Failing Does Not Make Us Failures - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. I mean, some of your failures you keep totally private. No one on earth even knows you failed yet. No one, except you and the Lord. Then there's the people that sometimes just have to find out. You know, I get involved in those. I'm that next layer where people will confide in me how they failed. You see, but Peter, Peter fails right in front of the Lord and the Lord looks right at him. There you go. I told you this.

You see, he felt as bad as a person could feel. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Think of all the ways in which we fail. One of the most painful ones that I run into consistently and deal with in counseling is in a marriage where adultery has been committed.

Okay, and that becomes very painful and a very difficult process to work yourself through. Why did they do it? I thought it was going to feel good.

I thought that it just seemed like I was so tired of the fighting in my marriage that it would be better for me to just do something like this. Where did you get that? Where did that come from? That come from God? God said, yeah, yeah, I think, look, it's only going to be a few nights.

Go ahead and enjoy it. Now God said one man, one woman, one lifetime. And by the way, very few Christians know that or don't know that. There's very few that don't know that. Well, he did it anyway. Why? I don't believe that.

I believe for me, you see, I can go ahead and do it. It happens in every different aspect of our lives. I know people that are bitter Christians over all these years and you know why? They won't forgive somebody who hurt them.

They won't. And they're just bitter and they're bitter about everything, but they're bitter. Why are they bitter? Because God said, look, they hurt you.

You be bitter. Is that what God said? I think he said you forgive them. How often?

Seven times 70 infinitely. In fact, he said you need to forgive exactly the same as Christ forgave you in Ephesians. That's what God said.

So what aren't you doing? I'm not forgiving. OK. You see, almost every time it's a crisis of faith, we don't act upon as though what God's telling us is true. And then we act in a different way and then we have what we would call spiritual failure. So behind spiritual failure is is a spiritual enemy. And behind spiritual failure is a blindness to own our own weaknesses and a dullness of hearing of God's warnings. And also behind spiritual failure, there's a failure of our faith.

Now, the fourth point, though, is important when we fail. God's grace points us back to him and gives us hope. That's the business God's in. God's grace points us back to him and gives us hope. Back to Luke 22. Luke 22 again. Now, when we get back to Luke 22.

The first verse I want to look at it one more time is 32, just that verse. I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. That's what Peter is called to do.

You get out there and do your ministry. Now, let's turn to verse 54 and look at what happened. Having arrested him, they led him away and they brought him to the house of the high priest. And Peter was falling at a distance. Now give Peter some kudos here. Does it say anyone else is following? Peter. He's following.

So it's like, wow, he has some courage. Short lived. He said after they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had set down together, Peter was sitting among them and a servant girl, seeing him as he set in the firelight, looking intently at him said, this man was with him too. Now, remember, it's not like light in here. It's just a fire in the middle of a courtyard in pitch black area. And this girl and she's a servant.

She has no word for anything. She's just staring at him and said, this man was with him. I've seen this man. But he denied it.

And he said, Goonee or woman. I don't know him. Now, what would you if you said that right then? Wouldn't you be thinking that just a very short time ago, Jesus had said something to you?

You think, but no, I don't even know him. A little later, another saw him and said, you are the one of them, too. And Peter said, man, I am not. And it's emphatic in Greek.

They put the verb in the front. No way, Jose, no. After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, certainly this man also with him, for he's a Galilean, too. And Peter said, man, I do not know what you are talking about. That's a very kind translation in English. Depending on the Greek score, you read, but some of the Greek score says Peter's cursing here.

They tried to make it nice in English. I don't know that blankety blank. Not me. Wow. This is the rock.

That no, that I don't know him at all. Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. Now, what's this? This is all orchestrated by great. The Lord turned. He's in the same eye range as Peter. The Lord turned and looked at Peter.

Could you imagine that? You deny him three times and then he's being preoccupied, probably being abused by his captors, and he just turns and looks at you. And you're just standing there after you had done it. Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had told him before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And he went out and he wept bitterly. He's repenting. He's sorry he did that, just like you and I are when we fail. He's very sorry. He wept bitterly of what had happened to him.

How do you think he feels? Like you would. Worthless.

Worthless. Can't believe it. I did it three times.

He looked me right in the eye. By the way, one of the things when we fail often is we want to keep it pretty much as private as possible. Don't we? I mean, some some of your failures you keep totally private. No one on earth even knows you failed yet. No one except you and the Lord. Then there's the people that sometimes just have to find out. You know, I get involved in those. I'm that next layer where people will confide in me how they failed.

You see, but we don't. But Peter, Peter fails right in front of the Lord and the Lord looks right at him. There you go.

I told you this. You see, he felt as bad as a person could feel. Now, that's the context. Now, go with me to John chapter 21.

The aftermath. And the funny part of John 21 is. They have seen Christ twice after he was resurrected from the dead.

Now, that would leave an imprint on you, I think, you know, without a doubt. First person to be resurrected from the dead, but they're still not sure. And the reason is you've heard me say this in the past, because in the world we live in, the one thing you and I both know about dead people is they're dead. You don't know anyone who was dead and then they're not dead and they get up and walk around.

Dead people stay dead. So that's sort of the context here. Now, all of them decide in verses one and two, they all decide to go back north up to Galilee to the Sea of Galilee. So Simon Peter said to them in verse three, I'm going fishing. And they said to them, we will also come with you. And they went out and they got into the boat.

And that night they caught nothing. They're fishing at night. Best time to fish. And the reason they're fishing is what is Peter? He's a fisherman.

So what's he doing? I failed the Lord so much, I can't be used for anything else. I'm going back to what I always did. I'm going to go back.

That sometimes happens to this. I've known people that I've known that have been in counseling, failed the Lord so much that they stayed away from the Lord and they went right back to a lifestyle they had before they became Christian. Because God has totally rejected me because of my failure, which is not true. So they go fishing and they catch nothing. But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach. And yet the disciples did not know it was Jesus. He says, so Jesus said to them, children. You do not have any fish, do you? And they said, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right hand side of the boat and you'll find a catch.

This is funny in so many ways. These are fishermen. Peter, a professional fisherman. Do you think they've cast on the right side of the boat any that night?

Yes. OK, what is Jesus not? He's not a fisherman. He said, just cast it over on the right side.

Now, the funny thing is, though, he probably said it with an authority they kind of recognized. And it says so they cast and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish hits the water, fills the net. Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus loved, which is John, said to Peter. It's the Lord. So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on for he was stripped for work and he threw himself into the sea. They're about 100 yards offshore.

It's the Lord. So he gets jumped into the water and is heading to shore. The other disciples came in a little boat for they were not far from land, about 100 yards away, dragging a net full of fish. And so when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and the fish placed on it and bred. And Jesus said, bring some of those fish which you have now caught. And Simon Peter went up and drew the net, the land full of large fish, one hundred and fifty three.

And although they were so many, the net was not torn. So Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. None of his disciples ventured to question, who are you? Like, I don't want to I love that they do this often. It's just like us. You ever notice that this this is my posture in Hebrew class. Like when I was taking Hebrew, Greek was better, but when I took Hebrew, never ask a stupid question. Like if I open my mouth and ask a question, everyone's going to say, that guy's really stupid. You know, everyone knows the answer to that. They don't want to answer. They don't want to ask the question. Like, I'm not going to ask who he is. You're going to ask?

No, I'm not going to ask who he is. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Now the point. So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Joe. Do you love me more than these? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said, tend my lambs. Remember what he said in Luke 22? Strengthen your brother.

Nothing's changed. But there's something interesting about this. Let me read it in Greek. Simon, son of John, do you agape me? Now, agape is the most intense form of love. It's the way God loves us. It's choosing to love. It's not a friendship. Faleo kind of love.

And it's not Eros. It's not a feeling kind of love. This is a choice to love the way for God.

So love the world or God. So love me agape. He said, Peter, do you agape me? Now, Peter says, yes, Lord, I faleo you. Why?

Guilt. How can I say I agape you? I denied you three times.

That's not agape. After I bragged that I would die for you. I failed him miserably.

I'll use faleo. Well, so he said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you agape me? Peter said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I faleo you. He said, well, then shepherd my sheep.

Now, Jesus is figuring this out as Peter doesn't want because he feels like such a failure. And he said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he had said to him a third time, do you love me? But guess what he said this time? Do you faleo me?

Jesus changed the word. Do you faleo me? He said, Lord, you know all things.

You know that I faleo you. Jesus said, tend my sheep. Wow.

What happened here? In the midst of Peter's failure, even in the midst of ours, you know what Jesus is telling Peter? You are not a fisherman. You're a follower of me. You're my disciple.

Now, let's get about your business. You're not a fisherman. Isn't it interesting Jesus never asked Peter to deal with his failure? Do you know how you fale me? Don't you feel guilty about that? No. Jesus, he said, do you love me?

You know I do, Lord. He said, let's get about the business. Let's get about doing what you've been called to do.

That's what I said early. Failing does not make you a failure. He said, this is what you're going to have to do. How did Peter do with this? Extraordinarily well. He ends up being crucified from the tradition upside down.

He has no problem giving his life for the Lord. But he's doing exactly what he was called to do. When you and I fail, that's exactly the way it works for us.

It works exactly the same way. God shapes and prepares imperfect instruments to do his work. That's us. He knows our frame.

He knows we're above dust. We know we fail. The best men in the Bible, the most used of God, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Peter, they failed on a cataclysmic scale. Failing does not make you a failure because of God's grace and forgiveness. That's why you're not a failure. Importantly for us, though, failures are designed by God to help us learn to grow. See, what's your perspective when you fail?

Pity party. You see, this is just terrible looking unworthiness. God can't use me.

I've done it. God doesn't want that. Do you realize that for most of us, failure is probably the beginning of real spiritual success?

We're left just with God to help us. Let me illustrate this. Thomas Edison.

I find this article this week, I find it kind of compelling. Thomas Edison invented the microphone, the phonograph, the incandescent light, the storage battery, talking movies, and more than 1,000 other inventions. In December 1914, he had been working 10 years on a storage battery. This had greatly strained his finances. This particular evening, a spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within minutes, all the packing compounds, solenoid for the records and film, and other flammable goods were in flames.

Five companies from eight surrounding towns arrived. He says, but the rest of the heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that they couldn't even douse the flames at all. Everything was destroyed.

Edison was 67 years old. With all his assets going up in one instantaneous fire, the damage exceeded $2 million. His total insurance that he had on the buildings was $238,000. I was wondering, how much is $2 million worth in 1914?

Just astronomical today. Would this really break his spirit? The inventor's 24-year-old son, Charles, searched frantically for his father. He finally found him calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind. My heart ached for him, said Charles. He was 67, no longer a young man, and everything was going up in flames. And when he saw me, he shouted, Charles, where's your mother? When I told him I didn't know, he said, well, find her.

Bring her here. She's never going to see anything like this again as long as she lives. Next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said this. There is great value in failure. All of our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.

Three weeks later, after the fire, Edison managed his first phonograph. What a perspective. There is great value in failure. All of our mistakes are burned up. That's us.

So what can we do? One, just acknowledge your failure. That's 1 John 1-9. We are to confess our sins. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That word confess is the word homo legao. It doesn't mean what you think confession is.

It doesn't mean that at all. Homo, same thing, to agree upon. Homo legao means to agree with God about your sin.

That's what it means. Acknowledge your sins. If you acknowledge your sin, he said he's faithful and just to forgive you of your sins, cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

That's his work, not yours. Secondly, repent before God. In other words, change your mind, change directions.

It's got a 180-degree sort of thought to it. Just repent. Thirdly, receive restoration from God. That's his desire to restore you.

He's done it with all the men I talked about earlier. And then four, be open to be used of God in a very unique and special way. Some of our failures have made us uniquely qualified for certain ministries. I know Christians who were drug addicts, and it's amazing how effective they are with drug addicts.

I know Christians who were alcoholics, how amazingly effective they are with other alcoholics. In the 1990s, I went to Dallas Seminary for a seminar. The man who led the seminar was a homosexual, and he wasn't just a homosexual. He was a homosexual porn star, and he had made over 1,000 pornographic movies as a homosexual. He came to Christ.

When he was there, he was married and had three kids. And his ministry to the homosexual community had been amazing, just amazing why he understood them. You see, he could have said, well, God will never use me, how can you be a homosexual movie star and never be used of God? Well, you can be used in a special way from God because you were a homosexual movie star.

You see, that's the point. God can use our failures in really unique ways to help us minister to other people who are failing in the same way. Failure can be the first great step in the road to success for all of us.

I want to change the words of Clarence Oddbody, Angel Second Class, just a little bit. No man or woman is a failure who has Jesus Christ as their Savior. Let's pray. Father, we all know we all fail. Sometimes we deny it. Sometimes we try to hide it. But then sometimes we acknowledge it and then we feel like failures. And because of that, we become spiritually inept. We don't believe you could really forgive us.

We don't believe you could really use us. But those truths don't come from you. They are lives that come from the enemy. Failure is part of our lives, Father. All I ask for each and every one of us is that we are cognizant of using failure to become successes for your glory and for our good. In Jesus' name, Amen.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org. That's F-B-C-N-O-L-A dot O-R-G. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online. Or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.