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It was a beautiful spring morning in April in Paris, no less. 1910. And a great crowd had gathered to hear the speaker of the hour. You may know his name was Teddy Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt. Now, at this point in his life, he was former president. He had finished up two terms, and after his presidency, he went on a year long hunt in Africa, I guess to decompress from being president a year.
And then he went on a public speaking tour. And on this day, April the 10th, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt would stand up and deliver a speech called Citizens in a Republic. And we talk about the speaker of the hour. His speech lasted an hour that day. Um, but most people don't remember the speech, but they do remember one piece of it.
It was an illustration. And we have come to know it as the man in the arena. I'm going to read it to you. It's not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.
Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because there is no effort. There's no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds. Who knows great enthusiasms, the greatest devotions. Who spends himself in a worthy cause.
Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement. And who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls. who neither know victory nor defeat. You see, Teddy is a colleague. Teddy was trying to speak to this group of people about civil life, about how the fact that it's easy for people to sit back and point a finger and talk about how bad things are.
And he was trying to encourage them. Listen, if you're going to be a part, This thing we call democracy, you're going to have to be an active part of it. Right? And even if you fail and mess up, at least you're trying. At least the nation is better for you trying. And you read a lot of that speech, and he's not wrong, I don't think, but I'm not here today to talk about government.
I want to take this idea that Teddy had, and I want to apply it to citizens of heaven. This idea that it's really easy to sit back and talk about what's wrong in the kingdom. Well, they ought to do that better. They ought to do this better. You see, Teddy Roosevelt was trying to encourage his people to engage.
To come on and to be an active participant. And you think about this, the same thing is needed in the kingdom of heaven today. If the most participation that we have in the kingdom of heaven is coming and assembling with the saints and setting and making sure that we have a pew that was warm for an hour a week, That's not what the kingdom of heaven is about.
If our engagement with the kingdom of heaven is sitting in a seat for an hour a week and that is it, we have missed the boat on what the kingdom is and what it means and what it's about.
And it's easy for me to sit up here and point my finger and say, well, we ought to do more. But that's not my intention this morning. Because I think a lot of people, a lot of people are afraid. I think fear is the number one tool that Satan uses against us. And I know because I have felt, I feel like, I don't know this to be true, but I feel like I've felt more than my fair share of it over the course of the years.
And one of the biggest fears that's ever affected me is when he talks about this fear of failure. How many times have people had great ideas and great things that could have come about either in the business world or the kingdom of God and yet they did not take the first step because they were afraid of failure.
You
see this morning I hope to encourage us all to dare greatly. I want to talk about this idea of failing. And to do that, to kind of set our stage here, I want to, I want to share with you a verse of the Proverbs, Proverbs 24 verse 15. Well, I'm not in weight as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous.
Do not do no violence to his home for the righteous falls seven times and rises again. But the wicked stumbles in times of calamity. The righteous falls seven times and yet what? Rises again. Don't you think about that rising again and hope that the things that we studied this morning could help us all to rise again when we fail.
And to help us continue not only for the kingdom of God, but help us continue towards the kingdom of God. Now this idea of the righteous falling seven times in that proverbs, you look at the words in the original language and the idea there is it's accurately conveyed, is the fact that that sometimes the wicked lie and wait and they try to trip up righteous people, right?
Somebody tries to change their life and come out of active addiction and there's people that want to trip 'em up and watch 'em fall back down. And no doubt today that still happens. There are still wicked people who just get up and every day they just, they want to, they want to call someone else harm and have it.
But I think most of the time when a righteous person falls, it's not the wicked causing it. A lot of times when a righteous person falls, it's because of something they did themselves. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10 with me. I think it kind of shares with us what I'm talking about. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take ye what?
Lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond all your ability. But with the temptation he will also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Amen. How many times does a righteous man or a righteous woman fall?
And it's not because some wicked person lied in wait to knock them down, but because a temptation or a sin is trying to pull them down. How many times have I caused myself to fall? And I can't blame anybody else. If I fall into sin, I can give you all kinds of excuses. But at the end of the day, when the dust settles, if I fall and stumble into sin, whose fault is that?
It's mine. It's mine. You think about this. Look at what James says. James tells us kind of how this process works out. But each person is tempted, what, when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then desire, when it's conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it's fully grown, brings forth death. I like the way Psalm 1 puts it.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the way of the wicked, nor stands, nor sits. You see that progression in Psalm 1, verses 1 and 2, where this idea of, I'm walking along and I see something that tempts me, and I stop walking and I look. And the longer I look, the more I get tempted. I'm tempted. And eventually I decide what?
Well, I'm going to sit down, sit down. Let's talk about this. Let's think about this. I mean, surely, surely I could justify this thing that I want to do. And I go from standing or walking standing the city. You see,
I think most of the time when a Christian fails, it's because they go into sin. And I don't want to minimize sin in any way whatsoever this morning, but. You understand, we're going to sin. We were sinners before we came and obeyed the Gospels. Before we obeyed the Gospels. And we'll be sinners after the fact.
Now there's some differences there. We don't want to live a life of sin, but we will still have accidents. We'll still make mistakes. That's what 1 John talks about. So, understanding how we fall, what do we do about it? I've got my cart plumbin plumbin ahead of my horse right there, right? 1 John chapter 1, beginning verse 5, this is the message.
That we've heard from Him and proclaim to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Amen. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. You see here, John is talking to Christians.
This is not how a person outside of Christ gets into Christ. That's a, that's a different conversation. This And I'll be glad to have that with you. But we're talking about about Christians. What do they do when they see it? They need to confess those things. They need to confess them to God that were confessed means to say the same thing.
You know, you look at your child. Sometimes they mess up. You're watching them. You know, you ever see him? Sometimes they don't have any idea you're watching them, but you just watch them and you know, they walk along. Maybe they spill the drink on the counter. And they come and say, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, I'm sorry.
I spilled. I know I saw it. You see, when they come and they confess that that mistake, that failure, they're saying the same thing about it that you already know. And when we confess our sins to God, God's looking at us and say, I know It's okay. That's why he's faithful and willing to just to keep on cleansing us of our sins, right?
But it's not just telling God you back them into verse seven here. This idea. If we walk in the light is he is in the light. What? We have fellowship with one another. You see, confessing our sins to God is one thing, but but we're a body. The Lord's Church is a body. We're connected. Right. And I think that's why James 5 16 in this great passage that talks about prayer right in the middle of it.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. You may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power. It's working, doesn't it? And I tell you what else has great power, and it's working when you're willing to find somebody that you trust another member of the body. So you know what?
Let me talk to you. Let me share this scene that I've admitted. Because when you get it out of the darkness and you bring it in the light, it has less power. Right? You don't have to struggle alone. The world's oldest battle tactic is divide and conquer. And when Satan can get you to sit in silence and, and divide yourself, then it's easier for him to conquer.
Right? When we fail, this is how we fix it. Okay? Now, I feel like I had to set that foundation. To get to this point. You see, I need you to understand there's a difference. There is a difference between failing and being a failure. So again, there's a difference in failing and being a failure. Failing is a verb, right?
You say, Doug, let's go play some basketball. I'm gonna grab the ball. I'm gonna shoot the hoop. And because I'm Doug, I'm going to miss. I'm going to fail at that. Because guess what? Jordan, I ain't. Okay? But just cause I can't hit the hoop, does that mean I'm a failure? You see, a failure, that's a down. That's something that, that you become.
Go. There's a difference between messing up and being, and failing, and you deciding, you know what, I'm a failure. Those are two different things. And the way I want to describe those two things to you this morning and show you the difference, I don't know any better way to do it than Peter and Judas. Both those men failed.
Both those men failed miserably, you might say. But one was a failure and one wasn't. Right? I keep coming back to this passage in Luke 22. And the more I think about it, the more it just kind of blows my mind. Right? This is in the middle of Jesus. And everything that's going on right before Jesus is going to have to go to the cross.
Right? He's going to tell in John's account, roughly from John 13 to John 18. All this stuff happens. Okay? He washes their feet and he tells them somebody's gonna betray them. And oh, by the way, you need to eat my flesh and drink my blood. And all this stuff is happening right before it's his time. Look at what it says here in Luke 22.
This is Jesus speaking. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Strengthen, yeah, strengthen your brothers. You wonder why I turn around, my thing's blocked back here, I can't always see the corner of the work.
Right? Simon, Simon, the whole Satan has demanded to have you that he might sit you asleep. You know what, maybe this is my, my fault, but I've always kind of read that passage in my mind. Simon, Simon. Satan demanded to have you and suit you like wheat, but I told him no. That doesn't say that.
You understand? What if, what if the answer was yes? Satan demanded to have you and that he might suit you like wheat. God wouldn't want to do that, would he? What about Joel? Satan comes in before the sons of man, and where have you been? I've been walking to and fro on the earth. Have you considered my servant Job?
There's none like him. He's faithful on the earth. Well, he only serves you because you give him all that stuff, because you protect him. Take all that stuff away from him and he'll curse you to his face. Maybe the trial that Simon went through was Satan trying to sift him like wheat. Maybe instead of God telling Satan, no, you can't have that one.
Maybe instead what happened was, okay, you can have him, but then Jesus prays what? I pray that your faith may not fail. Think about this. Peter is going to go through an immense trial. He's going to go through an immense trial. And Satan looks at him and says, Honey, you're going to go through the ringer. I know you are.
But I'm praying that your faith won't fail. And when you have turned again, You notice he told him. He told him, you know, You're going to deny me three times before the cock crows. He also told him, right here, what? When you, when you come back, You're going to stumble. You're going to mess up. But when you turn again, When you what?
When you turn back towards me. Strengthen your brothers. You understand what is it that turns him around when he failed? His faith. And when he come back from that failure, Well, Peter, we're going to put you in the penalty box, honey. You messed up pretty big. Uh, you're going to be on, you're going to be on probation in the kingdom.
And, uh, we're going to put you on the sideline over here. We're not going to let you No! When you turn again, We're Because I pray for your faith not to fail, what? Strengthen your brethren. After you fail, guess what honey, get back to work. Because your brethren are going to need you. And you're going to need them.
Right? Don't you quit. Don't you dare give up. You may go through this and you may fail. We look at the next part of this. Peter said to him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both the prison and death. And Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not grow this day until you deny me three times that you know me.
I don't think Peter was lying right here. No, we know what he did.
And you think about it. What did Peter say? I'm ready to go with what with you? I'm ready to go with you to prison and death. Jesus, honey, I'm ride or die. I'll go with you anywhere. But where did Peter find himself? He didn't find himself with Jesus by that fire, did he? He was by himself. He was ready to go with Jesus anywhere.
But he wasn't ready just yet to be by himself. That's a different thing, isn't it? What'd Paul say? And my defense, no one once stood with me, but they're not be charged to their camp. It's harder when you got to stand up by yourself. But even though he failed, he wasn't a failure. And now, Judas, we understand what he did.
Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind. And brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest and elders saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said, what is that to us? See to it yourselves. And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed and went and hanged himself.
They both failed. They both failed. But only one of them let that failure define them.
You were only a failure. When you decide to be a failure, and you are not a failure a moment before you decide that you're not. Well, Doug, you don't know what I've done. You're right, I don't. And it doesn't matter. It does not matter.
Because what Satan wants out of you is your soul. And the best way for him to get that soul from you, especially when you're Christian, especially when you've already decided I'm gonna follow God, especially when you decided I want to walk in the pipe, walk in the light. It's Jesus in the light. The only way he can get your soul is to make you discouraged and make you quit.
You're not good enough. How many times you messed up? How many times you got this wrong? How many times? How many times did Peter get wrong? How many times did Noah get it wrong? How many times did Abraham get it wrong?
We're not defying on our failures, we're defying on our recovery. You see, when you're looking at this, you gotta look at the long, the long term. Yes, you're gonna fail. Yes, I'm going to fail. But if you're gonna fail, don't waste it. If you're gonna fail, don't waste it. Your name's one, count it all, Joey, my brothers.
When you make trials of various kinds. I don't know if any of you are better than I am, but a lot of times when I'm in these trials, that's when I'm most likely to what? To mess up and fail. Right? For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Right? You understand that failures, if you don't allow them to turn you into a failure, failures that you go through produce something in you.
Man, I can't believe I've done that. You know what? I'm never going to do that again. Sometimes the only way to get something in your character is for you to go through enough failure and mess up. Dave Ramsey says you've got to be sick and tired of being sick and tired. Right? You've got to fail enough times that I'm not going to take it no more.
Sometimes that's the only thing that will build that grit and resolve inside of you to change. So thank goodness. Thank God for failure. You're only a failure when you decide to be one and quit. Right. Romans 8 28. We know that all we know that for those that love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.
Does that mean that evil things become No, it means that when you persevere and when you fail and you mess up and you don't give up and you quit that when you get to those part of the gates, when you hear that horn and you're called up to meet him in the air, that those things aren't gonna matter anymore.
Those bad things don't become good. I become good because I overcame them. We've got to look at a long game here. Yes, I'll fail. Yes.
But am I going to let that define me? Am I going to be defined by that failure? Is that going to be the most interesting part of my story is what Doug messed up? Or is the most interesting part of my story going to be Doug got up? You see, 16, and I want to end where I started. I don't know how deeply theological this is, The righteous falls seven times and rises again.
When you fall down, don't give up, get up. Like I say, I don't know how deeply theological it is, but it's true. You're only a failure when you decide you're going to be one. Nobody can make you one. And I don't know what you've been through today. I don't know what kind of failures you've suffered with. I don't know, maybe you need to become a Christian, maybe you are a Christian.
I don't know. But I know that we have a God who loves us and gives us grace and mercy and has given us life and breath and another chance. And if you need help, don't leave here today without getting it. Right? We've got God's family here. God himself is here among us. If we can help you in any way whatsoever, we want to do that while we have this invitation song.