How to Never Stumble or Fall | Beware of Spiritual Stumbles

Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries recommend the bestselling book Cold Case Christianity from former detective J. Warner Wallace. That's a book we're offering this month to our listeners, Cold Case Christianity, written by detective J. Warner Wallace. A homicide detective investigates the claims of the gospel. So get your own copy of Cold Case Christianity. It's our offer for this month for your gift of any size.

Request yours for a limited time at harvest.org. You look at someone who falls into a sin, you say, I'd never do that. Hold on now, buckaroo. You have the capacity to do that and much worse. It's so easy to underestimate our vulnerability to the lure of temptation.

Pastor Greg Laurie has important counsel. The Bible says, Cry goes before a fall and an arrogant spirit before destruction. And it's when we think I'll never do that that you're trusting in yourself instead of trusting in God. The Internet is full of videos of people walking along, looking at their smartphones and then suddenly falling, falling into fountains, falling into swimming pools, tripping over a plethora of obstacles in their path. Seconds before, they might have said, I got this.

I can read my phone while I walk. Well, today on a new beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out that many of us have that same confidence in our spiritual walk. Today, a message of caution.

Anyone can fall. Turn in your Bible to two passages today. John chapter 18 and Luke chapter 22. Again, John 18 and Luke 22.

And the title of my message again is how to never stumble or fall. Let me sort of set the scene here in Luke 22. Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples. He's headed to the cross. He's told them he's headed to the cross. He's going to break bread with them and tell them to do this in remembrance of him.

But before that, he has a fascinating conversation with Simon Peter. Luke 22, verse 31. Jesus says, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. And when you have repented and turned to me again, you'll strengthen your brothers. Peter said, Lord, I'm ready to go to prison with you and even to die with you. Jesus said, let me tell you something, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even knew me. Put yourself in Peter's sandals for a moment. You're just hanging out with Jesus. He's not his normal, jubilant self.

He seems very serious, very intense. And then he turns to you and uses your name twice. Paul, Paul. Kathy, Kathy. Greg, Greg.

Cindy, Cindy. Satan has been asking that you be taken out of the care and protection of God. Would that freak you out if Jesus said that to you?

That would freak me out. But Jesus then says, I have prayed for you. And I want you to know that the Bible says Christ lives to make intercession for you at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is in effect praying for you. So the next time the devil comes knocking at your door, send Jesus to answer it. That's what happened here. I prayed for you, Peter, that your faith would not fail, for when you have returned, you'll strengthen your brothers.

Returned? Lord, Peter says, I'll go to prison for you. I'll die for you.

Well, since you brought it up, rock, you're going to deny that you knew me three times. So he warned Peter. That brings us to Peter's first step down. And I would say that this particular attitude is at the root of any and every person who has ever fallen away from the faith or any person who has ever stumbled or fallen. I don't care what the particular sin is they're involved in. It always starts here. And it's self-confidence.

Self-confidence. Verse 33. He said, Lord, I'm ready to go with you to prison and to death. Jesus said, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you knew me.

According to Matthew's gospel, Peter added this detail. Even if all are made to stumble, I will never be made to stumble. Careful now. You look at someone who falls into a sin, you'd say, I'd never do that. I'd never be unfaithful to my wife. I'd never become an alcoholic. I'd never become a drug addict. I'd never do that thing.

Hold on now, buckaroo. You have the capacity to do that and much worse. And it's when we think I'll never do that that you're trusting in yourself instead of trusting in God. The Bible says pride goes before a fall and an arrogant spirit before destruction. So this simply means that I go through life aware of the fact of my weakness and my vulnerability and my propensity to do the wrong thing. As the old song says, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the one I love.

Self-confidence. And that leads to the next step down, prayerlessness. Look at Luke 22 verse 39. Coming out He went to the Mount of Olives as He was accustomed and His disciples followed Him to the place and He said to them, Pray that you enter not into temptation.

Now this place being referred to by Luke is the Garden of Gethsemane. As He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, He knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, not My will but Yours be done. When He rose from prayer, He came to His disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow and He said, Why did you sleep? Rise and pray lest you enter into temptation. So this second sin of prayerlessness was a direct result of the first sin of self-confidence. Jesus said specifically, You guys, you need to pray.

And they decided to sleep instead. And so they're sleeping when they should have been praying. And you know, understand this, not praying about something can actually be a sin. It's a sin of omission. A sin of commission is doing what you should not do. A sin of omission is not doing what you should do. Because the Bible says, To him that knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Well, let's see what happens next. So they're there in the Garden of Gethsemane. They're sleeping when they should have been praying. Here comes the temple guard. And along with them, Roman soldiers, they've got swords and spears and shields and torches. And they're coming to arrest Jesus. But Jesus did not necessarily stand out in a crowd. Judas said, It's the guy that I kiss. That's Jesus. So he has to locate Jesus for them. Which points out the fact that Jesus didn't look like He looks in religious paintings.

Now if you look at religious art, you always know who Jesus is. Everybody else's robe is sort of dusty and dirty. He has a very white robe.

Just picked it up at the cleaners. And he has a blue sash. That's a blue sash. Nobody gets the blue sash but Jesus. Sometimes He's carrying a lamb around His neck. Why He would do that, I have no idea. He has the lamb.

Or He has the staff. Hey everybody. Here I am. The Good Shepherd.

In case you missed the memo. Now you're saying, Are you making fun of Jesus? Of course not. But I am kind of making fun of religious artistic depictions of Him. Jesus blended into a crowd. He didn't glow in the dark. He was not ten feet tall. He had to be identified.

It's a one I kiss. So they are approaching and Jesus says, Who do you seek? This is in John's Gospel. They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am He. Now if you have an English Bible you might notice the word He is italicized which means it's not in the original language. So a better translation would be Jesus saying, Who do you seek? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. I am.

I am. There is power in that statement. It's a claim of deity. It's what God said to Moses at the burning bush.

We will be looking at this together. Moses says, Who shall I say sent me? God says, I am that I am. So in a statement of deity I am and the Bible says they all fell backwards and landing on top of each other like dominoes.

Torches flying in the air. That shows He could have gotten out of that situation very easily. He could have said, I am.

And you were. Bye. End of story. But He submitted to this and they take Him away and He is arrested and He is taken to the house of Caiaphas to be tried. But before that happens as the guards come in to grab Jesus one guy named Malchus probably his first and Simon Peter in an attempt to defend Jesus pulls out his sword and slices off the ear of Malchus. Jesus is like, I think, you know, he has to pick the ear up. He puts it back in the guy and he heals them.

So the last earthly miracle of Jesus was covering the blunder of a disciple. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment here, everyone. I want you to know about our app called Harvest Plus. Think of it as a harvest version of Netflix. We have all of our resources in one place.

We have our movies like Steve McQueen, The Salvation of an American Icon, Johnny Cash, The Redemption of an American Icon, A Rush of Hope, and much more. Then we have our television program, daily devotions, and much more. So go and download the Harvest Plus app. Well, our thanks to our Harvest partners and others who support this ministry for helping to make today's study available. Pastor Greg is offering biblical insight today in his message, How to Never Stumble or Fall. Now we shift over to John 18. I'm reading from the New Living Translation starting in verse 15. Simon Peter followed Jesus as did another of the disciples.

That would be the Apostle John, the writer of this gospel. The other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and he was allowed to enter the high priest's courtyard with Jesus. Peter had to stay outside the gate, and the disciple who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. The woman asked Peter, You're not one of that man's disciples, are you?

No, he said, I am not, because it was cold. The household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself. Third step down for Simon Peter, number one was self-confidence. Number two, prayerlessness. Number three, he was keeping his distance from Jesus. Yes, he was following Jesus, but he was following at a distance, and this distance from the Lord in closeness and fellowship will always be at the foundation of all spiritual regression.

Listen to this. A true believer is never happy when they're out of fellowship with God. So if you're out of fellowship with God, if you've sinned against the Lord, you're an unhappy person.

If you can't be happy in your sin, that's a good sign. David, the man after God's own heart, sinned big time. We all knew that, and he described the way he felt in Psalm 32, when he said, When I kept it all inside, my words became day-long groans. The pressure never let up. All the juices of my life dried up.

Then I let it all out, and I said, I'll make a clean break, and I'll confess my failures to God. He's following at a distance. You've seen those TV shows where they'll show you maybe a lion going in for a kill, and lions, I have to say, they're very cool cats. I don't just like all cats.

I like big cats. So lions, they don't waste energy. They sort of lay there in the tall grass and wait for lunch to come. So maybe they'll see a herd of antelope. I don't know if it's a herd of antelope.

Everything has a title now. It's a flock of seagulls. They were a band once, too. Then there's a murder of crow, and there's a pack of dogs and so forth. So I don't know if it's what you call a group of antelopes.

I'll look that up later. But they're moving together. Antelopes are kind of funny because they're kind of, They all do the jump. There they are, and the lions, and that's a lot of work to get one of those. Then there's the one stray antelope falling in about 20 feet behind. Who do you think the lion's going to go in for the kill on? So when he looks at a person to take down, here we are, the people of God, worshipping together, serving together, learning together.

And here are you, 20 feet behind. The person says, do we have to go to church again? Didn't we do that last week? Really? The Bible? Really? Again? Yes.

Again? The child of God hungers for these things. The compromiser only does it out of duty or obligation. And if no one is encouraging him to do it, they don't do it. You're the person following at a distance. And you end up in that miserable no man's land of compromise where you have too much of the Lord to be happy in the world. And too much of the world to be happy in the Lord.

Don't be that person. Peter's following at a distance. And then point number four, he's warming himself at the enemy's fire.

Verse 18, they stood around this fire warming themselves. He hoped to go unnoticed in the larger crowd. He was with the wrong people at the wrong place about to do the wrong thing. Why does it come as a revelation to people that if you hang around a godly people, they will pull you down? And so you're hanging around the wrong people at the wrong places. And next thing you know, you're doing the wrong thing.

Why? Well, you want to fit in. I want to be cool. I'm thinking I'm some, you know, Jesus freak or self-righteous person, okay? So you're going to do what now?

And you find yourself saying and doing things you can't believe you're saying and doing. So here he is at the fire and now a woman asks him. This is his first denial. You're not one of that man's disciples, are you? He said, no, I am not.

Whoa, he just did it. The first thing I would have said if I was Peter was, are there any roosters around here? Jesus said something about a rooster. Yeah, what did Jesus specifically say? You will deny me three times. This is denial number one. Now you would have thought that Peter would have said, hold on, I just, I did the thing I said I would never do.

I've got to get out of here. No one was holding him here. He could have escaped if he wanted to, but he did not do it.

That leads me to his next step down. Verse 25, as he was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, you're not one of his disciples, are you? He denied it saying, no, I'm not. Ah, but one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, didn't I see you in the olive grove with Jesus? Mm-hmm.

Your sin will find you out. Oh, yeah, right, yeah, you were there. I knew I should not have posted that on Instagram. Now the word had spread.

Everybody knew about what happened there in the Garden of Gethsemane. But here he is still hanging around this fire. Why was he doing it? Simple answer, write this down. Sin makes you stupid. Doesn't it? Sin makes you stupid.

You do things you never thought you would do. You're caught in the vortex of it. And here's Peter now, it's his second denial. Why didn't he get out of there?

Good question. And that brings us to the third denial. And here's something you may have missed. Between the second and third denial, there was a one-hour interval. That's a long time. That's plenty of time to get out of there. But he stayed there, he's compromised now.

He's not thinking rationally. And finally someone says to him, Yes, you were with Jesus. And I know you're one of his disciples because your accent betrays you. See, Peter was a Galilean.

And the people in Jerusalem thought of themselves as more sophisticated. So he had a sort of Galilean accent. Just like we have accents from different areas of the United States.

You know, people in Texas, they're a little different thing. They'd say to me, you have an accent. I say, Californians don't have accents. We're like devoid of accents. No, you have the California accent.

Why? Because I don't say, hey, how are you all doing? Or something like that. No, you must be from Boston because you just told me you're going to park your car. Right? I was signing books the other day and some lady mentioned, she's from New York. I said, say the word coffee.

She said, coffee. I said, exactly. Right? So different ways we speak from different parts of the country. He had the Galilean accent.

Hey, man, we know where you're from. And then we read that Peter began to curse and swear. And he took an oath saying, I never knew the man.

And guess what happened? At the moment he said that Jesus was let out of the courtyard of Caiaphas and he made eye contact with Peter. What kind of look did Jesus give to Peter? I think it was a look of love.

And I'll tell you why I think it was a look of love. Because Jesus predicted this. Right? He said, you're going to deny me, but don't forget the rest of it. When you have returned, you'll strengthen your brothers. Peter, you're going to mess up.

Trust me, it's going to happen. Roosters are involved. But when you have returned, you'll strengthen your brothers. Peter, you're coming back. I don't think Peter heard the you're coming back part because the Bible says he went out and wept bitterly. Pastor Greg Laurie is showing us the downward spiral in Peter's life that led to his denial of Christ three times. We're seeing the steps that lead to backsliding and how to avoid them.

And there's more to come as this message continues here on A New Beginning. You know, we're all vulnerable to the lures, the sins that can lead us away from God. But there's always a way to come to God or come back to God. Pastor Greg, the Lord welcomes those who want to make a change, doesn't he?

That's right. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So think of it this way. Maybe you're out in a riptide in the ocean and you can't get your footing and you're in trouble. And you see a lifeguard call out for help and the lifeguard will rescue you.

The same is true spiritually. You're drowning in your sin. You need help. Jesus will save you. He will rescue you. But you must call out to him.

And you know how you do that? You do it in prayer. So let me just lead you in a simple prayer. And you can pray this prayer after me. You can pray it out loud if you like. And this is where you are calling out to Jesus to save you.

Just pray this. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. And I know you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now, Lord, I turn from my sin and I put my faith in you. Be my Savior, my Lord. Be my God and my friend. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that Christ himself has come to live inside of you. And I have a resource I want to send you. It's called the New Believer's Bible. So the New Believer's Bible is the New Testament in the New Living Translation with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you are making to follow Christ.

There are some other materials included as well in what we call the New Believer's Growth Pack. But let me get this New Believer's Bible into your hands as quickly as possible. Here's Dave to tell you more. Yeah, we'll be glad to send it all your way free of any charge if you prayed along with Pastor Greg today. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can reach us any time 24-7, again at 1-800-821-3300.

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That's harvest.org. Or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here around the clock to take your call, again at 1-800-821-3300. Well, next time Pastor Greg brings us more insight on how we can avoid the danger of backsliding. He continues his message, How to Never Stumble or Fall. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Lord.