Shaken But Not Stirred.....

How Jesus sustains our faith - Luke 22:31-34

31.“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32. but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” 33. Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” 34. Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”

To the casual onlooker, they appeared to be any other group of rowdy young men, with much finger-pointing, chest-thumping, and grandiose statements. It was difficult to believe that their teacher had just declared that one of them would betray him to the authorities and that their concern for his welfare had devolved so quickly into a debate over who was the greatest.

They were in the middle of the Passover meal, and Jesus had just instituted Communion and told them that one of them would betray him; they wanted more information, each eager to hear from the Master that it wasn't them, that they were not the one guilty of the charge Jesus had just laid before them. But their desire for the assurance they so obviously needed, had sparked an argument over who was the greatest among them; they had completely missed the significance of Jesus' previous words and deeds, of the fact that this time together marked the end of His period of eating and drinking with the disciples. How could they have missed the significance of His words as he spoke of his body and blood?

Even though Jesus had settled them down, they looked like the most unlikely bunch of guys who would be capable of taking the Gospel to the ends of the world, to establish the church.

To any bystander, this looks like an impending disaster because if they fail to be faithful, fail to be strong and cohesive who is going to preach the Gospel!!

Let's look more closely:

Satan has a personal interest in Peter. Peter is the natural leader, the one the others look to. He tends to say what the others are thinking, he is unafraid to express himself, and he has had to remove his foot from his mouth on numerous occasions, but he is the natural leader, the one to whom the others look. It's no surprise that Satan wants to pursue him, to disable him, because what does Satan want? He wants to stop the Gospel.

This isn’t the first time Satan has tried this tactic: we remember when Jesus told Peter

“Get behind me Satan!”

Jesus had told the disciples he would go to the cross and die and Peter rebuked him, essentially trying to turn Jesus away from the cross; no cross, no sacrifice; no sacrifice, no forgiveness of sin; no death, no resurrection; no resurrection for Jesus, no resurrection for us who are united to Christ…death gets us….and we fall straight into Satan’s clutches.

So now he is trying again, and what does he want, what does he demand?

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat……..

He wants to sift Peter, he wants to sift all the disciples, but Jesus is addressing Peter specifically here.

Sieves at that time were large affairs, meant to break apart the gathered wheat heads and separate out the grain. Satan wants to put Peter in this sieve, to shake, rattle and roll him around, to bruise and batter him in any way that will cause him pain and distress, so that he, like the wheat head, breaks apart and becomes weak and desperate... …but for what purpose? What does Satan want to do in real life, what’s the purpose of this sieving?

A sieve is for separating things, what does Satan want to separate Peter from?

Look back at verse 32…he wants to separate Peter, and he wants to separate the disciples, from their faith.

…….but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

He wants Peter, he wants the disciples, he wants us, he wants us to be so roughed up in his sieving that we let go of our faith and fall through Satan’s sieve.

It’s as if the sieve has holes that will allow us to fall through but not faith, so as long as we hold onto our faith we don’t fall through.

Wow, that’s a vivid picture…and Satan demanded this from God, why? What’s the point? Satan’s goal is to prevent Jesus from going to the cross, He makes every effort to do that. Think about it, if all the disciples defect, if they all deny Christ, if they all run away, if they separate and disappear, there’ll be no one left to tell people about the cross, about the resurrection, so why bother with the cross? That will end the whole plan if he can get the 11 to abandon their faith in Christ.

Let’s face it, at this time the disciples are weak, they were even unsure which one of them would betray Jesus;

“Is it I Lord, is it I” they kept asking, they are vunerable at this point…so what a perfect time for Satan to go after them, what a perfect time for that “roaring lion who prowls the earth looking for someone to devour,” a perfect time for him to have a pop at them.

We’re also told that Satan “accuses the brethren before God night and day.”(Rev 12:10) …that’s what he does, he turns up frequently before the throne of God and tries to turn God against us, saying we’re weak and faithless and frankly an embarrassment to God. He tries to get God to turn against us, but we have an advocate in Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father and is defending us, and he has every right to do so because he has paid in full the penalty for all our sins…and what’s more, God agrees with him…and why wouldn’t he, after all, it was God’s plan!!

Now we might think that God replied “no chance Satan, I’m not going to let you do that”….but he does. However we have to realise that nothing surprises God, nothing happens that is outside of the will of God: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” it says in Job 42:2

If you read Job, you’ll find that God let Satan do all sorts of things to Job and God also let Satan give Paul a thorn in his side (2 Corinthians 12:7) to prevent Paul from being conceited. Although Satan is up to all sorts of activities and prowls around looking for Christians to destroy, God remains in control and sovereign.

So, Jesus warns Peter that Satan is going to sift him, to try and sift the faith out of him BUT

And this is one of the most reassuring statements in the Bible.

v32, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.”

And when Jesus prays, His prayer is always answered, why? Because He always prays according to the will of God,

“I have prayed for you.” He says to Peter.

Satan wants to prove to God that he can kill saving faith, that he can separate a Christian from their faith, that’s been his motive forever. Satan says, “Just let me loose at them, and I’ll destroy their trust in you, I’ll destroy their faith in you, just watch me, God, I’ll wreck their faith, they only believe you because of what you give them” … the same sort of claims he said about Job

And the truth is, that if it was left up to us, he would, he would destroy our faith, my faith, your faith.

When I first became a Christian, the ladies who prayed with me promised Jesus would save my marriage…but He didn’t.

I’d also miscarried in my first marriage and a few years later another well-meaning lady told me God would bless me with a child…but He didn’t.

Now some years after these episodes and years of unsuccessful medical treatment to conceive, I began to congratulate myself that despite God not doing what other people had promised he would, I continued to stick with him, I continued to worship him and believe him….wasn’t I doing well!

Even now, I cringe at my arrogance in thinking that my faith had anything to do with me, that I held on to my faith because of my strength, that in some way it was all my own doing.

The truth is that I could never save myself, I couldn’t save myself 32 years ago and I can’t hold on to my faith today with my strength, by my merit……

“But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.” says my Saviour….

It can take some time to grasp and appreciate the Bible's greatest teachings.

Yes, we can easily grasp the fact that God loves us, that he wants the best for us, the notion that he just wants to hold and cuddle us…those are things we can believe within the first day of being a Christian. But the tougher stuff, the challenging stuff, the days we hurt, the days we despair, when the ones we love are also despairing and all we can do is watch, the times we are sick…and remain sick and every day is a battle to just get out of bed….well it takes a little bit longer to understand God's purposes in those things and while we are waiting to mature and to understand – sometimes this takes years – we keep our faith, not only do we keep it but it grows…well that’s nothing to do with us…that is all God, that’s his plan.

Romans 8:33-34 tells us that whenever Satan goes before God to lay an accusation before God against us, it does not stand, it will not stand.

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

And then Paul goes on to say in verses 35-39

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What then can separate us from the love of God? - the answer is “absolutely nothing.” Nothing. No accusation will stand against us. Our Prophet, Priest and King is for us, and if Christ is for us, who can successfully be against us.

What a powerful statement. "I have prayed for you." Can it get any more personal? Satan desires Peter in particular, and the other ten, for himself and his realm. But he won't be getting them because Jesus intercedes for Peter and the disciples,

"I have prayed for you." says Jesus, “I have prayed for you.”

What’s that like, what’s it like for Jesus to pray for us….I wonder what he says?

Now we don’t have time here to go through it but read John 17, subtitled The High Priestly Prayer because that is Jesus praying for his disciples and us, for every true believer.

Two of the many points to take from that prayer are verses 11&15.

v11 “And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

In verse 11 Jesus prayed for the eternal security of those who believed. He prayed that as the Trinity experiences eternal unity, so may believers experience unity with Christ.

In verse 15 Jesus prayed telling God that he has guarded the disciples throughout his ministry but now there would be a separation and Jesus prays that God would protect them.

v15 “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”

Keep them father, I’ve guarded them, now you keep them and protect them from the evil one. Jesus here is praying that they and we would persevere in the faith, and Jesus intercedes for all genuine believers this way.

We need to look back at Luke - Notice the confidence that Jesus has that God will answer his prayer for Peter, look at the end of verse 32 “When once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Not if you turn, but when you turn…such confidence.

Oh yes, Peter messed up, Jesus even told him in this same couple of sentences he would mess up big time, he would deny Jesus, despite his bravado, despite his declaration of being willing to go to prison and death with Jesus.

You see Peter wasn’t afraid if he was with Jesus, he knew the power of Jesus, he was confident in and with Jesus…as long as Jesus was around he was okay….but once Jesus was no longer with them it would be a different story, and Jesus knew that, and we don’t have to wait long for Peter to deny Jesus three times. This is real trouble, this is quite devastating, the man Jesus called Peter, the man called ‘the rock’ denied his Lord and Saviour, the rest of them ran away and Peter the spokesman denied Jesus.

But Peter's faith did not fail, and by John 21 he is fully restored to ministry:

“Peter, do you love Me? Peter, do you love Me? Peter, do you love Me? Feed My sheep, tend My lambs, feed My sheep.”

God had allowed Satan to do his worst to Peter because once Peter has come through the situation, he would be able to strengthen his brothers.

And we too, when we go through trials and struggles, will be able to witness to others how faithful Christ is to those who are His; when you have found that your faith has been kept from failing, when you have found mercy with God, you must encourage others in the assured hope that they too will find mercy even when they’re at their weakest point, when they’re in a place where they need more than human strength and endurance…you can use all your experiences to strengthen others, to show the great intercessory work of Christ for those who are his own.

My faith cannot fail – not because of me, but because of the one who secures my faith by His intercession. Your faith cannot fail, because the one who prayed for Peter and those disciples, the Peter who denied him and those that ran away, also prays for us.

Jude 24-25 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.