Paul is warning of the possibility of regression. It's like climbing a mountain and your feet slip you drop down from the height you have already attained for whatever reason.

It could be because you did not have the proper gear to begin with, maybe you underestimated the obstacle, maybe you were distracted, or your attention was shifted. And you fall.

A fall is regularly mentioned in the Bible. Paul said he who thinks he stands should be careful lest he falls (1 Corinthians 10:12). Jesus mentioned watching and praying so that we would not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41).

But regardless of how far we fall, we are assured of a place in the kingdom of God (Hebrews 6:9). No one can pluck us from His hand (John 10:28–29). And if God helps us to learn from the fall, we can be better going forward.

Jesus held up a hope for Peter, whom He told that the devil wants to sift like wheat (Luke 22:31-32). That is a picture of a vigorous test.

Jesus said he had prayed for Peter. Similarly, we can be assured that Christ is at the right hand of the Father right now praying for us (Romans 8:34).

James wrote about the testing of our faith. He said we should rejoice when we fall into diverse trials because the trial of our faith works endurance.

During the trial and test, we may not know the effect. But James tells us it produces endurance, with the end that we would be deficient in nothing.

What that tells me is that the challenges reveal that we are deficient. The trial and the test are stress testing that reveals what we lack. So we may fall flat on our faces. The point is that we lack something, but we may not know what that is.

Remember, I am talking about what some people can call the fall, which means, according to Paul in this focus verse, not living up to the standard we have already attained.

And sometimes it means what we present and what is inside do not match, and the fall is just making what is inside obvious, or more obvious on the outside. Jesus was tempted in all point yet without sin/fault because he is the complete package (Hebrews 4:15).

Peter was convinced that he would be the last person to deny Jesus. Hasn't Jesus named him Peter, the rock (Matthew 16:18)?

Did he not, if only briefly, walk on water (Matthew 14:28–31)? Did he not see Jesus transfigured (Matthew 17:1–2)? Didn't Jesus say that the Father had revealed to Peter that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:15-17)?

He definitely wants to live up to the name he has been called. "I will die for you," he said. "If anyone denies you, it would not be me." he said.

But despite all that self-assuredness and confidence projection, when the rubber bites the road, Peter denied Jesus, showing forever that God knows us more than we know ourselves.

Peter did not maintain the standard that he thought he had attained. He thought he had attained the standard of dying with Christ. Not true.

Jesus had said Peter would deny him, not once, not twice, but thrice; and not next week, not next month, but that night. So the blow of his disappointment in himself was strong, inclusive of the accompanying shame. This was one of the closest to Jesus, right?

Whatever self-confidence he had, cracked, and he wept bitterly. And when he was restored, he became strong in the Lord, and not in himself; and the rest, as they say, is history.

Rather than being thrown away, he became the vessel he was meant to be. All the word of God came to pass in his life, and he, I believe, counted it an honor to die for the cause of Christ (John 21:18-19).

He who is forgiven much loves much indeed (Luke 7:47).

For those who fall from the heights of what they have attained, know that just as Peter's denial did not surprise God, yours is not a surprise to him.

Jesus said that when Peter is restored, he should strengthen his brothers (Luke 22:31-32). By being shown to be weak, he was restored to the strength of God, and that becomes an example to many people.

While the call is to live up to the standard that we have already attained, that on its own is not a small deal. And when we fall from that, we should lean hard, on the grace of God and repentance. Grace tells us that we are not holding ourselves, but God is holding us.

And about repentance, Jesus has something to say about that.

So these people had fallen from the standard they had attained, but they did not know it before this call for repentance rang from Jesus.

So lean on grace and lean on repentance. And don't stop leaning on those things. They are foundational. Hebrews says it this way: the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith (linked to grace [Ephesians 2:8]) towards God (Hebrews 6:1–2).

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This book lays out the case for the Sufficiency of Scripture, arguing that it is enough to define the life and practice of Christians and the church. It pushes back against both subtle and blatant violations of this tenet, including Tradition, Imagination, Divination, Emotion, Revelations, and Visions (TIDER).Join the author as he explains:Passages that prohibit adding to or removing from God’s word.Scripture has a special quality that sets it apart from anything else that has ever been written or will ever be written.The need for humility so that we can separate our biases from the truth.There are consequences for either adding to or removing from God’s word.How Jesus and Paul argued for the Sufficiency of Scripture.How the devil is the enemy of the Sufficiency of Scripture, and humans willingly cooperate with him for different reasons.How, “The Scriptures, as a fixed set of documents, is a shared body of agreed reference that defines the contours of truth,” and not the preacher’s charisma or eloquence.Holding to the Sufficiency of Scripture one day doesn’t mean the preacher will always do so, hence the call for carefulness.Why it’s wrong to pit one passage of Scripture against another.That “humans have been building up reasonings apart from and against the light of God’s truth for centuries.”Take the journey to deepen your understanding and appreciation for the Sufficiency of Scripture.

The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® https://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved