There is Restoration when we Fail

“And the Lord turned and looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, Before the cock crows, you shall deny Me three times.” (Luke 22:61)

Peter loved the Lord, but Peter was impulsive. The first time we see his flawed personality is after John the Baptist was martyred, and Jesus multiplied the bread and fish to feed the five thousand who followed Him into the desert. After feeding the people, Jesus sent the disciples to the other side to Bethsaida, across the sea of Gennesaret. The Scripture uses the word constrained. “And immediately Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a boat and to go before Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away.” (Matthew 14:22) That means He compelled them, forced or put pressure on them to go without Him with the understanding that He would meet them there. What Jesus did then was spend some alone time with the Father. “And when He had sent the crowds away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when evening had come, He was there alone.” (Matthew 14:23) When the disciples were about halfway to the other side of the sea, Jesus went to them walking on the water. This was so out of the realm of their reality that they were frightened, but Jesus spoke to them instantly. “But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer, I AM! Do not fear.” (Matthew 14:27) Peter shows his impulsive personality. “And Peter answered Him and said, LORD, if it is You, tell me to come to You on the water. And He said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But seeing that the wind was strong, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me! And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him; and said to him, Little-faith! Why did you doubt? And when they had come into the boat, the wind ceased.” (Matthew 14:28-32) It took more faith than Peter had or anticipated. But the Lord was gracious to him and rebuked him for doubting.

Another time Peter spoke before thinking was when Jesus revealed to His disciples that He would be crucified, Peter contradicted the Lord and said in other words, Oh no You won’t. “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be gracious to You, Lord! This shall never be to You.” (Matthew 16:21-22) Jesus corrected him.  “But He turned and said to Peter, Go, satan! You are an offense to Me, for you do not savor the things that are of God, but those that are of men.” (Matthew 16:23) Jesus told Peter he was being fleshly and caring only for and having the opinion of the things that are worldly. From the way Matthew wrote the Scripture, it seems that Jesus called Peter satan, but He did not. What Jesus actually did was address satan, who was influencing Peter, to step down. Jesus had that authority over satan. He knew that it was satan talking and not Peter. But Peter being fleshly and worldly was used by satan to try to obstruct the plan and will of God.

The last example of Peter’s impulsiveness has dire consequences. It’s after the Last Supper and Jesus washes the feet of the disciples, but Peter refuses. “After that He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, Lord, do You wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, You do not know what I do now, but you shall know hereafter. Peter said to Him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me. Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and head. Jesus said to him, He who is bathed has no need except to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. And you are clean, but not all.” (John 13:5-10) Not only did Peter refuse, but his impulsive personality over corrected his error by saying Jesus could wash all of him.

 It’s at this time that Jesus begins to tell His disciples His last teachings to them and tells them He will go away and Peter, again, speaks impulsively. “Peter said to Him, Lord, why cannot I follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.” (John 13:37) Lots of us are like Peter and pray that we belong to Jesus and would do anything for Him or pray that we will obey Him in everything. But we fail.  We thought that we would not fail, but we fail because we’re human and not perfect. It was not a surprise to the Lord. He knew it because He knows all things from the beginning to the end. But in His eyes and in the eyes of the Father, all failure and sin is paid for. He takes no account of our failings. That is the reason He sent us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one Who empowers and enables us to obey and live righteously. We must ask Him to empower and enable us in our weaknesses and failures. The Lord reveals to Peter the worst possible thing that he never imagined he would do. “Jesus answered him, Will you lay down your life for My sake? Truly, truly, I say to you, The cock shall not crow until you have denied Me three times.” (John 13:38) That was the last thing Peter thought he would do. And yet without thinking, that is what he did. This incident with Peter is universal in our lives as Christians. It’s the desire of our heart to obey the Lord. But we are weak and immature and cannot complete our vow to Him. How many of us have vowed to fast and are not able to complete the fast. How many of us have made a foolish promise. “Lord if You do this, I will do... (fill in the blank).” But when the Lord was faithful, we forgot our promise.

I can’t imagine how Peter felt when he looked into the eyes of Jesus after having denied Him three times just as Jesus had told him. But Jesus restored Peter to fellowship after He resurrected and met the disciples when they were fishing. Jesus restores Peter to discipleship by asking him three times if he loved Him and each time telling him to feed His sheep. “He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? Peter was grieved because He said to him a third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.” (John 21:17) Jesus made Peter confess his love for Him three times to counter the three times he had denied Him. He gave to Peter the assignment of apostleship, to feed His sheep. And revealed to him that he would be martyred for Him.

Just as the Lord restored Peter, He restores us. It is reasonable to believe that we must renounce our negligence, our betrayal and disobedience and declare our allegiance, our love and future obedience to the Lord by our mouth so all can hear on earth and in the heavens our declaration. I say in the heavens because the enemy’s sphere is in the heavens, not heaven where we believe God dwells.

But Peter didn’t stay an impulsive and immature person. On Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit filled him, he preached and 3,000 got saved.  The Holy Spirit empowered him. He overcame his impulsiveness and grew mightily in the Lord. He eventually was martyred for Jesus. He no longer was afraid to die for the Lord Jesus.

In summary, we may be like Peter to hastily make our promises and vows, then feel the guilt of not following through. But the Lord knows our weaknesses. And when we do and recognize our sin, we need to confess it and repent of it. Don’t promise to do better because you may not be able to do so. Instead ask the Lord to remind you to ask the Holy Spirit for the power and enabling to obey. We are to be dependent on the supernatural help of the Holy Spirit. What the Lord requires of us is beyond our own abilities. We can only obey when we ask the Holy Spirit to help us.

Let us pray:

Father God, I thank You that You are merciful to me considering my failings. Forgive me for failing You and for being disobedient. I need the help of the Holy Spirit to empower and enable me to do the things I cannot do. I ask Lord to be reminded that I need the Holy Spirit to help me when I should do the difficult things I have to do, to help me resist the flesh and to obey. Put a watch over my lips Lord that I may not impulsively and pridefully commit to things You haven’t meant for me or which are not meant for me yet because of my immaturity. I need Your wisdom and understanding that I may be still and quiet and hear Your voice and assignments. Help me not to assume that I am more than I actually am or that I can do more than I can. And Lord only You know my real abilities and talents. Use me as You know what I can handle, spiritually, mentally and physically. I love You Lord. Thank You for continuing to teach me, to lead me and to direct me. I yield to You in the Name of Jesus. Be glorified in all. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.