Truth For Life

Bob Lepine: Human pride can be deadly dangerous even for long-standing believers. Today on Truth for Life Weekend, we'll learn how quickly seemingly solid faith can become shaky. Alistair Begg looks at how Jesus dealt with his faltering disciples and how he continues to do the same for believers today. Let's look at our Bibles at Luke chapter 22.

Alistair Begg: "Is it the one who is waited on or the one who waits who is the greatest?" He asks the question. And the answer is the rhetorical question. The answer is the person who gets waited on is greater. He's paying the tip. He's paying the bill. The waiter is the waiter. Jesus says, "I am among you as the waiter."

Or let's contemporize it, at least for some. You're watching the Memorial Tournament down in Columbus. Who is the greatest? The one who plays or the one who caddies? Clearly the one who plays. He gets to choose his own clothes. Nobody tells him, "You have to wear this" or "You have to wear that." He may have to wear a pin, but he likes to wear a pin because it says status, "I can get in here."

But the caddies, because I traveled with a caddy this week at the Memorial Tournament, one of my friends. And when we got off the bus and we went into the bag room, the clothes that he'd been wearing, his Adidas tracksuit, came off and he put on a white jumpsuit. I said, "Andrew, you just look like everybody else."

He said, "That's the plan." He loses his identity in servanthood. And everywhere he goes, any status he has emerges as a result of the fact that he carries. He doesn't play. He rakes. He doesn't chip it out of the sand. Jesus says, "I am among you as the one who carries. I am among you as the one who rakes. I am among you as the one wearing the white jumpsuit."

It is the kings of the Gentiles who act in this way. Now, for those of you who are internalizing this and getting yourself on a dreadful guilt trip because you make quarterly returns and you're prosperous, let me point this out to you. This is not some kind of socialism on the part of Jesus. It is not "Up the workers and up the caddies" and "rah-rah" for whatever it is.

What Jesus is saying is this: that if you find yourself in a position of authority, if you find yourself in a position of leadership, if you find yourself with the privileges of benefaction that legitimate your existence, if you have been entrusted with resources, if you have been granted significance, then it is absolutely crucial that in your heart of hearts, somewhere in the core of your being, when people commend you and grant you adulation and open doors for you, that before God in the silence of your own room, you know that the greatest significance that you have is as a result of the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ and that the foot of the cross is absolutely level and that there is no greater privilege than the privilege of serving.

What a dispute. "I'm going to the cross now. What are you talking about, fellows?" "Oh, we were just having a little discussion. Nothing much." The next word is denial. We probably won't get much further than denial. It gets worse, doesn't it? Verse 31. Incidentally, I am not deliberately jumping the conferring of the kingdom. What Jesus is simply pointing out is, don't focus on these earthly kingdoms.

Just recognize that the kingdom that I'm conferring on you works on a different principle. Let your focus be on a kingdom that is eternal. "Simon, Simon." Now, that must have reverberated in Simon's mind because, after all, when he had been called as a disciple, Jesus had given him a new name. His name Simon means "shaky," Mr. Shaky.

And Jesus calls him and says, "Hey, Shaky, I want you to follow me. And from now on, I have a name for you. You will be known as the Rock." Can you imagine Peter saying, "That's nice. I like that, the Rock." And here, in the way in which a mother sometimes using the middle name of a child arrests their attention—"Jonathan William!" "Yes, Mom"—"Simon, Simon."

What is Jesus doing? He's simply pointing out to him that he is once again very shaky. In fact, underneath his new name, there is still a very shaky individual. And with justification, he reminds Peter of his frailty. He tells him expressly what's going on. Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. Not Peter expressly, but the disciples as a group.

How do we know that? We know that because the "you" is plural, it's not singular. Satan has asked to sift you plural. He's going to tumble you all up and down, the whole disciples' group. It's not that Peter is isolated in terms of the approach of the evil one. Incidentally and in passing, the evil one has no free and unlimited right of access to the believer.

People ask me this all the time. "Do you think I'm overwhelmed by Satan? Do you think I'm dominated by demons?" My answer is absolutely no. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Satan has no access to you. He has no free, unlimited approach. He cannot knock your door and invade your house. The only way he may do so is if he gets permission first of all from God Himself.

If you doubt that, go back and read the Book of Job and pay careful attention to what the approach is here. "Hey, Simon, you need to know that Satan has asked if he can sift you and your colleagues as wheat." He requires permission. God grants permission sometimes, and He does so within certain boundaries.

You think about it in relationship to the Puritan quote that I just gave you as I just think about it myself. The Puritan said, "God suffers us to be. God allows us to be confronted by A and B and C." In other words, God allows these temptations to come at us. The request has come: "I want to have a go at your boys."

And Jesus says, "That's okay. Go right ahead. But I have prayed for you." He moves from the plural to the singular. "I have prayed for you. I've prayed for you expressly, Peter. And my prayer has been this: that your faith may not fail. And I want to say to you, when you've turned back, I want you to strengthen your brothers."

What a wonderful statement, isn't it? "I have prayed for you." Think about what it means when somebody says to you that they've prayed for you or that they are praying for you. They call you on the phone and say, "I prayed for you this week," or "I'm going to pray for you in light of what you're facing." It means a great deal, and so it should.

And Jesus looks Peter in the eyes, and He says that the evil one has plans to disrupt you as a group. "I want you to know, Peter, that I have prayed expressly for you." The ministry of Christ in part for the believer today remains a ministry of intercession. Read the Book of Hebrews and be encouraged by it.

Remind yourself of some of the songs we sing: "Jesus is King and I will extol Him." And that wonderful line or two where it says, "And we have a priest who's there interceding, pouring His grace on our lives day by day." This immense thought that Jesus, the second person of the Godhead, is before the Father in heaven, and He bears your name to the Father, and He says, "You know, Miriam is facing this, Father, and I am asking you today. Tom is going through this. Amy is overwhelmed by this."

"These dear ones are consumed by these things. And Father, I'm speaking to you on their behalf. I'm pleading their case." Sometimes when you find yourself overwhelmed, remember that. Intercessor, friend of sinners, Earth's Redeemer, plead for me. And the assignment is clear: "When you have turned back..." and what an encouragement there must have been in that.

"When you've turned back, I want you to strengthen your brothers. Strengthen your brothers." In other words, when you get yourself back on an even keel, Peter, what I want you to do is to strengthen others who are not on an even keel. Have you been restored at some point in your life?

Some declension you found yourself in Bypass Meadow, to use Pilgrim's Progress, or you fought a royal battle with Apollyon and lost? Or you ended up in Doubting Castle? Or your feet were filthy from the Slough of Despond and you thought you'd never get out? And somehow or another, the Lord Jesus came and He picked you up and He set you on a rock and He established your going?

Would you realize what He wants you to do? He wants you now to comfort others with the comfort that you've received. He wants you now to strengthen others whose hold is shaky. He wants you to get alongside people who find themselves in Bypass Meadow and say, "You know what? I was there. I want you to know that it is possible to get out of there. I've been in Doubting Castle. I can tell you, I thought that I would never see the light of day again."

"But let me tell you the scriptures that helped me. Let me tell you the way that the worship of God's people constrained me," whatever it is. "Once you have been turned back, once you have been strengthened, then now you go ahead, Peter, and you strengthen these other guys. They're going to need you, Peter."

Now, you would expect maybe just a chance that Peter would say, "Oh, thank you, Jesus. Thank you so much. I mean, I'm disappointed to hear the news, but thank you for the promise that You're going to bring me through." But no, look what he does. "Well, Jesus, thank you for mentioning this, but I just need You to know that I'm ready to go with You to prison and to death."

Now, don't let's be too hard on him. Presumably, he felt that he was. He felt that he was. "I know these other fellows. I'm not sure I can bank for them, Jesus, but me, it's Rocky. I'm your man. I know You call me Shaky. I know You were just trying to get my attention, but I'm not shaky anymore. I'm Rocky! Adrian! I'm Rocky! We can do this, Jesus. Don't waste a moment's thought on this, Jesus."

I love him for this. I really do. I'm glad he did this. Because if he got it right at this point, then I wouldn't have anybody to go to every time I was impulsive and impetuous and made these great declarations of faith and then hit the wall at 140 miles an hour. Think about last Sunday when God spoke into your heart and you said, "This is the Sunday. I'm ready now. I'm going out of here. I'm going to serve You. I can go to prison for You, die for You."

And you hadn't got to the end of Pettybone Road, and that had gone flying out the back window. You said, "Where do I get all these hellish thoughts in my mind? We just had the benediction. I was going to be the start of the rest of my life." And I haven't got to the corner, and I said, "What is that jerk doing there? What is she doing? What is oh, man, is this place what in the..."

I don't mean to be so autobiographical, but the fact of the matter is that now what do you do there in that situation? What does Jesus come and do? Does Jesus come and say, "No, no, no. That's okay. No, your thoughts are great. They're great thoughts. No, the first three are discounted. You've got three freebies; they don't count. It's only once you get to four and on. And four, five, and six, I've heard them so many times, I'm not even paying attention to them anymore."

"But let's talk about seven, eight, and nine. That took it to a new level." No, He doesn't do that at all. He says, "You know what? That is exactly the way you are. And that is exactly why I died for you. And that is exactly why you need to trust in Me. And that is exactly why you need to remember that I am there interceding for you. Because you are chaos on two legs. You are a sinner. You are a wanderer. You are impulsive and at times repulsive."

"But I love you. I died for you. You're my girl. You're my man. This is grace, you see. Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let this grace, Lord, like a fetter bind my wandering soul to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Take my heart, oh take and seal it. Seal it in Thy courts above." This is the great truth.

Now, the problem with Peter, and with this I probably need to close—which is always an encouragement—but the problem here with Peter was not a lack of self-esteem, was it? He would have found it very funny to read most of the contemporary literature on the reason you're messed up is because you don't think enough about yourself. No, the problem was that Peter was unwilling to face up to what he really was.

He was unwilling to recognize that he could become so unfaithful. He had developed a sense of self-reliance that was dangerous. It's always dangerous. In the service of Christ, self-reliance is bogus. Self-reliance doesn't count as a plus; it counts as a negative. Do you see how different this is from the framework of the thinking of the time and how different it is from the framework of our thinking today?

What Peter needed to do was face up to what he was really like. But he couldn't see himself. Have you seen yourself? No. I have never seen myself. Mercifully. I've seen myself in a mirror, but I never saw myself self. I saw a reflection of myself. You can never really see your profile. Your mother asks you, "Do you hear yourself?" But you never really hear yourself.

So Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, thinking about this says, "Wad tae God the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us." It would be painful, but it would be helpful, wouldn't it? To face up to what we really are in the cold light of dawn and in the searchlight of scripture. And Peter couldn't see himself. He was blindsided by his view of himself, and his view of himself was over-emphasized.

"Hey, Shaky." "I'm not shaky. You gave me a name. I'm Rocky." "Oh, Peter. I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you've known Me." What's with the rooster? Isn't it interesting? You look at that and you say, why do we have to of all things, why do we have to say the rooster?

Well, of course, He didn't say, "Before your alarm clock goes off." But essentially what He's saying is, before your alarm clock goes off, you'll deny Me three times. In other words, Peter, I know you're making this great affirmation of faith, but your hold on Me is so shallow that before the day is out, you will deny Me three times. And I want you to know that it's before the rooster crows because when the rooster goes, you'll remember this.

And I think that's the second reason He mentions the rooster. Because if you look forward, when Peter has denied Jesus and then he replies, "I don't know what you're talking about," and just as he was speaking the cock crowed. And the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today you will disown Me three times." And he went outside and he wept bitterly.

Jesus ties his denial to the rooster because with the crowing of the rooster, He will ring the bell of Peter's conscience. He'll ring the bell of Peter's conscience. That in itself is an act of grace. "I'm going to give you an alarm clock, Peter. And when the thing goes off, you'll remember what I told you today."

Now, I have to resist the temptation. I can hear Dick Lucas, my dear mentor, in the back of my head saying, "Come now, dear brother, don't do this." And the average preacher's going to ask you about the roosters in your life. We can't go there. We're not doing that.

But think about it. Isn't it an act of God's grace that He rings the bell of our conscience? However He uses, whatever He uses—headlights on the driveway, the telephone ringing, the word of our mother, the recollection of a poem—whatever it is, bam, rings the bell, arrests us, says, "Come on now, that's far enough. Don't go any further. And when you get back on an even keel, strengthen all those other guys. They need you." What a wonderful Jesus.

Now I'm going to go and die. Well, I'm not washing the feet. He says to them in the middle of all this, He says, "You are the ones who have stood with Me in My trials. You are the ones who have stood with Me in My trials." That sounds like a commendation, doesn't it? That sounds like an "attaboy." You think how we would operate with a group like this.

"You know what? I don't need you guys. I can make stones sing. I can get children for Abraham from anywhere. I'm frankly sick to death of a whole lot of you. One in particular. The other eleven of you are useless. I've done My best with you. I've poured My life out for you. I'm about to die for you. Get out of here!" That would have been understandable, wouldn't it? "We're going to have to get a new team. This group is no good. Faltering, stumbling, bumbling bunch of rascals."

And He says, "Guys, come here. You're the ones who stood with Me in My trial." "No, we're the ones who are arguing." "Don't worry about the arguing just now. You're the ones who stood with Me." "No, we're the ones who are arguing." "No, you're the ones who stood with Me." See what grace does? See why we have to be gracious with people? See why your marriage is all messed up because you won't be gracious?

"Well, I'll never forget." I understand. But if you want to be gracious. Do you want to be gracious? The kings of the Gentiles operate on a different basis. You must not be like that. I am among you as the one who rakes the traps, carries the bag, wears the jumpsuit. Go out and do the same thing. It's a revolutionary message, isn't it? And without His empowering grace, it's a chronicle of despair. We'll come back to this.

Bob Lepine: You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend with Alistair Begg. Easter is just a few weeks away, and it's important for us to reflect on the reality of the cross as we think about the details surrounding this remarkable event. We renew our worship and our sense of awe and wonder about the gospel.

And now you can take an inside look at the unique experience of the thief on the cross in Alistair's reading plan titled "The Man on the Middle Cross." Over the course of seven days, you'll receive a series of brief emails in which Alistair explores the brokenness of our world and explains why the only real solution is found in the sacrifice of an innocent man, Jesus, the Son of God. It's free to sign up for these emails. Go to truthforlife.org/readingplans.

And while you're on our website, be sure to check out the book we're currently recommending. It's called *Praying the Bible*. If you sometimes struggle with prayer, this book will teach you how to use scripture to prompt your communication with God. It offers a biblical, practical approach that'll help you overcome repetitive prayers or a wandering mind. Find out more about the book *Praying the Bible* when you visit our website at truthforlife.org. Now, here's Alistair to close today's program.

Alistair Begg: Father, thank You so much for the Bible. Thank You for Jesus and for the clarity with which He speaks. Grant that all that is of Yourself may resonate in our hearts and minds, and that which is untrue or unwise or unhelpful, we ask for grace to forget it.

We pray that the love of Jesus may draw us afresh to Him, that the joy of Jesus may fill our hearts and banish everything else that fights for control, and that the peace of Jesus may guard and keep our minds. And may grace, mercy, and peace from Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest upon and remain with each one today and forevermore. Amen.

Bob Lepine: I'm Bob Lepine. Thanks for listening. Would you want to know if trouble lay ahead, or would you rather remain ignorant until it happens? Next weekend, we'll find out why Jesus warned His disciples about the dark days that were coming. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the learning is for living.