In this sermon, Scott Brown discusses the passage from Matthew 26, where Jesus predicts that all his disciples will stumble and that Peter will deny him three times. The sermon explores the themes of human weakness, divine sovereignty, and help from heaven. It highlights the lesson in human weakness, showing how the disciples, despite witnessing Jesus's miracles and teachings, fell into fear and denial. The sermon also emphasizes the sovereign will of God, explaining that the disciples' stumbling was part of God's plan, fulfilling prophecy and allowing Satan to sift them. Despite their failures, Jesus provides hope and restoration, praying for their faith and ensuring their eventual return and strengthening. The sermon underscores the importance of recognizing our own weaknesses, relying on divine help, and the continuous process of sanctification.

Matthew chapter 26, verse 35. Then Jesus says to them, All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for there is waiting. I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have racing, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered and said to him, even If all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble.

Jesus says to him, Surely I say to you that this night before the rusted scourge, you will be made to die three times. Peter says to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And so say all the disciples. Let's pray. Our Here we come humbly before you this morning and ask you for your mercy, asking for your grace to receive your word.

Please speak us through your word, through your truth. Use Mr. Brown to speak us. Pour your Holy Spirit into him and open our hearts to hear your message. Open our eyes to see you and give us grace for receive.

Change our heart, renew our minds and thank you because you died on the cross for us. Everything is about you. There's nothing we can do in our own strength. We deny you many times, in many ways, when we have no faith, when we don't obey you. Give us your power to give to you glory.

We put all this service in your hands and we're waiting on you, Heavenly Father. Thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen. It was almost exactly two years ago when we started our study in the book of Matthew, February 27, 2011. And so here we are, two years later, we're almost finished with the Gospel of Matthew, the longest, most complete, most systematic, most detailed account of the life of Jesus.

It's a book so full of wonder and beauty on every page, the superiority of Jesus Christ, the goodness of his kingdom. And it's really a sounding of a trumpet after 400 years of silence, no prophet spoke. This is the breaking of the silence from the intertestamental period. And so Matthew is a hinge point between the Old and the New Testaments, transitioning us from the old to the new covenant. That's why the Lord Jesus is constantly quoting the Old Testament, defining what it meant.

And this passage is no different. We have the same dramatic definition of what the kingdom of heaven looks like. Remember, the writer of the gospel of Matthew is one of the guys in this story that we just read about. He's in the room. He's just like Peter in that sense.

Matthew, the writer of the gospel, is telling the story of his own failure, writing it down in detail, including himself in all the really difficult things that happened. Okay, we have here in this passage a lesson in human weakness, a picture of divine sovereignty, and help from heaven. We have a picture of what it means to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and to sin, and to fail, and to deny Christ. We have a picture also of what it means to speak the truth in love because Jesus is speaking the truth in love to His disciples. He says, all of you will stumble, but I'm going to pray for you that you'll be sustained.

It's speaking the truth in love. Telling the truth about your life, your nature, who you really are, but at the same time coming alongside to help. This is the greatness of our salvation. On the one hand we get such bad news about who we are. On the other hand, we have a sepathetic high priest who comes alongside to help us.

And that's exactly what we see here. This lesson of human weakness is all bound up in sort of a back story that's told of why the disciples fled and abandoned Jesus. You'll see the answer. There are three answers to that question. How could they flee their Savior?

How could Peter deny Christ three times after, over and over again, he'd seen his miracles, he'd seen so much. Just very, very recently, he heard Jesus say, go into a city, see a man carrying a water pot, and tell him we're going to celebrate the Passover there. He's seen Jesus' prophecies. He's seen the feeding of the 5, 000. How in the world could he deny Him?

The answer is right here in this text. And Here's one thing that I think is so compelling about this text. We don't like to think of ourselves as weak, and yet the truth is revealed here, that we, like the other disciples, have this weakness. And there really is only one hope that's presented in here, and that is the prayers of a sovereign God for us. So before us is a passage that will help you identify and understand and see how Jesus Christ restores defective disciples.

And he's exposing some of the worst qualities of fallen sin nature. He speaks to some of the most problematic parts of our personalities. And Peter and all the disciples were a display of them and so am I and so are you and so is every believer who's ever lived so there it is okay verse 31 the first part Jesus prophesies the stumbling of all the disciples then Jesus said to them all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered." So there's this prophecy that Jesus brings here. Now, notice the passing of time. There's a time marker in the text.

It's in the word then. And there's a lot caught up in that word, then. And I want to talk about that for a few minutes, just so you can see what the flow of this evening was like. Because Matthew really condenses things here. And he leaves out an enormous amount.

I'm going to tell you a little bit about that here. As we talk about this word, then, then Jesus said, then what? Well, in verse 30, we see that they sang a hymn. And so we have a picture of the disciples singing a hymn, the Lord Jesus Christ as a singer. Have you ever pictured Jesus singing?

Well, he sings with his church, I'm sure, whenever they sing. But we have a picture here of the singing of a hymn and how easy it is to sing a hymn and then turn away and deny the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, singing is one of the most wonderful things we do when we gather. It's one of the most important things in the Christian life. They had just sung probably the Hallel, probably Psalm 136 that ends almost every phrase, for his mercy endures forever.

And they were singing about his mercy. They were singing about his power and his might and his goodness, and then they denied him right after that. But Matthew leaves something out. He goes so densely from one moment to another, but he leaves out what happened before they sang and went out. And what happened just before they sang the hymn was that Jesus taught them.

And what he taught them is recorded in John chapter 13 to 17. You'll get the whole content in those chapters of what Jesus taught them before they sang the hymn and departed. And so I'd like you to turn to John chapter 13. And I want to walk through with you what Jesus has just taught them. It's important that you see what he just taught them, what he just said to them.

In Matthew, everything seems so abrupt. But the Lord Jesus is making so many powerful statements to his disciples of devotion, commitment, help, and all these things before he's prophesying their downfall. So here in this passage, there's this huge section of teaching. In chapter 13, look at verse 4, they arose from supper, and he laid aside his garments, took a towel, and girded himself, and he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and wipe them with a towel. So he's washing his disciples' feet.

This is the whole ethos of the time. And then Simon in verse 9 says, Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. There's this love, there's this connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. Here Peter desires the washing of Jesus Christ. And then in verse 14 we read, If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you." Here the Lord Jesus is teaching them how they ought to love one another by washing one another's feet. And then he speaks of this whole matter of love extensively in John chapter 13. And if you look at verse 35, you'll see it. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. And then Simon Peter said to him in verse 36, Lord, where are you going?

And Jesus answered him, where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow me afterward. Then we have Peter speaking again in verse 37. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for your sake. Jesus answered him, will you lay down your life for my sake?

Most assuredly I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me three times. I just want you to get the sense of the context of where this statement came from. It came from such actions of love toward the disciples and appeals to them to love one another. And then the Lord Jesus, he drops the bomb. He lets the hammer go down.

He says, you're going to deny me three times. But that's not the end of it right there. This statement that is made in Matthew chapter 26 that we're focusing on is said in the midst of a number of other things that I think it's really important that we understand. So go to John chapter 14. Then right after that, after he says, you'll deny me three times, Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled.

The Lord Jesus is coming with such comfort here toward his disciple and his disciples. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And then in verse 6 Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. And then in verse 26, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

You have heard me say, I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father." So here, In the midst of this very threatening, difficult news that Peter's getting, you'll deny me three times, the cock is going to crow, and you'll have denied me three times. He's surrounding him with words of love and tenderness and mercy all throughout it. And that famous statement, my peace I give unto you, is in the midst of this whole context of the tension, the difficulty. I sing this song, I have sung this song to my children for many, many years, and I'm finding myself singing a lot to my daughter now because she loves this song, My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I to you.

That was said in the context of a recognition of the sinfulness being disclosed by Jesus to his disciple Peter. So on the one hand you have this threatening revelation of how sinful you are that you're going to deny him and right on the heels of that is, my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I unto you." The Lord Jesus is speaking the truth and love. What a good shepherd he is. He doesn't just deliver the bad news. He comes in and he brings words of comfort and life and blessing to his disciples.

This is your Jesus here. And then we go to chapter 15 where the Lord, he begins in verse 1, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. And he speaks of this beautiful image of the vine and the branches and how the believer is fed from heaven in the same way that a grape is fed through the life flowing through the vines of a vine. And they go out to the branches. You know, I am the vine, you are the branches.

It's a picture of the people of God as branches, being fed from heaven. Yes, yes, like Peter, they deny three times, and yet at the same time can be fed from heaven. And you find this disclosure of such weakness of the disciples, of how flighty they are, and how flighty we are, but at the same time You have these words of comfort and joy that there is a source of life that flows out from the vine to the branches. And then in verse 14, this great statement, you are my friends if you do whatever I command you to do. And then we go to John chapter 16 and in verse 1 the Lord Jesus says, these things I have spoken to you that you should not be made to stumble.

The Lord said these things so that they wouldn't stumble, but they stumbled anyway. That's what's happening here. They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think he offers God service. I believe he's speaking from that moment on and the experience of the disciples in all of history.

These are the kinds of things that will happen. They will be these experiences where you'll be put out and some will even be killed. Verse 3, And these things they will do to you, because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you to them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

But now I go away to him who sent me, and none of you ask me where you're going. But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. If I depart, but if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they do not believe in me, of righteousness because I go to the Father and you see me no more, of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.

I still have many things to say to you that you cannot bear them now." And then he turns around and he says in verse 33, again, these things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. So the Lord Jesus is saying, yes, I am going, yes, you're going to stumble, but yes, I'm also going to send the helper. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit to you after I depart.

He's giving them a picture of the strength that's going to come upon them after this time of denial, that there will be an added help, the helper himself, the one called alongside to help, the Holy Spirit of God, who will be poured out on the day of Pentecost. So the Lord Jesus is giving them this whole picture of the health that He is going to give them in the future. And then in John 17, of course, is a prayer. So in chapters 13 through 16, He teaches them, and then in chapter 17, he prays for them. And then in 18.1, we read, and when Jesus had spoken these words, he went out.

And they sang a hymn. And so that's the context here. So you can see this speaking the truth in love to his disciples, disclosing to them his plans so that they would know what kind of shepherding and help they would have. And that the discouragement of the moment would not last. So that's that.

So he's been teaching them many positive things, and then now he's going to give them some negative things about what they're going to do. And again, we have before us this lesson of human weakness, of divine sovereignty, of help from heaven. And why? Why the disciples abandoned the Lord Jesus. And so who is Jesus speaking to here?

He is speaking to all of the disciples. Jesus has just said, remember last week, drink from it all of you. Now he says all of you will be made to stumble. And so there are these statements that make it very clear who he's speaking of and what's happening. And What's happening here is happening to all.

There are three alls in this text. There are the all of you. All of you will become untrue. All of you will stumble. Then all of them protest.

And then all of them leave him. It happens to all of them. And so that's who he's speaking to. And then the kind of failure that Jesus is predicting is defined by the word stumble, scandalon. We've encountered this word before in the Gospel of Matthew, and here the Lord Jesus uses it again.

The New King James renders it made to stumble. King James says, you shall be offended. The New American standards, you will all fall away. But here in the New King James, it is made to stumble. And what this indicates is that God does allow his disciples to enter into siftings and shakings and fibs in order to turn around to destroy the works of the devil.

Here God is turning the devices of the devil on his head And he is actually causing his disciples to stumble. They will be made to stumble as a future passive indicative, meaning it is something that will happen to them. Some things, forces will operate upon them that will cause them to stumble. Now, the focus here is how the disciples were sifted by Satan. And This is a picture of a person who in the heat of the moment denies the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is not like the denial of Judas. There are two different kinds of betrayal that are pictured. The betrayal of Judas is proactive and it's highly calculated. The denial of Peter and the disciples happens in the flash of a moment. It's not consistent with the meditations of their hearts.

As you can see with Peter so far, you can see his meditation. Lord, wash my feet. Oh Lord, not me. I will die with you. I will go to prison with you, as he says in Luke chapter 22.

This is the heart of Peter. But in the flash of a moment, when there's a little slave girl and then just a regular girl and then just some bystanders, you know, one person at a time, he denies. And these siftings, They do reveal his character. They do show his weak spots. And it shows how the rock can become like cheese, how the mighty man can turn to like butter.

That's exactly what's happening here. Has that ever happened to you? Like have you ever turned from rock to cheese? Have you ever turned to butter and just melted in the face of some person who really, what significance do they really have before God in heaven? And yet you melted.

Well, this is what's happening here. There is this whole disclosure of the foolishness of self-sufficiency, the foolishness of the fear of man, And this question that the Apostle Paul brings up in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 10, this question that you should always ask yourself, do I think I stand? Because he says, therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overcome you except such as common demand. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.

But with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. So maybe you've already figured this out, that you're like Peter. You might think you're so super spiritual. You might think that you're so much better than you really are and that there really is in you, just like in Peter, just like in capital A-L-L of all the disciples, There's actually this self-congratulatory streak in you where you think that you're really better than you really are. And you end up, Maybe at some point in your life you realize that the things about yourself that don't bother you, they actually bother other people.

They see them, they see your weakness, but you don't see them. You think that you are so strong, so wise, so penetrating, so together, so gracious, so kind, so loving. Most people think that they are just so much more loving and gracious than the other people around them. This is Peter. He is thinking more highly of himself than he ought to think.

So here the Lord Jesus is exposing this tendency in human nature, this tendency among the disciples, this tendency in the people in local churches like our church. How about that? Do you think this exists in our church where people think a little bit more highly of themselves than they ought? They think they're more spiritual. They think they maybe are more loving, more gracious.

And they're so upset with the people that are not as gracious and loving as they are. There's this whole problem of being self-aware that's being disclosed here. Because Peter, was Peter really aware of it? I mean, with his mouth, he's been praising the Lord Jesus Christ. He's been extending his commitments to him, saying how devoted he is to him.

But there's actually something underneath the surface that the Lord Jesus sees and He discloses it here. It's the boastfulness of our hearts where we think we are so mighty. And Paul just says, be careful if you think you stand, lest you fall. Why is this passage here in front of us? Is it possible that we need to be humbled as a church?

Is it possible we need to do a retake on our self-righteousness? Is it possible that we need to just examine ourselves and ask ourselves, Are we anything like this at all? Are we like Peter? Is it possible? Maybe we're like Ben Haddad.

You remember that story in 1 Kings chapter 20 in verse 11 particularly. Ben Haddad was boasting about a military victory that he hadn't won yet. And King Ahab comes to him and he says, let not the one who puts on his armor be like the one who takes it off. We're so boastful. We're just like Ben Haddon.

We're just like Peter, who we have such big talk. But actually, it doesn't pan out in every situation in the way that we see here. Later on, we'll learn what to do in the face of these temptations. We'll deal with it in detail. Watch and pray.

Those are two imperatives that are in the passage coming up. So there are ways that we deal with this. We're going to deal with one way that God deals with it. But the truth is, we shouldn't be boasting about tomorrow, not knowing what the day will bring forth. We shouldn't be boasting about our righteousness.

We shouldn't be angry at other people because they're not quite loving and sensitive and kind enough. Because usually when we think thoughts like that, we're boasting. We're just like Peter. We cannot see the log in our own eye. We see the speck, but we cannot see our own log.

So Here is this whole confrontation of the boastful, self-congratulatory nature of the Christian and what needs to be done with it. Now the trap of Peter was the fear of man. The fear of man brings a snare, says Proverbs 29, 25. Now, people fall away for different reasons. Fear of man, perhaps, is one of the greatest ones.

In Matthew chapter 13, we saw in the parable of the soil, that some fall away because of desire for riches. It looks like they're saved. They seem to do almost everything that saved people do, but there is existing in their hearts such a desire to get rich that the root of the gospel just doesn't take hold. Or persecution, if persecution arises. So it says in Matthew 13, verse 20, 21.

So there are all these forces that are at work. We saw the fear of man working in David. Remember David? I mean, what a mighty man. How many of us would like to be like David?

Well, pretty much most of the things that David did we'd like but you know he did slay Goliath what a remarkable display of the power of God but yet when he was in Gath and the servants of Achish were frightening him he acted like a crazy man and he was letting you know his mouth he was drooling and scrawling and scribbling and acting like a madman. Because he was so afraid, The fear of man brought down one of the greatest warriors who ever lived and made him into a slobbering madman trying to fake everybody out. Why couldn't he just stand? Well that happens. This happens to even some of the greatest of the disciples.

It happened with Elijah as well. You know, one of the greatest prophets who ever lived. Elijah with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Fire coming down from heaven and then slaying them. Incredible act of the power of God in a moment.

And then he is so frightened, he runs and he's running and running and running and running. Can you imagine that? He's running now. And he's crying out, he says, Oh God, take my life. I'm not any better than any of my fathers.

Well, he was afraid of a woman named Jezebel. Fear of man brings us down. And perhaps that's what it was. We'll get into that in more detail as we get to that passage later on. Now, these are times of testing.

All of these people that I just spoke about were engaged in moments of testing, just like Peter, just like all the disciples. They were entering into a time of testing. And the question I'd just like to ask us here in this congregation this morning is this. What kind of testing are you in the midst of right now? I'm just going to assume that everybody is in the midst of at least some kind of test.

Probably some have significant tests. Some are smaller. But everyone is tested most likely in this room. And you know, it might be, you might have some threat in your own mind about your life, about your finances, about your family, about the government, whatever it might be. But you're being tested by something.

And usually fear is at the bottom of that test. You might have lost your job. You might be getting paid a lot less than you ever were, and how are you going to figure out how to make it? But you're being tested. God has brought you to a time of testing, in the same way that He brought that little slave girl to Peter to test him.

Tests come in lots of different kinds of packages, And the package that Peter's being presented to is a little girl. I don't know what you're being tested by. Is it bigger than that? Maybe it is. But the truth is, we were brought into times of testing.

Now, one of the things that we recognize here is that the promises of God are not always the most pleasant. Okay? Jesus has just promised something to his disciples. He has indeed given them wonderful promises that he will be with them, that he will send another helper. He has given them wonderful promises, But then he gives them a promise that doesn't sound all that great.

And his promises, many of them are pleasant, they're beneficial, they're beautiful. But Jesus is not prophesying a pleasantry in this situation. It's going to cause bitter weeping. And so in some ways the promise is not good news, but the promise does disclose something that can cause the embracing of good news, particularly the good news of the mercy of God towards sinners. So here we have before us this lesson in human weakness, of divine sovereignty, of help from heaven, and how it was, or why it was, that the disciples abandoned Jesus.

Now, there are three forces at work that caused the stumbling that are identified in this text. And I'd like to just go over them. First of all, they were made to stumble. I said earlier this is a future passive indicative where the subject is being acted upon. This is a phrase that indicates the sovereignty of God that is working.

And this is the will of God that is being carried out in this situation of stumbling. There are at least two ways to understand the will of God. And the first is through his sovereign, decreedive will, that God has a will. Then there is what has come to be called his prescriptive will. This is where God reveals his will through his holy law.

Like for example, it is not his will that his children should steal or kill or covet. This is his prescriptive will. And he reveals that will in his word. And then there is his sovereign, decreed of will. The will by which God brings to pass whatever he decrees.

The events and the circumstances that take place in the world are expressions of God's decretive will. And so, but what about when God's commands are resisted? It means that God's, you know, prescriptive will is resisted and thwarted, but God's decretive will is not. So one can defy God's will in terms of what he's communicated in his word, but at the same time, all of that is wrapped up in his divine sovereign will over all things in which he will take every good and every evil act and sum it all up in Christ at the end of the age. And so you have these these two kinds of things that are happening here.

So the first thing is that you have the will of a sovereign God. This is why the disciples stumbled. Secondly, the devil was desiring them to stumble. Now, Matthew doesn't bring this out, Luke does. He reveals to us one of the forces that was working on the disciples in their stumbling.

And this is revealed in a personal interchange that Jesus has with Peter that's recorded in Luke chapter 22 in verse 31. Matthew doesn't record this interchange between Peter and the Lord. And In verse 31 in Luke chapter 22, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you, That he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren." So this phrase, Satan has asked for you. The devil is longing to destroy the disciples of Jesus Christ and he's asking permission of God to destroy him. Now the you is plural.

Satan has asked for you, plural, not just Peter in Luke chapter 22 and And he is asking to do something to shake them to toss them up and down to shake them in the way that you would sift wheat, you would shake it and move it back and forth and up and down. And this is what is going to happen to all of the disciples. God has decreed that He would allow the devil to shake them up. And the devil does have power but he does not have ultimate power. And he's working to destroy faith.

Verse 32, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail." So the devil's work is to destroy your faith. This is what he desires to do. This is why it's so important that we're constantly feeding and growing our faith. Because the devil wants to shake you so hard that your faith is shaken. If your faith is shaken today, I can guarantee you, you have been shaken by the devil And your faith is flagging.

You should build your faith. So Satan is asking, and this is the way that the devil works in the world. You go way back, Jill, almost the beginning of time, And you find this almost exact same situation with Job, where the devil appears before God, and he asks God if he can touch Job to hurt him. The devil always wants to hurt the people of God. And so the Lord says to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?

There's none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God. So Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.' And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not lay a hand on his person.' So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

So Satan is working only at the permission of God to shake Job. And he is doing it in order to try to declare to the world that the only reason the people of God love God is because he blesses them. And he does bless his people. And the devil is saying that's the only reason your people love you is because you make them happy. The devil knows that God's people are happy and it drives him crazy.

And so it was only by permission that Satan's power was allowed to touch Job in the same way with Peter, but he does not have unlimited power. So these tests come for particular reasons. The first reason is because of divine sovereignty. The second reason is because of a devilish request for permission. And then thirdly, Jesus gives another reason in the last part of verse 31.

For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. The third reason is that prophecy is being fulfilled. When Zechariah was speaking in Zechariah chapter 13, he was talking about the disciples. He was talking about the false shepherds of Israel, first of all, in the first part of the chapter. And then in verse 7, he switches and he says, no, but my shepherd, my shepherd is different, but I will strike my shepherd so that the disciples will be refined like gold.

That's what happens to disciples. And it begins with the striking of the shepherd. So Zechariah is speaking of this very situation. So why is it that this happens? It happens for three reasons.

Divine sovereignty, the pernicious hatred of the devil, toward the happiness of God's people, and then finally, in order to fulfill prophecy. Those are the three reasons the disciples fell. And they're so explicitly spelled out in this text. And yes, they were weak. Yes, they did fear man.

Yes, they did sin. And yet God was sovereign over all of it. Should the disciples have done that? No. Could they have been stronger?

Yes. But did God in His sovereign will determine that it would be? Yes, He did. So it was from outside, it was from pressures outside of themselves that made them stumble. The Gospel is also here in Zechariah, chapter 13.

The one smiting the shepherd is God. He calls him my shepherd, not a false prophet. He calls him the man, the Son of Man. It is the Son of Man, the Mighty Man, the Man of Strength, the Man equal to God who he is going to strike. He will smite the false shepherd and he will also smite his own shepherd for The purpose of the sanctification, the purification of the disciples, that they might be refined like fine gold.

That was the purpose of the smiting of the Good Shepherd. That life would flow out of his veins and he would give life to the world, to his disciples. But Jesus is also standing with his disciples when they stumble. Did you see that? Jesus is standing with His disciples while they are stumbling.

You learn that from Luke chapter 22. And so in this whole lesson of human weakness and design and divine sovereignty, You also have this picture of help from heaven. How God comes and He helps His disciples in the midst of their stumbling. He's doing something while they stumble. He's caring for disciples in the midst of the times when they are under the fear of man.

And so, there are ways that Jesus deals with His fallen disciples. And I've listed three of them here. You can see them on your outline. There are three things that Jesus declares for His disciples who are stumbling. First of all, that he is in control, that he is king.

Where he says, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat. He's really telling his disciples that he is the governor of all things. That he is over the devil. That Satan must ask. That nothing happens in this world unless God somehow allows it.

There's nothing that can stay his hand. He is sovereign over every leaf that falls, every drop of rain that falls on the earth, every word that's ever spoken, every hair that falls to the ground, every sparrow that dies, everything. Look at the birds of the air. God is in control of all of them. He is in control.

He is the prophet who ordains all things, and he does all things well. And so he declares to them that he's in control. He's saying that he's the king. He is saying, Satan asks me. This world is not out of control.

The devil is not out of control at all. Second, not only does he say that he's in control, he is prayerful as a priest. And you have this priestly intercession, verse 32, in Luke chapter 22. Luke 22, 32. But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail." So he's praying for his disciples that their faith wouldn't fail ultimately.

He's praying behind the scenes for his disciples. And Jesus, he uses, the word that Jesus uses for praying is a mightier power than Satan's asking. He out demands the devil. He is stronger than the devil. And what does he pray for?

That your faith should not fail. He's praying that your faith would not ultimately fail. Yes, you might deny Him in the moment of the fear of man, but He's praying for you that your faith would not ultimately fail. The verb rendered fail means to come to an end, to give out. It's actually The word that we get for eclipse, to blot out the light of a heavenly body.

Your faith will not be blotted out. Your faith will not be eclipsed. It will not die. He will sustain your faith because He prays for you. In the midst of the various failures, in your testifying to His name in the world, He maintains your faith.

He who began a good work in you will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus He will sanctify you he will carry you to your heavenly home. He's speaking just like Moses I Carried you like a Father carries His Son through the wilderness. He prays so that faith will not fail. So here we find again this beautiful Trinitarian picture of the Father and the Son working in lead to one another for the blessing of disciples. You have God Almighty on His throne of all power and might and majesty.

And His Son is praying. And He's praying that your faith will not fail. All of the powers of heaven are being brought to bear, including the power of the Holy Spirit that will be sent to the believer. So you have the Father and the Son and the Spirit all working in concert, in coordination, so that your faith would not fail. What a blessing that is, that we have such a help from heaven.

At this very moment, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are working together. They're conspiring, they're collaborating to preserve your faith. How about that? And then notice his kindness. He's kind as one who sanctifies his people over time.

He says this, and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. That's a message of hope. You're going to stumble, but when you have returned. So he's casting a vision of hope. He's showing them that their faith will not fail, that they will return, that they will bounce back, that their failure will turn out for His glory, that they will learn their lessons, that they will turn to Him again.

This is one of the great things about God. He uses even our stumblings to help us to be more faithful in the next opportunity to stumble. You know, how many times has God used a failure in your life to save you from another failure later on in your life? That's what he's saying here. When you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.

So there's his kindness, his kindness in restoration, in sanctification, in refining you like gold, like pure gold. When you return and then strengthen your brethren, He gives them a commission. It's not over. It's not over because they failed. Maybe you've just failed in a really major way this week, and you think it's all over for you.

It is not all over for you if you are called according to His purpose, if you love the Lord Jesus Christ. In the same kind of way that you see in the Apostle Peter, where there really is genuine love for Him, where you do trust in His blood, where you really do understand that He has taken the wrath for all of your sins, that He has satisfied the wrath of God for you. If He has satisfied the wrath of God on the cross, then you can be part of this promise. When you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. It's not over if you stumbled as a Christian.

And You would weep bitterly like Peter did. It was appropriate for him to weep bitterly. It was the right thing to do. He didn't take it lightly. He wasn't sinning that grace may abound at all.

It broke his heart that He sinned against his Lord in that way because he really in his soul desired to follow Jesus Christ and be his disciple. So here's this amazing lesson of human weakness, of divine sovereignty, of help from heaven, of kindness, of restoration, of the goodness of God towards sinners who fall. Now in Matthew, in verse 32, Christ prophesies this blessed outcome as well in the same way that Luke does. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. So you will stumble, but you're still mine.

And I'm going to meet you in Galilee. This is a vision of hope. Again, He will embrace. He will restore. He will call them to come and be with Him.

He will not shun them and push them aside. He'll say, come. Come to me. Just like He said in the Lord's Supper. Come, eat.

Come, drink. He's going to say, Now go and meet me in Galilee. This is His hand of kindness. And then in verse 33, Peter answers for himself, and he reveals his flaws. The Lord Jesus has revealed to him that he's going to stumble and Peter says, even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble.

There you go. Was Peter lying? No, Peter was not lying. Peter was saying what he thought was true. Peter was representing the true condition of his heart.

But Peter didn't know everything that was in his heart. But Jesus Christ knew everything that was in His heart. And He covered for His weakness by praying for Him, sustaining Him, drawing Him, calling Him to meet Him in Galilee. You know, earlier, if you remember, when Jesus said, one of you will betray Me, all the disciples were saying, is it I? Is it I?

They were recognizing their frailty, their sinful nature. They recognized some sense of their sinfulness. But here Peter's saying, not I, not me. He's resolved that. And then what we see here are some of Peter's worst qualities.

They get exposed for the whole world. Why do Peter's flaws get exposed? So vividly, so graphically? Why is that? Why do we have that?

Because they are the flaws of all the disciples. All the disciples are like this. And even the disciples here in this room have these tendencies. So we're going to do a little heart check to see if these flaws are there. And ask ourselves that we might be cleansed from some of these sins.

I'm going to identify four of them. Number one, disbelief. He did not believe what Jesus said. Jesus said all of you will stumble. He said, no way!

I don't believe that for a second. Can you imagine? Jesus is not being believed by his disciple. I mean, Peter is telling him he's lying. He's telling him that he's not right about this situation.

You know, Peter treated Jesus the way we treat the weatherman. Who knows if what the weatherman is saying is true or not? I don't know if you remember this, but just a few days ago, the weatherman said today it was going to be snowing on Sunday. Look, It's a beautiful sunny day. And Peter was treating Jesus like we treat the weatherman.

We look at the report, but we don't bank on it at all. And that's how Peter was treating the Word of Jesus. As if, well, it might or it might not happen. Just like we treat the weatherman. I was telling Deborah on the way in today, I'd rather be a preacher than a weatherman.

At least you have, thus saith the Lord with the word of God. Peter thought that all meant everybody but himself. He didn't include himself. This is also what the self-congratulatory spirit does to you. It makes you so much better than everyone else.

But We often think that we're exempt from what Jesus says, because we're so special. We often think we're exempt from things that Jesus says, because we think we are so special. The Bible says rejoice always. But no, we have such a special problem, there's no way we could do that. You know, the Bible says forgive, but there is somebody that is so bad, there's really no way we could forgive.

We just, we think that somehow we're in a special category. And we don't have to obey everything. We only have to obey the things that really kind of work for us. You know, the Bible says, you know, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. But You don't know my wife.

If you knew my wife, then you would know why it was hard for me to love her. Or a wife. Wives be submissive to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Well, if you knew my husband, you'd know why I can't submit to him. When he finally gets his act together, I'll submit to him.

We think we're so special. Peter thought he was just so special that these things didn't apply to him. Not all, Lord. Certainly not I. Well, now Maybe the others would.

Then there's overconfidence. The first flaw, disbelief. It shows itself in some of the most winsome sweet ways. And then there's overconfidence, overestimating your own strength. Peter's kind of well known for this.

And then I'm just going to call number three bravado. Peter's bravado surfaces all the time. You can find it in Matthew chapter 16, verses 22 and 23, where Jesus finally has to say in the face of bravado, get behind me, Satan. It happened on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew chapter 17, where Jesus said, I'm going to make a tabernacle for all of you. There's a voice from heaven that says, listen to my son.

Peter's just known for bravado. He opens his mouth when he shouldn't. You know, what we read in Ecclesiastes 5 about coming to worship and not using too many words, Peter could have used a little dose of that, probably. And then number four, self-righteousness, disdain for the other disciples, pomposity, thinking that you're just in such a superior category, you know, in terms of insight and love and discretion and everything like that. Thinking that you're just so special.

You know, Peter is just very, very clearly setting himself as superior to the other disciples. These were some of his flaws, and Jesus was revealing them to him. So here, this lesson, this lesson of human weakness, of divine sovereignty and help from heaven and the kindness of Jesus to help His disciples. And then Jesus predicts some really horrid details about Peter stumbling. He gives him the detail.

And he says, this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. So now he gives in more detail. Ooh. You mean, it is actually, you're talking about me, right? I would love to see him look on Peter's face.

Oh Lord, not me. And then finally, Peter's affirmation of loyalty, verse 35. Peter said to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And so said all of the disciples." Now, my perspective is that these words really reflected the true condition of their hearts, that they really meant it. They're just like the way you mean it when you pray and cry out to God and then you fail.

And He affirms His loyalty. Now I have a number of applications that I'm going to go very speedily through. Application number one. Let me encourage you to rate your self-sufficiency and your spiritual pride. Peter and the other disciples didn't seem very humble about their spiritual condition.

Jesus calls him Simon for a reason. And so Peter and the rest of the disciples, they're thinking more highly of themselves than they ought. You know, spiritual pride, it always seems so reasonable to the person who has it. And that's what happened there. Peter was trusting in his self-knowledge.

But here's something that we need to all recognize. Christ knows us better than we do. And He's declared what our nature looks like. And He's given us many commands to help us to deal with our sin nature. Number two.

This was a test. How are you doing in your current test? Tested by disappointment? Tested by delays? Tested by people who have something to say to you or about you?

Challenging things that your spouse is saying to you? Things happening with your children? Are you in a time of testing? Are you passing the test? Number three Like Peter and the disciples are you ignoring what Jesus has clearly said and you're like picking and choosing and There's certain things that really don't apply to you that much because of circumstances, because of reasonable things.

I swear that you don't really have to obey those commands because really somebody else is not making it possible for you. We often set aside the Word of God for the sake of our own offenses and preferences. And Peter was ignoring Jesus' words because he had such a high view of himself. And often we ignore things that are clearly what we ought to do in our relationships because we think so low of the Word of God. And we ignore the things that are just really clearly said.

And they're usually in really practical everyday things, like things like forgiveness, love, things like that. Well, here you have this wonderful, wonderful story of redemption. It really is a picture of what it means to be saved. It's a picture of the love of a Savior. It's a picture of frailty in a disciple and all the disciples.

It's a picture of speaking the truth in love. It's a picture really that should humble all of us and help us to see our frailties, but also to seek the Lord when he tries us to turn to him and not sin against him and those who are around us in the same way that Peter did here. You know, in a few minutes we're going to sing a song, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. I'll read the last verse. I know I shall see in his beauty the King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth me songs in the night, redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child, and forever I am." And I think that's a beautiful picture of the prayerful Savior who sustains your faith from heaven as he prays for you.

Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, thank you for your disclosure of hard things about us, for speaking the truth and love to us. Now help us Lord, to be faithful disciples. Help us Lord to be bold, not to be afraid, but to serve you. We thank you that you're in control of all things.

We thank you that you have governed this heavenly journey and you will complete it. Oh, I thank you. Amen.