Come Back Strong After Failure, by Turning to Jesus | Book of John | Week 13

In case you have to leave early, here's what we're gonna talk about today. How do you come back from failure? How do you come back from failure? Anybody failed, anybody got a big black mark? Yeah, okay, evil church, right place for you. Okay, so, and listen, I'm gonna choose my words very carefully today when I'm talking about both Judas and Peter, because here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take the truths and the messages from God and what he did in those men's lives and what they experienced, and here's what, we're not gonna leave it there. We're gonna bring him into 2026 and we're gonna apply him to our life, our story, because it's not just religious stuff we need to memorize. It's like, what does that have to do with me today? So I'm gonna be very careful. Like, I'm gonna use words like, it's possible to fail Jesus or betray Jesus or deny Jesus or fall short of what Jesus has told you to do. Fall short is the definition of sin, by the way, right? But I'm not gonna use this word, disappoint, when it comes to Jesus, because let me just tell y'all, it is impossible to disappoint Jesus. You can't, he's not disappointing you, here's why. Because the phrase, you disappointed Jesus, would mean that Jesus had some unrealistic high hopes and expectations for you and then you screwed up and you surprised him when you didn't live up

to what he thought you were gonna do and you shocked him, never happened. Please hear this, anything today that the Spirit, and this is what I believe is gonna happen, the Holy Spirit's gonna bring up in you when it comes to your past failures and mistakes against Jesus, against other people, against your marriage, whatever that is, did not disappoint Jesus, and here's why. He knew exactly who he was signing up for when he extended an invitation to you. He knew, he knew what he got with you before you even knew that, all right? Before you trusted him when he said, come and experience eternal life with me. Nothing that you have secretly done in the past that nobody in this room knows about, but you do, or are currently doing right now, or will ever jack up in the future, will ever take Jesus by surprise, let alone disappoint him. You hear me? Amen, amen? Look, I did not drive from Fort Lupton to stare at people. Now, come on, all right? I need you to get involved in this, all right? So whatever you're thinking of, and I know you're gonna be thinking about this for the next 30 minutes or so, all right, is the reason Jesus knew that you would need him. That doesn't mean that Jesus, when you screw up,

Jesus doesn't look at you and go, I don't worry about it, move on, no big deal, I knew you'd do that, you're forgiven, keep going. No, no, no. What you did wrong, that's called sin, needs forgiveness, made possible by his blood shed on the cross, all right? If that doesn't happen, the rest of this talk is irrelevant. But because Jesus loves you, even though you're forgiven, when we fall short, when we fail, when we deny, when we disobey Jesus, he's gonna get involved in our life, and we should be glad of that. That means he might discipline us. He might correct us, and we might go through hardship. It might mean Jesus is gonna allow you to experience your heart getting broken and suffering loss. Not because you let him down, and now he's punishing you. Jesus said this over and over. I did not come to condemn anybody, I came to save everybody. Anything that Jesus does in response to your failure, your sin, your falling short, your betrayal of him, and what he says is true, will always have the end goal of teaching you something, who he is, and then leading you back to something better, follow me? See, what we're gonna see in the story of these two men, the stories have very, very different outcomes, not based on what Jesus offered them, but on how they responded to what Jesus offered them. So here's what we're gonna do. As we look at these two men and their stories, I want you, and you're not gonna be able to help to do this,

but I want you to take your story and look at your life, and some of you are going, I don't know how to think about this. Think of a big mistake. Anybody got one? 14 of us, the rest of you, you're liars. You've fallen short too, anyway, but I want you to think of your biggest regret, that ended up in you denying or betraying the most important person or truth in your life, and you never thought you would do it, but you did it, and then how you responded when you were confronted with that sin, or how about this, how you're currently responding to that ongoing sin, it's still going on, just nobody knows about it, or how you're gonna respond in the future when you find yourself back in the same situation again, what are you gonna do from now on? That's where we're gonna land us today. What are we gonna do now from now on? Okay, so we're gonna jump around a little bit to get a broader view of both Judas and Peter, their similarities and their differences. So if you're taking notes with your phone or writing down in your journal, here's the first thing they had in common. Both Judas and Peter, they were both disciples of Jesus. They were believers, all right? They were part of the big 12, the original 12

that Jesus himself called, okay, leave your life behind and come and follow me. Peter was a fisherman, a horrible one. He never catches a fish unless Jesus gets involved. That's just in the Bible, okay? And the Bible doesn't say anything about what Judas did before he started following Jesus, but he served as the treasurer for the group, all right? So maybe he was in business, maybe finance, I'm making that up, all right? But either way, Jesus knew what he was getting with both of them. He knew what they would do, and he chose them and called them and said, come follow me, and they both said yes. So they're both followers of Jesus, right? Second thing they had in common, both Judas and Peter are known for making very public displays of their devotion to Jesus and commitment to the cause, all right? They're all shooting out their mouth. I'm the best, I'm the biggest believer, right? I'll give you an example of this. We looked at this a few weeks ago. Jesus had just raised this man, Lazarus, from the dead, and he has two sisters, Mary and Martha. Jesus is over at their house, all right? Now Mary, one of the sisters, therefore took a pound of, remember, we talked about this, took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard

and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. That's an old Jewish tradition. We don't do that anymore. Don't do that anymore. They'll arrest you if you go, hey, don't do that, okay? But that's what, she's there, and she's taking care of Jesus. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Now here we go. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was about to betray him, John sticks that in there, and said, why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii, 300 days' wages, and given to the poor? Now John puts this in. He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charged him the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. Now remember, John writes the book of John 40 years after that. Well, he's an old man looking back. 40 years looking back, he could see, oh, now I know what was really going on. I see Judas for what he was. But in that moment, right? I'm pretty sure John and the others are like, yeah, Judas is good with money, and he just cares about poor people.

That's why he said that, right? Jumping ahead to the last supper, all right, that we spent the last month on, Jesus, someone asked, who's gonna betray you? Jesus says, watch this, and he dips up a piece of bread in a bowl, and he hands it to Judas. And he tells Judas, he says, hey, what you're gonna do, do quickly. Now, look at this. Now, no one at the table knew why Jesus said this to him. Some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, buy what we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel of bread, Judas immediately went out, and it was night. Remember, we're gonna come back to that, okay? Publicly, Judas had everybody in the group fooled. Big public gestures, all right? We gotta take care of the poor people of the world, right? Putting off the right appearance, but it was hiding what was really going on inside, all right? On the outside, had everybody fooled. Inside, another story. Same with Peter, right? Remember this famous story? We're not gonna look this one up, but the disciples are in a boat out on a lake, and a storm hits, remember this one? And they look out, and they see Jesus walking on the water, and Peter stands up in the boat and goes,

Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you, and I'll walk on the water. Jesus says, come. So he gets out, and it doesn't go well. He sinks, but anyway, but it was a big, dramatic, Lord, I believe in you, even when these other schmucks won't. I'm the best, all right? Later, back in the upper room, right after Judas leaves the room to go get the soldiers to have Jesus arrested, here's the rest of that conversation. Peter looks at Jesus and says, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I'll follow you anywhere. I will lay down my life for you, will you? Jesus answers, will you really lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. Jesus, listen, I would rather die than let you down. I would rather die, give my life. I'd take a bullet for you, man. I'd do that before I deny you. And you know what, in the moment, I think he probably meant it. He's pretty fired up because just a few minutes later, when they leave that room, they go to the garden, and the rest starts happening, about to go down. Look what Peter does. Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant,

cut off his right ear. There he goes, all right? Servant's name was Malchus. Sorry, Malchus, bad day, all right? So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? We'll talk about that next week. Luke 22, Jesus picks up the ear and sticks it back on. Great, great story. And the disciples run for the hills. Now again, on the outside, based on external behaviors and actions and big, powerful words, both of these men seem like good men, devoted men, strong, convicted, would never do anything like that kind of men. And you're right, they wouldn't do that publicly. They wouldn't do that in the day, in the light. They wouldn't do that when they're surrounded by all these people. But when nobody's watching, it's a different story. When these two men are something else, when they're in isolation, when they're alone, usually at night, when it's dark, when nobody thought they could see what was going on. Have you noticed, if you look back at some of your biggest regrets, it always happened at night? Like in the dark, lights off, shut the door, no one, right? Stuff just happens in the dark.

Like this, Matthew 26. Then one of the 12, whose name was Judas Iscariot, he went to the chief priest, sneaks off, secret meeting, and said, what will you give me if I deliver Jesus to you? And they paid him 30 pieces of silver. And from that moment on, he sought an opportunity. to betray him. And when did he betray him? We already read a minute ago. After receiving the morsel of bread, Judas immediately went out, and it was night. Later in the middle of the same night, all the disciples have fallen asleep, and then this happens, look at this. While Jesus was still speaking, Judas came, one of the 12, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs for the chief priests and the elders of the people. It gets weird, right? And the betrayer, Judas, had given them, the crowd, a sign saying, the one I'll kiss is the man, sees him. And he came up to Jesus at once, and he said, greetings, rabbi, and he kissed him. This next verse blows my mind. Jesus said to him, what? Called him his friend. Friend, do what you came to do. And they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. Again, Peter, again, he was great in public, big storm, people watching all that,

big gestures, big statements, and we assume he has a big, big, big faith. When nothing was on the line, Peter's denial wasn't in front of a big crowd. It was in the dark, at night, over in the corner of the courtyard, in isolation. Look at this, here's how Peter's goes down. Look at this. Now, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. So Jesus is on trial in the courtyard. Peter's right on the edge, all right? And a servant girl came up to him and said, you also were with Jesus, the Galilean. That's the part of Israel he's from. But Peter denied it before them, saying, I don't know what you mean. And when he went out, so then Peter goes a little more into the dark. He went out to the entrance. Another servant girl saw him. She said to the bystanders, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again, he denied it with an oath. I do not know the man. After a little while, the bystanders, the crowd's grown now, came up and said to Peter, certainly you too are one of them, for your accent, your Galilean accent betrays you. And he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear.

I do not know the man. And immediately, the rooster crowed. I'm gonna skip over that Luke. This is what happens next. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. That had to be the worst moment of someone's life. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he said to him, before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And then Peter went out and wept bitterly. You think? So both are followers of Jesus, all right? Both, by outward appearances, seem to be really strong in their faith and commitment. According to everybody around them, like they've got their stuff together. And both experienced great failures, betrayals and denial in the dark, in isolation, in secret. That's what they both have in common. Where the stories become different is in what comes next. Like when you have failed, when you realize I have sinned, I have betrayed, I've made a horrible mistake, here's where we're gonna spend the rest of our time. Where do you go with that? What do you do now? Well, let's watch how these men did, all right? Let's start with Judas. And when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind.

Well, I'm rethinking this now. And he brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders saying, I've sinned by betraying innocent blood. So when the reality of what he had done sinks in and he sees Jesus arrested and then beaten and then whipped and be let off to be executed, when he sees the damage that he has created in everybody's life and he changes his mind, he goes back to the bad guys, he gives the money back, goes, I made a mistake, I wish this hadn't happened, all right, can we call this off? Can we pretend like this never happened? And here's the response. What's that to us? See to it yourself. In other words, we don't care. Not our problem. You're on your own. You can fix this if you can. And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, Judas departed and he went and he hanged himself. So when Judas realizes that he's betrayed Jesus, he doesn't go to Jesus. He goes back to the crime scene and he tries to cover it up, undo it, and it doesn't work. He's sorry. I'm really sorry I did that. He changed his mind after the damage was done. But in his mind, he looks at what he's done

and says, this is unfixable and I don't even wanna think about it, I don't wanna face it, so he doesn't. He chooses death. What does Peter do when he realizes what he's just done? I'll bet etched in his memory until the day he died was this, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter. You just don't get that out of your head, do you? And he went out and wept bitterly. So Peter, oh, what have I done? And he's sorry. But so is Judas. But apparently, right, if you're taking notes, there's two different kinds of sorry. Maybe more, but at least two, right? Paul, who writes a big chunk of the New Testament, he writes a couple letters to people living in a town called Corinth. This is the second one. This is what Paul says in this letter. He says, he says, Godly grief, and that could be sorrow or sorry, different kinds of sorry, right? So for godly sorrow produces a repentance, and I'll break this down, that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief, so that's the other one, produces death, and what Paul is saying, the kind of sorry that's meaningful, the kind of sorry that aligns with God, the kind of sorry that God is accepting of,

is looking for, that kind of sorry will lead a person to produce in a person a change of their entire orientation of their mind, I gotta think different, what was I thinking? Their willpower, what I wanted before I don't want anymore, and it will move their behaviors back into alignment with God, but the sorry that is based on worldly emotions or guilt or condemnation, causes a person to see only one option, my life is over, can't be fixed, death. How about that, godly sorrow is focused on God, and moving back in his direction, so we can get things right again. Worldly sorrow is all about you and how you feel, and it's up to you to fix it, if it can be fixed. How about this, worldly sorry is more like this, I'm sorry I got caught, but if I hadn't gotten caught, I'd still be doing it, because my heart and mind have not changed, I just got caught. How about this, look at this, there's two men, Judas, I've made a mistake, I can't fix it, so it can't be fixed, I am dead. Peter, I've made a mistake, I can't fix it, but Jesus can, he is life, amen. In a minute, we're gonna see Peter who is, I just thought about this, Peter who's just as guilty as Judas, they did the same thing,

pretty much the same crime, all right, betray and deny what you said that you loved in order to save your own skin, serve your own wants and desires, no matter what it costs to everybody around you, but Peter's gonna move towards Jesus in search of the solution for his problem, and Judas doesn't even try. And I'm studying this, I'm thinking, why? Why did Peter go that way and Judas go that way, and I guess we could over-spiritualize everybody, I got Bible verses I could build a case for this, like the devil entered into Judas, and he had to do it to fulfill prophecy, you could build a case there, but speaking personally, looking back at my biggest regrets, it felt like the devil moved into me, and it was like, the devil made me do it, and I did it, anybody else? But I have another theory, and this is my favorite part of the talk right here, because it's an aha moment, like I've read this story so many times all my life, and then this jumps out, going, I didn't know that was there. But did you know, I know because I studied it, I'm gonna tell you, and then you're gonna know, but did you know that in all four of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,

Judas never refers to Jesus as Lord, not even one time. He calls him rabbi, he calls him teacher, calls him master, like boss, all right, but never Lord. Do you ever think about, why? Why is that important, and here's why, all right? See, when you call somebody, you're my Lord, you're saying, I'm here for you. I'm here for your purposes, I'm here to accomplish what you want to do through me. When you call somebody rabbi, or teacher, or boss, you're saying, actually, you kind of exist for me. It's like we have a deal, a contract, you have something I want, or something I need to serve my purpose, make my life better, and when I get what I need from you, or find a better deal over there, I'm out. It's contractual. Peter only calls Jesus Lord, and here's why it matters, all right? If Jesus is your teacher, and that's good, somebody going, you know, he's a great moral teacher, and I really admire what he stood for, right? If that's all he is, if Jesus is your teacher, and you mess up, you should just expect to get expelled. You flunked, you get an F. If Jesus is your boss, and you mess up, you just expect to get fired. But if Jesus is your Lord,

let alone your Savior, and you mess up, because Lord is relationally based, not contractually based, new things become possible. See, and that's what Peter's hoping for, believing for, waiting for. Literally, he's gonna run towards it. So I'm gonna give you a preview of next week's, so Easter morning, Lady Mary, she goes to the tomb, and it's empty, all right? And then she goes, and she finds Peter, said, hey, the tomb is empty, and Peter runs toward the tomb. I gotta talk to him. He runs to find Jesus, all right? All right, sidebar, another discovery this week, all right? I love these rabbit trails, but anyway, the first two times that resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples, both Peter and Jesus are in the same room, and neither one talks to each other, which I find interesting. They knew the other one was there, I promise, all right? But for some reason, Peter didn't speak up, and for some reason, Jesus, at this point, doesn't, hey, Peter, we need to talk. I mean, the elephant in the room is everybody knows what happened, all right? and Peter made eye contact and the rooster crowed. They are not looking at each other right now. This is awkward.

I bet Peter's going like, uh, hmm. Like, have you ever been sitting at the table and you know you're about gonna throw a grenade in the room and everything, and you're going like, uh, hmm, uh, right, right, and I think his mouth's dry. He's like, I need to say something. I want to get it over. I don't know what to say. I don't even know where to start. Oh, dinner's over, bye. All right, and they leave, right? And I think Jesus knows what Peter's feeling because he's Jesus, but I don't think Jesus is just sitting there being passive aggressive. I'm gonna let him sweat. No, no, no. I do bet that Jesus is thinking, I am gonna let him sit in this for a minute, not as punishment, but so that godly sorrow can lead him to a good place. There's a famous line in the Old Testament, Isaiah 61. We use this line in a lot of our worship songs around here. It goes something like this. God brings or God gives beauty for ashes. You ever heard that? And it means metaphorically God has the ability to bring something beautiful out of something that has just been burned to the ground, which I believe is true. I've experienced in my life, I've had parts of my life

that could only be described as a dumpster fire, and somehow Jesus reached in there and found something good, all right? We've all experienced that. I also believe this, again, out of my own experience. Sometimes, and this may be why God brought you here today, sometimes God will allow us to sit in the fire for a while, not as punishment, but to let the full effect, like the weight, like the consequences that our actions, our choices cause. He's gonna let that sink in before he pulls us out, because if he pulls me out too soon, I'm gonna miss it. I'm gonna miss the correction, the discipline, because God loves me. He wants me to repent. He wants me to learn to choose, from now on, to choose a better path forward, and if he pulls me out too soon, here's what I'll jump to. Well, that wasn't so bad. I got a slap on the wrist, and I'll do it again. You're as bad as me. I would never do that, Pastor Jim. Yes, you would, right? I don't think Jesus is reluctant to restore Peter. He's just picking the right moment for Peter to fully grasp what Jesus is forgiving him for and restoring him to. If you have your Bibles, it's gonna be in John chapter 21. John 21, all right? Jesus was risen from the dead.

He's appeared twice to the disciples. The disciples decide, we're just gonna go back fishing. So they go back to the same spot where the first disciples met Jesus, like the same boats, same beach. About three years ago, I had a, I again, walked down the side of the same beach, the same sand there on the Sea of Galilee. And so they're out there fishing all night long, and once again, Peter proves to be the worst fisherman of all time. They don't catch anything all night long, right? And then Jesus is on the shore, and he looks out, and he goes, hey, throw your net on the other side of the boat, and they go, okay, and they throw it on the other side, and then it fills up, all right? So we're gonna pick up in verse seven. Look at this, it says, the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, therefore said to Peter, look, it's the Lord. That's him, right up there, it's the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea, and that just cracks me up. If you read what it says, it's like, so Peter, like, okay, it's Jesus, I gotta go, I gotta get this over with, right? And apparently, he has on, I don't know, a Speedo, I don't know what he has on out there

in the whatever they wore back then, but he said, but I gotta get to shore. So he puts on all of his clothes, and then jumps in the water. He's not that smart, you all, right? He's just like, hey. Anyway, they get up there on the shore. I thought that was funnier than you do, all right? But they get up there on the beach, and Jesus already has fish cooking on the grill, that's ironic, right? He says, come have breakfast, and so they eat breakfast, and again, I think Peter's there going, psst, ah, you know that feeling, don't you? And Jesus said, hey, Peter, let's take a walk. And they walk down the beach a little bit. Look at this, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And Peter said, you know I, Lord, you know I love you. And he said, then feed my lambs. He said to him, Jesus said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said, then tend my sheep. I'll explain this in a minute. He said to him the third, how many times? He said it a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved, sorrow, right? Because he said it to him a third time.

He said, do you love me? And he said to him, Peter said to him, Lord, you know everything. And that means everything. Everything. You know who I am. You know what I am. You know what I have done. You know everything. You know I love you. I apparently don't show it very well, but I do. Feed my sheep. Now look at this part, right? Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you'll stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. John writes this 40 years later, puts this in. This he said to show what kind of death he was to glorify God, and after saying this, Jesus said to him, okay, follow me. Jesus forgives him, restores him, assures Peter that God still has a plan for his life. He didn't jack it up, it's not over because of what happened last Thursday night. He says, God still has a plan for your life, Peter. It's gonna be a rough road, though, buddy. See, Jesus knows that Peter's future life, like from now on, will be used to glorify God.

How about this? Jesus, the good shepherd, is now commissioning Peter to be the new shepherd of the flock. Of the disciples, Jesus is gonna return to his father. Peter's past, write this down, and put your name in here. Peter's past failures will not condemn his future. His past might be burned to the ground. He might be sitting in ashes, but God's gonna make something beautiful come out of it. And Peter goes on and does amazing things, refusing to deny Jesus ever again, even when they crucify him upside down, and all he has to do is deny Jesus and walk away, and he won't do it. So that's Judas and Peter. Let's talk about you. It's like, no, let's close the prayer. Let's go on, all right? Let's talk about the thing that you've been thinking about, I don't know, for the last 30 minutes. I'm almost done. I'll be done as soon as I'm done, all right? So, honestly, you think about it all the time. You've been thinking about it. Some people in this room don't even know what you're thinking about, but you know what you're thinking about. What do you do when you know you have failed God, or your husband, or your wife, or your parents, or your children, or your girlfriend, or your whatever?

Realizing this is that when you sin against another person, you're actually sinning against God, but that's another sermon, right? Here's what, I've been in church all my life. Here's what I know is going on in this room right now. Some of you are sitting here going like, this is very good information. I need to file this away in case I ever fail. If I ever betray or sin against God, I'll pull this out. If I ever hurt another person, like if. Some of you are going like, this is a really good sermon for some of these people in this room. They need to hear it. Listen, I'm gonna talk, can we talk about you? If the people on your row knew what you were really like, that the depths of your failure, the denials, the betrayals, the frequency of the sin in your life, they would get up and they would move to another seat. Who'd blame them? You would do the same thing, right? If, if I ever fail. The question is when, when do you fail? I don't care how much you love Jesus. We're not Jesus. So when you fail, what are you gonna do now? I know, you know what you've done in the past, but like all we have is from now on. So from now on, what are you gonna do when you fail, when you betray, when you deny?

What, how about this, let's get really into your business. What is it that you're doing in the dark, right now, in your life, and if it were brought into the light, would cause so much pain and suffering, betrayal, shame, embarrassment? What are you gonna do with it? Even if, even if you say, no, I'm really convicted about this, I'm gonna stop. I won't do it ever, ever, ever again, all right? I wish it hadn't happened, but you know what? It happened. And you can't change the reality that it happened. You're sorry, but the question is, what kind of sorry are you? And the answer to that is found in how you answer this question. Where does that sorrow take you? Because here's what most of us do. I'm just gonna move on. I'm gonna cover it up, I'm gonna go, or I'm gonna go back to the crime scene, and I'm gonna talk to all the players, and go, hey, hey, let's just keep this between ourselves. Hey, I'm sorry, we shouldn't have done that, and I'm never gonna contact you again. Let's just, don't tell my wife, or don't tell me this, all right? And let's pretend like it never happened, and just hope that nobody ever finds out about it.

That's most of our plan. So I don't know what you're gonna do with your sorry, but I do know that what you will do with that will be based on how you answer this second question. It goes like this. Is Jesus just your teacher, your boss, or is Jesus your Lord and Savior? Because that makes a difference where you go from here. See, if Jesus is simply your teacher, or your life coach, right, then it's telling you, you gotta fix this, or you gotta cover it up on your own, because if you don't, it's over. Your situation is as good as it's gonna get. It's dead. If Jesus is your boss, then if you pray to God about what you've done, if you're like me, you're trying to strike a deal. You're begging God, God, please don't expose me. Help me, help me cover it up. Help me get away with my sin. It's transactional. Here's the deal, God. I promise I'll never, ever, ever, ever do it again if you just don't let me get busted this time, again. I know I prayed that last time, but this time I mean it. But if Jesus is your Lord, then godly sorrow will lead. you back in the direction of Jesus and what he's telling you to do right now.

That's what the Spirit's doing right now. He's saying you gotta move from darkness to light. You gotta move from lying to truth. God says that godly sorrow will lead you to a salvation with no regrets. In other words, when you turn to Jesus with your sin and follow him wherever he leads you, even though you can't see or understand how that's gonna work out good for anybody, especially you, Jesus promises to save you to a place where you will not have any regret that you followed him there. We're gonna, you know what? There's a lot of churches that just, you know what they're doing this morning? Hoping everybody walks out feeling better. I want us to be better, right? I don't want to tickle ears. Marriages are on the line, folks. Families are on the line. Sobriety is on the line. Your identity is on the line. I'm just not gonna pull any punches, right? So we're gonna talk about this more next week on Easter, but the reason, you know what Jesus is telling you to do? I just can't, I can't see that, right? The reason you can't see how following Jesus and what he's telling you to do and how that's gonna work out well is you can't see it from where you are

because you're in it. You're just in a mess right now, right? And you can't see how it'll work out because you've never been there before. So to you, everything Jesus is telling you to do with this thing in your life, it just feels like a big risk and you won't survive it. But if Jesus is telling you to do something, then if he's telling you, he has a plan. He knows how it's gonna work out. He's already been there, all right? He's already been on the other side of what right now feels like a grave to you and he's seen how he is, not you, how he is gonna work this out. But ready for this, write this down. You can't have a resurrection until you have a crucifixion, amen? And because we have a resurrection is why you can trust Jesus when he says, oh no, I know. I know how risky it feels. We're gonna talk about this next week. I have been there. I have been on the edge of the unknown and I'm just trusting my father will meet me on the other side. So I've been there, so trust me, follow me. My name is Emmanuel, I will go with you. We'll go together, you won't regret it. Let me say this really quick

so nobody walks out of here more confused, right? Consequences and condemnation are not the same thing. We get them confused. Condemnation is all about, you did it, you're guilty, case closed, punished, go to hell, that's condemnation. Consequences are the earthly repercussions set in motion by your previous actions that are now beyond your control. Illustration, if you rob a bank and ask Jesus to forgive you, there's no condemnation for those in Christ. Jesus, you won't go to hell for robbing a bank. You'll probably go to jail. If you cheat on your spouse, you can be forgiven by the blood of Jesus, but she might still divorce you and take the kids, even though you're sorry. Removal of condemnation is not the same thing as removal of consequences, which when you're in the middle of it, it's confusing because they both hurt. They're both painful, right? But if God is not a God of condemnation, I didn't come to condemn you, but you're still feeling stuck in the painful consequences of your past choices and they just go on and on and on. And if God is not about punishing you, why might God be allowing you to sit in the fire and the ashes? Instead of just pulling you out.

You ever pray that prayer? How long, God? How long do I have to, you're saying, be punished for this? How about this? What, and I haven't learned this so many times. What message, what truth might God be trying to teach you that if he were to pull you out of that too soon, it would not be the loving thing to do because you'll miss it. And all the pain that you've gone through and everybody connected to you has gone through this experience, it'd be for nothing. You just wasted it. See, I don't know what you've done. You don't know what I've done. I'm so happy for that. Because you go like, you can't be our pastor. I'm like, well, you can't come to my church. All right, so anyway, so. So we're all just a mess, amen? All right, so I don't know what you've done. It's none of my business. But I do know that whatever you've done, I know what Jesus says to do with it next. Like, godly sorrow will lead you to turn from the sin that you're involved in right now and covering it up. So maybe that's the only thing you need to hear. Hey, it's time to stop.

Break it off. Don't go back. Put it down. Now. I promise that's what the Spirit's telling you to do. So that needs to stop. But that just means I'm sorry. But then run towards Jesus. Jump overboard and swim all the way to the shore towards Jesus. Take a walk with Jesus. Listen to Jesus. And whatever it takes, do whatever he tells you to do. Here's why he's gonna look at you and go, all right? Right now, you can pray this prayer. He's gonna look at you and go like, do you love me? Yes, then whatever he says next, do that. But what about, he knows everything, just follow him. So I am almost done and then we're gonna sing this great song. I don't, whatever you're thinking about right now, is it in line with what Jesus says is true? Or is it all about pain and regret and failure? It's all forgivable. That's what the grace of Jesus, it's all forgivable, okay? And he'll walk through the consequences to the other side of this with you. He will go with you. He never tells you to go on your own, figure it out. He goes with you.

Next week, I'm gonna just give a whole Easter, you don't even have to come next week. Do, it's crazy, right? We're gonna look at this one verse that says, you were, I'm gonna paraphrase this, you were joined with Jesus, your baptism joined you with Jesus. And we don't think water saves you, but it's like I identified with Jesus in his death and then I also identified him in his resurrection, so I get a new life from above, right? The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to every one of you to walk through whatever you have to walk through this week, including walking away from darkness, walking away from the lie, walking away from the addiction. Be baptized next week. You, Jesus doesn't need it, you need it. You need a marker in my life. There was a day when I was sorry and guilty and walked away with shame all the time, hoping nobody would find out what a mess I am. But that man, that woman was crucified with Christ and they no longer live. And now a new me lives, a whole new, I have a new name, a new identity, a new value, a new purpose, and God is my father. And he's the alpha and the omega. He's the beginning and the end. He's Elohim, he created you and he holds you together, right?

Let's, all our campuses, let's stand up. We're gonna sing this great song. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. So if you'll do that right now, I just wanna run towards you, Jesus, like I'm just seeking your face right now. I have let you down, no, I have failed you. You knew what you were getting. You have never failed me. He's never failed you. And he's not gonna fail you now. God, in this moment, I just ask blessing on this church, on every relationship, on every heart, on every soul that's struggling right now. I pray for grace and protection for every conversation that might happen after church today, sitting there at the table like Peter, going, I gotta say something, I don't know what to say, but I'm gonna just say it and trust Jesus, I'm gonna trust you with the consequences because I'm following you, otherwise I wouldn't do this. I pray protection on all those families and all those relationships, all those conversations. But again, all this is a moot point if Easter doesn't happen. You didn't come to make us feel better. You came to give us new life and our sin doesn't separate us. We just have to follow you. And that's where repentance takes us, to you.

So we're gonna seek you and listen to you and you're gonna answer us and you're gonna walk with us into our lives this week. We thank you. You're Elohim, you're Alpha and Omega, you're Jesus, in your name we pray, amen, amen? Amen.