and fled. And in that word "all" was included one man that you would least expect to turn his back and run. His name was Peter. And Peter, in a few hours' time, would deny the Lord not once, twice, but three times.

Turn back to Luke 22 for just a moment. Remember just a few hours earlier in the upper room, Peter had made this bold declaration. He said in verse 33, "Lord, with you I am ready to go to prison and to death." And Jesus said, "I say to you, Peter, the cock will not crow today until you have denied me three times. You’ll deny three times that you even know me."

Now, he made that prediction in the upper room. Just an hour or so later in the Garden of Gethsemane, what happened? Peter took the sword and cut that guy’s ear off. And you were tempted to think, well, maybe Jesus was wrong about this. Maybe Peter was going to be the rock man that Jesus said he was. But the rock man turned to jelly very quickly.

Notice verse 54 of Luke 22. And having arrested Jesus, they led him away and brought him to the house of the high priest. But Peter was following at a distance. There’s a whole sermon in that phrase: Peter was following at a distance. There are a lot of followers of Christ today who profess they’re going to do great things for God. But when the heat starts to be turned up on them for following Jesus, they drop back a little bit.

There’s a distance between them and the Lord until they see how this is all really going to pan out. That was Peter as he began to see everything taking place. He drops back. He’s still curious, but he drops back. Now, where did they take Jesus from the garden? To the house of the high priest. And Jesus begins at about 1:00 in the morning a series of six trials before he was crucified eight hours later at 9:00 AM.

They brought him for the first trial to the high priest's home. Now the high priest was named Caiaphas. Caiaphas had been preceded, the former high priest was named Annas. And it was Caiaphas' father-in-law who was the high priest before, Annas. And so when they went to the home of the high priest, many of us have been there. That home is a palatial home, and it was probably a place where both Annas, the father-in-law, the High Priest Emeritus, and Caiaphas lived.

Their quarters were separated by a courtyard. Now, Luke doesn’t record the first trial of Jesus, which was before the father-in-law, Annas. It was a very brief interchange. Luke picks up with the trial before Caiaphas. Now, Peter was with the others out in the courtyard of that high priest's home where he could hear everything that was taking place. Now, notice the three denials that would take place within these two hours.

Verse 55: And after they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them. And a certain servant girl seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, "This man was with him, Jesus, too." But he denied it saying, "Woman, I do not know him." The first denial.

The second denial, an hour or so later perhaps, verse 58: And a little later another saw him and said, "You are one of them too." But Peter said, "Man, I am not." Notice here, Peter’s not only denying that he knew Jesus; he was denying the disciples as well, that he was part of them. He said, "I’m not a part of that group whatsoever."

And then the third denial, perhaps 30 minutes or so later in verse 59. Somebody else fixes their gaze on Peter and insisted, "Certainly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean too." Remember, Galileans lived in the north. Jesus was from Galilee. They’re now in Southern Israel, in Judea. And somebody around that fire says, "Look at him. He’s from Galilee. He must be with Jesus."

Now, how did he know that Peter was from Galilee simply by looking at him? When we were on vacation a couple of weeks ago, we were a long way from Dallas. And one morning I got up and went to the coffee bar to order some coffee. I asked for my coffee latte, and the girl looked up and smiled and said, "How long have you lived in Texas?"

I didn’t tell her I was from Texas. Didn’t have to; the accent gave me away. And it was the same thing with Peter. The Galileans had a certain accent. Those in the south knew exactly where he was from. And so how did he respond to that? Matthew’s account says he began to curse and swear. Now, I’ve read that for years, and you have too.

And I bet you’ve had the same thought I did. You probably think that means that Peter responded by just letting out a string of expletives, cursing and swearing. Oh, I mean, he was a rough, rugged fisherman; that’d be a normal response. But that’s not what the text means when it says that he cursed and swore. No, he’s talking about the fact that he made an oath to God, calling down a curse upon himself if he was lying.

Basically, what it says is Peter said, "I am not one of his. If I’m one of his followers, may God strike me dead," the ultimate curse. That’s what it means that he was cursing and swearing. He was swearing an oath, "May God strike me dead. May God send me to hell if I am not telling the truth that I don’t know who he is." That’s what you call the ultimate denial.

Verse 60 says before those words had left Peter’s mouth, the rooster crowed, just as the Lord had predicted. And the Lord, who was apparently close by, turned around and simply stared at Peter. And those eyes of Jesus, those eyes that Revelation 1 describes as like fire, those eyes of Jesus burned into Peter’s heart. And Peter immediately remembered the Lord’s prediction, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."

Verse 62 says, "And Peter went out, and he wept bitterly, continually." What a night it had been for the Lord. In just a few hours, an intense temptation to disobey God, the betrayal by somebody close to him, the abandonment of everyone close to him, including Peter. Obviously, these events are important because they were the preamble to the crucifixion that we’ll look at next time.

But in these final moments we have today, I want to point out just three simple principles from this passage that I hope will be an encouragement to you when you face temptation, betrayal, abandonment of those close to you. Number one, write this down: don’t be surprised when people disappoint you. Don’t be surprised when people disappoint you.

You know, Judas’ betrayal could have been written off as simply an anomaly. I mean, Judas, I mean, he was not a Christian to begin with, okay? We’ll give him some slack. But then for all of the disciples to abandon him, and then for Peter, the one Jesus had handpicked to be the leader, that was a hard thing to take. But Jesus never wavered in his faith because his faith was not in people. His ultimate faith was in God, and ours should be as well. Don’t put your hope in other people. You’re going to be disappointed.

Principle number two: strengthen your relationship with God before the battle begins. Strengthen your relationship with God before the battle begins. You know, the baseball player who waits until the World Series to learn how to swing a bat, the soldier who waits until the bullets are flying overhead until he learns how to load a gun—those men have waited too long. No, the time to prepare is before the contest begins, not in the middle of the contest.

Let me press that illustration just a little bit further. I was reading yesterday in Dallas Willard’s book, "The Spirit of the Disciplines." This baseball illustration—by the way, it’s a great book on discipleship, "The Spirit of the Disciplines." But Dallas Willard says just imagine a teenager who wants to be a star baseball player. So he thinks to himself, "How do I become a superb baseball player? Well, I’ll watch and emulate the actions of good baseball players."

So he watches his favorite baseball player. He looks at how he swings the bat. He looks at how he slides into home base. And he thinks, "I’ll just duplicate that when I’m up to bat and when I’m running around the base." So at next Saturday’s game, he tries to swing just like his model does. He tries to slide into home like his model player did. Is he successful? No, no.

You can’t imitate what somebody else does and be successful by what they do during the game. You see, what he fails to understand is the reason that star player plays the way he does is because of the hours he spent away from the game training—hours and hours and hours of preparation, disciplines he goes through, saying no to certain privileges in his life so that he becomes a prime athlete. No, the key to success in the game is what you do in preparation away from the game.

You know, so many times we hear it said, "Well, if you want to be a good Christian and succeed in temptation and testing in your life, ask yourself what would Jesus do? Try to be like Jesus. Try to do what he did when he was in the garden or when he was in the wilderness with Satan." If you just try to do what Jesus did when he was in the heat of the battle, you’re not going to succeed.

You see, the secret to Jesus’ success is what he did in the hours when he wasn’t being tried and tempted. For example, the Bible says he went to the garden of Gethsemane as was his custom. This wasn’t the first time he had been to the garden to pray. Prayer was an integral part of his life. Mark 1 tells us that Jesus got up as a habit in the early morning while it was still dark to go out and pray.

He was used to doing that. We saw in Luke’s gospel, Jesus went to the synagogue as was his custom. Every week he was in God’s house to be strengthened. If Jesus needed that, how much more do we need that? It’s the disciplines Jesus had outside of the game and the battle that made him successful when temptation and testing came. If you want to be successful like Jesus was, it means preparing yourself.

Thirdly, failure is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be final. Failure’s inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be final. Listen to this. Judas failed; the Bible says he went out and he hanged himself. And he spent eternity separated from God in hell. Peter also failed in just as serious of a way, denying that he knew the Lord, asking God to strike him dead if he was lying.

His denial was just as serious, but Peter confessed his failure. He found God’s forgiveness and received it. And within seven weeks, he was standing on those southern steps of the temple in Jerusalem and he preached the most courageous sermon that’s ever been preached at Pentecost, and 3000 people were converted. And from that moment on, he spent his life following Jesus Christ regardless of the cross.

And at the end of his life, he was crucified upside down. Tradition says he was crucified upside down because he did not feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as the Lord Jesus himself. You and I are going to fail, and we’re going to fail miserably at some point in our life. But you can choose how to respond to that failure. You can be like Judas and allow that failure to drive you away from God and be the final word of your life, or like Peter, you can confess your failure, find Christ’s forgiveness and receive it, and allow your failure to drive you into the arms of the God who loves you.

Whenever Jesus encountered someone who was lost, his teaching always led to a moment of decision. It was impossible to meet Jesus without responding with either yes or no. My prayer is that you decide as Peter did, to follow Jesus, no matter the cost. As we wrap up today’s program, I’d like to share a very personal word with you who support Pathway to Victory with generous gifts.

My role could be very lonely, were it not for people like you who support us. As your radio pastor, Bible teacher, and friend, I want you to sense my heartfelt gratitude for your financial support. And right now, I’m feeling an extra measure of urgency. Never before in my ministry have I sensed the heaviness, the depravity of our generation. And never before have I felt more compelled to present the power of the cross.

Truly, our resurrected Lord is our only hope. Would you be willing to stand with me today? Your generous gift to Pathway to Victory will make all the difference. Maybe it’s been a long time since you’ve sent a gift. Perhaps you’ve never done so. Now’s the time to come alongside Pathway to Victory so that we can tell the world about the hope of Easter.

When you do, I’m prepared to send my book called "The Divine Defense." Thank you for joining with me in ministry by giving generously. Now, here’s David with all the details.

David J. Mullins: When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we’ll say thanks by sending you Dr. Jeffress' best-selling book, "The Divine Defense." As an added bonus, we’ll also send you the "Equipped for Battle" brochure. To request your copy, call 866-999-2965 or visit online at PTV.org. You could also make your donation by texting PTV to 78800. And when you invest in this ministry with a gift of $100 or more, you’ll also receive "The Divine Defense" teaching series on audio and video disc, the companion study guide, and an illustrated book for children titled "Suit Up for Kids."

This beautiful book teaches children that God has given them everything they need to win their battles. To make your request, call 866-999-2965 or visit PTV.org. You could write to us if you’d like: PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that’s PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I’m David J. Mullins. Jesus was a perfect, sinless man, yet died at the hands of those he came to save as a condemned criminal. Join Dr. Jeffress as he walks us through the six trials of Jesus leading up to his crucifixion. That’s Friday on Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today’s podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we’re so glad you’re here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a pathway partner, go to PTV.org/donate, or you can follow the link in our show notes.

We hope you’ve been blessed by today’s podcast from Pathway to Victory. Oh, and one last thing before we go: have you reserved your spot yet for the 2026 Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska? You’ve been hearing me and Dr. Jeffress mention it, so what are you waiting for? Just picture yourself on the deck of Holland America’s elegant Koningsdam and stepping out on deck to witness nature’s grandeur. It’s beautiful. These moments in God’s creation will deepen your faith in powerful ways; it really will. Experience five-star dining, luxurious staterooms, and visiting iconic ports like Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. We’re also bringing along our own Christian entertainment; you’ll love it. Seats are filling up, so book your spot today at PTV.org.