Self-confidence Leads to Spiritual Failure (Mark 14:66-72)

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Self-confidence Leads to Spiritual Failure

Peter’s self-confidence leads to his denial of Christ,

from the gospel of Mark 14:66 to 72

Something has gone seriously wrong. I read this story somewhere. A radio DJ parent takes his 2-year-old to a park. Out of nowhere, a 5-year-old total stranger comes over to his 2-year-old, and with vigor throws the 2-year-old to the ground. What does the mother of the brutish 5-year-old do? She walks over to her bully-boy, and she is distraught. What does she say to her 5-year-old, who’s training to be a Nazi? She says to 5-year-old Attila, “What’s troubling you, darling?”

The radio DJ says, “I’ve never met this woman in my life, but of one thing I am absolutely certain, she went to graduate school. The reason I’m certain is because, it’s in graduate school where you learn that feelings are more important than behavior.” Those of us who didn’t attend grad school would be furious with our child–we’d correct our child, we might even spank our child if our kid threw a baby to the ground.

But if you go to Berkeley, you learn differently. You learn, “something must be ‘troubling’ my little Gestapo.” I’m certain something troubled Stalin. I have no doubt something troubled Hitler. But more important than their feelings was stopping their behavior. We don’t need to “understand” them.

If people are basically all good, then feelings are crucial. If people are basically good, then if your kid is an abusive bully, clearly something is troubling him–poor little Attila. But if people are basically bad by nature, then I am not interested in what is troubling him. I am interested in stopping him from expressing his bad inner nature and making certain his bad behavior never happens again.

When you see people the way God does, you don’t care how they feel–you care how they act. But today, the primacy of behavior has been lost, and everything is about our feelings. As a result, self-esteem has become the new religion. Self-esteem is the main focus. And since feelings are most important, then clearly self-esteem, or feeling good about themselves is crucial. But the Bible teaches we will produce a much more compassionate and decent society, home and church if we teach our kids self-control, over teaching them self-esteem.

Why do I bring this up? Because this overt emphasis on self-esteem is producing proud, arrogant and spiritually sick children. It is this very self-esteem that is keeping children from turning to Christ, from confession of sin, from living dependently upon the Spirit of God. Plus it is this emphasis on self-esteem that is keeping people from humbling themselves and turning to Christ. And it’s this same self-confidence that brought about the colossal failure of Peter in Mark 14.

Turn to the end of Mark 14 and follow with your outline. The Bible teaches that human beings are born depraved–that every aspect of our nature, from baby to old man, is fallen. Then once we’ve been saved we’re given a totally new nature, and are new creatures in Christ. We are born anew/again, and now have been designed for good works.

But we also know that even as saints, we still sin. Even with our new heart, we are still incarcerated in fallen flesh that has yet to be redeemed. We are not fully redeemed yet. We’re still human and locked into our fallen flesh, and each of us in this room are aware of our wretchedness. We’re still aware of our sinfulness and the evil impulses in us.

The Bible affirms we’re still wicked, corrupt and evil. As Christians, our desires have changed, our loves are different–we even want to obey. But we also live on a fallen planet, and have an enemy within–our fallen flesh. So we struggle spiritually–we rightly do not trust ourselves. And to forget that is to put yourself in great danger.

That is what happened to Peter–he was self-confident. He had high self-esteem, and it led to a horrific failure. He felt he could stand for Christ, yet ended up denying Him three times. This is exactly what our schools want your kids to think–that they’re wonderful, that they’re great, so they can be self-confident. Then when they fail, it was merely that they lacked enough self-esteem and self-confidence.

They teach you need to be happy with yourself–and if you’re not, you’re going to lose. And if you fail, you just didn’t trust yourself enough, or love yourself enough, or put enough confidence in yourself. Our kids are being programmed to think they have all the power, worth, talent and beauty within them, instead of being taught they’re fallen, evil, sinful, selfish, proud and prone to disaster.

And as they grow older, they’re taught to believe if they make a mistake, then it’s someone else’s fault–they’re merely a victim. Someone else is always to blame for their lack of achievement. Simply stated, they’re being taught that pride is good. They’re being brainwashed into living self-confidently. But the Bible says self-esteem, self-confidence and personal pride are sin. And pride is at the core of every sin.

Today, we take an intense look at our brother–a great man. We’ll talk to him in Heaven, a man who spent three years with Christ. Not only was he one of the apostles, but the leader of the team–and today he will fail. Not because he lacked self-esteem, but because he had it. He was self-confident, which resulted in the sin of Peter denying Christ–not once, not twice, but three times. And not all at once, but over a two to three hour period.

Look at verse 66, and read with me how self-confidence led to the deepest failure of all. “As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus the Nazarene.’ 68 But he denied it, saying, ‘I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.’ And he went out onto the porch. 69 The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, ‘This is one of them!’ 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, ‘Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too.’ 71 But he began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know this man you are talking about!’ 72 Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, ‘Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.’ And he began to weep.”

How could this have happened? It’s Peter who said, “To whom shall we go, You and You alone have the words of eternal life.” Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is Peter, the leader, the preacher–a believer. And this is bad, really bad. It is not a momentary slip-up. These denials are strung out over two+ hours. Shocked by the first, the second two are pre-meditated denials, not a surprised response.

During the Lord’s trials, first before Annas and now Caiaphas, Peter is in the center patio area, a large courtyard surrounded by a two-story house of the High Priest. The first two religious trials are from 1 to 3 in the morning, and so are Peter’s denials, so the Lord’s first two trials and Peters’ denials are happening at the same time, concurrently. Here is Christ speaking honestly, knowing it’ll cost Him His life, and here is Peter speaking dishonestly to preserve his own life.

But before you and I get too critical of our brother Peter, remember this is the same struggle all you believers battle with. You haven’t stood in a dangerous courtyard of a house filled with people who were trying to murder Christ, but you’ve been caught in a situation where you remained silent instead of sharing the Gospel of Christ, right?

So you know what this is like–you know how hard it is to openly profess Christ because there are negative consequences. Even though you desperately love Christ like Peter, you know how hard it is to be bold, to share the truth and not chicken out. You change the subject, ignore the opportunity, or just don’t say anything. You are not rejecting Christ or abandoning your faith, or saying you no longer love Him first–you were just afraid and unwilling to confess Christ publicly. We’ve all eaten that McNugget. So every student and young married understands Peter’s struggle.

And making it more painful was Peter’s amazing life. He was the preacher, he healed others, cast out demons–Peter knew what it was to be given apostolic power by Christ. Plus Peter was smart, an outspoken, unstoppable leader. But he had become so self-confident he forgot how needy he was in his flesh. You see, in his own strength Peter was weak. And self-confidence in a believer always leads to failure.

It is somewhere between 1 and 3 AM Friday morning–it’s the Passover. Christ will experience a religious trial then a secular trial–both of them with three different phases each, so a total of six. Christ has faced Annas and is currently before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin in an illegal trumped up trial, with false witnesses and self-incrimination. But Peter’s story begins Thursday night in the Upper Room–it was there Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Satan wants to go after you–I’ve given him permission, just like I did with Job, to prove you can’t lose your faith, since true faith comes from Me. But it is going to be a difficult test, Peter.”

Peter says he’ll never deny Christ–he’d go to prison, even die first. But on the way to the Garden where Christ is arrested, Jesus tells His disciples they will flee, and Peter will deny Him three times. And again Peter, full of self-confidence, tells Jesus, “Lord, You just don’t realize just how strong, tough and spiritual I am. You’re wrong, Jesus.” Key point–don’t ever tell Jesus He’s wrong.

Then while Jesus prays, three times the Lord tries to get Peter, James, and John to pray, and each time they go back to sleep. “Pray and watch lest you enter into temptation.” Again, the Lord is trying to turn them from self-dependence to God-dependence, but in their sorrow and weariness they refuse. They’re not listening. They’re not desperate. They’re not dependent.

Peter is convinced he won’t deny Christ. And to prove his courage, when Judas’s betrayal team shows up, Peter draws a sword and tries to behead Malchus, the servant of the High Priest. In Peter’s mind, he’s solid, invincible, and self-confident. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.” And 1 Corinthians 10:12 says, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

In his self-confidence, Peter is about to fall. He loves Christ, he loves the truth, he desires to obey, and wants to honor Christ but he fails to understand the power of his flesh. Foolish confidence leads to failing cowardice.

Jesus is taken to the house of Caiaphas and is on trial. Peter will hang in the courtyard. There is a double chill in the air—it’s cold, but it becomes frigid when there’s fear in the bones. Late winter is cold in Jerusalem in the evenings—it’s easily mid-40s to low 50s. There is a varied mob filtering in and out of the courtyard. Sanhedrin leaders are arriving from their homes. In the courtyard, there could still be a few Roman soldiers, and certainly there are Temple police, various servants and other secondary officials.

The house of the High Priest has a large, barred gate with a gatekeeper. Christ was being judged in a gallery off to one side. The buildings all surround the courtyard. In the courtyard there are fire pits used to fight off the chill. Peter gained admittance because of John, who is also present somewhere. John was from a known family–he helps us see this detail in his own gospel, John 18:15 to 16, “Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, 16 but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.”

Peter followed Christ at “a distance”, right into the courtyard. Can you picture that scene? Keeping in the shadows at a distance, Peter enters into the danger zone–he’s sitting with the officers! Don’t be too hard on Peter–there are no other disciples here besides John and Peter. So Peter is showing courage, but He’s not depending on God’s Spirit. He was ready to take on the entire arresting crowd with a sword, and now he’s in the enemy’s backyard.

Uneasy, nervous, shifty and scared, Peter scuttled about, trying to capture glimpses of the kangaroo court in the house. But at the same time, Peter is trying not to be conspicuous, since this is not the hour to be associated with Christ. Mark describes the scene for us in verses 53 to 54, “They led Jesus away to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered together. 54 Peter had followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire.” Now the story continues in verse 66.

#1  The FIRST Denial

Verse 66a, “As Peter was below in the courtyard.” Peter is “below in the courtyard”–the Lord’s trial is taking place in the upper story of the High Priest’s mansion. Peter is hoping to be incognito in this enforcer crowd, but that would not be the case. Verse 66b, “one of the servant-girls of the high priest came”–a jr. higher, I’m sure! Verse 67, “and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus the Nazarene.’”

Did you catch the double take–see it? “Seeing Peter,” then “she looked at” Peter. This little gal is probably the one who actually let Peter in. But she glances at Peter first, then she stares at Peter. Luke 22:56 tells us, “She stared [looking intently] at him,” wondering if Peter isn’t somebody she recognizes or knows.

Peter is being coy, warming himself by the fire, most likely his outer robe is draped over his head–a first century hoody. But Luke adds Peter’s face was illuminated by the night fire. Suspicion and curiosity may have caused her to approach Peter–she’s probably an eighth grader. She glances at Peter, then stares, then bluntly says, verse 67, “You also were with Jesus the Nazarene.”

This servant girl says, “You associate with Jesus, don’t you.” The little maid’s “you” also is emphatic–she confronted Peter directly. Peter is in shark-infested waters–he is floored and dumbfounded. He didn’t plan for this. This little gal caught him completely off-guard. He’s just there, trying to stay close, warming himself–then BAM! He panics in this first denial. Verse 68, “But he denied it, saying, ‘I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.’” We’d say, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

See the two Greek verbs, know and understand. The first is oida–a theoretical, factual knowledge. The second is epistami–a practical, experiential knowledge, making this a total denial. The Greek tense for “know” tells us Peter is saying, “I didn’t know him in the past, and I currently still don’t know him.” The first denial hurts–it’s just as our Lord predicted. This little girl reduced Peter from bold leader to frightful coward.

Even though Peter had years of intense discipleship, and had witnessed Christ’s glory, walked on water and saw Christ raise the dead, right here Peter claims the fifth. Matthew 26:70 tells us Peter denied Christ “before them all.” The recognition of a young gal, the sudden unexpectedness, as well as the public exposure of her comments filled Peter with panic. Instead of making a bold confession, Peter played the coward.

No wonder Jesus repeatedly–three times, one for each denial said to Peter, James and John in Mark 14:38, “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Because Peter failed to watch and pray, he capitulates to perjury. Temptation came in a way he least expected it–just like with us.

Even though he was previously prepared to fight with a sword, he’s now purposely lying in his speech. Because he was not prayerful, he is now powerless in this spiritual attack. It’s the same with all believers—self-confidence leads to failure. Prayerlessness leads to failure. Service in the flesh leads to failure.

Like Elijah who was brave when facing 850 prophets of Baal, but after the mountaintop victory he floundered in fear over what one woman Jezebel might do to him. Peter is a living illustration of 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” In this courtyard, the proud hero shriveled into a cringing coward. His self-preserving instincts prevailed, so his boldness evaporated. His arrogant boasting led to his downfall. His self-confidence and lack of dependence upon the Lord made him vulnerable.

So now as it gets too hot by the fire, Peter seeks to escape. Peter looks for the door. Look at the end of verse 68, “And he went out onto the porch.” Sadly, a change of scenery does not mean a change of heart. We’re not certain, but the authorities may have been looking for Peter. The Temple police may have had an all-points bulletin out looking for the terrible ear-slasher. Peter is a fugitive, and he’s at-large–yet here he is, right in the courtyard of the authorities, and now the porch.

What’s the porch? The covered archway opening onto the street. Peter may have been trying to escape, but since the gate was locked, he couldn’t get out to leave. So Peter remains in this dark, less-populated area, assuming he’d be safer in the shadows than by the light by the fire. Peter’s torn–he wants to get away, but also stay.

Some manuscripts actually say this is when Peter heard the first rooster crow. Remember Jesus said to Peter in Mark 14:30, “before a rooster crows twice you yourself will deny Me three times.” The audible sound of a rooster may have reached Peter’s ears here, but with his agitated mind it didn’t connect. So here is Peter, a fly caught in a spider’s web–which leads to his second denial.

#2  The SECOND Denial

Verses 69 and 70, “The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, ‘This is one of them!’ 70 But again he denied it.” This may be the same gal or a different one–but this young maid says to everyone around, “Yes, you are one of them!” Luke seems to indicate another man chimes in and also says, “You are one of them.”

But Peter, a second time, responds to them in verse 70. But again he denied it. The Greek verb indicates Peter repeatedly denies the accusation. And if you read Luke, he says, “I am not…one of his followers.” Matthew tells us Peter says, “I do not know the man.” Peter’s second denial is a much more fierce denial.

Peter has had time to think about it, meaning this second denial is not a trip-up–it’s premeditated. Peter is deep into this–like trying to cover a lie, it gets worse and worse. Just a few hours earlier, Peter was making pompous claims. Now he’s intentionally distancing himself from Christ. Matthew’s gospel tells us at this second denial, Peter denied Christ, “with an oath,” and said, “I do not know the man.”

Peter not only lied again, but he does so with an oath to bolster his lie. What’s an oath here? A Jewish oath is said to be made in the presence of God–to swear the truth of what you are saying before God. Peter is saying, “God is my witness, I don’t know the man.” The very Lord who miraculously healed his mother-in-law, who was wonderfully transfigured before him, who marvelously saved him from drowning in the sea, now is denied with the statement, “I don’t know Him.”

Peter is unraveling here. His lack of dependence on God in prayer led to his powerlessness before people. It is the same with us. Pride plus presumption plus prayerlessness equals the fear of man and certain spiritual failure–two down, one to go! Mark is counting for us. The very man who confessed with his own lips, “Thou art the Christ,” is on the verge of a threefold denial–a denial that took place, not in immediate succession, not back-to-back quickly, but in an intentional two-plus hour period.

#3  The THIRD Denial

In the middle of verse 70, “And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, ‘Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too.’” Luke 22:59 specifies this didn’t happen immediately after the second denial, but awhile later–literally “after about an hour.” Peter is looking to see what is going to happen to Christ. He is hanging around, or he’s trapped inside a closed courtyard.

And verse 70 says bystanders (regular folks) came up to Peter. “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean,” Mark records. “Surely” telling us they’re not buying Peter’s explanations. Just as someone from the Deep South has a distinct accent—“Y’all come back.” Or someone from New York, “I’m walkin’ here!” Men and women from Galilee had a distinct accent. And even though Peter says, “No,” and has sworn oaths he doesn’t know Christ, his accent gives him away. Like the other eleven, he’s a Galilean.

Matthew 26:73 records exactly what the bystanders say. “Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away.” Like an undercover detective whose cover is blown, Peter has been exposed–he’s in trouble. He is now cornered by the pack of hyenas. Now it’s not merely the servant girl, but the crowd knows who he is.

There is a cacophony of voices, all affirming Peter is one of the twelve. And if that’s not enough, John 18:26 tells us it gets even worse. One of the slaves of the High Priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” Everyone in this courtyard knows what happened in the Garden. And they all know about poor Malchus and the ear slashing and then replacing incident.

So now it all comes back to haunt Simon Peter, the sword slicer. One of Malchus’s relatives identifies Peter. He says, “Weren’t you there in the Garden? I saw you, I did–you’re the one who tried to cut my cousin’s head off.” Peter comes unglued. He hits bottom and loses it completely. Verse 71, “But he began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know this man you are talking about!’”

“Curse” is a very strong action–it means to pronounce a curse upon oneself at the hand of God, if one were lying. To “swear” is to make an oath of confirmation. Peter is saying, in effect, “May God kill and damn me if I am lying. God strike me dead if I am lying.” And Peter doesn’t merely say this once, but he is continually cursing himself and swearing oaths–over and over and over. This is not a mere slip, but intentionally denying Christ—overtly denying Christ.

Isn’t this how people behave? I’d say kids–but honestly, this is true of adults of all ages, isn’t it? When they’re trying to convince somebody they’re telling the truth, they say, “I promise you, I swear I’m telling you the truth. I swear on a stack of Bibles, I’m telling you the truth.” And the more they add assurances, the more likely it is they’re lying.

Peter is now in full-blown, intentional denial mode. Peter says, “I do not know this man, this fellow.” Now Peter won’t even use the name of Jesus. This man, this fellow–that’s a far cry from, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God,” isn’t it? Again, from the perfect tense of the Greek word “know”, from “I do not know this man,” Peter is saying, “I didn’t know in the past, and I currently do not know this man you keep referring to.”

This is a full, complete, oath-driven, swear-on-a-stack-of-Bibles denial–this is an out and out, intentional lie. Peter walked on water with Jesus. Peter saw Christ with His human veil pulled back in full glory on the mount of transfiguration. Peter saw Christ raise a rotting, four-day-old corpse from the dead. But right now Peter denies even knowing Christ’s name.

Mark wants us to see the difference between our Lord’s brazen courage, and Peter’s brutal denial.

While Peter is “denying him”, our Lord is “delivering Himself up” for our sins.

While Peter is “swearing”, our Lord becomes our substitute for our sins.

While Peter is “cursing”, our Lord is being crushed and condemned for our sins.

While Peter is “lying” through his teeth, our Lord is laying down his life willingly for our sins.

While Peter is evading the questions, our Lord is enduring the suffering for our sins.

While Peter stands outside quivering before a female slave of no power, our Lord stands inside before the Jewish High Priest, the most powerful man in Israel.

And it’s at this point where the Lord’s prediction is fulfilled. Verse 72, “Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, ‘Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.’” Luke 22:60 says while “Peter still was speaking.” While Peter is swearing and oath-ing and denying and lying, in mid-sentence God sovereignly causes the rooster to crow–exactly what Jesus predicted in Mark 14:30. The precision and accuracy of God’s Word is amazing.

And where was Peter at this point? Where was he in relation to Jesus? Was Peter close? Was Peter able to witness the Lord’s trial and the beating that followed? I believe so—why? Luke 22:60b says, “Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.” And then verse 61 says, “The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, ‘Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.’”

This moment pierces his heart, and it pierces my heart too. “The Lord turned and looked at Peter”–right at the cock crowing, Jesus turned and looked at Peter! At that moment Peter realized his sin, and the Lord’s look broke his heart. What did “that look” say to Peter? The look says, “I know what you’ve done–I know your entire life. I know you’re human. I am willing to restore. I love you, in spite of your sin. I love you, even though you denied me.” And He’s looking at you.

It’s very possible the beating and abuse our Lord received in verse 65 was witnessed by Peter. As our Lord’s hands are bound, His face covered in spit, His face bruised and bleeding, He gives a penetrating, eye-to-eye look at Peter. Jesus makes eye contact with Peter. Those eyes, so full of pain, but also eyes full of pardon. Peter would never forget that look, and at that moment Peter was overcome by emotion.

The end of verse 72, “And he began to weep.” Luke tells us Peter went out, leaving Caiaphus’s house complex, and began to “weep bitterly.” No longer self-confident, Peter wept and wept deeply. The thrill of victory in ministry had become the agony of defeat. Peter crashed and burned–Peter was devastated in his failure.

A  Self-confidence guarantees FAILURE

Peter was full of himself, thinking himself incapable of failure. Though the Lord repeatedly warned him, he dissed God’s Word and continued to proudly think of himself above that kind of sin. As a manifestation of his pride, Peter was also prayerless. The Lord gave him three exhortations to pray, and Peter slept through each one–three dissed pleas led to three painful denials.

You and I can’t become Christians unless we depend on Christ alone, and we can’t do anything for Christ unless we depend on God’s Spirit alone and dependently follow God’s Word alone. Anything we do for Christ in our own strength is burned up. Self-confidence guarantees failure.

B  Self-confidence requires REPENTANCE

After Jesus rises from the dead, one of the great meetings is with Peter. The Lord asks Peter three times, do you love me? And Peter is encouraged to affirm His love for Christ as He accepts the Lord’s job description for Peter to feed His sheep. Sin requires repentance–by the power of the Spirit and according to God’s Word, turn from your sin to follow Christ.

C  Self-confidence and spiritual failure is not FATAL

In Acts 2, Peter preaches the very first Gospel message, and 3,000 people respond. Peter’s failure was not fatal. God only uses repentant sinners–failure is not fatal.

D  Self-confidence and spiritual failure never DISAPPEAR

Read further in your New Testament and you’ll see Peter at a meal with Paul in the book of Galatians, and instead of Peter treating all believers equally, he sadly and sinfully favors the Jews, while confusing the Gospel message. Peter messes up again, and Paul calls him on it. Yet Peter is later used to impact the Gentile world in an even greater way. Just because you messed up deeply before is not a guarantee that you are above failure or denying the Gospel—beware.

E  Self-confidence destroys true Spirit EMPOWERMENT

In order to be filled with the Spirit, four things must be true.

You must be saturated with the WORD of GOD

You must have totally confessed all KNOWN SIN

You must be totally dependent upon the SPIRIT of GOD

You must be completely committed to SHARING the GOSPEL to the lost in the world and serving your SPIRITUAL GIFT in the church

You have to be DEPENDENT, RELIANT, and exercise FAITH. If your spiritual life is flat, I guarantee you’re violating one of those truths. Self-confidence destroys true Spirit empowerment.

F  Self-confidence hinders you from being SAVED

When you come to Christ, you turn your back on your life and you embrace His life. You exchange all that you are for all that He is. Second Corinthians 5:15 says, “He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” Some of you don’t know Christ, because you’re unwilling to repent of your sin and surrender your life. Learn from Peter–turn to Christ.

About Chris Mueller

Chris is the teaching pastor at Faith Bible Church - Murrieta.

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