Does the Bible tell us what happens when we fall in temptation? Not fall into temptation but fall, fail, and succumb to temptation?
Fortunately, yes. The New Testament records many
failures by the disciples: Peter denied Christ; Paul and Barnabas got into a dispute;
John Mark got homesick; the unnamed woman got caught in the very act of
adultery.
And then there is one person who did the
unspeakable: Judas betrayed Christ.
Let’s look at what Jesus did for people who failed
him. Peter, James, and John were supposed to watch and pray that they not enter
into temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane. And yet, three times, they fell
asleep when they should have been praying.
It wasn’t that they were supposed to be watching
out for Jesus so that He could escape if evildoers came to arrest Him, which of
course they did. No, they were to watch and pray that they themselves would not
fall in temptation. Their spirit was ready, but their flesh was weak (Mark
14:38).
The disciples didn’t know how to answer Jesus when
they fell asleep not once, not twice, but three times (Mark 14:40). Peter tries
to overcompensate by cutting off someone’s ear (he probably was going for the
throat and missed).
Does Jesus hold unforgiveness in His heart? We all
know the answer. Peter would later deny Christ, again three times, which was a
sign of complete failure.
Even after the resurrection and the anointing of
the Holy Spirit, Peter messed up, hypocritically refusing to eat with Gentiles
after the religious leaders from Jerusalem showed up (see Galatians 2:11). At
another time, Peter said, “Not so, Lord,” when God told him in a vision to kill
and eat unclean food.
Many identify with Simon Peter because he proves again
and again to be a “work in progress” and so aren’t we all?
But Jesus gave him the answer to what we should do
when people continually fail us, then repent, and seek forgiveness, then do it
all over again. That answer is the famous “seventy times seven” number of times
of forgiveness found in Matthew 18:22.
And therein we see what God’s response is to us
when we fail, not once or twice, but again and again. We cannot imagine that
God would do anything different than forgive us, despite our many failings.
Certainly God is even more merciful than Christ Himself commanded us to be.
Which leads us to the ultimate forgiveness, which
is not from God, but from ourselves. There is an instance in which a sinner
named Judas Iscariot committed a sin which Jesus knew from the beginning he
would commit; just like Jesus knows and knew from the beginning what sins we
have, would, and will continue to commit from the day of our salvation.
Except Judas could not forgive himself. Neither
could he seek forgiveness. Overwhelmed with conviction, he took his own life (Acts
1:25, Matthew 27:5).
But even Judas’s taking his own life was not the “unforgivable
sin”. There is only one sin that cannot be forgiven and that is the continual
rejection of the Holy Spirit which convicts us of sin, righteousness, and
judgment (see Matthew 12:31, John 16:8, 1 John 5:16-17).
If we have committed horrible sins but seek God’s
everlasting and eternal forgiveness, we shall be washed, sanctified, and justified
(1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
“I tell you, this (repentant though sinful) man went down to his house justified rather than the other (who was unrepentant, judgmental and unforgiven); for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Does God want us to sin, again and again? No, of
course not! But He does want us to come to Him, again and again, asking for
forgiveness. Find comfort in this verse,
1 Timothy 1:15, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief.”
