Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19970427.htm

MATTHEW: JESUS AS ISRAEL'S MESSIAH AND HIS MESSIANIC KINGDOM
Part XII: The Postponement Of Messiah's Kingdom
C. The Passion Of The Messiah
2. Discerning The Steps Toward Spiritual Defeat To Sustain Spiritual Victory
(Matthew 26:31-75)
  1. Introduction
    1. Scholars have often told us that "Rome wasn't built in a day!" indicating that great movements don't occur in giant strides, but are often the product of tiny, methodical steps.
    2. Spiritual defeat and spiritual victory more than often come in groups of tiny, methodical steps as well.
    3. Matthew 26:31-75 details Peter's slow, methodical slippage away from spiritual victory to his weeping bitterly at denying Christ as prophesied. We can study it to discover where he failed, and how he got there as a checklist on spirit ually sustaining a victorious spiritual walk with the Lord opposite that failure:
  2. Discerning The Steps Toward Spiritual Defeat To Sustain Spiritual Victory, Matthew 26:31-75.
    1. When Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him three times before the cock crowed, Peter strongly denied he would thus fail Jesus, claiming he would rather die with him than deny the Lord, Mtt. 26:31-35.
    2. However, before the night was done, Peter was heaving sobs at having denied His Lord, Mtt. 26:74-75.
    3. To discern how Peter got from his claim of dying with the Lord before denying Him to actually denying Him and weeping bitterly, all within a single night, we examine events of that night to see the methodical, almost imperceptible steps toward that defeat as follows:
      1. Peter began the night by showing great self confidence in his commitment to Christ, stating that he would die rather than deny the Lord, Mtt. 26:33-35. He simply refused to believe Christ's prediction that he would deny the Lord befor e the cock crowed he was so self-confident, Mtt. 26:31-32, 34-35.
      2. Due to this self-confidence, when Jesus ordered him in Gethsemane to watch for Satanic temptation and pray to ward it off, Peter did not sense his need of intercession, and repeatedly fell asleep instead of watching and praying for his vulnerability to failure, Mtt. 26:40-41, 43 -44; Mk. 14:37-40.
      3. Thus, when Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, self-confident Peter was so outraged, he drew a sword and attacked, cutting off the ear of the high priest's servant, Mtt. 26:43-47 with Jn. 18:10. Jesus had to correct Peter's self-help effort, telling him to put up his sword so He could face the cup of suffering of the cross, Jn. 18:11. He also healed the injured man's ear, cf. Lk. 22:51.
      4. Stunned by Jesus' resignation to be taken captive due to his orientation to self-help confidence, Peter didn't know how to respond to the pressure of the arrest, and so he fled to save his life, 26:52-53, 56b.
      5. However, Peter apparently rationalized that he had not really forsaken Jesus, but was still following, only at a self-preserving, safe distance: accordingly, from a ways back, he followed the arresting party to where Jesus would be tried and stayed in the safe background, Mtt. 26:27-28.
      6. In this location, keeping a self-preserving, self-help distance, a damsel recognized Peter as having been a follower of Jesus: being in a self-preserving, self-help mode, to save his hide further, Peter denied, saying he did not know what the girl was saying, Mtt. 26:70.
      7. When he went out to get away from the pressure, and another maid there claimed he had been with Jesus, Peter continued his self-help preservation effort, denying Christ by use of God's name, 26:71f.
      8. Finally, a group of people came by, claiming that Peter's Galilean speech revealed he was a follower of the Galilean, Jesus, Mtt. 26:73. Already entrenched in his self-help, self-preservation mode, as this charge was more threatening, Peter used a divine curse with God's name to deny he knew Jesus, 26:74.
      9. Of course, at this point, the cock crowed and Peter remembered Jesus' words, and wept in failure, v. 75.
Lesson: Taking a lesson from Peter's failure, we conclude that spiritual victory is maintained by (a) starting with a lack of confidence in our own personal spiritual prowess (b) so that we watch for temptation and pray for help when it comes. (c) Then we will not react to temptation by sinfully either attacking or fleeing on our own judgment in unbelief when the Devil craftily tries to get us away from STANDING in God's will, Ep. 6:13. (d) Then we will learn to wait upon God for help and not try our own moves toward self-preservation that can cause us terribly to SIN in the process, Mtt. 27-28, 70-75.