We read the word of God in Luke 22, the first 34 verses. Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the 12. And he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad. and covenanted to give him money. And he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. Then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. And they said unto him, where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in, and ye shall say unto the good man of the house, the master saith unto thee, where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished, there make ready. And they went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. When the hour was come, he sat down and 12 apostles with him and he said unto them, with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them saying, this is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the son of man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest? And he said unto them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors, but ye shall not be so. But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve. For whether is greater he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth is not he that sitteth at meat, but I am among you as he that serveth. ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, 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. When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. This far we read God's word. I call your attention to verses 31 and 32. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, 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. Beloved saints in Jesus Christ, Thinking back on your life to this point, identify in your own mind one of the greatest trials or the greatest trial that God has ever sent you in his providence. Think of how hard it was. And then do you remember what thoughts were going through your head during that trial? Maybe thoughts like, If God loved me, he wouldn't do this to me. Maybe thoughts like, if he loves me, Christ will come right now and put the trial to an end. Maybe thoughts like, if he's going to keep acting like this to me, why should I serve him? These thoughts do cross the minds of God's children. In a moment of weakness, we do act or speak or at least think as though God owes us something and we get to define and decide what that something is. And if he does not give us that thing to the degree we want it, then why should we serve him? In fact, It's that temptation to cast off faith in a moment of great trial, which is our greatest temptation. Why is there added, question 44 of the Catechism asks, he descended into hell? that in my greatest temptations I may be assured and wholly comfort myself in this, that my Lord Jesus Christ, by his inexpressible anguish, etc., hath delivered me." That greatest temptation is a temptation to cast off Faith, not just a temptation to commit adultery, not just a temptation to speak evil of one in authority over me, a temptation to cast off faith. Satan works these in our heart. Now, in that moment of greatest temptation, when perhaps such thoughts went through your head, and you said, if Christ loves me, why does he not take this temptation away? What if I were to tell you? that in his love for you he were interceding at the right hand of Jehovah God. That you must see that that is the proof of his love. His prayer that your faith fail not at that moment is his love. Not he must come down and take your burden away right now and do as you and I please, but he is praying that your faith Fail not, because what you can't see and don't see in this time of greatest temptation is that behind it is Satan saying, I want that person dead, spiritually dead. I want that person to cast off all faith and never to return to it. And the Lord is saying, oh no, oh no. I died for him or her. I will save him or her, I will preserve him or her in faith. Indeed, one of the goals of the sermon this afternoon is to point you to the intercession of Jesus Christ, that he's praying at God's right hand and find in that our hope and our confidence. The great doctrine which is set forth in our text is the doctrine of the preservation or perseverance of the saints. We use the two different words, preservation and perseverance. They look at the same doctrine, really, but from different viewpoints. What God does in preserving and then how the fruit of his preserving is our persevering. Not two sides of the same coin. He does his part, we do ours. But in preserving us, he causes us to persevere. It's especially from the viewpoint of the preservation, the work of God, that our text speaks of the messianic intercession of Jesus Christ. For Peter is in a moment of great trial, though he doesn't know it. He's about to fall, though he won't admit it. And the words of our Lord to him is, I've prayed for you. The doctrine of the preservation of the saints is set forth at length in the fifth head of the Canons of Dort. It teaches that though you and I are weak, And if we were left to ourselves, having been regenerated and giving faith, if God said, now it's up to you to maintain that salvation, to stay strong, we would surely fall. In a moment. But because we're weak, the Lord preserves and strengthens. He preserves the life of Christ in us. He causes that we not fail, but continue to live in hope of heaven. And he uses the intercession of Jesus Christ to that end. Much of what I'm going to say in the sermon from the text, I could refer to different points in the fifth head of the canons to demonstrate, but I'm only going to make passing references and not open up the canons at length. But I'm going to do that in order, from the text, especially the second point, I'm going to draw out the essential points of the doctrine of the preservation of saints. So I call your attention to the text under the theme, Christ's Prayer for Peter's Preservation. Notice first, violent shaking predicted. That would be the need for preservation. Second, messianic intercession assured. That will be the doctrine and especially the means of preservation. And finally, a grateful response required. Jesus says to Peter, Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. And by that, Jesus is referring to the great temptation which is about to come on all the disciples, not Peter only, that very night. It is the night in which our Lord and Savior was betrayed. Presently, he will be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, and all the disciples will flee. If his life is in danger, they are not about to stick around and see if they can die with him. Not only that, but Peter, curious nonetheless at the outcome of what they're doing to his lord, will show up in the high priest's palace courtyard and three times be told, Oh, by the way you talk, we can tell you are one of his disciples. And three times he will say, I am not. And once or twice, he will even get so bold as to curse and swear. May the Lord kill me if I'm one of his disciples. This is the temptation that is about to come on the 11th. From a theological viewpoint, understanding now that God sovereignly governs temptation and leads into temptation when he's pleased to do so, there's a reason why the disciples must leave, flee, and deny their Lord. And the reason is twofold. In the first place, because it must be evident that when our Lord goes to the cross, he is all alone. He is our only, He is our complete, He is our all-sufficient Savior. And no man, and not even His mother, help Him. And that must be evident. But in the second place, the reason why he must go alone is this, to emphasize and make clear that in his going to the death of the cross, he is bearing the effects and the burden of sin. This is what sin does. Sin leaves you alone. Let me run through that a moment, young people. You have a friend. or a group of friends. They like you. You're part of them. They're not a good influence on you. They sin, and they lead you into more sin. But you like them because you have companionship. And now this group of friends says, let's go do, and they imagine some great plot. It will make the news. Or if it doesn't make the news, it will get you richer. Something is about to happen, it's big, and you and your friends together are going to do this. You're friends, right? You'll stick up for each other, right? And so you begin to carry out this great idea from a worldly viewpoint. And the policemen are there, and two of you get arrested. Not all of you, just two of you. And you're going to band together now? You know the first thing those two who get arrested are going to do? They're going to mention your name as the great mastermind. If they can get off the hook by getting you in bigger trouble, fine, and they were your friends. Now the point I'm making is that this is the consequences of sin. And it's the consequences of my and of your sin. Sin destroys fellowship. And so the disciples, not understanding that they must in some graphic way demonstrate the point, but only looking out for their own skin, run away from their Lord in order that Jehovah God make clear that when Jesus Christ is on the cross, he's bearing the burden for sin all alone, because sin leaves you all alone. So there's this necessity that the disciples do this. But from their own viewpoint, They're only concerned about themselves, that they not get caught and get in danger. Now the figure of sifting of wheat is to the point. Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. Because by that figure, the Lord underscores the violence of the temptation that's about to come upon the disciples. The day before threshers, which was the day before combines, men sifted wheat, most primitively by taking the equivalent of a pitchfork and throwing the wheat into the air with force. without the chaff and the straw separated. And since then there have been other means that have been devised, but all of them require force. You don't just pick up a piece of wheat and gently, suddenly you have the straw and you have the grains. No, it takes force. And what our Lord is underscoring by this figure then is the violence of the temptation that is about to come upon the disciples. For behind it is Satan, And here's his goal. Just as the goal of the farmer threshing wheat is to separate the grain from the straw, Satan's goal is to separate the disciples from their master. And if you remember what the most basic wonder work of salvation, as it's applied to you and to me, is, the work of uniting us to Christ by a true and living faith, that is by a bond of faith, so that his life is in us. Satan's goal is to destroy that life that Christ created. Well, that's going to take force. And now, if that's the nature of the temptation that came upon the disciples, and if it was Satan's goal in it, then it's his goal in the temptations that come upon you and me as well. Temptations that come upon us that take different forms, regardless of the form, regardless of the intensity, they always amount to this. that to turn from faith to unbelief or to turn from godliness to ungodliness, to turn from service to the Lord to service to the devil, really, although we don't acknowledge that's what it is, but that is what it is, to do that is more pleasurable, more desirable, more advantageous. That's temptation. And Satan comes with these temptations, dangling them before us as somebody dangles a carrot before a donkey to get the donkey moving. And he does so, does Satan, with force, to get us to deny and even spiritually become separated from, if possible, our Lord. This is the temptation I face, and this is the temptation you face. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. It doesn't matter what the form of your temptation is. Other humans, other children of God have experienced it before, and the goal is to get us to deny our Lord. Now in our text, Jesus Christ sets forth especially two factors that made the violence so necessary. The first is Satan himself. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired you. This makes sense, of course. It isn't God that tempts man. James makes that clear in James 1. There's no temptation. No, that was 1 Corinthians. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." God allows us to be in circumstances in which we're tempted. He even at times lets us fall into temptation to teach us a lesson, but he never works the temptation in our heart. That's Satan. And that's Satan using the world and using our own sinful human nature to assist him. Temptation is Satan's tool to get us to destroy our faith. And now, even though that's Satan's goal, he knows that he can't touch us without God's permission. The story of Job teaches that. Satan has to come to God and say to God, look at Job, or God points out Job and Job's righteousness, and Satan says, well, if you'll let me, I know, I know I need you to let me, but I know what I can do. And God says, try it. Why do I bring that up? The same thing is going on here. The word in our text translated desired, does not just indicate that Satan in his heart hatched a plan and the Lord happens to know of a plan. It means that Satan came with that plan in his mind to God. And he said to God, give me your disciples. Let me have my way with them. I am going to show you, God, that when I have my way with them, I can destroy them and all that you've been working to do will come to naught. What makes Satan so bold is what we read in verse three of the chapter. then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the 12. What makes him so bold is he sees that he's got Judas Iscariot right where he wants him, and things are going in the right direction to get Jesus Christ right where Satan wants him. Therefore, he needs the other 10 too. That's his argument. He comes to God with it, and he could perhaps, the text doesn't say he does, but when he comes to God, he needs to convince God that Satan's idea is a good one, so he could make this argument that they are sinners, and that no one has yet stepped forward as their substitute. that no atonement has been made for their sins. There is no reconciliation and therefore there is no solid ground and basis for why they should be preserved and the friends of God. That first of all is the need for or that first of all explains the violence of the temptation and explains your violence and mine too in temptation, Satan's goal. The second thing that comes out of the text, and both of these, by the way, in Head Five, Article Four of the Canons of Dor. The second point in the text that underscores the violence of temptation is the weakness of humans. Simon, Simon. This man had two names. He'd been named Simon from his birth by his parents, He was given the name Peter by Jesus, read that in John 1 verse 42, when Jesus made him his disciple. And when Jesus did that, he was saying, as it were, Peter, you're just a man. You are nothing more than a mere man, a sinner, a human, a weak, a fallible, and I am going to make you a rock. and really what he was telling Peter is what he does to every one of us when he works grace in us and prepares us for heaven. Throughout the Gospels, you see Jesus sometimes calling him Peter and sometimes calling him Simon. In fact, in just another couple of verses, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. Where Jesus is saying, you think you're a rock, watch out, and then the text, Simon, Simon, don't forget you're just a man. And so you and I, unable to persevere in our own strength and the devil knows it, are subject to temptations because the devil would try to destroy our faith. Now the response of our Lord is this, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And it's in that second point regarding messianic intercession that I want to set forth five aspects of the doctrine of the preservation of the saints. The first is to explain exactly what this doctrine teaches. That you and I will be preserved does not mean that we will never sin. that isn't cored with reality. That's not your experience or my experience that we've come to a point at which we never sin. That's not the testimony of the Holy Scripture regarding the holiest of men, such as Peter and David, that they got to a point where they would never again sin. That's not the doctrine of the preservation of the saints. But the doctrine of the preservation of the saints is this, first of all, that by the grace of God, The faith, the bond that unites us to Christ, worked in us by the moment of regeneration in the Spirit, will not fail. A corollary of that, what follows? is that if this bond does not fail, then our confession of our Lord will continue. It might not continue uninterrupted. Peter's will not continue uninterrupted. He will deny his Lord, but the Lord will bring him back yet again to confess him. There's one other aspect of the doctrine of the preservation of the saints that sets forth in this text. The essence of it is that grace does not fail. Faith, that is the grace of God in us, does not fail. But when we sin, that becomes manifest by God working in us repentance. And so Jesus says to Peter, and when thou art converted, that too is part of the grace of preservation. He didn't say to Peter, if. He didn't say, I sure hope you are. He said, when. You will be, rest assured. You will be, because this is the grace of God in preserving his children who fall deeply into sin. Read it in Canons 5, 5, 6, and 7. He brings us to see what we've done. He brings us to hate our sin and its consequences. He brings us to see that we've turned aside from the God whom we love, who is our life, and He works true sorrow, and He works in us to turn from sin back to Him again. That's the doctrine of the preservation of the saints in a nutshell. The second thing that I'd say about the doctrine from the basis of this text is that it is of a very personal character. That's true of all the graces of God. It's true of election. It's true of regeneration. It's true of the atoning work of Christ. Christ did die for a group. God did elect a number of men who together comprised a group. But especially he elected individuals in that group. And Jesus Christ died for individuals in that group. And therefore, the Holy Spirit regenerates individuals in that group, and Jehovah God preserves individuals in that group. And the Lord makes that clear when He says, I have prayed for thee. Notice the change of pronouns. Satan desired to have you. I have prayed for thee. Remember, that while we use you both to refer to the second person plural and singular, we would be you and you, that when the King James was written, it was the singular and you plural. Satan desires to have the whole body of disciples and says the Lord to Peter, I've prayed for thee. Now, he doesn't mean to suggest that he has not prayed for the other disciples. But he does mean to tell Peter, very specifically Peter, that the work of preservation is a work in the hearts of individual children of God. And there's a reason Peter needed to hear that. Peter was the leader. He was a spokesman of the apostles. Judas had already entered into the heart of their treasurer, one of their officers. What will come of them if both their treasurer and their leader, their president, so to speak, deny their Lord and turn against Him? What would happen to you as a church if next week, Reverend Geichelar said, I never believed anything I taught you. And so I'm resigning my ministry and I'm not a Christian anymore. And what would happen to you as a church if the week after he did that, the whole body of elders said, us too? The Lord would preserve his church here. There's not a question about that. But what effect would it have on you and me? it would shake us to our core. And that's the effect that Peter's denying of the Lord would have. The disciples are all each man for his own now. And you'll see that when they, even after he arises, decide, well, he's risen, but we're going fishing, as if to say there's not really anything else to do in the service of the Lord, each to his own. And now, Peter was not only the leader of the disciples, but he was also that bold, impetuous man who sometimes spoke and then thought, a warning to many of us who might have that tendency. And that means that when he would deny his Lord, he would deny his Lord as boldly as ever he confessed him. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou art he that hath the words of eternal life." What a beautiful, bold confession. I don't know the man. You have to decide, you see, which Peter? Which Peter is the true Peter here? The Lord says, I have prayed for thee to assure Peter himself that when he fell so greatly the work of grace would continue in him and bring him to favor or to restore him again to the experience of God's favor. And that's a word to you and to me. The gospel comes today to a congregation, to a body. Each one of you must say, but the Lord is speaking to me. I believe Him. That's my Savior speaking. And so thirdly, to get really to the heart of it, what the text sets forth about the doctrine of preservation is the means. Now, not the only means. The Lord uses many means, but one essential means And setting forth that means will point us also to the basis, the absolute ground on which our confidence of being preserved can rest. The means is, I have prayed for thee. The I who speaks is not merely another Christian, not merely another believer, not just one who says, I'm going to join in prayer. The I who speaks is the Lord Jesus Christ. The I who speaks is the Mediator, the Messiah Himself, who is about to lay down His life to provide the basis. And if He weren't, And if he never did lay down his life on the cross to take our sin away and Peter's and to satisfy the justice of God and earn for us the blessing of God and his favor and right to eternal life, if he never did, that even his prayer would mean nothing. But on the basis of what he is about to do, he says, I have prayed for thee. Now, picture this. Satan came to God and said, give me your disciples. No one died for them anyway. They're sinners. I should have them boldly, arrogantly, demandingly. And Jesus Christ, the son of God, came to his father and interceded. Now when you get home, read Belgic Confession, Article 26. Article 26 especially speaks of why Christ is the one whom we would want to intercede for us instead of Mary or the disciples or other saints. It's a polemic against Rome, but many of the points it makes are to the point here, too. Christ. the only begotten and well-beloved Son of God, asks His very own Father, on the basis of His very own perfect obedience, to recognize the work Christ did for His elect, for you, for me. and keep the enemy from destroying that work. Who has the better basis, Satan or Christ? With whom is God more pleased, Satan or Christ? Who is it that God will hear, Satan or Christ? And the answer, of course, is Christ. And that's the reason why this is a comfort to you and to me, that when we hear that our Lord is praying for us at the right hand of our Heavenly Father, seeking that all of the blessings of salvation be bestowed on us and we be preserved against the darts and the attacks of the devil, that we know God will hear him and answer him. Then, When it's obvious that we look to Christ and his work on the cross and his intercession as the only basis for preservation and the fundamental means, then we too say, now I see a brother, I see a sister who's going through a difficult time of life, and I'm going to pray for them too. Not Christ's equal, My prayers are going to be that they see Christ, their only Savior. And that's why our Lord says, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. There is a place of intercessory prayer amongst the members of the congregation for each other. not to substitute Christ's nor add to Christ's, his is perfect, it needs no substituting nor adding, but because we too desire that the brother or the sister, the whole congregation experience the blessedness of the preservation of saints. The fourth thing to say about the doctrine of preservation has to do with the reason for it. Why would God preserve us? And then the reason is not found in us, is it? Why would He save us at all? That's a mystery. That's a wonder of grace. Why would He continue to save, preserve in salvation those who after being saved continue to show themselves to be sinners? That's another wonder of grace. Why does God preserve? For two reasons. Because it is His will and was from all eternity that there dwell with Him in glory to all eternity future a body chosen to eternal life praising, thanking their Lord, rejoicing in the salvation He gave. And Satan wants to prevent that. God preserves you and me, not for our sake. We benefit, but for the glory of His name and to show Satan that Satan can accomplish nothing against us. Those are the reasons. That makes us humble, doesn't it? That's what it ought to do. There are some who say that a certainty, a confidence of perseverance makes you proud. Makes you decide you're going to go live a life of ungodliness. I can live how I want. I'm going to heaven anyway. My Lord saved me. Theologically and biblically, there are arguments against that idea. Theologically, the doctrine of which we're speaking is the preservation of the saints. Not of the unbelievers, not of the ungodly, even if they're in the sphere of the church, of the saints. of those who recognize that I owe a life of gratitude to God for what he's done for me, and strive by his power and grace to live in obedience to his law, those he preserves. That, theologically, but biblically, this. The whole purpose of our being elected is to serve him in love. The whole purpose of Christ dying and rising again and working his life in us is that we have the power to serve him in love. The very bestowing of the spirit who is called the Holy Spirit, the spirit of sanctification, has as its purpose to make us holy that we might serve him in love. No child of God who understands this doctrine is going to say, I can now live however I want. He's going to say, I will serve my Lord in obedience, holy obedience. And then fifthly, about the doctrine of the preservation of the saints, this yet, that Jesus Christ is telling Peter, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And in telling Peter, Peter is assured. It doesn't dawn on him yet. I grant that. It's not sinking in at this moment. It will sink in later. At the moment, he's saying, Lord, thy intercession is unnecessary. I'm ready to go with thee both into prison and to death." Later on, within 24 hours and even less, he's going to weep bitterly. And it's when he weeps bitterly that he can call to mind the words of the Lord, I have prayed for thee. He's assured And so, the word of the gospel, as it comes to us today, both out of our text and as the Spirit applies it to our hearts, is this. Everyone confessing Jesus Christ to be our only, complete, and all-sufficient Savior, indwelt by the Holy Spirit with the life of Christ in us, also knows this. Not that I will never sin, but that one day, in the way of chastening if need be, of repentance, I will finally be in heaven with my Savior. What a beautiful gospel word. Having set forth that, the Lord calls Peter to a grateful response, a response, again, that doesn't sink in on Peter at the moment. He doesn't get that this is his calling, but he will later, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. That is, establish. Your brethren have fallen too. They've grown weak. What you have done, Peter, had consequences. and the church of that day, the disciples, are we strengthened. Let me underscore that when a father falls into great sin, there are consequences for his family. When a pastor falls into great sin, there are consequences for the whole denomination. Sin, we think, gives me happiness, Sin destroys the joy and undermines the joy of far more people than just me. And it also gives me no happiness. That doesn't mean, though the church is left from an outward viewpoint in shambles, that doesn't mean that it won't be restored. And so to Peter, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Go now and talk to the other disciples and tell them the gospel. It's striking that the first disciples to see the risen Lord will be Peter and John. that Peter and John will, upon seeing their risen Lord, go quickly to find the other disciples and tell them, we have seen the Lord. And there, Peter, just a few days from now, is going to begin to do what the Lord commands him to do. And then, as an apostle, this will be his purpose. His calling will be to preach the gospel to the Jews, But what gospel will He preach? Jesus Christ, dead, risen, the sure, complete Savior for sinners. Now do not despair of your sins. Do not wallow in your misery. Look to Him. for repentance, for forgiveness, for the power to live a new and godly life. This will be Peter's calling. And you can read the first two epistles, the two epistles of Peter, and find that he also in written form does what the Lord here commands him to do. Now here's something amazing, gracious again. The Lord sovereignly directed all the affairs of Peter's life so that he fell into this temptation because the Lord would use him, one who knew the power of temptation and sin, to restore. That's amazing. It's not the first time it happened. What does David say in Psalm 51? He's committed murder. Murdered Uriah. He's committed adultery with Bathsheba. He lived in his sin and would not confess it for some time and finally he's brought to see his sin and recognize that he deserves death on account of it. And he sings in Psalm 51 of his grief and sorrow and then says in verse 12, 13, Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Have you ever fallen at some point in your life into such grievous sin that you might say, I don't know if God saved me? Then the calling is, look to Christ. He saves sinners. He saves only sinners. There is no non-sinner that he doesn't save. I'm sorry, there's no non-sinner that he saves, because there isn't such a thing as a non-sinner, and if there were, they wouldn't need salvation. He saves only sinners. Look to Christ. And then, instead of despairing that your sin was so great, and wondering if his blood would cover it, understand that the church of Jesus Christ and members of the church face the same temptations into which you fell time and time again, and you, as a restored believer, may be the one to go to brothers and sisters and say, cheer up. There's a gospel. There's a savior. We're gonna serve him. We're gonna do it together. We're gonna do it as a body. We're gonna serve him in thankful love. Sometimes that was God's purpose, one of them, and leading you or me into that temptation. Does that justify sin? Of course not. not any more than the sin of the disciples, which the Lord needed so that it would be evident He suffered all alone, could justify their committing it. It does not justify sin. It shows that God not only forgives sin, but restores sinners, and does so in such a marvelous way that we now praise Him. for showing such kindness and mercy and grace as we did not deserve. Think back to a time in your life when you were tempted more sorely than ever before. Think back to what may have happened in that temptation, that you said, I might now just not serve Christ any longer. And think on this. He knew what we were thinking, and he prayed for us. And do you know how you know for sure that the Lord heard and answered his prayer? It's very simple. It's put this way in the text. Your faith has not failed. The Lord heard his prayer. Amen. Father, which art in heaven, honor and glorify thy name in all that we think, say, and do. Restore us when we fall into sin. And yet we pray this, give us such an understanding of temptation and such a hatred of sin that we not fall grievously, that the very thought of sin in our hearts gets checked, and that in grief for the very thought, we turn to our Lord and Savior and find forgiveness. and power to live a new and godly life. Hear us for Jesus' sake. Amen.