The word determination is defined by Webster as “the act of deciding definitely and firmly.” This is a quality every Christian must have. In this sinful world, full of trials and temptations, we must make up our minds to refrain from sin and to serve God righteously. We should not be wishy-washy about it, but rather, we must be firm in our conviction to live right before God and man. If we do not make a definite decision to do right, we leave the devil an opening to attack and prevail against us.

If the devil has his way with us once, he knows that it will be easier to cause us to commit that same sin again in the future. For example, even after years of faithful service to God, if Satan can persuade us to forsake the assembling of the saints just one time, it will be easier the next time. Before you know it, while we may not forsake assembling altogether, our attendance slowly becomes much more spotty, and it usually gets worse before it gets better. The solution is not only to determine not to ever forsake the assembly, but to also not allow one sin to turn into a repeat offense. Sometimes we just have to say to ourselves, “I am never going to do that again.”

Peter serves as a fine example of this. After the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested. At that time, Peter followed Him at a distance (Luke 22:54). Many sermons have been preached about the danger we are in spiritually when we follow Jesus from afar, rather than up close. Indeed, following Jesus at a distance got Peter into some trouble.

As Peter sat down with some servants and officers inside the courtyard of the high priest, a servant girl, examining him closely, proclaimed that he had been with Jesus, but Peter immediately said, “Woman, I do not know him” (Luke 22:56). This was followed by two more denials on the part of Peter (vers. 58-60). This fulfilled the words of Jesus when He told Peter, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me” (ver. 34). When Peter heard the rooster crow, he remembered what Jesus had said, and, he wept bitterly (ver. 62).

This was the last time that Peter ever denied Christ. Instead, Peter became a champion for the cause of Christ for the rest of his life, right up to the time he became a martyr for Christ on a cross. Peter clearly decided to do better. Think of the rest of his life as we know it from the scriptures.

In Acts 4, we read of Peter and John being arrested. They then found themselves standing before the Jewish Sanhedrin, being questioned by the highest court in the Jewish land. They asked the apostles by what authority they had healed the crippled man, as recorded for us in the previous chapter. This was Peter’s response:
 
Acts 4:10-12 (ESV)
“…¹⁰ let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Keep in mind that these Jewish leaders hated Jesus and Peter knew it. He knew that they had crucified Christ, but God had raised him from the dead. Now, the last thing these leaders wanted to hear was that it was by His power that the crippled man was healed. Yet, Peter boldly told them, not only that, but they had unwittingly become the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy of rejection (Psalms 118:22).

What a change in Peter! He went from being the one who denied Christ before a few witnesses gathered around a fire, to one who was willing to confess Him before the great Sanhedrin. Peter must have decided firmly that he would never again feel the agony he felt when he denied Christ in the court of the high priest. Peter changed for the better and so can we. When we sin, we do not have to repeat the same sin over and over again. We can repent and make up our minds to be a different person. If Peter did it, we can too. All it takes is the determination to do better.