20 March 2005

How to Escape Enslaving Sins pt.13     
  
“Recovering from Failure”

Summary: Peter’s model recovery: He remembered Christ’s words, repented, returned to fellowship, resisted Satan’s effort to destroy him, and devoted himself to ministry.

Review
Part 1 of this class was on how to put yourself in a position of strength in the war.

Your environment: (get help from people, God and circumstances) 
Step 1: Exposure 
Step 2: Power 
Step 3: Amputation

Your heart (weaken the enemy’s grip on your heart)
Step 4: Depose the Idols
Step 5: Diminish the flesh (starvation & beating)
Step 6: Demolish the lies

Follow a Strategy
Step 7: Vows

Part 2 of the class was about how to win the individual battles with temptation. We looked at Jesus’ example in Jn.4.

1.	Never let your guard down.
2.	Realize that God is sovereign over temptation 
3. Be careful little feet where you go
4. Beware of times of physical weakness.
5. Trust God’s Word.
6. Watch out for disguised temptations 
7. Take advantage of all the suffering in your life.
8. When you are fighting one temptation successfully, watch out for the opposite extreme.
9. Watch out for Scripture twisting
10. Be careful little eyes where you look.
11. Watch out for sinful means to good ends
12. Make skilled use of God’s Word.
                                                                                             
I didn’t realize until this week that there is a part 3 for this class. Learning how to gain a position of strength is a good thing. And learning how to be skillful in the heat of the battle itself is also crucial. But neither of those are enough. There is one more very important thing we need to learn: How to recover from failure. No matter how strong you get in the warfare with the 7 steps, and no matter how good you get at implementing the 12 principles on resisting temptation from Mt.4, and no matter how much Scripture you memorize – even if you memorize the entire Bible—I promise you, you will lose many, many battles. That’s the way this warfare goes. In 
1 John 1 the Apostle John writes to people who, he says, are strong and who have overcome the evil one (2:12-14). And to those people he says, 
1 John 1:8,10 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
In other words, even when you reach the point of what John calls spiritual manhood, and you are strong, and you have overcome the evil one--even at that point in your life, if you claim you are no longer losing battles, you just lost one. As we grow spiritually and as we implement the principles we’ve learned in this class and other Biblical principles, we will find ourselves winning more and more battles, and that’s very important to do. But no matter how many you win, Scripture promises us that this side of heaven we will continually suffer losses. And for that reason, one of the most important things you can learn about the Christian life is how to recover from failure. Not very many things will be more practical for us than that, because let’s face it – we spend most of our lives either failing or recovering from failure.
I can tell you in my life I spend a whole lot more time recovering from failure than I do celebrating victories. And when it comes to enslaving sins, this is especially crucial information. The most debilitating thing about an enslaving sin is the repeated failures. They are so frequent, and so numerous, that we easily believe the lie that we can’t escape. And once we fall for that lie, we’re finished. 
What do you do when you have started lying to your accountability partner, pretending to be exposed when really your life is hidden and private, and you are falling to temptation as frequently as ever. What now? And this isn’t just an issue that goes with enslaving sins. It’s a problem for all of us. As we found in last week’s sermon – Satan’s favorite time to try to destroy you is after a failure. It’s when you’re down that he really goes after you. That’s when his attacks are the fiercest, because he knows there is a good chance you won’t even defend yourself. You are so ashamed, and so angry with yourself, you feel you deserved to be punished, and so when the attack comes you don’t even resist. So what does God’s Word say about how to recover from failure? The greatest recovery from failure that I know of is Peter’s recovery from his denial of Christ.

Peter’s Recovery

The Failure: 
This failure came at a moment when Peter was incredibly vulnerable. Things with Jesus’ trial were becoming extremely violent.

Matt 26:67-75 Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him 68 and said, "Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?" 

It’s hard to imagine how intimidating that would be. As a side note, isn’t it interesting that when they mocked Jesus as being unable to prophesy, that very mockery caused one of Jesus’ prophesies to be fulfilled – the prophesy that Peter would deny Him.

69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. "You also were with Jesus of Galilee," she said. 70 But he denied it before them all. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said. 

When Peter had earlier boasted about the fact that he would never deny Christ, he was probably thinking he would never deny him before an angry mob, or in a court of law. But as it turned out, he did it before a servant girl. Maybe Peter thought of this slave girl as such a non-entity that a denial before her wasn’t really a denial. And he didn’t really deny Christ explicitly. He didn’t say, “I deny Jesus.” It’s not like he cursed the Lord or anything. All he did was say to some servant girl, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Maybe he figured, “I really don’t know for sure exactly what she is referring to.” The point is, Peter probably thought he did great at Jesus arrest against a huge threat. He showed incredible courage, and attacked the entire Roman cohort. But Satan doesn’t come after him here on the big scale. He comes on the small scale. He just wants the tiniest breach in the dam. He just wants to begin to crack the door to denying Christ open. Because Satan knows two things: 1) It’s much easier to get you to rationalize something really small than something big. If you are on your guard against a sin, Satan will tempt you with something that’s only half way to that sin. 2) Once he can get a tiny crack in the dam, it will be 100 times easier to get you to fall to the next step. Once his foot is in the door, that’s all he needs. From there he just tells you, “Look, you’ve already blown it – you might as well do it all the way.”

71 Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him (Luke says this was about an hour later) and said to the people there, "This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth." 72 He denied it again, with an oath: "I don't know the man!" 

Now he did deny Christ explicitly. And by the way, how many times did Jesus say Peter would deny him? Three. That first one counted as a denial. What Satan tells us are half way sins are not half anything – any sin is a full sin. And once the dam is breached, it’s only a matter of time before all the water breaks through. 

73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away." 

Notice here they say “them.” The third denial was a denial that he was part of the group of Jesus’ followers. From that we learn that denying association with the Church is equivalent to denying Christ Himself. 

74 Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!" 

He was saying things like, “May God send my soul to hell if I’m lying.” Peter has descended into full-blown atheism at this point. There is zero indication that he believes there is even a God at this moment, otherwise he would never call on God to curse him if he’s lying, because he knew he was lying. And it was at that moment that the rooster crowed. Peter may have rationalized his sin, coming up with some kind of reasoning that made it so it wasn’t really a denial of Christ in his mind, but the rooster crowed anyway. There was no denying it. This is an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, a much higher position than a deacon or a pastor; this is a world-wide, church-wide, Church history-wide leadership role. And Peter wasn’t just an Apostle; he was the leader of the Apostles. He had made a vow to Christ that he would never deny Him. This is a massive fall. For years now the Lord has poured Himself into Peter, teaching him, training him, doing everything possible to get him ready for this time when Jesus would be gone… And now Peter has publicly denied Christ. This rock – the one who was given the keys to the Kingdom – not only has he publicly denied Christ--not only did it happen--but Matthew, Mark, Luke and John ALL included it in their Gospels. That’s worse than getting caught on tape. For the rest of human history, when people tell the greatest story ever told, when the Gospel is preached throughout the world--the story about how Christ was persecuted and rejected--Peter was now part of that story. When the story was told everywhere about the bitter rejection of Christ by humanity and the horrible betrayal by His friends, each horrific detail of Peter’s fall would be included. People would read about it in the same book that they would read Jesus words when He first commissioned the Apostles: Matt 10:33 whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. 
I believe at this point Peter has hit bottom. Some people might say, “No, he goes farther down than this – in the next verse he goes out and weeps bitterly. Surely that’s when he hits bottom.” I don’t think so. I think that’s when he’s on his way back up. You hit bottom when you are freely sinning without any restraint or any thought about repentance. That’s as bad as it gets. Peter’s weeping afterward was part of his restoration process. Let’s follow the steps of Peter’s restoration and see what we can learn.

Peter’s restoration:

…Immediately a rooster crowed. 
Luke says that at this moment The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. The first step in restoration is being confronted by the Lord against whom we are sinning. For Peter it meant actually seeing His face. For us it happens through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God – sometimes with the help of other people. Something needs to happen to jog our memory about what God’s Word says. 
75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly. 

That is the appropriate response to sin – sorrow. And the clearer your understanding of the sin is, the deeper the sorrow. Sorrow is the beginning point of repentance.

2 Cor 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance 

So sorrow is the appropriate emotional response to sin. If your response to your sin is anger (at yourself), or irritation, or nothing at all, or anything but sorrow, something is wrong. When that happens we should seek to better understand our sin, so we can have that sorrow that will lead to repentance. That can be done by spending time in the Word studying what Scripture says about sin. It can also be done through fasting. But one way or another we want to bring about the kind of sorrow that leads to repentance. When Peter was out there weeping bitterly, would it have been appropriate for someone to come out and try to cheer him up? Or get him to stop crying? I don’t think so. Let godly sorrow do its work. Let it drive you to repentance. But don’t let Satan use that sorrow to destroy you. 
The next time we see Peter after this event you know what he’s doing? Running. And do you know where he was? With the others. I think both of those are significant. When you have a big fall, Satan will try to use that to drive you into depression, isolation and paralysis. I’m sure when Peter went out to go weep bitterly, Satan was right there with him screaming in his ear to do the same thing Judas did. “Just kill yourself Peter. Think about what you’ve done. Your life is over. What could you possibly accomplish that would be worthwhile now? What do you have to live for? Do you think anyone is going to want to hear you preach now? Do you really think you will be able to be a witness to Jesus – the one you just publicly denied? No one is going to listen to you. No one is going to follow you. In fact, all those who remained faithful to Jesus are going to hate you. You’ve blown it Peter. It’s over for you. Just do everyone a favor and end it.” You know how hard thoughts like that are to fight against when you’ve fallen like Peter fell? But he did. Instead of isolating himself, he goes right back into fellowship. And instead of sinking into paralyzing depression, when the news comes about the empty tomb, and everyone else just remains in their seats in total unbelief, it’s only Peter and John who go to the tomb. And they don’t go moseying out there dragging their feet. It’s a sprint. 
Later Jesus appeared to the Apostles, and had breakfast with them. John 21:15-21 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter , "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" And Peter replied, “Lord, I’m so ashamed – I can’t have this conversation” and walked away. No, that’s not what happed. Is that what would have happened if it had been you? Jesus is giving Peter a chance to publicly affirm his love for the Lord, and Peter accepts that opportunity. 
"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."  16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."  17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. 
Three times Peter denied Christ. Three times Jesus gives Him the opportunity to declare his love for Him. And three times Jesus commissions Peter to ministry. Not only has Jesus forgiven Peter, He restored him to usefulness. And all the time Satan was screaming in Peter’s ear, “No – you’re not worthy!” But Peter listened to Jesus, not Satan.
Before any of this happened Jesus had already told Peter what he was to do after his fall.
Luke 22:31-32 "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, go around giving your testimony about how you fell. No, that’s not what it says. It says, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."  The term turned back refers to repentance. Jesus was letting Peter know that he was indeed going to fall. And he gave him two clear instructions about what to do after his fall: 1.repent and 2. serve in ministry (particularly ministry to the fallen).
Jesus told him to strengthen your brothers and feed my sheep. Did you know that 
1 Peter is an epistle written to suffering Christians? Is there anyone in this room who hasn’t been comforted and fed by 1 & 2 Peter? Jesus told him to strengthen and feed his brothers, and Peter strengthened and fed every believer from that time all the way to the Second Coming. Did Peter learn his lesson with that fall, so he would never fall again? Did that teach him how to fight against Satan so he would never fall into sin again? Hardly. In Galatians 2 Paul has to rebuke him to his face because he’s reverting once again to cowardice. If you think you’ve fallen for the last time, you’re kidding yourself – I don’t care what lesson you learned. The flesh is not irradiated by learning lessons. There are plenty of falls left ahead of you and me – some of them big. But when we repent, God wants to restore us. Ps 145:14 The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. Never behave as though you serve a God who doesn’t want to restore the fallen. 
This week I heard John Piper tell the story of one time when Martin Luther was depressed, and his wife went into the bedroom and changed into all black clothes, like she would wear to a funeral.
“What are you doing?”
“I thought I should put on mourning clothes, because God is dead.” 
“What do you mean? God’s not dead. He’s reigning on His throne!” 
“Then why are you behaving as though He is dead?” 
God has not died just because you stumbled. He’s alive and well and powerful enough to restore you and willing to restore you.

Pr.24:16 for though a righteous man falls seven times , he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity. 

That proverb is not talking directly about sin. It’s talking about adversity and calamity. However it can be applied to sin, because when a righteous man falls into sin it is a calamity. If you’ve already fallen 7 times today, don’t give up. Don’t let Satan use that to bring you down. Don’t grow weary in doing good. Don’t tire and faint and quit. Persevere! Don’t be brought down by calamity – not even the calamity of your own sin. Think about it – if your sin was such a bad thing, does it make sense to sin again by becoming discouraged and disheartened? Jesus didn’t tell Peter, “Satan is going to sift you as wheat, so after you repent, take 5 years off of ministry.” He said, “When you have repented, get up and get busy in ministry.” That’s the proper response to failure.

Ps 37:23-24 If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; 24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. 

Think about that phrase, though he stumble, he will not fall. There is a difference between stumbling and falling. In the terms of Ps.37, Peter stumbled; Judas fell. Satan’s goal is to turn your stumbling into a fall by convincing you not to get up again. When you fail to get up again – that turns your stumbling into a fall. That’s how God described Israel’s apostasy.

Jer 8:4-5 "'When men fall down, do they not get up? When a man turns away, does he not return? 5 Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. 

If you have turned away, return. If you have stumbled, get up. Don’t turn it into a fall. “What if I’ve disqualified myself from my ministry?” Suppose I disqualified myself from being a pastor by pursuing some sin. Does that mean I can’t follow the instruction Jesus gave Peter? Not at all. It’s possible to be disqualified from pastoral ministry, but it’s not possible for a Christian to be disqualified from all ministry. It’s never possible to be disqualified from strengthening your brothers.

What to do with anger at self

You might be thinking, “When I fail, I get so angry at myself. What am I supposed to do with that?” Getting angry at yourself is not a godly thing to do. Scripture never tells us to do that. When you get angry at yourself, usually that anger comes from realizing that you are a worse sinner than you thought. And when there is pride in the heart, any realization of sinfulness causes anger. What should it cause instead? Humility. Let your failures make you more humble. Let your failures make you more patient with other people and their failures. Let your failures make you more compassionate and understanding. And if you feel yourself moving toward self anger instead of humility, you need to repent of the pride in your heart. Have you noticed that Peter never punished himself for what he did? He never expressed any anger at himself. After his restoration, as far as we know, he never even mentioned it. Instead he boldly carried out the ministry the Lord gave him, and humbly served his brothers. If you are one who struggles with recovering from failure, a good passage to memorize is Mic 7:8-9 Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. 9 Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the LORD's wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness. 
God doesn’t want you to wallow in self-deprecation. Is there a time for humble sorrow? Yes. Anger at self and self-loathing? No. But humble sorrow? Yes, for a time. But once that has fulfilled its purpose, God’s design is always for you to be restored. And after someone is restored, there should be no stigma. When the unrepentant sinner in Corinth finally repented, Paul wrote to them and said, 2 Cor 2:7-9 Now you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow . 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 
It doesn’t matter what the sin is – once it’s clear that the person has repented, and has asked everyone involved for forgiveness, there is not to be any ongoing stigma of any kind. That’s an area where the church has often failed – especially with sins like divorce or sexual immorality. Once there is full repentance there is to be full forgiveness, and after that the sin is a thing of the past. And we are not to allow our thoughts to dwell on it, and neither should the person. Once you repent your sin is in the past. It’s gone. It was buried with Christ in the tomb, and there is no lingering shame. Have you fallen? Seven times? Get up. Instead of wallowing in guilt, acknowledge the Lord’s forgiveness and strengthen your brothers.