“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:36
Daniel knew it in the lions’ den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew it in the fire, David knew it in the wilderness, Paul knew it in chains, John knew it on the island of Patmos, Pastor Saeed Abedini knows it in prison, and countless others know it under communist rule, tyrannical regimes, intense persecution… No matter what circumstances we face directly around us or in the world, no one can chain our spirits once Christ has set us free.
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:10-11
I’ve been reading through 1 Peter again, but this time more through the eyes of Peter. Precious Peter.
The man who was given three chances to pray along with Jesus on the night He was betrayed, instead fell asleep and three times fell into temptation.
He had looked into Jesus’ eyes and said he would be the lone faithful holdout among everyone else on earth…and then denied Him the very next day.
He had gone so far as to tell Jesus would rather die with Him than deny Him…then denied Him with an oath.
He had impulsively cut an ear off one of the high priest’s servants when they came to arrest Jesus, and then fell so fast and so hard that that very day he called down curses and emphatically swore on oath that he…did…not…know…the…Man.
And then a rooster crowed, and Jesus stopped everything and looked into his eyes.
Peter fled, found a solitary place and wept bitterly.
It must have seemed like an eternity from that moment until the moment after Jesus had risen from the dead and met them on the beach with fish frying over a fire and Jesus once again looked him in the eye, asking him not once, but three times, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” John 21:15-17
And three times Peter answered yes.
And in that moment Jesus restored him with his new assignment, saying “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:17) And then the command “Follow Me.” (John 21:19)
And Peter became a fisher of men.
The man who had been so filled with pride before became the man who wrote “be self-controlled.” (1 Peter 1:13)
The man who had let fear rule in his heart is the same man who would later write “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 13:14-17)
Peter knew true suffering. Those days he spent with guilt and shame, far from his friend, far from God, far from forgiveness, were agonizing. He probably spent much of those days with his head hanging down looking at the ground, or into the sea, as he resigned himself to his old life of fishing for fish. Jesus was gone; his life with Him was over. Simon Peter discovered there is no greater suffering than to be separated from God.
Maybe circumstances in your life have changed and you’re feeling like a failure. Maybe they’ve left you on the sidelines. Maybe you think God’s done with you.
Let me tell you something: He isn’t. He wasn’t done with Peter and He’s not done with you.
He’s using circumstances to mature you, to perfect you, to make you wholly dependent on Him. And when the time is right, with His resurrection power, He will restore you.
You are His domain, His glory. He started the work and He will complete it. Hold onto to the hope that Peter discovered was not a vain hope.
Be careful not to fill that heartache with something less than God’s perfect will, something of this earth. Don’t go back to fishing. Keep waiting and filling your heart with truth, hope and His promises.
Ultimate restoration will come for all of us who trust in Him when we see our Savior face to face. As long as we’re on this side of heaven and away from the Lord we will feel a longing to be with Him, to be restored body and soul. In the meantime, keep following Christ on the narrow road.
“Above His head they placed the written charge against Him: “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS” Matthew 27:37
This was the charge. They had pointedly asked Him “Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
He couldn’t deny it.
They immediately surrounded Him and spit on Him. They punched Him with their fists and slapped Him. They mocked Him saying “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”
It had begun.
Meanwhile, Peter had fallen fast and hard. After he denied ever knowing Jesus for the third time, a rooster crowed, just like Christ predicted. Jesus was close enough to look into Peter’s eyes, “And he (Peter) went outside and wept bitterly.” Matthew 26:75
Judas, too, was seized with remorse, and went back to the chief priests and the elders who had paid him money to betray his Friend saying, “I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood.” Matthew 27:4
But they didn’t care, and they didn’t forgive his sin.
The crowd was asking for Barabbas, a notorious insurrectionist and murderer — charges worthy of crucifixion — to be released and for Jesus to take his place.
Why would they want a known murderer back out on the streets, and a man who just a week prior they had celebrated calling Him “Son of David!”?
The murderer hadn’t personally betrayed them, but Jesus had.
Jesus had come into Jerusalem — their beloved city, the city of God — riding on a donkey, a sign of peace. They thought He was their messiah, their savior, their king…and now He was arrested and at the mercy of the leaders.
He didn’t look at all like a savior or a king. He had lied to them, and they were angry.
They shouted “Crucify Him!”
But when Pilate pressed them, they answered “His blood is on us and on our children!” Matthew 27:25
Cat-O’-Nine-Tails
And so it would be. But in His mercy, that was God’s plan all along.
By now Jesus’s face and head would be swollen and dripping with blood, teeth knocked to the ground.
They ordered Him to be scourged.
Prior to crucifixion, Romans routinely used a cat-o’-nine-tails — a whip fixed with small pieces of metal or bone at the end. He would be whipped up to forty times.
His flesh was torn from the bone, exposing organs, tendons, nerves. Blood flowed profusely. His body began to shake with shock, and then it started to shut down.
Then soldiers dragged Him back inside the court room. They took off His clothes and put a scarlet robe on Him and gave Him a staff. Someone ripped a branch off a thorny bush and twisted it into a crown and shoved it on his head, spikes stabbing His flesh. They spit on Him again, grabbed the staff and hit Him in the head over and over. They took the robe and put His clothes back on.The pain was excruciating, but there was still the road to Golgotha.
A crossbeam weighing a hundred pounds was heaved onto his mangled, screaming back. He struggled and stumbled under the weight of it, and Simon from Cyrene was pulled from the crowd to carry His cross.
Some prisoners were only tied to their crosses. Nailing was left for those who were seen as especially heinous.
His clothes were taken and He was laid on the ground while large nails were driven through flesh and bone, sending burning pain up through His arms and legs. He was heaved up onto the main beam, and a sign naming His charge was nailed to the top:
THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Through all of it every word He spoke was full of grace and mercy and compassion and forgiveness.
Even through the magnitude of His torture, none of it matched the pain of the sin — from the garden where sin began to the end of time – that was heaped upon Him. Every vile murder, every sickening rape, every twisted abuse, every act of adultery… Peter’s and Judas’s betrayal. Yours and mine. Every sin was laid on Him.
And He bore it all with love.
Once our sin was paid for, it was up to us to choose whether or not to accept that payment.
Judas chose to confess his sin to the wrong men. No one has authority to forgive sin but God though the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Confession to anyone else is futile. In his overwhelming guilt, he hung himself.
Peter would face Christ and his sin would be forgiven, his guilt and shame forever taken away.
Jesus once asked His friends, “Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:15
He asks every one of us that same question. People who lived near Jesus believed all kinds of things about Him, but only one thing was true: He really was the King of the Jews, and of anyone who would call on His Name. But His kingdom wasn’t an earthly one. They wanted to make Him king, but He wasn’t just king, savior, messiah, He was King, Savior, Messiah! His kingdom was a spiritual one. He was King of all kings, with all power and authority, for all time and eternity. He was and is more than they could have ever imagined.
My friend, if you don’t already know it, Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, and that includes you. He died for your sins so you don’t have to. So you can be free of the weight and the guilt and shame. So you can live in peace and know you have a home waiting in heaven.
God loves you. It’s why He sent His Son to the cross. Confess your sin to Him today, and He promises to forgive you, for “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
Perhaps you’re angry at God. Maybe you’ve accused Him of some wrongdoing, like the crowd had. Their expectations drove them into sin, but they would have a chance to confess and be forgiven, too. Soon they would see that everything Jesus claimed to be was true, because the story was just beginning…
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10
This Friday, March 20, the movie Do You Believe? will open in theatres. It journeys alongside the lives of a dozen people, all struggling and looking for something, but they don’t know what.
Sounds like a lot of people in the world right now. And of course, there is only one answer to all of life’s questions, to its pain, its confusion, its heartache, to the web of our own sin, and that is Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. “No one comes to the Father except through me” Jesus declared. No one.
But the good news is that anyone, no matter what a person’s religious background, age, color, socioeconomic background or anything else, and no matter what sins a person has done, anyone who believes on the name of Jesus Christ and declares Him as Lord will be forgiven and saved from the eternal punishment of those sins.
Christ says “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Revelation 3:20
Not only will a place be made in heaven for those who believe in God’s Son, but Christ promises to live with us right here, right now, to journey with us and give us hope and peace in the midst of our struggles.
We all know people who are struggling and looking for something but they don’t know what that something is. But we who know Christ do, and we may be the only one who can stand in the gap for them, who can be the bridge between darkness and Light, who can introduce them to the One who is the answer to the questions they’re asking.
Ask the Lord who that person or persons are who He would have you invite not just to see a movie, but to be shown the Way. Pray ahead of time that the Lord would soften hearts. Fast and ask the Spirit to break the chains. And then be bold and ask.
Heck, throw in a big tub of buttered popcorn.
Maybe you are the person who is struggling and looking for answers. Maybe you’ve gone to church all your life, maybe you haven’t stepped foot in one in a long time, maybe never at all.
Please know this: God loves you. His Son, Jesus Christ, loves you, and He desperately wants a relationship with you, so much that He died on the cross for your sins. His grace and mercy are deep and wide enough to reach you no matter how far away you think you are. He is only one prayer away.
If you can, go see the movie this weekend. And whether you go for yourself or you take someone, come back here and tell me how God spoke to you through it.
Life is short, and none of us knows how much time we have left. All those who will pass away today didn’t know it yesterday. We must seize the day.
I wanted to share today’s Streams in the Desert devotion with you. If you aren’t familiar with Streams in the Desert, it is a wonderfully insightful devotional that was put together by Lettie Cowman (L.B. Cowman), wife of Rev. Charles Cowman, an evangelist and missionary, and first published in 1925. The devotions are compilations of various teachings and poetry she read that had inspired her.
The devotional is just what it sounds like: a refreshing encouragement for anyone going through a spiritual desert. It reminds us that our suffering is not in vain. In Christ it has purpose, both for now and for eternity. And it reminds us that we are not alone. We join the millions of followers of Christ (and even Christ Himself) who, over the centuries, have suffered in the process of walking with Jesus. God has used it in my own life many times to help pick me back up and set me on the road again. The devotional is available on Amazon, and you can also read it online, a new one each day, at http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/desert/.
God bless you!
Dorci
They sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: “Great and astounding are your deeds, Lord God, the All-Powerful! Just and true are your ways, King over the nations! (Rev 15:3)
The following incident is related by Mrs. Charles Spurgeon, who was a great sufferer for more than a quarter of a century:
“At the close of a dark and gloomy day, I lay resting on my couch as the deeper night drew on; and though all was bright within my cozy room, some of the external darkness seemed to have entered into my soul and obscured its spiritual vision. Vainly I tried to see the Hand which I knew held mine, and guided my fog-enveloped feet along a steep and slippery path of suffering. In sorrow of heart I asked,
“’Why does my Lord thus deal with His child? Why does He so often send sharp and bitter pain to visit me? Why does He permit lingering weakness to hinder the sweet service I long to render to His poor servants?’
“These fretful questions were quickly answered, and through a strange language; no interpreter was needed save the conscious whisper of my heart.
“For a while silence reigned in the little room, broken only by the crackling of the oak log burning in the fireplace. Suddenly I heard a sweet, soft sound, a little, clear, musical note, like the tender trill of a robin beneath my window.
“’What can it be? surely no bird can be singing out there at this time of the year and night.’
“Again came the faint, plaintive notes, so sweet, so melodious, yet mysterious enough to provoke our wonder. My friend exclaimed,
“’It comes from the log on the fire!’ The fire was letting loose the imprisoned music from the old oak’s inmost heart!
“Perchance he had garnered up this song in the days when all was well with him, when birds twittered merrily on his branches, and the soft sunlight flecked his tender leaves with gold. But he had grown old since then, and hardened; ring after ring of knotty growth had sealed up the long-forgotten melody, until the fierce tongues of the flames came to consume his callousness, and the vehement heart of the fire wrung from him at once a song and a sacrifice. ’Ah,’ thought I, ’when the fire of affliction draws songs of praise from us, then indeed we are purified, and our God is glorified!’
“Perhaps some of us are like this old oak log, cold, hard, insensible; we should give forth no melodious sounds, were it not for the fire which kindles around us, and releases notes of trust in Him, and cheerful compliance with His will.
“’As I mused the fire burned,’ and my soul found sweet comfort in the parable so strangely set forth before me.
“Singing in the fire! Yes, God helping us, if that is the only way to get harmony out of these hard apathetic hearts, let the furnace be heated seven times hotter than before.”
