0:00 [Music] We all want to be able to endure till the end. Jesus says in Matthew 24, if you turn with me to Matthew 24, 0:17 Matthew 24 verse 13, Matthew 24:13, but the one who endures to the end, 0:35 he will be saved. And I believe each one of us, like Paul says in one place, we admonish and encourage and correct each one so that we may present them perfect in Christ on that day. 0:52 And when you asked Moses, "How many people do you want to leave behind in Egypt?" Do you remember how many? He said, "None. I'll take every we will take every hoof. We won't leave even a single hoof behind. And for us here as well as a church as 1:12 well. Jesus he was not satisfied with 99 sheep. He wanted all hundred sheep. And here as the church as well. We want every single one of us to endure till the end. And it speaks of that. If you turn with 1:32 me to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12. In Hebrews 11, we hear about the faith that those who had in the Old Testament had. And so you saw people like Noah. He 1:49 built the ark by faith. And it says in verse 39, after all they did. Verse 39. And these all having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised. Verse 40, because God has provided something 2:07 better for us. And so you have the Old Testament faith that we heard about last week as well. And the New Testament faith which we heard last week and the New Testament faith speaks this way. Verse 12. How do 2:23 I gain God's approval? By my faith. Noah gained God's approval by his faith. By building the ark. Moses gained God's approval by his faith. By the Red Sea opening up. How do I gain God's stamp of approval? By faith. And it says here in 2:43 Hebrews 12:1, "Therefore, since we have a great cloud of witnesses like Moses and Noah and others surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance or weight, something that's dragging us down, and sin which easily entangles us, 3:02 and let us run this race that is set before us." I left out a word. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on 3:19 Jesus, the author and perfector of faith. And so what does that mean practically for us? Each of us, I believe, seeks to follow Jesus, carrying our cross every day, denying ourselves, putting to death the deeds of our flesh. 3:36 All of us want to do that. But when Jesus says you have to run with endurance this race that is set before us, what does that mean practically? He tells us verse two, fixing our eyes on him, the author and perfector of faith, who for 3:54 the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God who endured the cross. And then it goes on verse three, considered him who has endured that word again, such 4:11 hostility by sinners against him, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. So that you don't give up, so that you'll be endured till the end. And then it goes on verse four, you have not resisted to the point of shedding blood 4:27 in your striving against sin. Verse five. And you have forgotten and have you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the 4:43 Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him. Verse six, for those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. He scourges every son whom he receives. Verse seven, it is 5:00 for discipline that you endure. God deals you with you as sons and daughters. And so, what type of endurance is Jesus speaking about? It's the endurance of enduring discipline as we go through. That's what he's been 5:23 that's what he says from verse four. He's saying, "Don't give up. endure. Jesus endured the cross and he says when you're going through discipline, you must endure it. And as I've seen over the more than 30 5:41 years of being a Christian, I've seen the temptation to not endure in discipline. And I've seen others also who when they've received discipline, 5:59 that was the place where they couldn't endure further in their Christian walk. Their Christian walk stopped there when they got disciplined. There's a verse in Psalm 73. Turn with me to Psalm 73. And this is sometimes how it feels when 6:23 we go through discipline. Verse two, but as for me, my feet came so close to stumbling. My steps had almost slipped. But as for me, my feet came close to 6:42 stumbling. My steps had almost slipped. And I've seen that in my life as well in my Christian life that there have been times, oh Lord, I could have almost slipped and fell there, but thank you Lord, you have kept 6:59 me from stumbling. Jude 1 24 says, God keeps us from stumbling. And so that's what I want on want to share this morning with is how do we endure? Each of us are going to be disciplined from the 7:17 youngest age to the oldest. One of the first things we learn is no, I'm sorry, you can't do that or no, you were wrong here. And for us to be able to accept it and endure in it. So, I have a question for you this morning. 7:36 In whose reign did the earliest three-year famine occur? So, there's multiple at least two that I know of. three-year famines that lasted for three years. In whose reign, in which of these kings reign did the earliest one happen? Was it in King 7:55 Saul's life? King David, King Solomon, or King Ahab? So, if you think it's A, King Saul, raise your hand. If you think it's B, King David, raise your hand. If it's C, King Solomon, raise your hand. 8:15 If you think it's D, King Ahab, raise your hand. Wow. So, D was an answer which kind of was meant to be there to kind of throw you off. 8:31 Uh, that was the second famine when Elijah said, "For three years, it's not going to rain." That was the second time. The first time actually happened in King David's reign. Turn with me to 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel. You're probably thinking, "Okay, what 8:53 does this have to do with anything?" 2 Samuel chapter 21. Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years 9:10 a year after year and David sought the presence of the Lord and the Lord told him why. So there are certain famines that happen because it just happens. And then there's certain famines that are happening for a reason. And this 9:30 famine was happening for a reason. And David was wondering, okay, three years are going by, this famine. Why is this famine happening? Is there a reason behind it, Lord? And so after 3 years, he's finally seeking the Lord. Lord, 9:45 there's a famine going on, is there a reason for this? Is there something wrong in my life? Is there something wrong that I'm doing that's causing this famine? Or is this just happen to be like any other famine? And God says, "This famine has been 10:01 happening for three years because of a promise that Joshua made hundreds of years earlier to the Gibeonites, saying that they would not harm them." The Gibeonites came. They pretended that they were from a distant country. And 10:19 Joshua said, "I'm going to say, you're going to be safe. We're not going to harm you." But in the days of Saul, Saul broke that promise and he harmed the Gibeonites. And so God was watching all of this that was happening and he said, "You know 10:38 what? There's going to be a famine. I'm not going to say anything and we're going to see if they come to realize that this fam is famine is for one reason and it's because of sin." And after 3 years of having that famine, 10:55 David finally is coming to the presence of the Lord and saying,"Lord, why?" In John chapter 5, if you turn with me, John chapter 5, not all sickness is because of sin, but if you turn with me to John chapter 5, verse 14, this is the man who was healed 11:17 of his paralysis. He was lame at the waters and he was healed. And this is what Jesus says after he was healed. Verse 14, John 5:14. Afterward Jesus found him, this man in the temple and said to him, 11:35 "Behold, you have become well. Do not sin anymore so that nothing worse happens to you." So this sickness for 38 years was because of some sin. And God was trying to get the attention 11:52 of this man through his sickness to wake up and not take sin lightly. Like we heard last week again, not to take sin lightly. And for each one of us, like it says, if God deals with us as 12:10 children, as sons and daughters, he will discipline us because he loves us. And so when he sees sin in our life, he knows the seriousness of sin in our lives. He will show it to us and discipline us. And sometimes he uses 12:26 circumstances and situations. Maybe it's a sickness. Maybe it's a pain. Maybe it's something that we wanted which we didn't get. But some way he will show and you can say just like David did, Lord, is there a reason for this or is 12:38 this just happens to be some circumstance that you allowed? Are you trying to get my attention? Is this storm for a reason? Jonah should ask. It was for a reason because he was running away from the presence of the Lord. Lord, I'm in this whale for three 12:57 days. Is there a reason for it? Yes, there's a reason for it. You're running away from And for each of us as children of God, God will sometimes use circumstances in our life. Maybe there's an idol like Isaac in our life. And God's saying, 13:15 "Okay, this is an idol in your life. I'm going to put this circumstance in your life. And do you want to deal with it and put him put this Isaac on the altar or not?" And so I want to talk about two people 13:33 this morning. Two people. I feel sad when I look at the movies of Jesus life because they always portray Judas in a way that you could recognize 13:52 him within the first few seconds. Oh, that's Judas. He's the one with the dark colored robe. he's looking somewhat funny and and and I know he's up to something. That's how and and because of that, because we watch movies like that, 14:05 we also think, "Oh, yeah, he was a crook from the beginning." But I believe he was a very very sincere, faithful disciple just like each one of us who have decided to follow Jesus. When you look at all the disciples that 14:23 followed him, there was one time 70 disciples that followed him. Out of all of those 70, all the people who wanted to follow Jesus, he was the top among the top 10 12 disciples who were se selected. He was top 12. He was picked. God the father 14:42 himself said he's one of the 12. Turn with me to Matthew 10. Not only that, God gave him a gifting like all the other 12. This is what he says in John I mean Matthew 10 15:01 verse 7. And as you go preach. So he give gave each of his apostles the ability to preach saying the kingdom of heaven of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick. So God give them the gift of healing. 15:20 raise the dead. He gave the apostles the ability to raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, all of these things that God had given. You might remember when they he fed the 5,000, how many basketfuls were left 15:40 over? 12. One for each of them. Judas also got a basket full of leftovers. And then if you turn with me 15:55 to Matthew 19, you see what he left to follow Jesus. Verse 29, Matthew 19:29. And everyone who has left 16:14 houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for my name's sake will receive many times as much. And so he would have left his family, left all of these things when he started off some sacrifice that many people have 16:33 not done. He's done lands and farms, everything to follow Jesus. I believe he was very wholehearted when he started off but just like us he also had the temptation to compromise in his life 16:51 and somewhere down the line you remember God gave him also a ministry a ministry to keep a hold of the finances he was given the bag God entrusted him none of the other apostles had that ministry that Judas had even 17:11 though that there was accountant like Matthew he gave the ministry to Judas's scariot and so he had a lot of ministry that God had given him but you look here in John chapter 12 17:29 John chapter 12 somewhere down the line one day came a temptation see the money in this bag What would happen if you took just a little bit, not a lot, just a little bit without anybody seeing? 17:46 And this is what happens here. Verse 6, John 12 6. Now he he said this to give to the poor, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief and he had the money box and 18:05 he used to pill for. Bill for means take a little bit so that you don't know how much. It's not you don't take a lot. You take a few cents or a few dollars so that they can't see. And so he pretended that he had a great 18:22 care for the poor and for others and all of that. Something that others thought he had a great concern for. But deep down in his heart, his motive wasn't right. He didn't love the poor. He didn't care for the poor. He had the money bag and he 18:39 had a desire for that money. And what do you think his the first time when he was tempted to take that money from the bag, do it in secret, hidden, what do you think his conscience would have said after listening to Jesus 18:55 preach all these years? What do you think his conscience would have done when he was about to take that money? You can tell me. His conscience would have bothered him so much the first time, just like it does for each one of us. The first time you 19:14 do it, it'll bother you. The second time it gets easier. You take it, h it bothers you a little bit. Very soon you can just take it and it doesn't bother you at all. A very slippery slope, a dangerous slope. It all started 19:33 in secret. He did not have the fear of God that God was watching him. Jesus knew about it. That's why it's written down here. Jesus was watching and seeing all of this happening and was hoping 19:50 that he'll repent. Turn with me to Ecclesiastics. Ecclesiastics chapter 8. Why do people continue to sin? Usually, it's because they don't get 20:09 caught. Verse 11, Ecclesiastics 8:11. Because the sentence or the judgment against an evil deed is not executed quickly. That means when he put his hand in the bag, his hand did not get paralyzed when he put it in. He did. He thought, "Oh, I 20:29 got away with it. And so what what do people do is not executed quickly. Therefore, the hearts of sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. The reason they continue to go and live and do evil is 20:48 because they don't think there's going to be a consequence. Oh, God's not watching. I did it secretly. But there's it will be a guarantee. It says in Numbers 32, you can turn with me there. Numbers 32. Especially if we want God's presence in 21:09 our midst, this is something that God will do. Verse 23. Behold, you if you've sinned against the 21:23 Lord and be sure your sin will find you out. Your sin will find you out. There's no way it's going to go. Keep on going. One day will come where your sin comes out. 21:41 And so, you see, I believe God had hope for Judas. And you know what? He had a hope for him even till the end. I believe verse uh if you go to Matthew 19 again, Matthew 19, Matthew 19, there's something that Jesus tells 22:05 tells here in verse 28. And Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you that you who have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you 22:24 also shall sit upon how many thrones?" 12 thrones. Even till then, God had hope for Judas that Judas had a throne there waiting for him. Jesus didn't say, "Oh, there will be 11 thrones. One of you won't get one." No, he said there will be thrones 22:43 for you. And I believe Jesus had a hope for Judas that even then. It was not too late for him to repent. But sadly, he got offended when Jesus corrected him. If you turn with me to Matthew, Matthew 26:8. 23:06 But the disciples, and this was mainly Judas, was not happy when they saw that this woman poured uh the perfume on Jesus' feet. Why this waste? Verse 9, for this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to 23:23 the poor. Verse 10. Jesus aware of this said, "Why do you bother this woman? For she has done a good deed to me, for you will always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." Verse 12, "For when she poured this perfume on my 23:38 body, she did it to prepare me prepare me for bur burial." Verse 13, "Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be spoken of in memory of her." Verse 16, verse 14. 23:55 Right after Judas was corrected, he immediately goes to betray Jesus. It says in verse 14, the then one of the 12 named Judas's Scariot went to the chief priest and said, "What what are you willing to give me to betray him to 24:11 you?" And they weighed out 30 pieces of silver to him. Verse 16. From then on, he began to look for a good opportunity to betray the Lord. And so he opened up a door. Now he was offended. 24:29 And think about this. He forgot all these things. That that basket full of bread that God gave him a ministry in the church. All of those things he had forgotten. What's the one thing that he remembered? The correction that he got, the one 24:47 thing he remembered was the correction he got. He forgot all the other things. And for us too, each one of us in our in this church also can get so much different things. People do something to us. The Lord has done so much for us. 25:10 and and and this big balloon all these things that we receive from the Lord. Oops. And then there comes a time when correction has to come. I believe when Judas came the first day 25:28 if Jesus had corrected him I think it would have nothing would have happened. Usually when we come to the church the first time somebody says something to us oh yes brother I'll do that right away a year goes by two years goes by 25:45 brother can you do this they're asking me to do this what happened and I believe for Judas's carried if he got the same correction probably the day he joined I think he would have received it what happened as the years go by he had 26:00 a reputation this is the brother who has the money back. He's been given a prominent ministry in the church. He's the brother who uh got a basket full of the leftovers. He's the one who Jesus took to take by to a secluded place to meet with. He's 26:20 the one who went to the olive olive grove with Jesus. All of these things. But when the time came when Jesus corrected him, that's when it was tested. Is he going to remember all these things that Jesus did for him? Or is he going to remember 26:39 that one correction? I believe if he had remembered, you know what? God has done so much for me. He's taken care of me all these years and now he's correcting me. And what he's saying is true. I have 26:55 been pilfering from this thing. Let me humble myself and say, Lord, you're right. I've been hiding something from you all these years. I've been taking secretly. Will you forgive me? I want to set this matter right. Do you think he would have been 27:14 restored? It would have gone so extremely well for Judas if he did that. But the question is not why Judas didn't do it. What's the question? Why am I not going to do it when I get corrected and someone says something to 27:31 me? Am I going to humble myself and remember all the good things that this brother and others have done to me and now with great concern they're correcting me and am I going to receive it? One of the things you notice in 27:48 and the one one one reason I believe that you couldn't see that he was any different from the others is because all his sin was in secret in the meetings and in public he was as godly as everyone else. But you see, did you know that Jesus 28:06 said at least twice who was going to betray them? At least twice. And if you'll turn with me to Matthew chapter 2 26, you remember when Jesus says, "One of you is going to betray me." What do they 28:23 all ask? Is it is it I? You guys remember? And so if you turn with me here, verse 22, Matthew 26:22, being deeply g grieved, they each one began to say to him, 28:43 surely not I, Lord. Verse 23, but he answered, "He who dipped his handed with me in the bowl is the one who betrays me." Verse 24, the son of man is going to go just as it it is written. But woe to the man by whom the son of man is 29:01 betrayed. It would be would have been good for if this man had not been born. Verse 25. And Judas who was going to betray him said, "Surely it is not I, Rabbi." Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself." So each one, is it I? 29:19 Is it I? Is it I? And then Judas says, "Is it I?" And it says, "You said it." That's the first time that Jesus said, "Who is the disciple who's going to betray him?" All the other 12 were listening. But why didn't they believe that it 29:35 could be Judas? Again, the second time is in John chapter 13. If you turn with me to John chapter 13. John chapter 13 verse 24. John 13:24. So Simon Peter gestured to John, tell us who it is who is he 29:53 speaking of. Verse 25, John leaning back on Jesus said to the to him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, this is the one with whom I'm going to dip the morsel and give it to him. So he dipped it and then gave it to Judas. And 30:09 after that, Satan entered him. And Jesus said to him, "What you do, do it quickly." Verse 28. Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose he had said this to him. They were supposing because 30:29 Judas had the money box, he was going to get something for the poor or something that they needed. So two times at least that Jesus said, "This is the man who's going to betray me." Why didn't they believe it? And this is my opinion. I believe that his 30:45 life externally was so good and his ministry that God had given him. Who did the Jesus entrust the ministry to with the money box? Judas. And you might remember he gave them authority to do miracles, preach, cast out demons, 31:03 raise the dead. I personally believe that God, he might have preached probably one of the most wonderful sermons. He may have raised the dead, healed the sick, healed the lepers. And that's why when these people saw this man entrusted with the ministry, 31:21 great preaching, they couldn't realize it. It just didn't connect this man betraying after he's done so much ministry and so much blessings, so many people giving to the poor, Jesus himself entrusting him with the money box. How could this man 31:36 betray? But I see the same danger for each one of us. We do so much serve in many ways. Ministry, helping, hospitable. Could we also do so much? But God is 31:54 pointing his finger on something that's in our hidden life that we're covering up. And that's the danger. But it's not too late. Just like for Judas, he had the opportunity to come and say, "Lord, it it was me. I did it. 32:12 Lord, I want to humble myself. It's okay if everybody else finds out that I was doing this. It's okay. I rather set these matters right. I cannot go with doing this in secret and pretending everything is okay on the outside. 32:29 On the other hand, we we we hear of another man, Peter. And you turn with me to Matthew 6:16. You might remember after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus asked 32:48 them, "Do you also want to leave?" And Peter says, "Where shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." And did he? And Jesus says, "Did I not pick 12 of you and one of you is the devil?" Jesus didn't tell them who the devil 33:05 was. He just said, "One of you is the devil." And this is in Matthew 14 when he fed the the 5,000. Matthew 16, two chapters later, this is what happens. He tells them, "One of you is the devil." He doesn't tell them which one. And in verse 21, 33:25 Matthew 16:21, from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and raised up on the third day. Verse 22, listen to 33:41 this. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid that this sh this shall never happen to you." Verse 23. But he turned and said to Peter and in the Gospel of Mark, it says he looked at all the other disciples. Meaning it was 34:00 not in Peter took him privately to correct him. But Jesus said, "No, I'm not going to correct you privately. I'm going to correct you in front of all the other disciples." And so he says, "All the other disciples come." That's in 34:11 Mark. And he says to me, Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. for you are setting your mind on God, not on God's interest, but on man's interest in front of everybody. He corrects Peter. 34:30 And I can think you each of us who've got correction, it says in Hebrews 12, no correction is joyful for the present but sorrowful. And each one of us whenever we've been corrected, if you've been corrected, you know that 34:47 it's not joyful, it's sorrowful, it's painful when you get corrected. And I believe Peter also, it would have been very, very painful when he got corrected. Jesus correcting him in front of everybody else publicly with the sharpest of words, calling him 35:05 Satan, that you're a stumbling block to me. And two chapter earlier, he says, I picked 12 of you. one of you is the devil. And now he's probably going back home and thinking about those words, Jesus, am I the devil that you spoke of? 35:22 Lord, how I've fallen. How I made this mistake of being a stumbling block to you. I'm You called me Satan. I believe there would have been a great desire to justify himself. Lord, what did I say? I just said, "Don't go to the 35:37 cross. I I was looking out for you." He could have said so many things. Why do I say that? I feel that same way. Oh, it didn't really happen that way. Always some reason. But I see 35:55 Peter didn't say a single word. When he was corrected, he received it. He went back. I believe he probably looked at it and examined his heart. Lord, sorry, Lord. Sorry. I failed you. Lord, I don't want to be that person that you said is 36:11 going to be a devil in your midst. Lord, I don't want to be a stumbling block to you. I believe that he would have repented severely. It would have been a painful time. But because he received it, there was hope for him. Because he received it, he 36:26 endured till the end. We must run this race with endurance. Enduring and being corrected again. You see when he got corrected, the one wonderful thing about this is when he got corrected, 36:43 it says chapter 17, six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John and led them to the high mountain by themselves. Out of the three and a half years when Peter wrote his letters, there was only one thing that he mentioned of not the 37:01 raising of the dead, cleansing of the lepers, there was only one incident that he mentioned about those three and a half years and that was the mount of transfiguration. It left such an impression on Peter that he would write about it. 37:18 And when did this happen? 6 days after he got the greatest correction in his life probably after that 6 days later because he received it in humility God did something wonderful and gave him the privilege to see that him being 37:35 transfigured and that's what I tell the Lord Lord I got corrected today something that I didn't like of uncristlikeness I saw it's true I'm not going to justify myself I'm going to accept it Lord I'm going to go and apologize and set 37:51 matters right. But I also want you to do what you did for Peter 6 days later. Just like you gave him the best present for his life by taking him to the mount of transfiguration, do something for me as well because I received it just like he did. 38:10 So you see Jesus correcting him and then in the mount of transfiguration you they get a voice from heaven a voice out of the clouds said this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased listen to him and so he got corrected 38:27 six days later he gets corrected again first time from Jesus second times from a voice from heaven correcting him but he never got discouraged sometimes when we get corrected. We're saying, "Okay, Jesus, you corrected me. 38:43 I'm not going to say anything anymore. That's the last time I say anything." And we think that's humility. That's not humility. That's because we're offended. We don't want to talk anymore. We don't want to say, "Oh, I'm not going to help 38:57 anymore because the last time I helped, I got corrected, so I'm not going to do that anymore." But you see, Peter, even though he got corrected six days later, he's transparent. He's willing to say what was on his heart even if it meant 39:11 getting corrected again. I believe that's why he endured till the end. And then you see years later after being established and a pillar in the church in Galatians chapter 2, 39:27 Galatians chapter 2, he gets corrected again. Isn't two times of correction enough? The Lord said, "No, Peter, you need some more correction because this is going to keep you 39:45 humble." Verse Galatians chapter 2 11. But when Cphus or Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to the face because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men 40:03 from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But then when they came, he began to withdraw himself and hold himself aloof, fearing the people who came from the visitors who came from James. Then the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy with 40:21 the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. Verse 14. When I saw that they weren't being straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in the presence of everyone, if you being a Jew, live 40:35 like the the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it you're compelled the Gentiles to live like the Jews? And so why are you living like a hypocrite? And this is not in private. This is in front of everybody. And he's now a senior apostle. He's been 40:53 leading the church, a pillar in the church. Ananas and Safh fell dead in front of him because they were hypocrites. He could have easily said, "You know what? No, it was a little sunny on that side, so I shift the table. I went to this table instead of 41:09 that one. Who are you to tell me that I shouldn't be a hypocrite? Do you know what I did when hypocrisy was there in the church? Do you do you not know that I know how to deal with hypocrisy in my life?" He could have said so many 41:21 things, but do you know what he said? nothing. He received the correction from a younger brother in the Lord. Paul was much younger in the faith than he was. He received it quietly. He received it from Jesus. He received it from the 41:41 father from heaven. From a voice in heaven, he received correction. Now through the Holy Spirit, through Paul, he was receiving correction. And I see that Lord, this is the way you preserve those who will endure to the end, who will run 41:59 this race and endure to the end because they receive discipline and humility. And for each of each of us, there's no other way. Each of us will be confronted like this with things of uncristlikeness that we don't see even in our life 42:16 through others. If God loves us as he does and I'm thankful even in the church here and others I've received correction from godly brothers who seen uncristlikeness that I've not seen. They don't have any great desire to 42:34 correct anybody. But they've seen something. And I know for sure if I did not receive that correction, I would have gone the way of Judas because one day it would come out and it would be harder to repent the 42:53 longer it goes. But soon as I see that uncristlikeness, I'm I have a fork in the road. Either I'm going to humble myself and receive it, not justify myself like Peter, or I'm going to justify myself and say, you know what, it didn't really happen like 43:08 that, brother. This is the reason I did that, brother. And it's just a slippery slope, and one day my sin will get exposed. And as we close this morning, I love this passage. 43:29 Yeah, we have the example of Judas and the example of Peter on how they received correction. But it's wonderful if you turn with me to Luke chapter 22. Some people say, "Oh, it doesn't make a 43:49 difference whether I pray or not. Whether I go to the meetings or not, it doesn't matter." But from the very beginning, God says there is a difference. Even in the beginning in Genesis chapter 1, the very first thing he said is there's there is 44:05 light and there's darkness and I'm say the light is good and I'm going to separate it from darkness. In the days of Egypt when he put judgment upon the world, he didn't say, "Oh, everybody's the same. The people who are living in 44:19 sin and the people who are godly are the same." No, he said, "There's going to be darkness everywhere else, and there's going to be light where my children are. There's going to be hail everywhere else, but there's going to be 44:29 no hail where my children are." And in Malachi also, it says the same thing, turn with me to Malachi chapter 3, the last one of the last things God says in the Old Testament to people who think that there's no difference between whether you live 44:46 righteously or not. This is what he says. Malachi chapter 3:1 17 the latter part 18. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked 45:05 between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him. And so if you ask Jesus, Jesus, does it matter if we pray or not pray? You'll say, of course, Jesus will say, yes, we should pray. But I see this if you turn 45:21 with me to Luke chapter 22. Verse 31, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. And so I see it says in Proverbs 27 23, 45:40 know well the condition of your flock. And so Jesus knew the condition of his flock. And he knew he could see in the heavenlies that the devil was asking permission to sift Peter like wheat. And he says this is a wonderful thing. He says, 45:59 Simon, I want to tell you something. The devil has come and he's got permission. And God has given him permission to sift you like wheat. But know one thing. I've prayed for you. I prayed for you. What did he pray? Verse 32, I prayed for 46:17 you that your faith may not fail. And when you are once again turned again, once you've repented, go and strengthen your brothers. And I believe today also the devil comes and asks for permission. When I was in India, I remember they would uh they'll 46:34 sift the wheat. They'll throw up the wheat and and basically what will happen is whatever is chaff will blow away in the wind and the wheat which is more heavier will fall in into the sift. And so but I know when the devil came to 46:50 sift him, he comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He wanted to completely destroy Peter's life. But Jesus said, "You know what? I'm praying. I prayed for you. The devil will come and he's going to try to sip you like wheat. But I prayed that 47:06 your faith will not fail. And I I I wonder if if why did Jesus have to pray? Because Jesus believed that he would Peter's faith would not automatically not fail. 47:24 He believed that if he prayed, Peter's faith will not fail. And so he prayed and God heard him. And because of that, Peter's faith did not fail. Jesus didn't say, "I'm not going to pray." No, Jesus knew that there was going to be power when he prayed. And 47:41 because of that, his brother Peter is not going to fail. And I see that Peter also when he writes his letter, he says, "Be sober in spirit for the purpose of prayer." Why? Because he was one who received prayer from Jesus. And because Jesus 48:00 prayed for him, his faith didn't fail. And so now he's telling the others in the church, you also perhaps today your faith hasn't failed. Perhaps your faith is not shaken. But maybe another brother or sister in this church, their faith is about to 48:19 fail. The devil has got permission to sift them. What are you going to do? Are you going to do what Jesus did for your brother and sister in this church? For that young child in this church? I see that example. Jesus had a care for every 48:34 single one in his the 12 that God had given him. He guarded them in the name of the father. And I also want to have that same heart. You also must have if you've been planted in this church. Lord, is any of those brothers or sister 48:50 of mine about to fall falter in their faith? Are you calling me to pray for them like you prayed for Peter? I say yes, Lord. I want to pray. And so this morning as well as we close, may we have a burden 49:09 for each one that not a hoof will be left behind, not one of us will falter in our faith, but everyone will endure till the end. And we have each one of us have a part to play. Just like Jesus has been praying for us that we would not slip and fall, 49:26 that we would have the humility to receive correction when we're corrected to prove that we are his children. May we also pray for others in this body. Maybe the Lord has placed us here in this place for such a time as this. 49:45 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray Lord, you want each one of us to endure to the end. You prayed for Peter and because you prayed, his faith did not fail and he was strengthened and he was able to sub strengthen his brothers. 50:01 Lord, I pray for each one of us. Lord, I pray you know every heart. You know the hidden things in this church family even and all who are listening. Lord, you know what's hidden and what's revealed. Lord, I pray, Lord. I pray that you 50:14 would move in our midst, Lord. that we would know, Lord, the secrets of our hearts will be revealed and we would come clean, Lord. We'll be transparent with our brothers and sisters. And I pray, Lord, it'll go extremely well for 50:27 each one of us, Lord. We'll endure to the end, being disciplined, Lord, because you love us. You want us to endure till the end. I pray Lord, we will all have the humility to receive your correction so that we will endure. 50:41 Bless each one, Lord. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
