THE ROAD TO FAILURE

MK. 14:29-31                                                    

 

Pastor Rick Jackson [inspired by Howard Hendricks]

 

I. BOASTING TOO MUCH [v. 27-31, Jer. 17:9]

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

The problem was not insincerity- it was ignorance!

“When I try- I fail. When I trust- He succeeds!”

 

II. PRAYING TOO LITTLE [v. 32-42, Jn. 15:5]

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:

for without me ye can do nothing.

The act of prayer is a recognition of our personal bankruptcy and of God’s total adequacy.

My need is not partial- it is total.

 

III. ACTING TOO SOON [v. 43-50]

This always happens in the energy of the flesh [Moses].

-he was sleepy

-he was angry

-he was unprepared [1 Samuel 17:39]

And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.

 

IV. THINKING TOO LATE [v. 66-72]

John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly °, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Galatians 6:3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.