Well, it seems like we've been stalled in
Mark 13 and 14 for a month, which
is sort of the truth.
But now we're moving on.
This week, the final week in March 13th
and 14th, and then next week we will
finish the book of Mark as we are
moving through the New Testament in our journey
through the Bible.
But this morning, we'd like to draw your
attention to Mark chapter 14, beginning with verse
33.
This is telling about when Jesus came into
the garden of Gethsemane.
We read that he had set his disciples
in one area, but he brought Peter, James,
and John a little closer.
And we read that he began to be
deeply distressed and troubled.
He said to them, my soul is overwhelmed
with sorrow even to death.
Wait here and pray.
And Jesus went a little further.
He fell on the ground and he prayed
that if it were possible that the hour
might pass from him.
He prayed, Father, all things are possible with
you.
Take away this cup from me.
Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you
will.
And Jesus came and he found the disciples
sleeping.
And he said to Peter, Simon, are you
asleep?
Could you not watch for one hour?
Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh
is weak.
Sleeping when he should be praying.
It is one of the steps in Peter's
path to failure.
When the moment of truth came, he found
himself swearing and cursing, declaring that he never
knew Jesus and denied that he was his
disciple.
Falling into sin is usually a part of
a process.
A person doesn't go to bed at night
and say, I think I will backslide tomorrow.
Walk away from the Lord.
It's usually a slow, imperceptible process.
The book of Hebrews said, take the more
earnest heed to the things that we have
heard, lest at any time we should let
them slip away or we should drift away
from them.
James wrote, let no man when he is
tempted say, God tempted me.
For God cannot be tempted with evil and
neither does he tempt any man.
But every man is tempted when he is
drawn away by his own lust and enticed.
Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth
sin and sin when it is finished brings
death.
But we see that there are steps.
A man is drawn away by his own
lust and enticed.
When lusts are conceived, they bring forth sin.
Sin when it is finished brings death.
It begins in your mind, the lust of
your flesh.
Maybe as a fellow you see an attractive
girl and you think, wow, she's beautiful.
I would love to go to bed with
her.
That is lust.
It leads to seeking to entice her, taking
active steps to get acquainted, inviting her to
have a cup of coffee with you.
And lust is conceived and it begins to
grow inside of you until you find yourself
in bed and that is sin and it
brings death.
It begins with a fantasy.
It moves to actuality but it ends in
death.
Interesting how that so often we see a
person that we are attracted to.
There's something about them that is attractive.
Maybe a pretty face, maybe a beautiful voice
and we're attracted.
And we begin to fantasize.
That's where lust begins to be conceived as
we begin to fantasize concerning that person.
We remember in the Old Testament the story
of one of David's sons who felt that
he was in love with his sister and
how that he was just sick.
Could hardly do anything, he was so obsessed
with her.
And of course, he then then through his
subterfuge forced himself upon her, raped her.
But as soon as he had raped her,
the intensity of the love that he had
felt turned into a hatred of equal proportions,
ordered her out.
And what happens is that so often when
we see this tremendous reversal from what is
a great obsession and love turning into a
hatred is that you have seen something in
that person that you admire but then you
began to fantasize.
And you began to imagine this is the
perfect person, this is the one that God
created for me and all, you know, and
heavens and all and this kind of stuff.
And you begin to fantasize.
And you fall in love with your fantasy.
You don't really fall in love with the
person, you don't really know them.
But you fall in love with your fantasy.
And then when you really get to know
that person, you really get to know them,
you think, they deceived me.
You know, and you get angry with them
because, you know, you thought they were the
perfect person but they deceived you, that's what
they did.
Young people so often go through that experience
of, you know, fantasizing.
And, you know, they're talking about some boy
or some girl and, you know, there's just
dreamy and stars in their eyes and a
few weeks later you say, well, how's John
doing?
Oh, that crumb, I can't say, don't even
mention his name, you know.
You know, and they've come to realize that
he wasn't the dream man that they had
fantasized him to be.
And that's so common.
And so this is the way, however, the
progression towards failure, the path to failure, the
fantasizing and then turning the fantasy into reality
but discovering the reality isn't at all what
you thought it was going to be.
Know this, reality can never live up to
your fantasy.
That's why reality is usually disappointing because it
can never live up to the fantasy that
you had.
Now, as we look at this story in
Mark concerning Peter and Peter's steps to the
failure, the denying of his Lord, we see
that it was in steps, progressing.
First of all, we find him boasting at
the dinner, boasting in himself.
When Jesus said, all of you are going
to be offended tonight because of me, Peter
said, though they may be offended with you,
I will never be offended, boasting in himself,
I will never be offended.
What a dangerous thing it is to trust
in our flesh.
In a short while, when they're in the
garden, Jesus is going to warn Peter, the
flesh is weak.
That is not true just of Peter, it's
true of all of us.
Our flesh is weak.
Paul wrote to the Philippians that we have
no confidence in our flesh.
Again, Paul wrote, I know that in me
that is in my flesh there dwells no
good thing.
Jesus told his disciples, apart from me, you
can do nothing.
Isn't it interesting how that, as with Peter,
we so often try to disprove the statement
of Jesus, and we think, I'll show you
I can do something, and we have confidence
in our flesh, but that is a step
towards failure.
Jesus said, before the rooster crows twice, you
will have denied me three times.
Peter objected vehemently.
He said, Lord, I would never deny you.
I will die for you.
Peter is arguing with Jesus.
Now, that's again a step downward.
Watch out that business of arguing with Jesus.
Know this, if ever you find yourself in
an argument with Jesus, you're wrong.
He's always right.
And here he is arguing with Jesus.
But the next step towards failure is found
in verse 37 of this chapter.
When Jesus had placed him there in the
garden and told him to watch and pray,
as he came back, and Peter was fast
asleep, Jesus said, Peter, are you sleeping?
Sleeping when he should be praying.
That is a step towards failure.
I think of that song, Oh, what needless
pain we bear, all because we do not
carry everything to God in prayer.
Jesus told us that we should pray, that
we should pray, lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Prayer so often is the deciding factor in
the spiritual warfare in which we're involved.
And Satan knows this.
And that is why Satan fights so hard
to keep you from prayer.
Isn't it interesting how that when you get
down to pray, there can be so many
distractions.
Whenever I get down to pray, I always
remember all of the things that I had
forgotten to do.
So I've learned to take a notepad with
me rather than getting up and doing them.
I'll jot down so that I can do
them later.
But it's interesting how that when I get
down to pray, I'm sure or in the
office, someone comes in and as I'm praying
with them, the phone will always ring.
It's like there's a connection between prayer and
the phone and it'll always ring when we're
praying.
Satan will do anything and almost everything to
keep you from prayer.
Why?
Because it's the deciding factor in the spiritual
battle.
If you were walking down a dark alley
and someone jumped you and you began to
fight with them.
And as you were fighting, they would pull
a knife.
Suddenly the whole attention in that struggle would
be upon the knife and the control of
the knife.
Because you know that the knife could be
the deciding factor in this battle that you're
in.
Prayer is the deciding factor in this battle
that we have with Satan and that is
why he fights so hard to keep you
from prayer.
Even to make you drowsy as with Peter.
Peter are you asleep?
Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.
Someone has said that the lack of prayer
for one week will make one weak.
You have to think that one through.
Jesus had warned, watch and pray lest you
enter into temptation.
I think of how many victories are wrought
through prayer.
We're involved in a spiritual warfare.
Paul tells us that the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal but they are mighty
through God by which we can pull down
the strongholds of the enemy.
One of the most powerful weapons in our
arsenal is the weapon of prayer.
Spiritual battles are won in prayer.
It is the power by which we can
bind the strong man of the house.
Once he is bound, spoiling his house is
only a matter of mopping up as we
take the victory.
Paul, when he talked about our spiritual warfare
to the Ephesians, after he had gotten them
all equipped in their armor, he then said,
praying with all prayer and supplication.
Going now into the battle, you're all decked
out with your weapons, with your sword of
the Spirit, with the helmet of salvation, with
the breastplate of righteousness.
You're all ready to go.
Then he says, praying with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, let your request be
made known unto God.
Because it is a spiritual battle, we need
to take advantage of our spiritual weapons.
The third step towards Peter's failure found in
verse 54.
We read that as they led Jesus away
from the garden to the house of Caiaphas
the high priest, we read there, and Peter
followed him afar off, even into the palace
of the high priest.
There is always danger in trying to follow
the Lord afar off.
It seems like there are always those who
seem to try to find how close they
can live to the world and still be
a Christian.
And they're always looking for that fine line.
As a Christian, can I do this?
Or as a Christian, and how close can
I live to the world and still maintain
my walk with Jesus?
I think that it's much better, rather than
to try to find how close I can
live to the world and still walk with
Jesus, is to ask, how close can I
walk with Jesus?
Trying to find the line that would delineate
between being in or out is not a
healthy thing.
You're trying to follow Jesus afar off.
I do not believe that the Lord has
any covert spies that are living in the
enemy's camp and are still loyal to him.
The Bible plainly tells us in 2nd Corinthians
6 17, come out from among them, be
separate, saith the Lord.
Do not touch the unclean thing, and I
will receive you, and I will be a
father unto you, and you will be my
sons and daughters.
He's calling us out of the world.
The Bible warns us in 1st John 2
15, love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world.
For he that hath the love of the
world in his heart, hath not the love
of the Father.
Jesus said, you are the light of the
world.
And he said, you don't take the light
and hide it under a bushel basket.
You put it on the candlestick that it
might give light to all in the house.
You can't be a secret Christian.
Many people endeavor to do that.
It just doesn't work.
So trying to follow Jesus afar off inevitably
leads to denying him.
But the final step to Peter's failure, we
find also there in verse 54, where we
are told, and he sat with the servants
and warmed himself at the fire.
Finding warmth at the fire of the enemy.
When you can find warmth at the enemy's
fire, you're in serious spiritual condition.
If you can find entertainment in a movie
that is filled with immoral activities and cursing
and swearing, and if you can enjoy seeing
that portrayed, you're in serious spiritual trouble.
You're finding warmth at the enemy's fire.
And the next step is that of failure
and defeat.
If you can enjoy a night spent in
a club where there's drinking, dancing, socializing, you're
in a dangerous spiritual state.
There are places where you as a child
of God have no place being, and especially
trying to find warmth there.
Because it will lead you to denying the
Lord.
Do you find yourself finding warmth in worldly
things?
If so, you're in real danger.
You're about to fall.
If he were truly the Lord of your
life, you wouldn't be doing the things that
you are doing.
You can deny Jesus in actions as well
as words.
And so many people deny him in their
actions rather than in words.
But Jesus said, if you deny me before
my father, or beg your pardon, if you
deny me before men, I will deny you
before my father in the presence of his
angels.
You can't have it both ways.
You can't deny Jesus before men and expect
Jesus to confess you as one of his
before the father in that day.
So from this text, we learn these lessons.
Beware of boasting in yourself of what you
are or what you will or won't do.
Beware when you find yourself arguing with Jesus.
Beware when you begin to neglect your prayer
life.
Beware when you are seeking to follow the
Lord afar off.
And beware if you can find warmth at
the enemy's fire.
Lest that day would come when you find
yourself swearing and cursing and denying that you
ever knew the Lord.
Paths that lead to failure.
May God keep us from them.
Father, we thank you this day for the
privilege of walking close to you.
And for the strength and the help that
you give to those who acknowledge and recognize
their weakness.
Lord, we realize that there are those today
that have been drifting away.
Their prayer life is almost gone.
They're becoming more and more involved in the
things of this world.
Enamored by them, finding warmth in them.
The Lord helped them to realize that this
is the path to failure.
And Lord, draw them again back to a
full commitment of their lives to Jesus Christ.
In his name we pray, amen.