Classes from the Apostle Peter

The Danger of Self Assurance Lessons from the Apostle Peter

Scripture calls us to a measure of confidence. However what occurs when that confidence is misplaced or misdirected? Within the backyard of Gethsemane, Peter’s self-assurance led him to foolishly assault one of many males who got here to arrest Jesus—however later that evening, he thrice denied even understanding his Lord and Grasp. In his sermon “A Query for Peter,” Alistair Begg helps us see the hazard that may come on the heels of overconfidence:

We noticed in our earlier research how Peter was ready to wield the sword. In that darkened alleyway, if you happen to like—in amongst these bushes, in amongst these olive groves, underneath the covers of darkness—he’s a giant, courageous man with a sword, able to confess that Jesus is his Lord and his Grasp. However now we discover his retreat as he doesn’t discover it in himself to declare such a courageous confession of his allegiance to Jesus, not within the face of the amassed crowd with golf equipment and swords however with a servant woman on the entryway to the excessive priest’s courtroom.

He’s impulsive. He’s impetuous by nature. And all of that’s revealed in what follows. He loves Jesus, and so he follows him, however when push involves shove, he was really afraid to show his colours. He will need to have thought that he knew himself higher than Jesus knew him. We have no idea ourselves higher than Jesus is aware of us. “You’ll deny me,” Jesus stated. “However he stated emphatically, ‘… I can’t deny you’” (Mark 14:34–31). That’s Mark’s model: “He stated emphatically, ‘… I can’t deny you.’”

Certainly a developed sense of self-assurance is a harmful factor—an unrealistic sense of self-assurance. After we learn the Gospels, we see its hazard. Certainly, after we learn the historical past of the Bible, we will see it. Uzziah was tremendously efficient, a genius of a younger man, ready militarily, ready architecturally. In each means, he was a whiz child. However you keep in mind how he ended. He wasn’t dwelling within the palace on the finish. He was dwelling in a bit cottage on the gate. He was leprous. He was separated from the whole firm that he had presided over within the early a part of his life (2 Chron. 26). What occurred to him? The Chronicler tells us, “Uzziah was gloriously helped till he grew to become sturdy. However when he grew to become sturdy, he grew proud to his personal destruction” (2 Chron. 26:15–16; paraphrased). And right here we see the weather of this in Peter.