TRANSCRIPTION | Sunday, January 9, 2022 | A Meaningful Life Series | 

Destroy The Evidence

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

I've been the last, uh, few weeks in a series entitled a meaningful life and really where that thematic concept came from was I think we're all just tired of wasting our time. Can I get a witness from somebody? Like we want to be a part of something that is meaningful and not just in the temporal, but also in those things that impact eternity and what I've been sharing these last few weeks at I'll share today are things that have been stored up in my own heart that feel like God has dealt with me about, and this morning, you know, as I was praying about getting the chance to share, um, multiple times, I was just impacted by the presence of God in, in a very powerful way, even to the point of, of just weeping and, um, just sensing God's nearness, being thankful for his grace and just really excited about the fact that he perpetually reaches further down than we can reach up. And so today I want to take you to Luke chapter 22. And I, I do believe that the Lord's got a word for somebody and I don't think you're here by accident. And, uh, God may have even thinned things out a little bit this morning. Just so you'd know it was for you.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Cause other wise you might have thought it was for Bulo or Freddy <laugh>, but they're not here today. So now we know it's for you, Luke chapter 22, verse 31. This we're gonna look at some things that happened between Jesus and Simon, Peter and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed. Satan has asked for you that he may sift you a sweet, but I've prayed for you that your faith would not fail. And when you have returned to me strengthen your brethren, but he said to him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. And then Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the a rooster shall not Crow this day before you have already denied me three times, verse 49. And when the other disciples saw what was about to happen, they explained Lord, should we fight? And so what we're now looking at is the moment in death, Sony, where they're coming to arrest you.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And it takes all the disciples by surprise. And one of them Simon, Peter struck at the high priest slave and he slashed off his right ear. But Jesus said no more of this. And he touched the man's ear and he healed him verse 59. And then after about an hour had passed another confidently, affirmed him saying surely this fellow also was with Jesus for he is a Galilean. So now we're at the court proceedings that, uh, are happening in the middle of the night, uh, surrounding the upcoming and impending crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And while that's taking place, um, they're trying to not only figure out who's with Jesus or who, who is, what has Jesus done and why we're gonna crucify him, but who was with Jesus. But Peter says, man, I don't know what you're saying immediately while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed and the Lord turned and he looked at Peter and then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

So Peter went out and he wept bitterly. So this morning we're once again, gonna talk about how to establish a meaningful life with the help of God. But we're also gonna take a subtopic of destroy the evidence, destroy the evidence heavily filed. Help me preach, help me teach, help me share your word. Gotta gimme an anointing for this moment. Now this moment is not by accident. God, you saw this moment before the foundation of the world. You planned this moment. And God, I pray that for every person that's under the sound of my voice, that Lord, your word will visit them in a personal and in a real way. And that your holy spirit will provoke them to their next step in you, whatever that might be in Jesus name. And this church said, amen and amen. Um, I'm sure most of you are somewhat familiar with the events that happened at Pearl Harbor in 1941, maybe more so some of you more so than others, um, in regards to American history, it's one of the greatest attacks to have ever transpired on American soil, Pearl Harbor.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

It took place on December the seventh, 1941, and it was an otherwise peaceful day. In fact, it was a sunny Sunday morning as the day was coming into fruition. Many of the soldiers were not even present on the base. It was a weekend and the military at Pearl Harbor were so nonchalant that they gave the Jordy of the soldiers a weekend pass at Pearl Harbor. They had recently installed some new technology. They had put in some new radar systems. And earlier that morning, they picked up a number of planes that were coming towards their base. However, they took for granted that they were American because they were expecting a number of troops to arrive via aircraft. It would turn out that they were actually planes belonging to the enemy. As well. Earlier that morning, there had been an American destroyer ship that was going out into the ocean and doing exercises and doing kind of some practice things.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

They actually spotted a submarine, belonging to the enemy. They fired shots at it, nothing else ever became of it. So they ignored the fact that they had actually seen the submarine. Now there are a number of other things that go in line with the two things that I just shared with you prior to bombs being dropped on Pearl Harbor and all kinds of devastation and destruction coming to that military base. But as many historians evaluated, the thing that they noticed perpetually in that storyline is that American military intelligence ignored the warning signs. And so there are some that would draw this simple conclusion that the only reason that Pearl Harbor's bombing took place is because no one believed it could have happen. And there's something about that. That just sticks out to the preacher in me because when I read scripture over and over again in this book, there are warnings over and over again, even in the new Testament that tell us that we are in a, that we are engaged in a war.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And yet it seems like that so many folks are kind of content to just ignore the reality that we are in a battle and that we are fighting a war and that there is the potential for a devastating attack to occur at any moment. Some of the scriptures that provide the warning of the attack are like John 10, 10, where Jesus himself is speaking. And he says, you have an enemy. He operates like a thief. He's gonna steal. He's gonna kill. And he's gonna destroy. You've been warned. You have an enemy and he's gonna attack. He'll try to steal. He'll try to kill. He'll try to destroy. That's from Jesus himself, Simon, Peter, the other member of the conversation we looked at in the opening text this morning, he told us in first Peter chapter five verse eight, that we should be alert that we should be sober because we have an enemy.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

The devil that pros a line around like a roaring lion, looking for somebody to devour Paul in the book of Galatians. He tells us that inside of us, there is a legit war that your flesh is waring against the spirit. And your spirit is waring against your flesh. You go into first Timothy chapter six, and Paul again tells us, so you need to make sure that you're fighting the good fight of faith. When he wrote to the Corinthians, he said it this way, when you fight, make sure that the weapons of your warfare in our car through man's hands, but that they are mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. He told the church of EUS, he said, put on the whole armor of God so that you'll be able to stand against the attack of the enemy. So over and over again, from Jesus to Simon, Peter, to Paul and other authors and scripture, even James said it this way, make sure that you submit yourself to God resist the devil.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And he will flee from you. That word resist is key because it does not mean ignore. There is a difference between resisting something and ignoring something. The reason that Pearl Harbor took place is because they ignored the warning signs. It would've been an entirely different story. If they would have resisted the attack. Now in our life, we are told there will be an attack and we can't ignore that reality. We can't ignore those warning signs, but instead we have to prepare ourselves for the attack. Now I wanna show you as we revisit Luke chapter 22, how that Jesus is trying inform Simon, Peter, there will be an attack. And then I want you to notice how Simon Peter responds to that information and how that he begins to ignore some things rather than to resist some things. Luke, Luke chapter 22, verse 31, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Satan has asked for you that he might sift you as wheat, but I've prayed for you that your faith would not fail. Now think about that. Jesus is telling Simon, Peter, the enemy is going to sift you. That may not mean a lot to us in modern culture, but even just a few years ago, hanging out in my grandma's kitchen. I learned what it was to sift flour because my grandma was not gonna bake a cake unless she first sifted the flour. In fact, as a little boy, that was often the way in which that she would of me to be a part of the process. She had a couple of different types of Sifers. One of them was the, the SIF where that you would put the flower in it and then you would turn it a and then there was the other SIF you would put the flower in and you would shake it. And so I can't tell you exactly which kind of sifting Jesus is referring to in this passage. But I can tell you somebody's about to get churned. And somebody's about to get shaken. Yes, he is informing Simon. Peter, you will be churned or you will be shaken. There will be a sifting that happens in your life. Now, when you look up the definition of sifting, as it relates to baking, the exact definition goes like this sifting, the flower helps promote consistency in the recipe.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

It, it results. Uh, you get the good results by removing the larger particles that could potentially result in densely textured, baked goods, or even ones that could sink in the middle sink in the middle. It's intriguing because Simon pot, Peter had a problem with sinking. You do remember the story. Matthew chapter 14, Simon Peter is in the boat with his buddies and he sees Jesus out on the water in the midst of the storm. And Simon, Peter says, Hey Jesus, if it's you bid me to come and Jesus says, come and Simon, Peter gets out of the boat and he's high stepping it. And then he gets focused on the storm and he sinks. What you'll discover is that over and over again in Simon Peter's life, he dealt with some sinking issues. And so often those sinking issues would start with his pride. Scripture actually warms us.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

That pride goes before a fall. I I've discovered. And I'm sure you have as well that often the greatest fall will transpire in the life of the individual who thought it could never happen to them. That's why Paul wrote to one church and said, take heed. Unless you fall. He was explaining that if you think you can't fall, you're probably the most vulnerable to fall. Has anybody ever raised a kid? Now, my son, when he was much younger, uh, we lived in a home that had a set of stairs and we repetitively told him, stay away from the stairs. We put up block a, I even hung a fence. We did everything we could to keep him off the stairs. In fact, when he would step onto the stairs, we would explain to him, Dawson, you cannot be on the stairs without mom or dad. You are gonna fall. You are gonna get hurt over and over again. We fall the battle and we gave the warning. And then one day, while I'm watching TV, I hear and I turn around just in time to see my son rolling head over heels, down 12 steps. He hit the landing in his head when against the sheet rock. And I remember Joe up and wondering if he was alive or dead. And from that point, I was gonna make my decision, how I was gonna handle the next warning sign.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Maybe you've been a kid. Maybe you've been someone that was young and resilient. And you just felt like, well, that applies to everybody, but me. It can't happen to me. I remember when I first started driving, my father trusted me with his prize possession. It was a 1991 Toyota two wheel drive pickup with no air conditioner and no radio five speed. He let me drive it back and forth to practice during the summer basketball practice, uh, we lived about 25 minutes from the gym and I had another teammate that lived right down the road from me. His mom had to had to work during the day. And so she offered to pay me to bring her son back and forth from practice. And so one day we were coming home from practice and, and, and, and, and my father had repetitively warned me. He's like, Eric, now this road's dangerous and you don't ever need to go over 55 miles an hour. And Eric, you do not need to be passing cars on double yellow lines. In fact, Eric, you don't need to be passing cars at all. And if you get behind somebody that's going slow, you just need to deal with it. You need to take it in stride. You are not ready to be driving aggressively, but here I am coming down the road from basketball practice. And I got my new passenger with me and he has paid for this ride.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And I feel like I need to give him something to remember nothing bad can happen to me. So I came around a, a, a, a small curve on a double yellow line coming up over a rise. And I discover there are three slow moving cars in front of me. At which point I pull out still in the double yellow line section. And I take off around all three of these cars at which point the car at the front end of that line was turning left. They hit me, they knocked me into a Culbert. It never occurred to me to let off the gas. So I just kind of kept plowing. I took out multiple road signs. I hit a telephone pole and ultimately ended up about 20 feet from a farmer who was standing in a fence row with a pack of fencing, steeples, and a hammer. <laugh>.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

I got out that truck was busted on all four sides, and I felt extremely fortunate to be alive. And really for the first time in my life from being behind a wheel, I realized it could happen to me. Have you ever been in a scenario where you just felt like it can't happen to me? So go with me to the upper room, sit with me for a moment at the last supper, Luke 22, Jesus sits down with all of his disciples and he begins to explain to them what the bread and the wine is going to mean in their lives, moving forward regarding their relationship with him. And then he looks out across the room and he says, one of you is going to betray me. And if you were to open up your Bible and you were to look at the subheadings that break down the text, what's you see next is baffling. Because in this passage, he introduces communion in the next passage. He introduces the fact that one of them is going to betray him. You know what the next subheading is. And they began to argue amongst themselves, who is the greatest?

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

How do you get from one of you is gonna betray me to which one of us is the greatest. None of them, none of them were under the impression that they could be the one that would fall. And so, as they're arguing over, which one might betray, it evolves into which one of us is the greatest, which one of us is gonna sympathize with the right hand of the throat, which one of us is gonna be the most exalting in the kingdom to come. Which one of us is the greatest they're arguing amongst their pride.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

What you ultimately see is that Jesus comes out of the conversation that they are having about who will be the greatest. And evidently Simon, Peter was winning that conversation after all. He's the only one that's walked on water. He's the boldest. He considers himself the bravest, and he's not afraid to express what his pride is feeling. And then Jesus, the very next passage looks at Simon, Peter and says, Simon, Peter, you're gonna get SI. You're about to go through a churning. You're about to go through a shaking. You're about to go through a season of difficulty and Simon, Peter rebukes Jesus and says, Jesus, I would die with you. Jesus. I would be in prison with you. And Jesus says, son, you still don't get it before the rooster crows, you will have denied me three times. Simon, Peter had a perpetual problem with his pride. And the issue with that pride kept putting him into spiritual situations where he would sink. Because the thing about Simon, Peter is he, he never understood the vulnerability of his own fear.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

He was willing to get outta the boat, but he overlooked the fact that he was also gonna wrap. So with fear and he was willing to say he would die for Jesus. And he was willing to say that he would go to prison with Jesus, but he overlooked. The fact that fear was about to kick in. And now when they begin to arrest Jesus and they try to apprehend Simon, Peter, he's been under the attack and he has beginning a fall. And as the fall is taking place, we, we discover that he starts denying Jesus to anybody that asks him if he ever even knew Jesus. And when he is in this third moment of denial, he actually has a moment of eye contact with Jesus. When you go to Israel, they'll take you to this place where they believe this happened. And, and, and it makes sense because in this room they would've been having this mock trial for Jesus, just outside Simon, Peter, would've been in a courtyard through that window.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

They possibly could have made eye contact. And as Simon, Peter has asked by a man, do you know him? And he starts to no, I've never met him. He looks, and there's a moment where he has eye contact with Jesus and scripture says, then he remembered what the Lord had had said as the rooster code. You ever had a moment when the rooster code, you ever had a moment where that devotion, that message, that statement, your mama, your daddy, that preacher, your grandma, your grandpa made to you, that you learned somewhere in a setting, a small group, children's church. Somebody got it through to you and you never listened. You never thought it applied to you. You never thought it was a warning that could even come near your dwelling of something you would have to worry about. And then it happened and the rooster Crow, and you realized, wait a second, that one pill can turn into addiction.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Wait a second. That one drink can turn into an addiction. Wait a second. That one exchange of an unhealthy text message can turn into an affair. Wait a second. That one little taking of something I shouldn't have took can turn me into a thief. Can turn me into a cheat. Can turn into a liar. Wait a second. Look. We've all been there. We've all heard the rooster Crow. Why? Because scripture says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the Lord. All of us have got dust on us, dirt on us, mud on us from face planting at our best attempt because we overlook how our pride makes us think. It could never happen to me. When a kid opens up a browser in his teenage years and begins to engage in pornography, he doesn't dream that 25 years later, it will have affected two marriages.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Think about all the times that the enemy makes us think it can't happen to me. We fall, Jesus tells us an attacks coming. We don't prepare, we don't ready ourselves. We don't get ourselves in spiritual shape. And then just like Pearl Harbor, our whole lives get bombed, shaken churn. Cuz the thing that Jesus pointed out, he did not say he was gonna stop the attack. He didn't say he was gonna prevent the attack. He said, I'm praying for you, Simon, Peter, that you don't fail during the attack. But the reality is he did fall. And so Jesus also tells him on the other side, when you get through this, I'm believing that you're gonna come back and you're gonna be used of God to strengthen everybody else.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Sometimes there's nobody to learn. Nobody better to learn from than the one who's been there. And they come back with the warning of learn from my mistake. I tell all the time you are not authorized to imitate my weaknesses. The fact that I have a weakness does not make it an excuse for you to embrace that behavior. Don't imitate my weaknesses by the grace of God, imitate my strengths because we all know what can come out of the weakness. So let's look at it. Y'all with me. So there's an attack. There's a fall. But you discover by reading the other gospels that when Jesus is resurrected from the dead, he begins to put out invitations to the disciples, to come and have a relationship with him. And in March chapter 16, verse seven, he specifically invites Simon, Peter, and it's over on a shore eating fish in the morning that Jesus and Simon, Peter have a restoration of sorts.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

But there's something that sticks out to me because how did Simon Peter not get arrested with Jesus? And so you gotta go back to the garden. There's something crazy happens in that garden. They come to arrest Jesus and Simon. Peter is in the begin stages of denying the character of God in his life. And the way he handles the initial stages of the attack is he takes out his sword and he cuts off the ear of the servant in the high priest house that is punishable by execution. Simon, Peter has come a sin in even the first steps of his stumble that would've taken his life.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

But when he cut that ear off, Jesus Christ knelt down. And when the stumble is even just starting in Simon Peter's life, he picks the ear up, puts it back onto head of Malus this, the name of this servant, according to other gospels and heals that ear so that when Malus went back into the town to make his accusation, that Simon Peter had cut his ear off, people are saying, what are you talking about? Your ear looks fine. There's no blood, there's no scar. I don't see anything wrong with you. Do you understand what lie that was able to happen? Because in the middle of Simon, Peter messing up everything, getting turned, getting shaken, getting sifted Jesus Christ was already in the process of destroying the evidence. The evidence had been destroyed. There was nothing to incriminate Simon, Peter with. And the only reason that he was able to overcome the fall, the only reason he was able to overcome the denial and wind up being the preacher who would no longer struggle with pride and no longer be bound by his fear.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

But instead would stand out on a balcony, preach a 10 minute sermon and 3000 people get saved. And when they would tell him to quit preaching Jesus, he would tell him that is the one thing that is non-negotiable. They would threaten to behead him and he would keep on preaching Jesus. They would threaten to throw him into lion's dens and he would keep on preaching Jesus. And they would threaten to Marty him, but he would keep on preaching. Jesus. Why? Because this man had been through the churning. He had been through the shaking. He had been through the sifting and he was able to survive at all because not only was there an attack, yes, there was a fall. But the good news was Jesus destroyed the evidence. And I came to tell you that what God did for Peter, he can do for you.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

I, I think there's something to be said for the fact that a lot of us have been under attack. And a lot of us have got different places where the fall has come into our life, but we serve a God of restoration. And the thing I love about Simon Peter's story is when he heard the rooster Crow, he, he says he began to weep bitterly. He wept bitterly. That's repentance, that's conviction. That's remorse. That's confession. That's revival. I'm saying, wait a second. Not only could it happen to me, me, it did happen to me, but I sure am glad to know that there is a savior who will take this sin as far away from me as the east is from the west and destroy even the evidence that would have ruined my life and give me a born again, opportunity to be a new creature in Christ, Jesus empowered by his holy spirit and to become a key part of his early church.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

So I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna play some music softly as they do. I'm gonna ask just every head to be bowed. Every eye to be closed. I want you to just ponder this with me for a second. Let, let your mind take you back to the upper room. And I want you to envision again, Jesus, having this conversation with the disciples, and I want you to hear Jesus, look at the disciples and say, one of you is gonna betray me. And they're so certain that it couldn't be any of them that they just start arguing about. Who's the greatest. And one of them who is to say the least elite in his faith though, he, he has had sinking moments is winning the conversation. He's winning the argument and Jesus says, Simon, you gotta realize, man, even you are capable of denying me. And then something else happens. Jesus says, now Simon, Peter, James, John, come with me and he takes them out of the room. Is he identifying the greatest?

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

We can't speak to that. But we know it's his three closest friends, according to scripture's example. And he pulls them into gaem and according to scripture, Jesus looks at these three men and he says, I want you to pray that you will be able to overcome the temptation that is arriving. And multiple times when Jesus came back to them, he found them asleep, including Simon, Peter asleep. Jesus did not tell those guys to pray for him and his cross. He told them to pray for themselves. He's warned them. Somebody in here's capable of betrayal. He's warned them. Somebody in here is capable of denial. He's told them there's gonna be some slipups. There's gonna be some mess up. And they are so convinced that it can't be them, that they don't even seize the, to pray.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And just like Pearl Harbor, they ignored the warnings. And what could have been resistance turned into devastation. There's no doubt. The enemy wants to sift your house and God may or may not prevent that sifting. But I can tell you this. Even if that sifting is permitted, God intends to use what the enemy meant for evil to work it for your good, but you gotta be intentional to not let your faith fail. Peter's faith failed on the wall and he sunk Peter's faith failed in the moments with the maiden girl and the servant. And he denied Jesus. And he sunk. The sifting is to get the sinking stuff outta your faith.