I'm so thankful to see all of you come out tonight. It's always an encouragement to see people come in the midweek meeting. And I trust you know that we're here by God's grace. We're not here to pat ourselves on our backs and say, look, we're attending the midweek meeting and others aren't. That's not the attitude of a believer now, is it? Not in the least. If you would, please open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 26. That's where we'll be looking tonight, beginning there in verse 69. Matthew chapter 26, and let's read this portion again, beginning in verse 69. Now Peter sat without in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee, But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech bereath thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the words of Jesus, which said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept, wept bitterly. He wept bitterly. Now the fall of Peter is very sad indeed. And this sad account shows us God's saving grace to his people. It's a sad account. You know, Peter fell. But it also shows us that God saves his people. Now, the first lesson I want to take from this portion tonight is how that every word of the Bible is true. And the Bible is true because it's the Word of God who cannot lie. You see, the Holy Spirit moved different men to write what God said. They didn't write what they wanted to write. No, the Holy Spirit moved them to write exactly what God said. Beloved, this book, the Bible, is the word of truth, and it contains the message of our salvation. And that message is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of a sinful people. And that sinful people are those people that the Father chose to save through Him by His grace. And our portion tonight shows us that. I mean, if God will enable us to ponder who Peter is, indeed who we are in the light of Christ, I know that God would show all of us tonight that Christ came into the world to save a guilty sinner like you and a guilty sinner like me. Now consider for a moment who it was that fell and denied the Savior. It was Peter. It was Peter, one of the 12 chosen of the Lord to be his apostles, to go into all the world and preach the gospel. And Peter was chosen not only to be a preacher of the scriptures, but so too to be a writer of the scriptures. And we know Peter denied the Lord, but we also know this about Peter. He loved the Lord. And Peter believed the Lord with all of his heart. We know he was a man of great faith, did we not? On one occasion, he said, as the spokesman, so to speak, for the other disciples, he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. And Peter was a man of great zeal. And his zeal often burned hot. I mean, he got into trouble a lot of times, it seems. And so, too, he was a man who was greatly blessed of God. And he got to speak with the Savior every day and hear him face to face. And that for three years, for three years. There's no doubt about it. Peter's a child of God who's accepted by the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And right now, Peter's absent from the body and present with the Lord in glory. And though he knew that the Lord Jesus was the Christ, though he knew that, he knew that he was the son of the living God, and yet he still fell and denied the Lord. And it seems like he did it under no apparent, no obvious threat. I mean, the people that confronted Peter were young women. and they had no power or authority over him whatsoever. And yet he still denied the Savior. You know, the best way to describe Peter is the same way to describe every believer. The same way to describe Peter is the same way to describe every believer. Beloved, we're just sinners and nothing at all, and the Lord Jesus Christ is our all and in all. We're just sinners saved by God's grace, given to us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. And yes, God may have been pleased to save you, and he may have been pleased to reveal his son to you and in you, but beloved, as long as you and I are in this flesh where no good thing dwells, all we are in of ourselves is sin-filled sinners. And yes, someone may call you a good man, like Luke called Barnabas, You know, it says there of Barnabas that he was full of the Holy Ghost and faith, and of faith. Or, like Paul said of an elder, that he be a lover of good men. But always remember this, beloved, the highest station we'll ever rise to in this life is a sinner saved by God's grace, a sinner weak and frail and prone to fall into sin and yet kept by the power of God. Hallelujah. Peter knew that. That's what we read in his first epistle, did we not? He said we're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in that day. And he's not talking about our faithfulness, beloved, he's talking about the faithfulness, and he's certainly not talking about his faithfulness, that's for sure. He's talking about the faithfulness of God's well-pleasing Son. Now, listen to this conversation that Charles Spurgeon recorded between a brother named Jack and a couple of doubting brothers. This is what Charles Spurgeon writes about this conversation, quote, Brother Jack, don't you sometimes feel doubts and fears? Doubts, he said. What do you mean? I never doubt that I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, for I have daily proofs of it. And why should I doubt that Jesus Christ is my all in all? For he says he is, and I must believe him. Another brother said, sometimes I enjoy good frames and feelings and feel very happy, and then I lose them and sink in spirit and I'm sad. Jack answered, I never get lower than I am, for I'm down at the bottom. He's in home base. He's in the dust. He said, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all. I cannot get lower than that, can I? But I am also at the top, for Jesus Christ is my all in all, and I cannot get higher than that, can I? Beloved, the Scriptures are plain to point out the sins and failures of so many we would consider great believers. And it does so that we'll know this, God saves sinners. I mean, if the Scriptures hid Peter's faults of how he would just lose it from time to time and act on his anger and his emotions and various circumstances and situations, If the Word of God hid that from us, then if we acted out that way, we'd wonder to ourselves, how could I ever be saved? And when we read about the failings and faults of believers in Scripture, like when we read about David's fall, or we read about Jacob's deceit, we're not looking to that to excuse our sin. Rather, when we see their faults and failings in the flesh, then we see truly God saves sinners. And that means there's hope for the worst sinner I know, and that's me. Maybe you're thinking the same thing tonight, beloved. Maybe you're thinking that's you. My friend, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save real sinners. Not sham sinners, not pretended sinners, real sinners. For Christ is a real Savior, not a pretender's Savior. He's not the Savior of pretenders now, is He? No, He's the Savior of real sinners, beloved, real sinners. You see, He saves those who are always confessors of sin, always needy in themselves, and therefore always in need of Him. Even in our best state, beloved, we need the Lord. Even if we walk in the light as God is in the light and have fellowship with Him, we still sin. And still the blood of God's Son, Jesus Christ, cleanses us from all sin. All sin. Don't you love hearing that word, all? If the Lord Jesus Christ died for 99.999% of my sins and 0.0001% was left up to me, I'd have absolutely no hope. You see, He must be all our salvation. All our salvation. You see, this is why the Savior came. He came to save real sinners. And this is what mature believers make the mistake of. They start looking for the Lord to do a work in here. And we're not to look in here, beloved. All you're finding here is a just reason why God should send you to hell. You're to look away from your flesh and look to the finished work in the flesh of the Son of God. Beloved, remember, no believer is ever going to rise above what they are before God is just a sinner. Just a sinner saved by the grace of God, a sinner and nothing at all, completely dependent on Christ who is their all and in all. Now, where there's life, there is growth. And so I do hope we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Savior. I mean, that's what I pray. I always pray, Lord, according to your holy and perfect will, cause us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of your well-pleasing Son. But, beloved, here's the one thing we don't do. We don't grow stronger in ourselves. We never do that. A big part of growing in grace is growing more dependent on Christ, of seeing your one desperate need for Him even more clearly than you did before. You see, sinners are saved by God's grace. And they're kept by God's grace. Sinners are saved by God's power, and beloved, we're kept by the power of God. And we're never going to grow strong enough to take one step on our own. Beloved, we're completely dependent on Christ. And I hope we remember this. We who believe are not better than anyone anywhere else. We're just like other men. I was thinking about that portion in Luke, and you talk about darkness. You talk about, this is Luke chapter 18, I'm going to read to you. This is the parable that the Lord taught about the publican and the Pharisee. Remember, He said two men went up to the temple to pray, the one the Pharisee, the other publican. And by God's grace, Because God has loved us and put us in the light and countenance of His well-pleasing Son, He's shown us that not merely do we need to be saved from our sins, we need to be saved from ourselves. That all we are is sin, from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. But what darkness is this Pharisee in? What ignorance? The Pharisee, verse 11, stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are. Well, God's people, we know better. Only by God's grace we know better. We know we're just like other men and women. The message of the Scriptures is we're so weak and we're so frail that we're always dependent on our Lord and God to be everything for us. Everything. And I like it that way, don't you? I'm not dependable, but God is. God is. I like being dependent on Him, don't you? And if the Lord will give us that attitude, it'll keep us worshiping Him because we're dependent upon Him. And so, first of all, God's Word is true. And secondly, God's Word is full of warnings. You see, God's Word hedges us about on both sides, beloved. On one side, He hedges us about with the precious promises of God, lest we despair. And on the other, He hedges us about with the warnings of God's judgment, lest we presume His mercy and grace. And both of those, the precious promises of God's grace and the warnings of God's judgment, both of them are certain and true. They're certain and true. And the Lord warned Peter about this fall. He said, Peter, You're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows in the morning." And Peter was too proud, too self-confident, too self-satisfied to listen. The Lord took Peter, James, and John there in Gethsemane, and he said unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Tear ye here and watch with me. The Savior with the weight and the burden of getting ready to be made sin and suffer for God's people was causing him such agony of soul as he thought upon the sacrifice he was going to make even before he died, even before he was nailed to the cross. And he said, Peter, watch with me. And what did Peter do? He fell asleep. And the Lord came back and said, Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. And what did Peter do? He fell asleep. The Lord warned Peter, Peter, you're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows. And the Lord warned Peter, Satan has desired to sift you as wheat. And it's not going to be hard for Satan to sift Peter or us. And what did Peter do? He still followed the Lord from afar. And then he went into the place where Satan was working in the house of the high priest in this mock trial of the Savior. And once Peter got there, what did he do? He sat with the enemies of Christ round a fire, warming himself. Peter didn't do one thing to avoid the fall the Lord warned him about. Keep your place there in Matthew 26 and turn to Mark's gospel, if you would. Mark chapter 14. And look there with me beginning in verse 66. And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, and thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch and the cock crew. And every time that rooster crowed, the Lord's warning never dawned on him. He would deny the Lord two more times, just as the Lord said he would. Peter, verily I say unto thee, that this night before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Now, I'm not being hard on Peter. I mean, if you can't relate to what Peter's doing here, then you're blind to who and what you really are. And so I hope we'll all take heed to the many warnings of God's word. And remember, the warnings of God are not believe or keep my law or I'm going to destroy you. That's not the kind of warning he gives his people. That's not it. We're not talking about the law here. God's word is filled with many warnings to God's people. And the only reason we don't take heed to them and pray, Lord, deliver me from this. I mean, the only reason we won't do whatever we can to avoid this is because we're still in the flesh and too proud and too self-confident. You see, we're just like Peter. We're just like Peter, beloved. And God's Word is full of warnings about the damning nature of self-righteousness and false religion, is it not? The Scripture warns us about false gospels that are no gospel at all. False gospels that leave us self-satisfied, looking to ourselves, and not Christ-satisfied, looking only to Him for all things. And Scripture warns us about those who would try to lead us away from Christ. And so do we stay away from them? Or do we think, well, they won't affect me. I mean, are we really careful to guard against false gospels that point us away from Christ? Beloved, we're not going to stop self-righteousness from coming up in our heart because that's the nature of this flesh. This Pharisee that's in our flesh, it's not going to die until we're put into the grave to molder into dust. And so the question is, are we really careful about that? I really like that testimony of Jack, don't you? I'm a sinner and nothing at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in all. I mean, when the Lord loves you, when he puts you into the light and countenance of his well-pleasing son. your worst enemy can come up to you and rail on you. And the things he would rail on you wouldn't be accusations. They would all be true. And you have to tell him, I appreciate what you're saying, and I'm ashamed of that. I wish it weren't true. But that doesn't hold a candle to what the Lord has shown me in love and mercy. He's shown me I'm a sinner and nothing at all, and he's my all in all, my all in all. And so we ought to take great care, beloved, not to be self-righteous, or self-confident, or self-satisfied. I mean, do we start in on being self-satisfied and say to ourselves, you know, I just attend the main service on Sunday, but I also attend the Bible class, and then I attend the midweek meeting, and I read my Bible, and I listen to messages on sermon audio throughout the week? Is that adding anything to our righteousness? In no wise, beloved, in no wise. But if we do that, if we start in on being satisfied with ourselves and become proud about that and think we're righteous because of that, we'll start despising others. That's what our Lord warned us. He said that parable to those who trusted in themselves as being righteous and despised others. And so we should guard against that, beloved, because self-righteousness is damning. You see, if we're going to trust Christ, we've got to trust Him and Him alone. And not for some things, but for all things. And further, we're warned in Scripture about being absent from the public worship of God. And we're warned about our attitude. We're warned about our attitude. You see, beloved, it's not that we're doing the right thing or that we believe the right doctrine and we're attending a place where the gospel is preached, because at the end of the day, worship is an attitude. It's an attitude. It's an attitude of bowing before God with a broken heart, saying with our brother, the publican, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. But we say it all the more emphatically, do we not? God, save me, the sinner. I'm the chief of them. I don't know about you, but I need Christ more than you do. We're going to have a debate about that, right? And so this is reflected, beloved, in our attitude of worship toward God and our attitude toward each other. You see, beloved, the only reason that we start in on criticizing each other and start thinking to ourselves that others shouldn't be doing this or shouldn't be doing that is because we have a bad attitude. And we say that because I'm not seeing all the things I shouldn't be doing. And of course, we're doing things we ought not to be doing because we're sinners. We're sinners. And so ought not our attitude be one of love and forgiveness and praying for one another? Turn with me to Ephesians chapter four. We read there, this is what the apostle wrote, but this is God's word, beloved. And we read in Ephesians chapter four, beginning there in verse 30, Beloved, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. And so rather than being like those Pharisees of old and judging one another or looking down our noses at each other, God's word declares, be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Beloved, this attitude and worship is vital. And so I pray that we don't fall into these things that God warns us about in his word. and fallen in such a painful and tearful manner as our brother Peter did, so that we learn to stay away from that and heed the warnings of God's Word. And I pray we don't begin to doubt God's Word like Peter did. I mean, the Lord warned Peter, didn't He? And so the only conclusion one could come to is this. Peter didn't really believe what the Lord warned him was going to happen. Evidently, he doubted the Word of God. Where'd Peter get that from? Well, the same thing happened to Eve in the garden. Didn't Satan say, when you eat this fruit, you won't die, you'll be like God? That serpent of old said, ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And she doubted the word of God and she ate that fruit. And perhaps she told Adam, look, I ate the fruit and I didn't die. And the serpent ate the fruit and he didn't die. Maybe that's when Adam began to doubt God's word. Now, I don't know all that was involved in Adam's rebellion. I just know that this, uh, I just know this. I know where it leads when we doubt God's word. And so if we fall into that, there's not a person here tonight who can say we weren't warned. Not a one of us. Now, I've got some sad news. Peter was warned, and he still fell. But here's the good news. Peter was preserved. Peter was preserved. Yes, Peter fell, but he didn't perish. Was Peter's faith weak? Absolutely. But it didn't fail. And Peter sinned, but he wasn't cast off from the Lord. And Peter forsook the Lord, but the Lord didn't forsake him. And he even denied knowing Him, but our Lord didn't deny Peter. Beloved, just think of the grace and the eternal, unchanging love of God. The Lord saw Peter deny Him, and right after that, our Lord went to the cross. And He didn't deny Peter. Oh no, He kept His name on His breastplate as He suffered and died and put away His sin. Beloved, that's how Peter was preserved. And now the sin of God's people is forgiven, but don't think there wasn't any consequences for it. My friend, there are still consequences for sin, and Peter suffered for it. And he wept bitterly, and he was brokenhearted over this, but nevertheless, Peter was preserved, and he did not perish. And beloved, the only explanation for that is God's grace. My friend, Peter didn't hang on by a fingernail. Peter didn't get saved by the skin of his teeth. Oh no, my friend. He would have perished. He would have perished if it were not for God's grace. You see, it was God's grace alone that saved Peter, and it was God's grace alone that kept him. You see, being saved by grace doesn't mean that we're so strong that we can stand on our own, and now we've gained some wisdom, and so now we can stand in our own strength or in our own behavior. You see, being saved by God's grace means that God keeps us by His grace. So we're not going to make excuses for our sin. By God's grace, we see what we read in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. how that our Heavenly Father made His dear, sinless Son to be made sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. And so we'll be like Peter. We won't make excuses for our sin. No, we'll hate our sin. I hate my sin. And if you believe God, you do too. There was a missionary to Israel. His name is Adolf Sapphire. And I remember reading a book he wrote, and he said this. I believe it's true. He said, Forgiven sin is hated sin. But nevertheless, this is our comfort, beloved. If we sin, when we sin, we're saved by God's grace and His grace alone, not by sinning less. We're saved by His grace, beloved, not by sinning less. Look with me in Proverbs, if you would. Proverbs chapter 24. By grace you're saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." Now it's evidenced by faith, it's evidenced by repentance, but salvation is by God's grace, period. Proverbs chapter 24 Here's how Peter was preserved and why he didn't fall away from Christ. We read in verse 16, for a just man, and that's speaking to a man that's been justified in Christ, saved to the uttermost. This just man falleth seven times and riseth up again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief. So why, when the righteous fall seven times, do they rise up again? And why, when the wicked falls into mischief, do they stay there? It's because the Lord lifts His justified people up. It's not because they lift themselves up by their own strength. No, the Lord lifts up His justified people by His power and by His grace. But the wicked stays where he is because the Lord leaves him alone. You see, beloved, it's by God's electing, distinguishing grace that we're both saved and preserved. Look at Luke chapter 22. Here's another wonderful, precious reason that Peter was preserved. Yes, he fell, but he was preserved. Luke 22, verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, Peter, Peter, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And Peter's faith didn't fail because he had an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. For Jesus Christ, his savior, was making a procession for him. That's why Peter's preserved. Our Lord said, I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish. And so truly, his people will never perish, beloved, and that because he'll do all the work to save them, and he'll do all the work to preserve them and bring them home to glory. Our Lord won't let them fall away. They're in his hand, and they're in the Father's hand, and they're sealed with the Holy Spirit. And beloved, we'll be just like Peter. We're not going to make an excuse for our sin. And it's never okay to sin, is it? It's never okay. Beloved, never say to yourself, well, you know, God meant for me to do it. Or, you know, God's sovereign over everything. God's going to work it out for good. Now, I have no doubt, no doubt in my mind. I mean, there's no doubt about it. God will work it out for the salvation of His people. But beloved, we're not to use God's sovereignty as an excuse for our sin. Rather, we'll be like Peter and we'll hate our sin and weep bitterly over it. And may God help us to do that from the heart. But if we sin, Indeed, when we sin, our comfort is this, God will not cast off his people. He won't, beloved. He will never cast off the people which he foreknew. God's not gonna punish his people for their sin because he already punished Christ, our substitute for our sin. And knowing that, sin becomes exceedingly sinful. You see, beloved, when we consider the enormity of God's grace, that He would be so gracious and merciful to a people the likes of us, and that He'd slaughter His own Son in order to save us, and that He'd punish His Son so He wouldn't punish His people and show them mercy and grace, I hope we don't ever get over that. of seeing God's well-pleasing Son being made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Should God enable us to see that, that'll make us hate our sin. I'll not love anything that caused my Savior to suffer so much. And yes, as long as we're in this body of flesh where no good thing dwells, we're going to sin. But here's our comfort. It's what we read in 1 Peter. I've quoted this before, but it's good to know where it is. You can take it home with you. You can always ask the Lord to hide it in your heart, but it's good to have a reference. In 1 John 2, verse 1, the apostle John, the evangelist, he writes there, These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, indeed, when we sin, beloved, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. You see, beloved, God saves us by his grace. And even though we don't deserve it, he saves us anyway, and that's grace. And further, God not only saves us by his grace, so too he keeps and preserves us by his grace. And that irrespective of who and what I am. Irrespective of who and what we are, beloved. Now here's the last thing. Peter was preserved. He didn't fall away. God didn't cast him off. But Peter's got a problem, doesn't he? How was Peter restored? It says in Matthew 26 verse 75, there in the last verse, the last part of verse 75, it says, Peter went out and wept bitterly. Peter was very sorry, wasn't he? Peter shed real tears, but Peter wasn't restored to the Savior because he was sorry or because of his tears. Being sorry is not repentance. Now perhaps sorrow over that which we used to believe, perhaps sorrow over what we used to trust in is part of repentance, but repentance is not sorrow. Repentance is turning to Christ from our idols. That's what repentance is. It's being turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. We read in Luke chapter 22, back there again, read there in verse 60 of Luke chapter 22, And Peter said, man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately while he yet spake, the cock crew and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cock crow, thou shall deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Apparently the Lord was being taken from one room to another room there in the palace of the high priest. or maybe they were getting ready to take him to Pilate. But as he was passing by where Peter was, after he denied the Lord the third time, the Lord turned and looked at him. Now, this was not a look of anger. It wasn't a look of judgment. It was a look of pity. It was a look of grace. It was a look of love. It was a look that said, Peter, I know you've sinned, I know you've sinned. I knew it before you knew it, but I'm going to go to the cross to suffer for your sin. Peter, I'm going to suffer being cut off from the Father so you won't be cut off for your sin. It was a look that said, Peter, I love you and my love for you is never going to change. I've chosen you and I've promised I will never leave you nor forsake you. And I won't forsake you because my blood's going to blot out all your sin. The father's not going to cast you off because my blood's going to take away every reason that my father would cast you off. And I'm going to shed my blood to make that happen. Peter, I know you've sinned. But your righteousness is not what you've done, or even what you're going to do, for I'm your righteousness, Peter. It's what I'm gonna do on the cross. And we know what he did on the cross, don't we, beloved? He said, it is finished on the cross. Full and free salvation accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ for his people through his doing and dying, through his precious blood and his righteousness. Peter, you denied me, but I'm not going to deny you because I love you. And I'm getting ready to show you greater love hath no man than this, that a man laid down his life for his friends. Peter, though you've denied me, you and I are still friends because of me. And I'm going to lay down my life to put away your sin." And he sure proved it, didn't he? Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." You see, he went willingly to the cross, beloved. And Peter was not cast off because the Lord does not change. We love that verse in Malachi 3, verse 6, don't you? The Lord saith, I the Lord saith, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. And Peter was a son of Jacob. That's just another way to describe his chosen people, the sinners he came into the world to save. The look from the Savior, the Savior that Peter trusted, the Savior that Peter loved, that must have broken his heart to pieces. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Now, it wasn't Peter's tears that restored him. And yes, Peter fell, but now the Lord's going to lift him up back in grace. And when is it that Peter's going to repent and turn to the Lord? You know when Peter repented and turned to the Lord? You know when he was restored? After the Lord's resurrection. What did the Lord do? He appeared to the disciples. And as he told the ladies at the tomb, go tell my disciples and Peter, I'll appear to them. And he did. And Peter saw him. Remember, he's out there on the boat. And he saw the Lord on the shore. He said, it's the Lord. And Peter just jumped in the sea and started swimming towards the Lord. And the same thing is true for you and me, beloved, you who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We hate our sin. And why is that? Because it caused the Lord so much suffering and it brings us so much shame, does it not? We don't want to bring a reproach on the gospel. We don't want to bring a reproach on the Lord Jesus Christ, Him who loved us and washed us of our sins in His own blood. And sin is all we do at the end of the day. And the Lord continually keeps His people by His grace. And you know how? He keeps turning us to Him by revealing Himself through the preaching of His Word. And no, He's not going to appear to us bodily, but by the eye of faith and the preaching of the Gospel, we see Christ just as clearly as Peter saw Him on that shore. And it makes us say, it's the Lord. sink or swim, I'm going to him. Like Peter, we just jump in and go to him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And we'll do that when he reveals himself to us through the preaching of his word. You see, this is the means that God is pleased to use to call out his people from this world at life and wickedness and translate his people into the kingdom of his dear son. Remember, beloved, godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of. You see, a believer can't not believe. They've been given faith. It's been revealed to them from above. It's not something owing to anything we've done or will do. We don't have a part in this. The Lord taught us, did he not? He said, as it is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. And I'll hear the Father and learn of him, come to me. And so a believer can't not believe. And in this newness of life, we see something we never saw before. We see a battle in the flesh. and it's constantly trying to bring us into captivity to the law and to worship our good works and our obedience. Nevertheless, he keeps us constantly turning to him. You see, repentance is a constant thing, and by God-given faith, that God-given repentance, we're constantly turning to Christ. We're constantly coming to him. We keep coming to him. Peter said, to whom coming? To whom coming? Beloved, we're constantly coming to Christ and ever looking to Him for all our salvation. Not some of it, all of it, beloved. Amen.