Three weeks ago we started this series, “Keep the Change” by looking at ourselves and asking “If I want to be the best and healthiest version of me, WHAT DO I NEED TO CHANGE?” Over the last two weeks, we’ve covered that we need to:

STOP TRYING and START TRAINING!

And Pastor Tyler talked about “What do you do when feelings fade?” Such a great and powerful message!

Today I want to wrap up this series by talking about what do we do, not just when feelings fade, but when we stumble or fail or fall.

Think of a time when you were attempting to make a big change in your life. It could have been in regards to:

· Breaking an addiction or
· Developing a morning devotional time or
· Getting fit or
· Paying off your debt, etc.

You were doing well, but then you fell off the wagon. You slipped. You stumbled. HOW did you handle that? Get back up and back on track? Give up? Get depressed? Confess to a friend? Throw your hands up? Get mad? Beat yourself up in shame?

How you handle YOUR failures will determine YOUR success!

I have a not so secret…secret for you. You will fail at something… sometime. I have a few on my resume’.
· I tried to learn guitar…once
· My entire high school sports career
· I lost 40 lbs in 2019 and gained all of them back…also in 2019.
· I’ve set some big, hairy, audacious goals in January and gave up on them by Presidents Day.
· How about you?
· Have you tried to establish a regular prayer time with your spouse?
· Have you tried to start eating better and then someone brought by some cookies?
· Did you slip up in your sobriety?

What do YOU do when you fail?

How you handle YOUR failures will determine YOUR success!

There are tons of stories online about people that have failed in really big ways, that later became great successes. That list includes people like Abraham Lincoln who failed in business, was defeated for U.S. Senate, failed in his nomination for Vice President, was again defeated in running for the Senate and THEN was elected the 16th President of the U.S. After each failing, he didn’t give up, he got up…and tried again.

There are 2 guys in the NT that failed in really public ways. In fact, they failed in the same chapter in Matthew 26. That chapter really has 3 main characters. JESUS…and these 2 men. You probably know them really well. They both had the most unique privilege given to human beings EVER!

· Both were personally called to follow Jesus…by JESUS!
· Both said “YES” and followed Jesus 24/7 for 3 years.
· Both were personally trained by Jesus for ministry.
· Both were students of Jesus.
· Both saw Jesus multiply loaves and fishes to feed thousands.
· Both saw Him raise people from the dead, open blind eyes and deaf ears and walk on water.
· Both saw Him quiet a raging storm with His words.
· Both got to hear the Sermon on the Mount in person and many other teachable moments from the greatest Teacher who ever lived.
· They both witnessed the unquestioned character of Jesus.
· They both SAW, with their own eyes, and heard, with their own ears, the LOVE of God personified.
· They saw Jesus’ power over demons and His ability to answer any question or challenge that His enemies brought against Him with such divine wisdom.
· Both received and used divine power from Jesus to perform miracles and exercise authority over demons.
· Both were exposed to the Lord Jesus Christ in exactly the same way, the same experiences for the same 3 years of time.
· Both were taken over by Satan, for a time, to take up Satan’s cause against Jesus.
· Both would FAIL Jesus in BIG ways, betraying Him, publicly, violently, strongly.
· And they BOTH betrayed Him at the end of that 3 years WITH Him, just before He was crucified.
· As a result of what they did, BOTH were sad, sorry. In fact, they agonized over their betrayals.
· One was so agonized that he killed himself.
· The other was so agonized that he repented.
· Two men whose lives were side by side in the presence of the Son of God.

One of them, in spite of his wicked betrayal of the Savior, is considered so honorable that some of you are named after him. In fact, people have been named after him since the 1st century and over 24,000 people are given that name annually in the U.S.

· He is loved. His name is honored, and his name is Peter.

The other man is considered so dishonorable, so despicable that most of you probably do not know anyone with this name. There are, on average only 4 people in the U.S. given that name yearly.
· You likely don’t know anyone whose DOG has this name.
· You wouldn’t even name your pet SNAKE this name.
· He is hated. He is reviled. He is rejected.
· His name is Judas.

Both BETRAYED Jesus…Both FAILED big time, publicly.
But what they did AFTER they failed was very different.

How you handle YOUR failures will determine YOUR success!

Let’s take a look at some snippets from their stories to capture what was going on and how they handled it.

Something that is interesting to me is that the very next thing…is the Last Supper. And AT the Last Supper, Jesus says this:

Now, if you were one of the 12 disciples and you heard that, what would be your first response? I would think it would be something like…“I bet it’s Judas!” or “I never really trusted Thaddeus. No one knows anything about him!” But NO. Here is what they thought FIRST:

Matthew 26:22 – NLT – “Greatly distressed, EACH one asked in turn, “Am I the one, Lord?”

They suspected THEMSELVES FIRST, over everyone else…even Judas. When Judas asked the same question as everyone else, presumably to ‘fit in’…“Rabbi, am I the one?” Jesus responded “You have said it”. John’s Gospel gives us some further information.

Not sure if that was directed at Judas or Satan. But after that, they wrapped up the Last Supper by singing a hymn and then they walked to the Mount of Olives. As they were walking, Jesus tells the 11 disciples at that point, no Judas…that they were ALL going to desert Him and He was already forgiving them and giving them a place to meet to return to Him. But Peter HAD to speak out.

Peter then doubles down on JESUS BEING WRONG!

Matthew 26:35a – NLT – ‘No!’ Peter insisted. ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will NEVER deny you!”

And after spending some time in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas shows up with a small army…and we see BETRAYAL #1

Matthew 26:49-50 – NLT – “So Judas came straight to Jesus. ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ he exclaimed and gave Him THE KISS. (This was the agreed upon signal to the soldiers) Jesus said, ‘My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.’ Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested Him.”

Jesus is arrested and taken before the High Council and all the leading priests. Peter had followed the army taking Jesus to the home of the High Priest and he was outside in the courtyard.

That was BETRAYAL #2

Both of these guys had been with Jesus for 3 years. And BOTH of these guys now had BETRAYED Jesus. But how they responded to their betrayal couldn’t have been more different, and it is what set them apart. Because…

How you handle YOUR failures will determine YOUR success!

Let me stop here for a minute and say this. We don’t know exactly why Judas betrayed Jesus. Some think it was simply greed, his love of money. Some believe that he was trying to force Jesus’ hand as the military Messiah, coming to destroy Rome and set Israel free. What we do know is after His betrayal and seeing what they did to JESUS and arresting Him, trying Him and taking Him to Pilate, and JESUS did NOT fight back…Judas felt..TERRIBLE! And that is a typical strategy of our enemy, Satan. Have you ever been tempted in some way and after you gave in, that same ‘voice’ changed to one of condemnation for giving in? I think that is what happened to Judas.

Judas’s response to his own failure was to give up and end it all.
Now, let’s go back to Peter. When we get to John 21, the resurrection has already happened. Jesus has already appeared to the disciples. And now, they are in that “in between” time. And Peter goes back to his old habits. He goes fishing. And they caught nothing though they fished all night long. That is where we pick up the story.

Next, Jesus has them bring some of the fish to the campfire and cast iron skillet and He makes them fish tacos for breakfast. How cool is that?

What an incredible moment of mercy and grace! And we KNOW that Peter repented of his betrayal and served the Lord the rest of his life.

The book of Acts tells us that Peter began preaching the Gospel after the day of Pentecost. God started using him to see people come to faith and get healed. Scripture tells us that he was the primary person that convinced the early church that God was FOR the Gentiles, the non-Jews.

And history informs us that Peter ended up getting crucified upside down because he told them he wasn’t worthy to die in the same manner as Jesus. And Peter wrote a couple of letters in the New Testament. In those, he wrote:

Do you think that Peter had learned anything from his betrayal? He also wrote:

1 Peter 2:25 – NLT – “Once you were like sheep who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.”

Peter knew what it was to be like a sheep who had wandered, but he also knew what it was like to be one who had TURNED to JESUS! One more.

1 Peter 4:19 – NLT – “So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for He will never fail you.”

EVEN if YOU FAIL GOD, GOD won’t FAIL YOU!

Where had Peter learned that? Do you think that Peter was glad that he didn’t give up? Do you think that Peter was glad that he repented? That he faced the ‘embarrassment’ of admitting that he was a BETRAYER, that he was SORRY? Remember:

How you handle YOUR failures will determine YOUR success!

I want you to think of this too. IF Judas hadn’t acted so rashly, do you think Jesus would have offered Him the same GRACE He offered Peter? ABSOLUTELY!!!

John 3:17 – NLT – “God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”

The character and nature of Jesus demonstrated that He would have easily forgiven Judas. All Judas had to do was REPENT…say “I’m SORRY”. Turn away from his sin and turn towards God! And Jesus would have absolutely forgiven him. And wouldn’t that have been a MUCH BETTER ENDING???
The apostle Paul, a notorious sinner himself testified…

So, when you are trying to “KEEP THE CHANGE” and you fall or you fail or you stumble, or you even…BETRAY…the ONE who loves you and died for you, what will YOU do?
· Will you bail on Him?
· Will you quit church?
· Will you stop pursuing Him?
· Will you give up?
In other words:

Will you GIVE UP or will you GET UP?

Don’t forget this:

Lamentations 3:22-23 – NLT – “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.”

Romans 8:35 – NLT – “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?”

And I want to add, “OR FALL” “OR FAIL” “OR STUMBLE”. And the resounding answer is found in…

Romans 8:39b – NLT – “NOTHING in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” SO…

Will you GIVE UP or will you GET UP?

I have a secret for you. I am Judas. I am Peter. I have failed Jesus many times. But I have LEARNED to NOT QUIT, to NOT GIVE UP, but to GET UP, REPENT and FOLLOW JESUS! Peter said this…

2 Peter 3:9 – NLT – “The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to REPENT.”

1 John 1:9 – NLT – “if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

The difference between Judas and Peter WASN’T their BETRAYAL but what they did NEXT! How they handled their failure! What they did with their failure! Judas decided that his sin was TOO BIG, his failure was something that God couldn’t forgive and he gave up and he took his own life. Jesus wasn’t able to offer grace to Judas because Judas didn’t bring his sin to Jesus.

Peter decided that his sin was TOO BIG for him to handle and he could only give it to God. And look what God did in and through Peter’s life.

Your story has a much better ending IF you give it to Jesus! Let Jesus respond to you in your failings. He IS reaching out to you! I love Mark 16, after the women discover the risen Christ. He says this to them:

Mark 16:7 – NLT – “Now go and tell His disciples, INCLUDING Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see Him there, just as He told you before He died.’”

After the biggest failing of Peter’s life, what an incredible gift of grace that must have been, when those women came and told him what Jesus had said. And Luke gives us a little more insight into Peter’s response to that.

Luke 24:11-12 – NLT – “But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look.”

Peter was RUNNING to GRACE, he was RUNNING to HOPE, he was RUNNING to MERCY, he was RUNNING to LIFE. He didn’t RUN AWAY from the ONE who could REALLY HELP him. He RAN TO HIM. In your guilt or shame for what you have done, don’t run AWAY from Jesus, RUN TO HIM, like Peter. Remember:

How you handle YOUR failures will determine YOUR success!

SO, give Him your sin, your stumblings, your betrayal, and He WILL make something beautiful out of it!

Have you failed God in some way? Have you been tempted to give up because you are filled with REMORSE or SHAME? Or don’t think that you are worthy of His GRACE and FORGIVENESS? That is not up to you to determine your value. What determines the value of an item is the price someone is willing to pay for that item. Your value was set when Jesus gave His life FOR YOU! Now, it’ just up to you to RECEIVE Him? Do you want to do THAT?