Take Heed Lest You Fall: God’s Wake-Up Call for Every Believer (1 Corinthians 10:12 and Luke 22:31-34)

Have you ever felt spiritually confident, only to be blindsided by weakness? Pastor Scott LaPierre unpacks the biblical warning in 1 Corinthians 10:12: “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” This is a wake-up call for every believer, illustrating how spiritual pride and overconfidence can render us vulnerable to temptation, as seen in Peter's case in Luke 22:31-34, who denied Jesus despite his bold declarations. https://youtu.be/A9BnHpeBV2I Table of contentsSpiritual Injuries Occur Like Weightlifting InjuriesTake Heed Lest You Fall, Peter!We Can’t Trust OurselvesWe Need New HeartsThe Way Godly Men Describe Disqualified LeadersTake Heed Lest You Fall, Because We Fail Regarding Our StrengthsWe Must Be Warned About Our StrengthsMany Men Failed Regarding Their StrengthsNoah Was UnrighteousAbraham Lacked FaithMoses Was ProudSolomon Was FoolishRepent and Then Help OthersTake Heed Lest You Fall I want to discuss weightlifting injuries. First, I will tell you how I wish they occurred. And then I will tell you how they occur. I wish they occurred very slowly, so you knew they were coming. I wish you were bench pressing and your rotator cuff said, “This is too heavy. I’m about to tear.” Or you’re squatting in your 20s and your lower back says, “You better not do this. You’re going to have lots of problems in your 40s.” Instead, weightlifting injuries take place in one of two ways: first, and most obviously, when you’re working out. If you’re interested, you can go to YouTube and search for videos of people tearing their biceps and chest muscles. I decided against showing you any videos because they are gruesome to watch. But here’s what you’ll see: a man bench pressing and he lowers the weight, probably a weight he’s lifted many times before. Suddenly, a large gap develops around his armpit where his chest muscle detached from his shoulder. Or someone is bent over a preacher bench curling, they lower the weight, and suddenly their biceps tears and rolls up their arm. The second way weightlifting injuries occur is when people are not working out. You shut the car door or drop something and quickly reach for it, and your shoulder tears. There’s only one time my lower back went out at the gym. Every other time I was at home, feeling fine, and I bent over or threw a kid in the air, and then suddenly felt the shoting pain. What you notice with these injuries is that there’s no warning sign. Instead, we feel strong. We are confident nothing bad will happen. We are doing something that we have done many times before. Next thing you know, we are severely injured. Spiritual Injuries Occur Like Weightlifting Injuries I think sin often occurs in this manner, too. There’s no warning sign that we are going to have trouble. We feel strong. We are confident about this particular area of our Christian lives. But then we fail. We are, spiritually speaking, severely injured. That’s what happened with Peter. He felt confident. He thought he was strong. So strong, in fact, he told Jesus he would die for him. But then he failed. Here’s the context. Jesus is celebrating the Last Supper with the disciples. The evening began with Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. You would think this would produce some humility in the disciples. But it didn’t. At least three recorded times earlier, Jesus told the disciples that He would die, but when He instituted the Lord's Supper, He told them that He would die for them. You would think that would produce some humility. But it didn’t. Then Jesus told the disciples that one of them would betray Him. You would think they would respond, “That is horrible. We can’t believe this. What can we do to help? Please tell us what to do.” Instead, they started arguing about who’s the greatest. Jesus rebuked them, and you would think that would produce some humility. But it didn’t, at least not with Peter, who we will see demonstrate serious pride. That catches us up: Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, Jesus knew Peter’s faith was about to be tested, so He graciously warned him. He let him know that a spiritual battle was raging for his very soul. Jesus even reverted to using Peter’s former name, “Simon,” to remind him of his old nature, and He repeated it to ensure he was listening. Jesus continues: Luke 22:32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Take Heed Lest You Fall, Peter! Think about all Jesus has graciously said to Peter. You would think it would it would sober him to the danger he was in and cause him to be on guard and less self-assured. But it didn’t: Luke 22:33 Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Not the humble response we would hope for. Instead of acknowledging his weakness and expressing gratitude toward Jesus for warning him and praying on his behalf, he makes this declaration. He was overconfident in his ability to remain faithful and oblivious to the spiritual battle he was in. This would have been a prideful statement to make at any time, but it was particularly bad now because he was telling Jesus He was wrong. Jesus says, “You’re going to stumble.” Peter says, “No, that will never happen. I would die for you.” He’s like that man on the bench press who thinks he will lift the weight like he has so many times before, unaware he’s about to tear his chest muscle, or he’s like that forty year old pastor who thinks he can train legs like he used to, unaware he’s about to spend a month limping around like an old man. So, Jesus tells Peter exactly what will happen: Luke 22:34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.” We Can’t Trust Ourselves We can say something untrue without lying. Lying is deliberately misleading people. However, sometimes we believe something is true, only to find out we are wrong. For example: You tell someone you will meet them somewhere, but something prevents you from honoring your commitment. You weren’t lying. You thought you would meet the person, but you ended up being wrong. You said something in a discussion that you thought was true, only to find out later that some of the details were wrong. You weren’t lying. You thought you were telling the truth. But you ended up being wrong. That’s how I view the situation with Peter. We are tempted to be overly harsh in our judgment and say that we can’t believe he said this and then betrayed Christ. But I think Peter genuinely believed he would go to prison with Jesus and even die for Him. So, here’s the question: Why did Peter believe he would go to prison or even die for Jesus…when he wouldn’t even acknowledge knowing Jesus to a servant girl? Because Peter didn’t know himself. And we don’t either. Consider this familiar verse: Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? The Hebrew word for deceitful is `aqob. It’s closely related to Jacob’s name: yaʿăqōḇ. Just like Jacob deceived people, our hearts deceive us: Our hearts deceive us into trusting ourselves versus trusting God They deceive us into thinking we can sin and get away with it They deceive us into thinking we will do something we wouldn’t do…such as go to prison for Christ or even die for Him. Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m just following my heart” or “This is what my heart is telling me to do”? I don’t want to sound harsh, but I want to be honest: When people say this, you know you’re listening to people who don’t know the Bible, because the Bible would tell them their heart is the last thing they should listen to. We Need New Hearts If our hearts were so great or trustworthy, God wouldn’t have to give us new ones! Jeremiah 31:31-34 contains the prophecy about the New Covenant that Jesus instituted at the Last Supper. It is about God giving us new hearts. Elsewhere: Ezekiel 11:19 (Amplified) I will give them [a new heart]…I will take from them the heart of stone, and will give them a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart…I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Our hearts are so evil that God doesn’t even talk about fixing them. He says we need new ones. Picture this: you take your vehicle to the mechanic to be fixed, but instead of fixing it, he says, “It’s so bad, you should just get a new one.” That’s the situation with our hearts! Jeremiah 17:9 is a familiar verse. I have listened to people quote it throughout my Christian life. But I don’t know if I’ve ever heard anyone share the next verse, which is where we learn the solution to our deceitful hearts: Jeremiah 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” We can’t search our hearts or test our minds, which is to say we can’t know ourselves. But these are things the Lord can do. He does know us. Hebrews 4:12 says He discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. David knew that he couldn’t know his own heart, so he wrote: Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! David prayed for God to search him and test him, revealing if there was any wickedness in him, because he knew he couldn’t see all of it for himself. Then he wanted God to lead him in the way of everlasting, which is to say, put him on the path of righteousness…because he knew his heart would put him on the path of unrighteousness. The Way Godly Men Describe Disqualified Leaders