Anush A. John Podcast
Anush A. John Podcast
The Journey of a Fall - On Failure
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Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, October 2023
Even the best of us fall. Many times the higher the position the greater the fall. This talk explores the tragic but redeeming journey of such a fall.
https://www.anushjohn.com/post/journey-of-a-fall
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The Journey of Peter's Fall
Speaker 1Good morning One last time. Everybody's ready to go home? General Ratner was an English businessman who came from a Jewish family and he inherited a struggling jewelry business and in less than 10 years he turned it around. So it was a one billion pound business. The jewelry business at that time was very sedate but he made it flamboyant and had fluorescent orange posters advertising discount prices and bargain deals and they had many stores in Europe, including thousand stores in the US, including K Jewelers. The jewelry itself was regarded as tacky but it was very popular during the 1980s until April 1991.
Speaker 1Because on April 23rd 1991 General Ratner was addressing an institute of directors at the Royal Albert Hall and this is what he said. He said we also do cut glass Sherry decanters, complete with six glasses on a silver plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on all for 4.95 pounds. People say how can you sell this for such a low price? I say because it's total garbage. He used another word, but I just used the word garbage. He called his own product total garbage. Of course he came the next day to apologize and say it was all a joke, but the damage was done. Customers withdrew from the store and the company lost 500 million pounds and to avoid bankruptcy, they had to get rid of the CEO and they had to change the name. One moment, 10 seconds of regrettable words that broke down what took years of building up and caused years of damage.
Speaker 1This morning, in a sermon entitled the journey of a fall, we are going to look at such a scenario of regrettable words that broke down what took years to build up and caused years of damage. We're going to look at seven aspects in the journey of Peter's fall. We're going to look at a very common story that we've heard preached numerous times, the story of Peter's denial, and I want to look at seven aspects of this journey of his fall. The first one is what I'll call temperamental vulnerability. Peter's temperament was such that he spoke before the words formed in his mind, before he could process, the thought was out of his mouth, and this happened multiple times over the course of his time with Jesus. In Matthew, chapter 16, verse 21 to 23, reads 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, on the third day, be raised. But Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying far be it from you, lord, this shall never happen to you. But Jesus turned back and said to Peter get behind me, satan. You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. He was prone to this weakness. That was his weakness.
Speaker 1We are all prone to certain weaknesses. Right, we have temperamental weaknesses and every person is prone to certain weaknesses than others. It may not be that words come out of your mouth before you've thought about it, but we all have our weaknesses. Maybe a weakness is lust and indiscipline. Maybe a weakness is anger and pride and disdain for people. Maybe our weakness is fear and anxiety and constant complaining. Maybe our weakness is laziness and selfishness. But we all have our temperamental weaknesses and being a Christian, being in the ministry, does not change the fact that these are our core temperamental weaknesses, something that we will have to deal with for the rest of our lives, because it is a core temperamental weakness.
Speaker 1Let me ask you a question Are those in the ministry more prone to sin? I'm not looking for a yes no answer. I'm just raising the question Are those in the ministry more prone to sin. Let me give two suggestions to encourage the thought. Could it be that those in the ministry are under attack more? It's possible, because the devil would like nothing better than to see leaders fall, but obviously we can't make that as the excuse. I do all kinds of nonsense and say, oh, the devil made me do it. No, that's not going to work.
Speaker 1The second reason is maybe we have the desire, what I will call shaking off the shackles. You shake off the shackles. You know how sometimes you have a busy day at work and your people don't cooperate with you. Things go wrong, nothing goes right, and then at the end of the day, you want to shake off the shackles and so you go and eat a whole bunch of junk food or you go do a whole bunch of shopping that you can't afford because you just want to shake off the shackles. Is it possible that because we are in the ministry, because we have to have holiness and we talk about Jesus and we talk about the Gospel all the time, there is a part of us that wants to shake off the shackles and do sin just because we are in shackles all the time? I don't know, but we have temperamental weaknesses.
Speaker 1Second, there was an unheeded warning. Jesus had warned him but he ignored it. In Mark, chapter 14, 27 to 31, jesus said to them you will all fall away, for it is written I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. Of course Peter got up. Peter said to him even though they all fall away, I will not. Jesus said to him directly, truly, I tell you this very night before the rooster crows, twice, you will deny me three times. But he said emphatically if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same.
Speaker 1The reactor design used in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was the RBMK-1000 reactor. It had inherent safety flaws that they knew about and the engineers were not adept at handling it. There were safety drills and tests that were done that highlighted the shortcomings of the reactor's safety systems. In fact, there were prior incidents and near misses, including one in 1982 in Lithuania that used the same reactor and one in 1984 in Chernobyl that used the same reactor. But nobody heeded the warning. And so, on April 26, 1986, the reactor experienced a sudden power surge during a test and the entire thing exploded. And because of the lack of containment structure, which was one of the design flaws in that reactor. It spread everywhere. 31 people died instantly, 350,000 people had to be evacuated, thousands of people suffered from acute radiation sickness and long-term health issues like thyroid cancers. There were genetic mutations and birth defects. There are areas in that region that are still cordoned off because the land and the plants have all been affected by it.
Speaker 1They did not heed the warning. If we are new believers, it is possible that we don't know what God wants from us, but if we have been in the faith for a period of time, we have a general idea of what God wants, what is sin and what is not sin. Do we really need another warning? We don't really need another warning. It's there in the scripture. Yet, yes, god does warn us through summons, through Bible readings, but we don't really need another warning. So obviously we can say, oh, I didn't get a warning. Therefore, I went and did so. You already knew that we shouldn't have done a particular sin, so we may not get the kind of warning that Peter got.
Speaker 1The third aspect is ideal conditions. Peter had the ideal conditions. Tony of Abbas looked at chapter 22, verse 54, and Peter was following at a distance. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said this man also was with him. Where was Peter? Peter was in enemy territory. He was in the courtyard of the high priest. Now on the left side is the. There is still the path, the original path, which they took to come up to that region. In the middle is the courtyard and then on the right side is the palace of Caiaphas, and it is in this courtyard that Peter sat.
Speaker 1His master is captured, and his master has never been captured before. He had near misses before, but Jesus always escaped. In this time he was captured, captured by the highest Jewish authority in the land. And so Jesus is in the palace of the high priest and now Peter is being tempted. If he says yes, he will suffer the same fate as his master. Peter had never done this before. It's not like he could have prepared for it. Yes, he ignored the warning. Now Peter has been a punching bag for 2,000 years. Right? We've at least preached one sermon on it, or at least heard a sermon on the denial of Peter. Let me ask you a question Would we have done differently? He was in the circumstances suitable for his sin. There was nobody around that he knew these were people that he's never seen before, he may never see again. Are you a disciple of Jesus? If he said yes, he would most definitely suffer the same fate as Jesus. It was easy for him to say no.
Speaker 1A key factor in whether we sin or not is whether we are in the ideal circumstance for sin. We can look at Peter and say, oh, how could he do that? But he was in the ideal circumstance for sin. What if we had the ideal circumstance for sin? Would we sin? What if we were prone to lust and the right person said the right thing at the right time and there's nobody around? What if we are prone to anger and everything we've planned does not go the way we planned it? That would be the right circumstance for your anger to show up. What if we are prone to anxiety and then a random doctor sees a random lesion on a random x-ray? What if we are prone to laziness and when the pastor asks you, can you come and do this ministry? You wake up and it's raining. If the ideal circumstances were there for our sin, would we do it? When I see a leader fall, I think to myself. I'm sorrowful that happened and I think to myself that could easily have been me under the right conditions.
Speaker 1The fourth thing that Peter had is a sin pattern. Peter found himself in this circumstance, the conditions were ideal, and he denied. Luke, chapter 22, verse 57 reads but he denied it, saying woman, I do not know him. And a little later someone else saw him and said you also are one of them. But Peter said man, I am not. And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted, saying certainly this man was with him, for he too is a Galilean. But Peter said man, I do not know what you're talking about. So he denied first, and that satisfied them. They were happy, peter was safe, peter was satisfied. They asked again Peter denied again, they were happy, peter was safe, peter was satisfied.
Speaker 1And then the Bible says there was a space of one hour. What happened in the space of one hour? Again, peter's second and third denials there was a space of one hour. What happened was they assembled the Sanhedrin in the middle of the night. They came up that pathway, went to the palace of Caiaphas to have a hurriedly assembled impromptu session to accuse Jesus. They had accusations, they had false accusations that were refuted. And then finally they asked are you the son of God? And he answered in the affirmative and that was enough for them. They accused him of blasphemy and sentenced him to death. And then they beat him, they pulled out his beard and they slapped him around. All this happened in that. One hour After that, after the conviction was complete, the Sanhedrin left the palace of the high priest and went away, because according to Jewish law, you cannot convict somebody in the middle of the night.
Speaker 1It needs to be done during the daytime. So they would come back during the daytime to confirm that conviction. But in this space between the second denial and the third denial they had done the conviction and the beating already. So the people on the courtyard were listening to what was happening in the palace of Caiaphas. Once that settled down, attention focused back onto the courtyard. And now somebody noticed Peter again and they asked him for the third time are you one with Jesus? And now it is easier for him to say no.
Speaker 1The first sin is the hardest to do, isn't it? The second time it's easier. The fiftieth time a piece of cake. He got into a pattern of sin. We can easily get into a pattern of sin.
Speaker 1I want to give two reasons why there can be a sin pattern. The first one is the pleasure of sin. The pleasure of sin. Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 24 and 25, reads by faith, moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, not only, rather, to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Sin is pleasurable. Sin has benefits. So, even though there are subsequent emotional and physical consequences, it's because of the pleasure of sin that we keep coming back to it. Sin had a benefit. When he denied, he was safe, he was not beaten up like his master.
Speaker 1The second reason for A sin pattern is because of the lack of immediate permanent consequences. The lack of immediate permanent consequences it's because of the grace of God that he doesn't punish us right away, and we still take advantage of the grace of God. In Romans 6, verses 1 and 2, paul says what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin? That grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? What if God gave us immediate permanent consequences?
Speaker 1If our problem is lust, and Jesus said If you look with lust, you've committed adultery. What if the first time you looked with lust, you got blind in one eye? Would you look again? No, what if your problem is anger and the first time you got angry you lost an inch of height? How many more times are you going to get angry? What if your issue is worry and anxiety and you build these fantastical hypothetical scenarios that could never happen, but it can happen in your head. And the next time that happens, god says Alright, we will let it happen. If that happens one time, you'll never do it again. But what if we are lazy and we don't want to take part in what God is doing and we give random silly excuses because we are lazy? And the next time we do it we lose 10% of our bank balance Immediately? How many more times would we give silly excuses? It's because of the lack of permanent, immediate consequences. The combination of the pleasure of sin and the lack of permanent, immediate consequences can lead us to have a sin pattern.
Speaker 1After enjoying the pleasure of sin, peter has guilt and shame. Luke, chapter 22, verses 59 to 62, reads and after an interval of about an hour, still another persisted saying certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean. But Peter said man, I do not know what you're talking about. And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed and the Lord turned and looked at Peter and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord how he had said to him before the rooster crows today you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. The Bible does not record the words that Peter said, but whatever he said was true repentance. Peter was distraught. This is the misery of post-sin, self-discussed guilt and shame. Sin always leads to shame. Adam and Eve had shame after they sinned. Peter was so distraught that he disappears after this. The next time you see Peter is on Resurrection Sunday. When the women went to the tomb found the tomb empty and they ran to Peter and John to say the tomb is empty. He completely missed the crucifixion.
Speaker 1Guilt and shame serve a purpose if it leads to repentance. So in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10 it reads For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. Even after we confess our sins, we can still carry around a guilty conscience. How can we have a clean conscience? Hebrews 9, verse 14.
Speaker 1William Shakespeare in his tragedy Macbeth tells a story of how Macbeth was encountered by three witches and they prophesied that Macbeth would become king. So to make the prophecy work, macbeth went and killed his Lord Duncan. And after he killed his Lord Duncan, he would wake up for days after in the middle of the night and he would say where is that knocking coming from? What is happening to me that I'm afraid of every sound? Will all of great Neptune's oceans wash the blood clean from my hands? No, instead, my hands will stain the sea's scarlet and turn the green waters red. That is a guilty conscience. Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 14, reads how much more will the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? It is a blood of Christ that can cleanse a guilty conscience. What can wash away my stain? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Speaker 1In the journey of this fall, we talked about the human perspective, but sixth, we will look at the agony of God. One of the things we forget when we sin is the agony of God. Hebrews, chapter 6, verse 6, reads Since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt. Whenever we sin, we subject Jesus to the experience of the crucifixion and to the Father, to the experience of seeing His crucified Son. Since forgiveness is not cheap, sin is not benign. Since forgiveness is not cheap, sin is not benign. And seventh, the restoration.
Speaker 1Turn your Bibles to John, chapter 21. When you look at John chapter 21, and you come to John chapter 20, it looks like the book ended at the end of John chapter 20. Let me read the last two verses of John, chapter 20. Verse 30 and 31,. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. And that seems to be a good conclusion to the book. And yet there is chapter 21. Why is there chapter 21? Why is there an epilogue to the Gospel that John wrote? Some things seem to have been left unfinished, including the role of Peter.
Speaker 1The issue of denying becomes an issue during persecution. If there is no persecution, if nobody is questioning your faith, denying is not an issue. When John wrote his book it was between 80 and 90 AD. That was about 50 years after the events. A lot happened in those 50 years. In AD 70, jerusalem was destroyed by General Titus. In the late 60s, nero burned Christians at the stake. Peter was crucified, paul was killed. There was widespread persecution going on and there was a debate of what to do for those people that denied Jesus. During the persecution. There were two options, there were two schools of thought at that time Should we restore them or should we not restore them? And so John adds this epilogue to show that Jesus actually had option three.
Speaker 1And so we've read the story before on the Sea of Galilee which, by the way, is the only account of the Sea of Galilee. After the resurrection, jesus is at the Sea of Galilee. The seven disciples are on the boat. They cannot catch any fish. Jesus tells them to catch some fish. They bring the fish. By the time, jesus has got some fish, he's made a fire. He's made breakfast for them. They have breakfast.
Speaker 1And then, sitting opposite Peter, jesus asked Peter, do you love me more than these? Peter had a very high opinion about himself. If you asked him this question a few days before he said what he said. He said I will never deny you, I will never run away. And so Jesus is confronting Peter's high opinion about himself and his commitment to Jesus. But Jesus did not go easy with a superficial answer. But what is it that brought Peter grief? Jesus asked the first time. He said, sure I love you. He asked the second time do you love me more than these? He said, sure I love you. Then he asked Peter a third time do you love me more than these? And the Bible says Peter was grieved. Why was Peter grieved? Let's read the verse John, chapter 21, verse 17. The third time he said to him Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time. Why was Peter hurt? Because it was the third time.
Speaker 1It was erudously thought that it was because of different use of Greek words for love that Peter was grieved. That's not the case. John uses words randomly, without care for whether it's agape or filial. In fact, from 400 BC onwards, the word agape was used for love in standard Greek. John uses filial or agape whenever he wants, without any meaning behind it. But that's not even the thing. Jesus spoke to him in Aramaic. It wasn't even Greek.
Speaker 1Peter was grieved because Jesus asked the third time. Why was he grieved? Because the third time, as Jesus is asking Peter, he's sitting opposite the charcoal fire that he made, with a light flickering on his face. And when Jesus asked him the third time, he's reminded of a few days before, when he sat behind the charcoal fire and the eyes of Jesus pierced through his heart as he denied Jesus a third time. Jesus brought him back to where he sinned, and so he was grieved.
Speaker 1There were two options for those who denied. Do we restore them? Do we not restore them? Jesus gave the third option. What is the third option? We will restore them, but first they need to confront their own sin and their own weakness and admit their impossibility of living by themselves, and then we will restore them. Jesus goes beyond forgiveness and says I have forgiven you. What are you going to do because of it? And so he asked him to take care of his church. Not only does Jesus forgive him, but gives him the privilege to partner with him in his global task.
Speaker 1There's something else that happened before this encounter, before this encounter on the beach, there was something else that happened In Mark, chapter 16, and we will end with this in Mark, chapter 16, verses 5 to 7. And they entered the tomb. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. Do not be alarmed. He said You're looking for Jesus, the Nazarene who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him, but go tell his disciples in Peter, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.
Speaker 1There are four accounts of the Gospel. Luke got his information from various sources, including Mary, the mother of Jesus. Matthew and John had direct eye-witness accounts. They were one of 12 apostles. Where did Mark get his information from? Mark got his information from Peter and Mark wrote his Gospel in the 50s, about 20 years after the events happened, was the earliest Gospel. Only Mark writes this where they say tell the disciples and Peter. A lot has happened since the denial.
Speaker 1Jesus was taken. There was another trial to ratify the first trial and then he was led to Pilate's house, pilate's palace. He was taken to Herod's palace. He was brought back to Pilate's palace. He was flogged within an inch of his life. Then he carried his cross all the way across through the city to Golgotha where he was crucified and had the seven sayings. He died, he was buried and now it is Resurrection Sunday.
Speaker 1Peter missed all of this and yet the angel of the Lord says this to the women Tell his disciples and Peter. There is no other Gospel that writes this, even 20 years later. Peter was so distraught during that time and Jesus knew that he was distraught. So, even though Jesus was carrying the sin of the world on Resurrection Sunday, what was Jesus thinking about? To comfort Peter? Go, tell his disciples and Peter. He has a special care for his hurting disciple. That is the grace and the care of God for those of us who are broken. Let's pray. I want to give a moment for us to reflect on God's Word, reflect on the numerous times we have fallen and the numerous times God has forgiven us and restored us.