Scars | Part 1: Fighting Back from Failure

Anybody? Yeah, it's about everybody. I've got more than my fair share. If you don't have any, I've got some for you. I have many. And the thing about scars is that they all have their own unique set of circumstances. And if I were to ask you about your particular scar, there would be no hesitation. You would be able to tell me exactly what happened, where you were when it happened, and the circumstances surrounding the situation that made it happen. I can remember the details of almost every one of my scars because pain has this way of imprinting and impacting you in a profound way. In other words, I'm telling you that every scar tells a story. Every scar tells a story. My most recent scar is right here on the top of my forearm. It's about four inches long and it's a beauty, bro. Many of you, if you come to Canvas any length of time, you remember back in April, it was actually the week of Easter. I was working out and I was on my third set of all things, preacher curls. When I heard two loud pops in my right arm and I fully tore my distal tendon and had to have my bicep surgically reattached to my radius, I named this one. I call it my Your 54 Stupid Scar. That's what I named it, because my surgeon helped me understand that while a man in his 50s should stay fit, there are some moves that you should never do again as long as you live. It's done a little bit, but I've learned and I don't want to do that no more. I got one on the top of my head. My hair grew over it, but for a long time it was very visible, right in the very top of my head, when I was about 10 years old, we lived in Melbourne. My two older brothers, we wanted to play basketball, but we didn't have a basketball court.

My dad bought us a goal and we just simply literally nailed it to the side of a pine tree in the yard and we would play ball while me and my best friend lived across the field. We would jump up on this big A frame and we would crawl out and we would try to swing out and dunk the ball when we were 10 years old and I was standing right underneath it one day and my best friend was climbing out and when he went to dunk it, the whole thing fell and hit me right on top of my head, knocked me cold, blood was everywhere, Tina calls this one, this explains everything scar. That's what she says, because she always knew something wasn't right and now we kind of know why. Anyway, you got them too and I got them too and they've got names, they tell a story, but here's the truth. It's not the scars that we can see that tell the biggest stories in our lives or that affect us in the most profound ways. You and I both know this is true. It's the ones we can't see, man. It's not the ones on our bodies, but it's the ones that all of us carry on our souls. The ones that linger in our hearts, these are the ones that really have more to do with who we are and what we have become than anything else. Moments of betrayal from a close friend or moments of betrayal from a loved one or moments when someone who was supposed to protect you and care for you took advantage of you in the most horrific way possible. Times when the people you thought would never leave you or never turn their back on you not only did, but then act like they did not even sorry for it anymore. Maybe you lost someone that you really loved prematurely and you just don't understand how this could have ever happened to somebody like you or to your family and it's marked you in a profound way. I could go down the list, man, fall out fathers, drop out dads, misguided mothers, unexpected tragedies, unfaithful friends, the list is long, man, and there isn't a person in this room or watching online who hasn't been affected in some way by hidden scars in your soul. And I want to show you today a prominent character in the Bible who had some serious scars.

In fact, I'm going to go ahead and just say that he had a particular scar that not only nearly altered his entire life, but almost altered history as we know it. That's a big statement, but I'll show it to you in a moment. And really, I think the scar that marred this guy that we're going to look at today in the Bible is actually the one that probably unites all of us more than any other. It's the scar of failure, personal failures, moral failures, spiritual failures. They're just so incredibly painful and we never forget them. They linger and loom over our soul. Things that we've done and things that we've said, listen, man, I can't even tell you there are things that I've done in my life, man, and that I've said that at the very thought of those things, even to this day, decades later, just make me cringe, dude, and make my skin crawl, the things I wish I could take back and change and can't. I hate to tell you this, because of stupid stuff I did. I lost some meaningful relationships and heard some people that I loved because of things that I said and did. And I made some short-sighted decisions that impacted others negatively that I wish had never happened. And I wish I could take back, but I can't. And I bet everybody in this room probably shares this grief with me on some level. Things in your past that you wish never happened but did. Things that you wish you could go back and change, but you can't. We are simply left with the scars. And it reminds us daily of what we did and the regret that comes with it at times can be unbearable if you linger upon it too long.

Now let me set the stage here today because it's in the gospel of Matthew chapter 26. Jesus is in a room surrounded by His disciples and it's going to be their last meal together as a group before He goes to the cross. And He's trying to tell them, now listen, none of them ever got it. There's a misconception among Christians that when we read the Bible, that even His disciples fully understood the plan, that He was going to be offered up as a sacrifice for all, that He was going to be in the tomb for three days, that He was gonna be resurrected three days later. Many people believe when you read the Bible, they heard it, they got it, they understood, they did not. They did not fully understand the plan. Many of them believed that He was the Messiah, He was the King of Kings, but that He was going to set up an earthly kingdom and overthrow Rome and set Jerusalem and Israel back up as the reigning, the reigning providence. But that's not what happened, they didn't really get it. So they're having their last meal together and Jesus is trying to explain to them that His time is imminent, that it's time for His death. It's time for Him to do what He has been called by God and sent here to do. And as He's telling His disciples, as the events of the next hour unfold, that they're gonna be scattered and afraid

because they're not gonna understand what's going on, that they're gonna run away from Jesus, fearful. And when He says this, the most bold and protective disciple that He has is offended by it. And Peter stands up almost offended by the suggestion that he would ever turn his back on Jesus. And he basically says, "How could you say that to me?" Now, I don't know about the rest of these dudes. Now, some of them are a little soft to me if you wanna know the truth. But Father, how could you say that to me? You know who I am. You know what I'm about. You know what you called me from. You know how I'm wired. Some of these other jack legs may run away from you, but I'll tell you're straight. I'm never gonna run away from you. Not only will I not run away from you. I'm telling you right now in front of everybody, I'm willing to die with you. And Jesus said, "P," bro, compelling speech. I know you mean it. 'Cause He did. He said, "But before the rooster crow before the sun comes up, bro, you're gonna be the dude who's gonna deny me." Three times, He said, "Never." It'll never, it'll never happen. Jesus gets arrested.

Peter follows from a distance, the Bible says, and all of a sudden things start getting real. Now, when I read the Bible, I try my very best to put myself in this situation because I feel like that's where the best revelation happens. Sometimes I think we skim over the scriptures, but you gotta kinda put yourself in the text. And if you can put yourself in the text and fill the emotion of the moment, it'll make the Bible come alive to you. So just bear with me. Here's Peter, and he's standing in a courtyard, and he looks across the courtyard as he's watching incognito, trying to hide, and he sees this guy who walked on water, being beaten mercilessly. He sees this guy who raised Lazarus from the dead, getting handfuls of beard ripped out of his face. He sees this guy who had healed paralytics that had been paralyzed for 38 years, getting beaten mercilessly and doing nothing about it. And in his mind, nothing makes sense. How could this be? How could he let this happen? He could kill everybody in this courtyard, and they are treating him like a puppet. And he's trying to make sense of it. He's trying to get his mind wrapped around, and while he's getting his mind wrapped around it, trying to, something happens,

and here's where we pick it up in Matthew 26. Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him and said, hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You were also one of those that were with Jesus, the Galilean, but he denied it before them all, saying I don't even know what you mean. And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again, he denied it with an oath, with an oath. I do not know the man. After a little while, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, certainly. invoke a curse on himself and then cuss he wanted to take it a step further he was so overwhelmed by the moment knowing that they had identified him and afraid that he was going to be included in what was happening to Jesus that he swore by himself and he even cursed to try to prove to everybody that a man like him would have nothing to do with a holy rabbi like Jesus I do not know the man and immediately the rooster crow and Peter remembered the saying of Jesus that before the rooster crow you will deny me three times and he went out and he wept bitterly the Bible gives an account of this in multiple of the gospels Luke's gospel gives a little bit more detail I want you to hear Luke's gospel when Luke tells the story the Bible says in Luke's gospel that when he denied him the third time there's this unique detail I want you to wrap your mind around the Bible says Jesus looked at him and their eyes locked across the courtyard can you imagine can you imagine through the blood and through the hair that was matted to his face and the swollen face that he had he he he looks at him and their eyes locked can you imagine what Peter felt when their eyes

locked in that moment now you need to know this it wasn't a look of anger it wasn't a look of offense it wasn't a look of of bitterness it was a look of injured love it was a look of hurt and when Peter looks into the eyes of the Lord in whom he loved and how he had disappointed him his soul is crushed the Bible says that he goes out and he weaves bitterly the message Bible gives a redundancy the message Bible says that he went out and for hours and hours and hours he wept and he wept and he wept and he wept and he wept because he saw what his failure had done to his father and to his master he was broken with regret full of shame the self condemnation is almost more than his soul can bear his heart is crushed and with it his will to continue in ministry as well I'm gonna show it to you in a minute now Jesus is crucified as we know three days later God raises him from the dead and amazingly one of the first things that you're gonna find out in John 21 that Jesus does is right after his resurrection he makes a beeline to find Peter he makes a beeline one of his priorities when he's resurrected is to find Peter so I'm just gonna get to John 21 and I'm just gonna preach through John 21 and I want to make three observations about this text let me state the obvious first failure makes us all feel like giving up man if you failed bad if you screwed up bad you know what it feels like it just makes you feel like giving up and it did for Peter as well John 21 several of the disciples were there beside the Sea of Galilee Simon Peter Thomas Nathaniel from Kaina and the sons of Zebedee and two others and Simon Peter said I'm going fishing now this may seem very pedestrian in the moment I'm going fishing it seems like almost like Saturday afternoon I got nothing better to do but that is not what's happening here remember what Peter did for a living before he ever met Jesus and ever became a disciple and ever became a full-time follower it was what he was he was a commercial fisherman this wasn't said in a casual manner this is said as a matter of intentionality when he first met Jesus three years earlier remember this he's on his boat he's had a horrible night of fishing they've caught absolutely nothing they're washing their nets they're giving up when Jesus walks up and says would you

launch out again and would you throw your nets down on the right side of the boat and basically Peter's like dude I'm a commercial fisherman I know these waters we fished all night the fish just aren't here today we're calling it quits and Jesus said would you do it for me and they go out and the Bible says they let down their nets just to humor Jesus and they catch a load so big that their boat begins to sink they call their buddies over they load up so many fish their boat begins to sink and they realize that they are not dealing with a mere mortal man there is something different about this guy and immediately Jesus said would you would you abandon all and follow me and that's exactly what they did they left their nets they left the fish they left their boats and they immediately begin to follow this miracle working man it was in that moment that Jesus invited him into the ministry and he left everything and entered this journey with Jesus but listen to me in Peter's mind that was yesterday in Peter's mind that was yesterday he's heard a to be a part of anything that Jesus is doing. Not after what he did. He's no longer qualified to be a part of the ministry. He's no longer fit to be a part of the movement. He's no longer fit to even be friends with Jesus. So he returns back to the only thing that he's ever known fishing and back to his former life. It was a good run. He saw some amazing things. He spent time with the most amazing individual who ever lived, but that was yesterday. It's over. Peter knows he's failed. And in his mind, it's just time to accept reality. I have disqualified myself from anything to do with Jesus. Bro, you ever felt this? Y'all would probably be shocked. If you knew how many times that I felt unqualified to stand on this stage and to preach the gospel to you, you would be shocked if you knew how the enemy gets in my ear. You would be shocked if you knew how many moments I felt unworthy, so unworthy to pastor you and to preach the gospel because that's what the enemy does. See, I've done some stupid things. I've done some stupid stuff, man. I've made some big mistakes. And there's this little voice. It's the voice of the enemy. And then there's this voice in your own head. It's your flesh coming against you. And then the voice of the enemy that comes against you as well, that climbs up and says, "Who do you think you are, man? Who do you think you are, dude?" See, you're going to tell them how to do it after what you did. So you're going to tell them how to live it

after you know how you screwed up and what you've said and what you've done. Do you really think God is going to do anything great through you after what you said? Great purposes for those who don't do what you do or did what you did. Maybe there was a plan A, but you probably burnt that bridge. You probably wasted that opportunity. You might as well settle for a lesser dream and just be thankful for whatever comes your way. This is exactly where Peter is. His failure is right in front of him every day and it reminds him of what was and the potential of what could be, but will probably never ever be again. But even though failure makes us feel like giving up, let me tell you what I'm so grateful for y'all. Jesus never gives up on us. Failure makes us be like crawling in a hole and just rolling over and giving up, bro, but you got to know that Jesus never, ever, ever gives up on us. Watch this. John 21 at dawn, Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, was standing on the beach and the disciples couldn't really see who he was and he called out, you boys caught any fish? No, they replied. Then he said, throw out your net on the right hand side of the boat. Sound familiar? Hold it, hold it in your mind and you will. So they did and they couldn't haul in the net because there were so many fish in the net. And when they got there, they found, so they come to the shore, they realize, oh, my, it's Jesus, bro. We're reminded not only do we recognize him again, but this is familiar. This is what happened three years ago. And when they got to the shore, they found breakfast waiting for them. Now, when Jesus cooks your breakfast, it's a pretty good day, boy. All right. You know that had to be the best fish you ever ate in their life. Jesus don't do nothing halfway. Then they watched this. They found fish cooking over a charcoal fire with some bread. That's an important, important distinction. Again, if the miracle sounds a little familiar, it's because it is. I just told you a few moments ago, the only other time this Jesus did this was in Luke chapter five. He first met Peter initially called him into ministry, asked him to be his follower and disciple. And he did the same miracle. It's not only interesting, it's significant. Hold that in your mind after we examine a few important events. I'm going to come back to it. John 21 and verse nine, when they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them, fish cooking over a charcoal fire and some bread. Let me show you a very small but incredibly important detail in the Bible right here. Please notice how specific the Bible is when it says that the fish were cooking over a charcoal fire. Why would the Bible include that very important detail? Because the only other place in the Bible, listen to me, the only other place in the Bible where a charcoal fire is mentioned is in John chapter 18 and verse 18. Well, guess what happened

in John 18 and verse 18. It was what happened when Peter was standing by the fire. It was what the fire was built of in the courtyard where Peter was standing when he was warming his hands, the same fire he was standing at when he denied Jesus those three times. Again, if it sounds coincidence, it's not. It is absolutely strategic and there's even more while they're eating. In John 21, I'm not going to read it all, but the Bible says they're eating breakfast. Now, again, put yourself in the text because let me tell you what I think's going on. look at him. In my mind he can't even look at him. And Jesus is looking at all of them and Peter is just putting it in his mouth and he's looking down at the fire. And Jesus looks at him, but Peter can't bring himself to look in the eyes of Jesus after what he did. But in John 21, Jesus looks at Peter and he says, "Peter, do you love me?" And I imagine that the question pierced his soul and the shame comes back fresh and he hangs his head with a mouthful of fish and says, "Yeah, man, I love you. I know what I did, but I love you." Few minutes pass, the Bible says that a second time Jesus looks at Peter and he says, "Peter, do you love me?" And now it's getting heavier and Peter says, "God, man, yeah, bro, I love you." And he says, "I want you to feed my sheep." And a third time he says to Peter, "Peter, do you love me?" And at this point, Peter is like, "Man, what do you want from me, man? What do you want from me? Yes, dude, I love you. I failed you. I disappointed you. I screwed up big time, but I love you. I love you. I love you." And Jesus said, "Then feed my sheep.

Then feed my sheep. Then feed my sheep." Let me just cut to the chase. Why ask him three separate times the exact same question and give him the same three instructions. Why the repetition? Why the redundancy from Jesus? Well, let me ask you, how many times did Peter deny Jesus? Three. And so Jesus asked him three separate times. Let me cut to the chase. Jesus performed the same miracle of the large ketchup fish to remind Peter that the call on his life is the same. Just because three years have passed, I called you once. I still choose you and call you now. He built him a charcoal fire and cooked him fish over it to make him face the failure that happened that night in the courtyard so that he could address it and then move beyond it. And then he asked him the same question and gave him the same charge three times to prove to him that no matter how bad he had fallen, that God wasn't done with him yet, that he had covered his failure. He said, "You failed me once, I still choose you. You failed me twice, I still choose you. You failed me three times, I still choose you." It was Jesus' way of saying, "I know you think that you messed up so bad that your future with me is over, but I have covered your failure. Whatever sin you think has disqualified you. My grace is greater than your failure, and I still choose you." And whoever's in this room, that when you think of that thing that you did, and when you think of that thing that you said, and you think about the ripple effect and the impacts of what you did and how bad it was, and that voice in your head says, "He may

have used you in a different way before that, but not now. He still chooses you. He still chooses you. He has forgiven you." If you don't hear anything else I said today, maybe you need to hear this, "Your greatest failure is no match for God's greater grace." Don't you dare think that what you said or what you did could ever disqualify you from his love. You better get Romans 8, verse 1, "You better hide it in your heart. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who by the spirit of life in Christ has given you freedom from the law of sin and death. There is no condemnation if you are in Jesus. He has forgiven you fully, freely, and finally, and you need to forgive yourself. And you need to let it go. And you need to understand that it's under the blood, that it's under the blood. I know people won't forget, but God has forgiven you. And then He said, "Not only have I forgiven you, but I've taken that infraction, I've taken that sin, and I've cast it, oh listen, as far as the east is from the west, measure that one, measure that one. What an image. As far as the east is from the west, He said, "Bro, it's gone. It's gone and it's over. You have to trust and know that the blood of Jesus that was shed for you is stronger and more powerful than the greatest sin in your life that you have ever committed. There is no failure or no sin that can outpace the grace of God. There is no sin or no failure that can outweigh the powerful blood of Jesus. And when it's applied to your life, you are free, now be free." Let me give you the third thing. of God's incredible grace. We can know, and you just have to

are actually our best days. That our next days are our best days. I'm gonna prove it to you. Peter wanted to give up. Peter did give up. Peter went back to fishing. Now he has this encounter with Jesus. Jesus says, "I choose you, I choose you, I choose you." Feed my sheep, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. The call of God on your life is still good. It is not expired, nor have you disqualified yourself. I'm coming to you first after the resurrection because you are going to be one of the leaders of the New Testament church and the kingdom needs you, Peter. So you need to understand I've forgiven you of that. I've cleansed you of that and I need you to come on and get with me and do what God's called you to do. The hand of God is still on your life. Peter receives it, Peter receives it. And he goes on from that moment of restoration by the seashore with Jesus to become the great preacher of Acts chapter two. Remember this? Jesus said in Acts chapter one verse eight, "I want you to go to Jerusalem and tear you to be with power from on high and you will be witnesses and to be in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the most parts of the earth." Then we get to Acts chapter two and when the day of Pentecost was fully come

they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and they appeared in the clothing tongues like as a fire and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them a chance. Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, is the first one to run out of the room, not surprising. He was the first one always to stick his foot in his mouth. He was the first one to always get in trouble and now that he's full of the Holy Spirit he's the first one to run hand long into the kingdom. He goes down into the streets where the feast of Pentecost or the Passover was happening and there are people there from all over the region and the Bible says that under the unction of the Holy Spirit he preaches Christ in him crucified and 3,000 souls give their lives to Christ in the streets that day. The coward of Calvary becomes the revivalist of Jerusalem. The hand of God is on his life and he goes on to be a part of the leadership of this movement called the Church of Jesus Christ that started 2,000 years ago that has made its way to a lot to a Florida on this day. Peter would go on and God would allow him

not only to be the great preacher of Pentecost and not only to be a great leader in the Church of Jesus Christ in the movement but he would go on to write two books that would be included in the New Testament first and second Peter. And I wanna read you something that Peter wrote. And I can't help but when I read it think, oh I know what he was thinking about. I know what he was thinking about when he wrote that. He wrote this in first Peter chapter two. He said you need to understand that Jesus personally carried our sins. It is body of the cross so that we can be free from sin and live for what is right. It is by his wounds that you are healed. What Peter said is I now know because of my own personal experience that Jesus took his scars to heal us from ours. Jesus took his scars so that we could be healed of ours. No one knew this better than Peter. No one experienced it more on a personal level than Peter. This is why Peter wrote it with such conviction. He said I've experienced the healing from the scars of Christ because he healed me from the scar of my own failure. And Peter would concur that our greatest failure is no match for his greater grace. Jesus rose from the dead to prove

that nothing is too far gone that God can't renew it. Jesus rose from the dead to prove that nothing is so dead that God can't restore it. He rose from the dead to prove that there's nothing so gone that he can't revive it. There's no dream, there's no call on your life. There's no marriage, there's no family. There's no purpose that God can't resurrect. Whatever it is, it can live again. God has forgiven you, but for some of you, you need to by faith, forgive yourself and let it go and continue to walk in the purposes of God for your life. Some of you have just, you've been held back not by, So that whatever is in your life That's haunting you. That's guilting you. That's causing you to struggle and stumble. There is therefore now no condemnation To them that are in Christ Jesus listen in Jesus name Be free in Jesus name Be free