Live Free with Josh Howerton - Prideful Promises | Ep. 293 | Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

The disciples were distraught when Jesus revealed He was going where they could not follow. Peter pridefully promised that he would remain by Jesus' side no matter what. Jesus knew the weakness in Peter’s heart and prophesied Peter’s denial. Yet nothing would take Jesus’ love away from Peter, and nothing can take it away from you. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the podcast. My name is Mike, and we are currently walking through the gospel of John looking at the life of Jesus. And we are in chapter 13. The scene is Jesus and the guys are in a borrowed upstairs room eating together. Judas has just left to go do what he had planned in his heart to do. No one really knows just what he's up to. They soon will. But Jesus knows. And Jesus still eats with him, even washes his feet, lets him sit at the place of honor. But when Judas, Jesus, he's goes out into the dark, it kind of begins the countdown clock for the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus begins to offer kind of an end-of-life final words, kind of speech to them. Again, they have no

clue, but he does. And if you have a Bible that's got like the red letters, which are the actual words of Jesus, you will see how there are pretty much nothing but red letters for the next four chapters. Jesus had a lot he wanted to say. He had a lot he wanted to leave them with. And I would encourage you to read them for yourself and see what Jesus might be trying to say to you through all of it. Well, we left off last episode with Jesus telling them to love as they had seen him love, that love would be their mark of discipleship, that the world would take notice of their love and then know that they got that from him. Then foreshadowing the events that were about to unfold, Jesus tells them that he's leaving and they can't go with him. Well, they're a bit confused.

and it's Peter, of course it's Peter, who speaks up and asks, Lord, where are you going? And Jesus replied, you can't go with me now, but you will follow me later. And Peter says, well, why can I come now, Lord? I am ready to die for you. Jesus answered, die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me. You know, I think the toughest failures to get over are the ones we privately declare would never happen to us. That's why this verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 has been such a good reminder to me.

It says this, don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. If you think you're so strong that you could never fall, you would never blow it, you would never break your marriage vows, you would never make a shady business deal, you would never disappoint your kids. You would never, ever lie to your parents and cover your tracks.

You would never turn your back on a friend. You would never take a spiritual nosedive. It's saying you are naive. And in your prideful self-confidence, you are actually in more danger than those who actually believe that all of this is possible. You know, that's what makes the Titanic, one of the most famous failures in history. The visionaries, creators, engineers,

this incredibly luxury liner were certain that this was one ship that would never sink. Its 26,000-ton hole was believed to be indestructible. As it left port for its faithful voyage, a passenger, Mrs. Albert Caldwell, Ask a deckhand,

is this ship really unsinkable? The crew member replied, Lady, God himself could not sink this ship. So no one could have imagined, the nightmare, when on its maiden voyage this unsinkable ship plunged to the bottom of the North Atlantic at 2.20 a.m. on April 15th, 1912, taking over 1,500 passengers and crew to their death.

The most staggering failures in life are the ones you thought would never happen to the unsinkable you. And when they do, you're left to wonder if you will ever resurface again. That's how we find Peter after the crucifixion of Jesus. If you don't mind, we're going to fast forward. a bit and skip over to John chapter 21, where we find Peter on a boat. Now it's not a luxury liner in the North Atlantic, just a small fishing boat on the sea of Tiberius, and the boat itself is very, very stable. He's the one that's not. He's sinking, drowning in the sea of regret, probably playing that night over and over in his mind asking himself, how could I have done that?

Some of you know the story. After Peter makes this boast about being strong and dependable, courageous, and loyal, unsinkable in his devotion for Jesus, I will die for you before I would ever disown you. On this very night, Jesus is arrested and led away to stand trial before the high priest, Caiaphas. Peter follows from a distance and sits down to warm himself around a fire there in Caiaphas' courtyard. He's in a crowd of people, but he's trying to lay low. and three times people identify him and say, hey, I know you.

I recognize you. You're one of his followers. And Peter says, there's no way. I've never seen this guy in my life. Another person says, no, I'm certain. I've seen you with him. I just saw you with him in the marketplace the other day. Peter says, I'm telling you, I don't know the man.

And another person says, yeah, yeah, you're one of them. Your Galilean accent gives you completely away. And Peter begins to curse and swear. And he says, I don't know. the man in a rooster crows. Luke chapter 22 tells us that Jesus turned

and looked at Peter. Imagine what that scene must have been like. Peter runs away, collapses in a pile of shame and cries his heart out. The once proud, indestructible Peter is a failure, no longer bold, no longer committed, no longer courage,

it's not even remotely close to being an I will die for you kind of friend. And I'm guessing. as he floats in that little fishing boat, every time he closes his eyes, he sees that moment standing around that fire, looking through the smoke into the eyes of his best friend Jesus. He feels so worthless, feels forever trash, cannot get it out of his mind. He's thinking if I can only do it over. As he floats there on the water of regret, he's just about to the bottom. Can you relate? I think every one of us have floated in a boat called failure. Some of you may be

riding in it right now and you feel sunk, deflated, ashamed, embarrassed, and you're wondering if you'll ever resurface again? You're thinking, man, I've ruined everything. I've destroyed my relationship with my spouse. I've gambled away my savings. My addictions have cost me my career. My kids may never speak to me again. My folks will never trust me now. I've betrayed my best friend. I've really broken God's heart. How in the world could I ever resurface from my failures and find renewed hope and purpose. Is there a way to rise above my embarrassment and my regret and my remorse, my guilt, my shame? What I like to tell you there is. And I want to spend just a few episodes looking at this experience of Peter. I think there are at least three things that he does right. The same

things for anyone who needs to resurface. So come back tomorrow and we'll start unpacking that. And spoiler alert, there is hope for every failure. See you back tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash Daily Drive.